special interests

Al Gore Backtracks on Corn Ethanol

by Brian McGraw on November 22, 2010 · 3 comments

in Energy, Ethanol

Whoops. Turns out Gore thinks he made a mistake; it wasn’t such a good policy in the first place. Who would have known that politicians, even ones as concerned with “saving” the world as Mr. Gore is, do not excel at picking technology winners and are subject to capture by special interests?

Via Reuters.

Though Mr. Gore cast the tie-breaking vote in support of the RFS, he can’t wave the same magic wand and undo the damage:

With a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Al Gore, the Senate upheld today an Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring that ethanol and other renewable fuels get a share of the gasoline additives market.

And here we are, 16 years later, with a still-increasing corn ethanol mandate and tax credit.

Gore makes a number of candid remarks about his intentions and the effect that lobbies have on “green” energy subsidies:

It’s hard once such a programme is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going.

One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president.

One wonders if President Obama, given his tacit support, will make similar remarks in a few years.

Net Neutrality and Rent-Seeking

by Ryan Young on October 5, 2009 · 1 comment

in Deregulate to Stimulate, Economy, Regulation, Tech & Telecom

Here is a letter I sent recently to The Wall Street Journal:

September 22, 2009

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281

To the Editor:

Your article “Bad News for Broadband” (editorial, Sept. 22) hints at, but does not make, a key point: net neutrality proposals are driving a wedge between service providers like AT&T and content providers like Google.

Strange, is it not? Their interests are actually closely aligned. If AT&T upgrades its network, Google benefits from the increased bandwidth. If Google improves its products, AT&T benefits from increased demand for broadband.

Net neutrality proposals give companies the incentive to seek rents at each other’s expense when they could be benefitting from each other’s innovations instead. This must be music to the ears of lobbyists, but how sad for consumers.

Ryan Young
Fellow in Regulatory Studies
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Washington, D.C.

Impossibly Awesome Cash for Clunkers Video

by Ryan Lynch on August 7, 2009 · 1 comment

in Culture, Economy, Mobility, Odds & Ends, Politics as Usual, Regulation, Stimulus to Nowhere, Zeitgeist

Reason TV hits a home run:

Massive savings from your own pocket!