January 2012

Clarifying For Media Matters

by Brian McGraw on January 14, 2011 · 1 comment

in Energy

Media Matters for America is an organization dedicated to “comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.” They didn’t, in my opinion, do a very good job in their recent piece on CEI and energy subsidies.

They write about Neil Cavuto recently hosting Chris Horner on a discussion over federal energy subsidies, and imply that CEI is supportive of subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, by noting that they fund us (and that Horner didn’t discuss subsidies to the fossil fuel industry). CEI is, of course, against all energy subsidies. This doesn’t mean that we get to discuss our opposition to them on television whenever we want.

They are correct that the fossil fuel industry receives more subsidies than renewable energy, but this doesn’t really tell the full story. Energy subsidies should be evaluated on a per-unit basis. The fossil fuel industry is enormous, and many of the measured subsidies are just tax expenditures that grant various deductions and are large because of the size of the industry. Many of the “subsidies” they take advantage of are available to a large number of industries in the form of general exemptions in the tax code.

On a per unit basis, solar is crushing fossil fuel subsidies (and most other subsidies aside from biofuels). See page 18 of this PDF. Furthermore, the solar industry as we see it today isn’t likely to exist without subsidies. There might be a small niche market but solar energy is still largely incapable of producing reliable electricity at rates that are even in the ballpark of cost competitiveness compared to coal or natural gas. The fossil fuel industry would still exist without subsidies.

Here is an interesting essay that suggests removing all energy subsidies might benefit the renewable energy industry.

Image credit: p373′s flickr photostream.

WikiLeaks Backs Censorship in Response to Tucson Shootings

by Hans Bader on January 14, 2011 · 5 comments

in International, Legal, Personal Liberty, Sanctimony, Zeitgeist

In a press release, WikiLeaks has blamed Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and other conservatives for the Tucson shootings, and called for them to be prosecuted for “incitement.” It is not clear why WikiLeaks thinks people such as Huckabee had anything to do with the shootings. Even Sarah Palin has said nothing that would constitute incitement, much less illegal incitement under the U.S. Supreme Court’s governing First Amendment rulings in Hess v. Indiana and Brandenburg v. Ohio.

As Jack Shafer notes at Slate, “crosshairs and bull’s-eyes have been an accepted part of the graphical lexicon when it comes to political debates,” and are not incitement to violence, any more than other commonplace political words like “targeting, attacking, destroying, blasting, crushing,” and “burying” are. The rhetoric of American politicians like Sarah Palin is usually bland and mild by international and historical standards. As David Brooks notes, there is “no evidence” that the shooter was influenced in any way by conservatives like Sarah Palin, and claims to the contrary are simply “vicious charges made by people who claimed to be criticizing viciousness.”

Image credit: Byeskille’s flickr photostream.

Morning Media Summary

by Lee Doren on January 14, 2011

in Economy, Energy, Environment, Legal, Personal Liberty, Regulation, Trade

Tech:

Google Release Chrome 8.0.522, Pays $14,000 in Bug Bounties:
“Google has released version 8.0.552.237 of its Chrome browser, which includes fixes for 16 security vulnerabilities. The company also paid out more than $14,000 in bug bounties for the flaws fixed in this release, including the first maximum reward of $3133.7.”

Global Warming / Environment / Energy:

Oil off on U.S. data but OPEC eyed as $100 in sight:
“A delegate from a Gulf OPEC member state said OPEC will only hold an emergency meeting if oil bursts into triple digits and stays there, although the group’s Gulf members could informally add supply if needed.”

Insurance / Gambling:

Culture Secretary to Crack Down on Online Gambling:

Health / Safety:

House set to vote on healthcare repeal:
“The House had been expected to act this week on the repeal bill, but the vote was postponed after a shooting spree in Arizona killed six people and critically wounded U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords.”

Scientists Make Bird-Flu-Resistant Chickens:
“Scientists have genetically engineered chickens that can’t spread bird flu to their neighbors.”

Economics:

Over 1 million Americans seen losing homes in 2011:
“Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and industry experts say more people will miss payments because of job losses and also loans that exceed the value of the homes they are living in.”

Legal:

Canada Bans Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” for Being Too Offensive. No, I’m Not Kidding:
“Please don’t ever tell me that Canada is a more enlightened country than the U.S. and A.:”

School Giving Tickets, Not Detention Slips, Report Says:
“Court has become a deterrent instead of detention for some North Texas students.”

NJ Politician Proposes License Plates For Bicycles:
“If a proposed bill becomes law in New Jersey, bicyclists will have to pay to register bikes or face a fine.”

Attorney: GOP health care proposal a legal risk:
“Republicans running the Montana Legislature who have launched bills aimed at undermining a federal health care law they believe is unconstitutional may themselves be running up against the state Constitution by trying to order the attorney general to take action.”

