It is just amazing to me that some people -- regardless of government's frequent and overwhelming failures -- think the solution to everything is higher taxes.  The Washington Post's  story is ludicrous. Take this passage, for example: Livestock farming is a dynamo of greenhouse-gas emissions, contributing roughly 18% of the global total, in the form of carbon dioxide, methane from cow burps and nitrous oxide from fertilizer. This is not to mention the associated deforestation , pollution and biodiversity loss, all of which also warp the climate.  There are two types of cattle: those use for dairy and those used for meat. In the United States, the cattle used for beef (Kansas is the #1 beef producing state) graze in grasslands like the Flint Hills and Gyp Hills.  This area isn't, and never was, a forest.  The area is known as the "Tallgrass Prairie," because it is the last area of natural tallsgrass left in North America. It is the #1 area for cattle grazi...

If you've been on Twitter since the first of the year, you've probably seen numerous tweets from alternative energy advocates telling us not to worry: that affordable energy solutions for intermittent energy sources are available now. The latest fairytale: "All we need is new age batteries to capture the excess energy from wind on windy days and sunshine on calm days for use when conditions are calm and overcast."  My own independent research tells me just the opposite. What exists today at the individual home scale is expensive in any case. And, that type of storage is currently unavailable at grid-scale at any price.  So, when I saw yet another of these claims, I finally decided to force the issue so I could report back for my readers.  As expected, he didn't reply. Given the sudden proliferation of these claims, I've wondered what is going on. This is an educated guess, only: Given the collapse in the credibility of "cheap, reliable," wind power,...

Like Al Gore, John Kerry is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But, both are sharp enough to seize an opportunity to propagandize when it comes to global warming. This comment, and others, are a result of the recent heatwave in the Northwest .  The proposals to institute a "carbon tax" are back and I believe the meme below seems appropriate. Remember: So far, global warming has been a net benefit to humanity. You just aren't allowed to hear about it . 

The Swiss have rejected imposing a climate tax on themselves.  As we have observed many times, it is easy to tell a pollster that one is concerned about the environment but giving politicians more power to spend your hard-earned money or reduce your lifestyle is something very different.  Carbon taxes are a terrible idea -- the polls will spend it on their pet projects and their constituents will be that much worse off. Power, once given to politicians, is very hard to reclaim.  The far better way to achieve decarbonization of energy is through nuclear power and, where possible, hydroelectric power. 

Licensed from iStock Wichita's mayor, Brandon Whipple, is proposing that Wichita city council enact a law requiring a business license. Wichita, the home of companies like Pizza Hut, Learjet, Coleman, Cessna, White Castle, Koch Industries, Freddys Frozen Custard, and many other national brands, has never had a requirement to have a business license. While I believe Mayor Whipple is well-intended, a business license is a terrible idea and I would like to explain why. His reasons in favor of a mandatory business license: It is "only" $20; as he puts it, "the cost of two Big Mac meals." The city needs a database of all businesses. The money would fund a loan program for small businesses. I have both philosophical and practical reasons to be against it. Let's begin with the above. We all know it will be $100, or more, in a few years. It is easy to raise taxes on the backs of businesspeople because there are relatively few of us. Why not begin by...

For years, Yale and George Mason universities have had 'institutes' to market global warming gloom and doom to the public. A significant amount of the funding comes from our tax dollars. I've often said if the science is good, it will be convincing. It doesn't need slick Madison Avenue advertising techniques. Now we learn the federal government is looking to sell us a coronavirus vaccine in much the same way it has tried to sell us global warming. Here is a partial list of the messaging it is trying out along with Yale University. I don't like the idea of slick marketing for a coronavirus any more than I like it for global warming. 

There is a new tax with the money earmarked for the TSA. The insiders in Washington say, "nothing succeeds like failure." More money for the TSA is the epitome of that truism. Professor Reynolds and I are in complete agreement: Glenn Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor and TSA critic who blogs at Instapundit.com, slammed the fee as good money after bad — the TSA has been widely criticized for incompetence and abusive searches. “I’m not against user fees,” Reynolds said. “But this is not a user fee. This is a fee for being used. I don’t think the TSA does any good at all. Every dollar that goes to them is a waste. More dollars is more waste. I think the TSA should be abolished.” Couldn't agree more.