In order to build homes today, small operators can’t get land entitlements.  The reason for this is because cities now demand private builders pay for roads and parks in advance, and build them at the same time as the homes are built.  This is extremely costly, and hardly anyone can play this game.  And what [...]

Unintended consequences are always part of any new scheme, and emissions trading is no exception.  The European model ought to provide plenty of cautionary examples.  Free market advocates claim emissions trading is preferable to outright taxation, but ignore the fact that in both cases, a huge and mostly arbitrary transfer of wealth is occurring.  Emissions [...]

Last week Bill Moyers interviewed FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, and throughout the interview, Copps decried the consolidation that is occurring in media, and insisted that preserving debate is essential if we are to preserve democracy.
There are a lot of changes today - on the internet there are literally billions of new sources of media [...]

There is a writer for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Marlo Lewis, whose work we republished (with permission) in December 2006 as an EcoWorld feature story.  In his report, “Al Gore’s ‘Truth:’ One-Sided, Misleading, Exaggerated, Speculative, Wrong,” the author skewers the global warming alarmists.  We find Mr. Lewis’s style to be a bit confrontational, and by no [...]

In many cases it’s that stark:  Either you preserve and expand forests, or you deforest in order to grow biofuel.  If you believe, as we do, that tropical forests are far better for the global climate than biofuel plantations - in terms of all three popular measures; global warming, extreme weather, and droughts - then this [...]

Everybody’s seen them; homes crammed so close together you can’t park a car in the driveway, you can’t put a trampoline in the backyard, and forget about planting a tree.  This is the “smart growth” that Californians are having shoved down their throats, and there’s nothing smart about it.  By contrast, in the rural communities [...]

Last week General Motors announced they will co-develop a lithium ion battery for their “Volt” electric car in partnership with A123 Systems, one of the leading companies in the world developing these next generation batteries.  In the announcement, GM stated “A123 is a forerunner in nanophosphate-based cell technology, which, compared to other lithium-ion battery chemistries, [...]