Labor:

Indiana AFL-CIO to fight unemployment benefit cuts:
“Indiana has borrowed $1.9 billion from the federal government to keep making payments as unemployment jumped during the recession. The Daniels administration has proposed cutting the payments to those who face seasonal unemployment, such as construction workers, along with tax increases on companies with frequent layoffs.”

Transportation/ Land Use:

Eminent domain clout sought for power lines in MT:
“Utilities and supporters of a high-voltage power line in north-central Montana asked the Legislature Wednesday to make sure eminent domain can be used to build such projects when private landowners won’t let them.”

Report: Start high-speed rail plans in metro areas:
“A study released Tuesday by urban planning initiative America 2050 recommends the U.S. Department of Transportation refocus its high-speed rail hopes on “megaregions” in order to be effective.”

Secret of Lawmaking: It’s All in the Enforcement

by Kathryn Ciano on January 14, 2011

in Legal, Nanny State, Personal Liberty

Lawmakers are quick to DEMAND ACTION when circumstances change. But when it comes to encouraging citizens’ good behavior, sometimes the secret is in simply enforcing the laws on the books.

The law in question here is nothing crazy or outlandish. Code in our nation’s capital includes a law requiring citizens to shovel the sidewalks in front of our houses. Sounds good, right?

What’s crazy and outlandish is the enforcement mechanism. If D.C. residents don’t keep their sidewalks clean, the only recourse the District has is for the Attorney General to file suit against the individual to recover a measly $25 in court.

From local watch-dog blog DCist:

As [DCist] noted in today’s Morning Roundup, a bill being considered by the D.C. Council (PDF) would remedy the issue by allowing agents from the Department of Public Works, the Metropolitan Police Department and the Department of Transportation to issue tickets to residents and businesses who don’t shovel the walk. However, even if (or when) that law passes the Council, it certainly won’t make it out of the 30-day Congressional review for another few months. So until next winter rolls around, we’ll just have to hope that people can be guilted into embracing their neighborly spirit.

Washington has been talking a big sturm and drang about ticketing residents who don’t shovel their front walks this year. The conclusion individuals who pride themselves on responsibility should take?

Shovel your sidewalks, kids. D.C.’s taxes stay so blissfully low for a reason. If you don’t shovel, it’s only a matter of time before the nanny state — or nanny district — will most certainly find a way to do it for a cost more than it’s worth.

Kids These Days Are More Financially Responsible Than You

by Kathryn Ciano on January 13, 2011 · 1 comment

in Culture, Zeitgeist

I wrote yesterday over at The Washington Examiner:

According to a new study from U.S. News and World Report, kids have taken to heart the lessons hard won by their seniors. Young adults (ages 18-34) are more likely to list saving money, developing a budget, and paying down debts as priorities than are older generations.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, younger generations are also more friendly to online financial tools like credit report alerts and auto-pay options for bills and credit cards.

For the report, U.S. News compared statistics and surveyed financial blogs targeted to young people and found that young adults are more optimistic about the economy than their older peers. Perhaps more importantly, the study found that young people assume more personal responsibility for their finances than do seniors.

Sounds like younger generations have incorporated lessons from their older peers. Young adults start off savvy and sophisticated to the measures that will help or hurt us in the long run, like credit scores and the threat of identity theft.

Perhaps this generation will prove the Boomers antidote, restoring our fiscal sanity and quelling the boom/bust cycle for a few years (or at least taming the Ponzi scheme that is Social Security)!

The Meaning of Civility in the Aftermath of the Tucson Shootings

by Hans Bader on January 13, 2011

in Culture, Politics as Usual, Sanctimony, Zeitgeist

In his speech last night, the president called for more civility in American discourse. I discuss what commentators mean by “civility” in a commentary at the Washington Examiner. Appeals to civility are plagued by hypocrisy, double standards, and viewpoint discrimination.

As we noted earlier, there’s no evidence that anything in the current political climate, uncivil or not, contributed to the Tucson shootings, and America’s political climate is fairly tame compared with other cultures and America’s own past.

When the Green River Runs Dry

by Brian McGraw on January 13, 2011

in Energy

Jobs created become jobs destroyed.

Two recent articles highlight the struggle that renewable energy companies run into when taxpayer subsidies are tightened.

The first, a solar panel company in Massachusetts, having received over $50 million in subsidies, is cutting 800 jobs as it struggles to compete with Chinese solar panel production.

Evergreen Solar Inc. will eliminate 800 jobs in Massachusetts and shut its new factory at the former military base in Devens, just two years after it opened the massive facility to great fanfare and with about $58 million in taxpayer subsidies.

The company announced yesterday that it will close the plant by the end of March, calling itself a victim of weak demand and competition from cheaper suppliers in China, where the government provides solar companies with generous subsidies.

Fortunately, in the private sector, taxpayers don’t suffer when their investments don’t come to fruition. China has a distinct advantage in producing solar powers because the cost of labor in China is much lower, and their government has less opposition to producing energy that isn’t cost competitive. The company, a victim of Chinese subsidies, received generous subsidies as well — perhaps not to the extent of Chinese subsidies, but that uncertainty is something that must be taken into account when business decisions are made.

The second story, comes from Georgia, where a cellulosic ethanol plant is closing down after its first batch of production. Range Fuels is said to have received $320 million in federal, state, and private money — the article doesn’t clarify the extent of each source. There also is no information on the amount of cellulosic ethanol produced, though it appears to be more of a test run rather than actual production, so likely a very small amount. Given the federal “mandate” on cellulosic ethanol and continued support for it from the Obama administration, its quite possible that Range Fuels will find private funding to continue future production.

Quick Comparison: Financial Advice from Two Sides of an Age Gap

by Kathryn Ciano on January 13, 2011 · 1 comment

in Economy, Zeitgeist

U.S. News and World Report published a set of data this week suggesting that young adults (between 18 and 34) are more financially responsible than older generations.

Check out two lists U.S. News publishes with those stats: one with the tips young adults offer for financial health, and one published for young adults about how to stay financially sane.

Here’s what young adults recommend, if you’re looking for guidance from these whippersnappers:

1. Decide on your goals after reflecting on the previous year.

2. Share your plans with others.

3. Take small steps.

4. Earn extra money.

5. Budget by the year.

6. Ramp up retirement savings.

Compare that to the (presumably evolving) set of recommendations the older, established financial set suggests for this same age group:

1. Save 1/3 of your income.

2. Don’t scrimp on career-related investments.

3. Cultivate your most ambitious dreams.

4. Pay off all but your cheapest student loans early.

5. Don’t wait to invest until you have the “extra” money.

6. Give back–on your own terms.

It seems like young people are trying to steel themselves for market uncertainty. But older generations, themselves victims of cyclic uncertainty, seem to be encouraging kids to live our dreams and save the best we can on the side.

The lesson, it seems, that older investors want to share is that we can’t really hedge against uncertainty, so we might as well embrace it and enjoy the ride. If we can’t do anything to diminish risk, why not go with the flow? (See this piece for an illustration of harsh financial consequences probably unintended and unforeseen by lawmakers.)

Which advice will you take?

Morning Media Summary

by Lee Doren on January 13, 2011

in Economy, Energy, Environment, Legal, Personal Liberty, Regulation, Trade

Tech:

Person Tweeting Death Wish for Palin Now Wants Privacy:
“Now YouTube is threatening to pull the video because one of the people who sent a tweet has complained that the video violates her privacy.”

In HTML5 war, Microsoft guy slams “President of the United States of Google”:
“Microsoft and Google are fighting yet another public relations battle, this time over the HTML5 video standards to be used in the next generation of Web browsers.”

RapidShare Threatens to Sue Over Privacy Allegations:
“RapidShare, named as a contributor to digital piracy by a MarkMonitor report, has threatened to sue for defamation.”

Spectrum analyzer catches exam cheats in Taiwan:
“Police in Taiwan used a set of spectrum analyzers to catch at least three people suspected of cheating on an exam by monitoring them for mobile phone signals, a first case of its type, the equipment maker said on Wednesday.”

Global Warming / Environment / Energy:

Queensland floods: but at least the ‘endangered’ Mary River cod is safe, eh?:
“This is a guest post from one of our regular commenters, Memory Vault. He’s understandably upset about the Australian floods, which may have claimed more than 70 lives. But what really upsets him is that this disaster could have been prevented. He blames green campaigners so wedded to their ideology they never stop to consider the human consequences. It is to them his bitter letter is addressed.”

Insurance / Gambling:

New Jersey Launches Online Gambling Website:
“I read an intriguing story last month about Toby Ord, a lecturer at Oxford University, who has pledged to donate £1,000,000 to charitable causes over his lifetime. Dr Ord is no millionaire – he currently earns £25,300 per year. He and his wife have pledged to give annually 10% of their income to charitable causes, and they’ve convinced others to do the same through his internet-based organization, Giving What We Can.”

New Jersey Online Gambling Moves Forward:
“The story that has been dominating the news for a long time now is the debate on online gambling in the USA. New Jersey legislators have passed a law that effectively makes internet gambling legal in their state opening the issue to even further speculation. The bill was championed and originated by New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak.”

Health / Safety:

Attorney General DeWine Authorities Action to Challenge Constitutionality of Health Care Law:
“Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that he has officially authorized action seeking to add Ohio to the growing roster of states challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted healthcare law.”

Economics:

The secret to a libertarian state:
“Brown, a 72-year-old Democrat who last week began his third term as governor 28 years after wrapping up his second term, faces a tough campaign to win approval of his budget plan from the Golden State’s fractious legislature.”

S&P, Moody’s Warn On U.S. Credit Rating:
“Two leading credit rating agencies on Thursday cautioned the U.S. on its credit rating, expressing concern over a deteriorating fiscal situation that they say needs correction.”

Legal:

Character & Fitness Fail for Graduate With ‘No Plan’ To Pay Off His Debts:
“Wow. Guy goes to law school, guy racks up a huge amount of debt, guy has no idea how he’ll pay off his debts. Sound familiar? Okay, here’s the twist: the guy failed the “character and fitness” component of the Ohio bar because he has no plan to pay off his loans.”

Obama speech undercuts federal charge for judge’s murder:
“It may have been inadvertent, but a passage in President Barack Obama’s speech to a memorial service it Tucson Wednesday night could undercut a criminal charge federal prosecutors have leveled at suspect Jared Loughner for the death of U.S. District Court Judge John Roll in a shooting rampage Saturday.”

Finally: Dupnik release police reports on Loughner, family:
“There were no missed red flags as far as I can tell. The Arizona Republic has brief summaries of 12 reports, the most damning of which involve him being drunk at school and being caught with pot paraphernalia while driving with his friend. See the Smoking Gun for more details. In fact, until the morning of the shooting, when he was stopped for running a red light but behaved unsuspiciously with the officer, Loughner had no run-ins with county police since 2008 — which at first blush seems surprising but makes sense in light of what his friends have said about him becoming more withdrawn as his illness progressed. It may be that, aside from going to class at community college, he spent much of his time over the past few years in his room, online, hallucinating.”

Appeals court uploads Missouri’s use of tobacco settlement money:
“A Missouri appellate court upheld a ruling exempting the state from a 2003 act directing it to contribute 25 percent of the money from the 1998 tobacco settlement to life sciences starting in 2007.”

Labor:

Cameron threat to toughen up laws on strike ballots:
“David Cameron is threatening to tear up strike laws to prevent militant trade unions holding Britain to ransom.”

Transportation/ Land Use:

High-Speed Rail Called Key to Long-Term Growth:
“Already home to the nation’s only high-speed rail line, Amtrak’s Acela, the Northeast “megaregion” ranks high in parameters for determining where future HSR investment should be focused. So says a new report from the America 2050 initiative, headquartered here.”

Benefits of Cutting White Pages Distribution

by Kathryn Ciano on January 13, 2011

in Environment, Regulation, Tech & Telecom

After asking why so many states get involved in TelCo activity (requiring that phone books get distributed in hard copy, even over phone companies’ vigorous dissent), here are some statistics on the phone books themselves.

First, a list of reasons why states should permit phone companies to switch to electronic-only distribution:

Environmental

- Significant amounts of paper and ink could be saved. Verizon estimates they use 17,000 tons of paper each year printing phonebooks.

- Estimates indicate that 5 million trees are cut down yearly to print the white pages.

- According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), old editions of the white pages generated 840,000 tons of waste in 2008; only 20 percent of phonebooks were recycled.

Meeting Decreasing Demand

- More and more people are using cell phones instead of landlines. In 2008, 20 percent of  Americans did not have a landline.

- Cell phone numbers are typically not listed in the white pages. As a result, many people find that the white pages are not as useful as they once were.

- Many people do not use or want printed copies of the white pages. AT&T estimates that in places where they have been allowed to implement opt-in distribution, only 2 percent of customers have asked for a printed copy.

- Most residential pages listings are already easily available online, free of charge, at websites such as 411.com. With 74 percent of Americans with internet access at home, many Americans can easily assess online white pages

Economic

- Printing the white pages costs taxpayers nearly $17 million in recycling costs per year nationwide.

- No longer printing the white pages would result in an annual savings of this  money. The cost of printing the white pages, which is passed on to consumers, would also be  eliminated, with the hope of lower phone rate.

Compare all of this to what’s happening in the Yellow Pages industry. Yellow Pages operate to a tune of $17 billion in profit a year, and that’s with the strain of having to publish all of that white pages nonsense.

State mandates for phone book distribution — or at least leaving mandate decisions to the states, rather than operating on a national level — began in 1991 with the Supreme Court case Feist v. Rural, which

Finally, in this grab bag of phone book stats, the list of states that have adopted opt-in legislation for phone book distribution is at the very bottom of this report.

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