External Reflection

The U.S. House of Representatives will be voting on the Renewable Portfolio Standard next week. What’s that you may ask, well its a standard set by the Federal Government that requires a certain amount of energy be derived from renewable sources. Sounds good to me. But wait how is this paid for, oh yeah that’s right, its a subsidy to renewable technologies, paid for by taxes.

Now don’t get me wrong I fully support renewable energy, but why should I pay for someone else’s moral preference. If someone wants to pay more for their electricity, since renewables cost more, then I fully support that choice. Or better yet, they can pay for energy saving technologies or simply turn off their lights and electronics. We all make certain choices in our life that reflect our moral preferences. The issue I take up with, is someone enforcing their morals on me, by requiring that I pay for renewable energy by federally supported subsidies, which get paid for by the taxes taken from me.

If someone wants to support renewable technologies, then send a few bucks to a company developing those technologies. Or ,in some states you have the ability to select on your bill that your energy comes from renewables, so do that and pay the premium associated with such a choice. Do this instead of calling your representative to request that they pass the a national Renewable Portfolio Standard. Let others create their own morals and make their own decisions. And if you don’t like the decisions that make then convince them of why a different decision is better, don’t force them to do so through subsidies paid with taxes.

Technorati Tags: U.S. House of Representatives, Renewable Portfolio Standard, Federal Government, energy saving technologies, subsidies

As most of you are aware President Bush commuted ‘Scooter’ Libby’s prison sentence of 2.5 years. The media has focused on not only this order by the President but over the past few months on the entire CIA Leak and grand jury investigation in which Scooter Libby has been involved. Libby was convicted of obstructing justice in a federal probe of the leak of former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity.

This all started when Valerie Plame Wilson’s husband published an Op-Ed in the New York Times, ‘What I Didn’t Find in Africa.’ Mr. Wilson makes the claim that after visiting Africa some of the intelligence used to support the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Michael Novak then wrote a response to Mr. Wilson’s Op-Ed, ‘Mission to Niger,’ where he rebutted Wilson’s findings and exposed the identity of his wife. So all this resulted in grand jury investigations, in which Libby was found guilty of obstructing justice by lying to the grand jury about how he acquired and subsequently released information concerning the employment of Valerie Plame Wilson.

So why would President Bush commute Libby’s sentence. To help out a friend, to pay back a favor. That’s not my conclusion, I don’t believe elected officials would blatantly put themselves in such a situation unless it was in their complete self-interest. So what self-interested motivation would President Bush have to commute Libby’s sentence. One possibility is the executive branch now is asked questions about Bush’s Libby Order, as opposed to questions about the justification of the War in Iraq. This is the simple application of a Red Herring, taking the focus away from an important question to one that is less important. Do we as citizens really care more about Bush’s Libby Order which affects one mans life for 2.5 years or the justification of a the War in Iraq that we all have to pay for and has killed over 3,600 and wounded over 26,000 members of our military.(Iraq Casualties) Which one should we care about?

Technorati Tags: CIA Leak, Scooter Libby, Valerie Plame Wilson, What I Didn’t Find in Africa, Mission to Niger, President Bush, Red Herring, War in Iraq, Iraq Casualties

The economics lesson of the day comes from The Onion’s American Voices (Link)

Sales and rentals of adult DVDs are down 30 percent due to the rise in homemade Internet porn. What do you think?

“That’s the problem with the porn biz. No matter how low your price is for having an entire billiard-ball set shoved up your ass, there’s always some punk waiting in the wings willing to do it for free.”

This brings up the concept of Marginal Utility. That is the additional added utility of a good or services, or the additional disutility of time spent doing something (e.g. working). Utility being a generic term for happiness. So here one person has a negative marginal utility of shoving billard-balls up their assand thus must get compensated for doing so. This compensation will be slightly greater than the disutility of shoving billard-balls up his ass resulting in a positive addition to his utility. Where as another is willing to do it for free, and even presumably pay someone to do it, because they have a positive marginal utility of this action adding to their total utility.

Technorati Tags: The Onion, billiard-ball set, Marginal Utility, disutility, compensation

Link to Animated Introduction to the Philosophy of Liberty

The above link is a pretty neat little overview of the Philosophy of Liberty. So those who have ever had an interest in what my political views are, watch this clip.

One of my favorite quick reading sites is The Onion. Today I was checking out the quotes from the American Voices section of their website. The topic of interest was the fact the the U.S. Postal Service increased the price of a stamp to 41 cents. They have a quote from a man who states, “Damn it, what did they do with the 68 cents I gave them for postage last year?” Now that’s pretty funny. I remember coming across a large number that represented how much money the U.S. Postal Service losses each year, versus the large sum that private carriers like DSL, FedEx, and UPs make each year. I’ll try to write up something on this later, but for now enjoy The Onion.

Technorati Tags: The Onion, U.S. Postal Service

I have the privilege of conducting research on the regulation of natural gas companies in Australia and came across the below coat of arms.

“The generally accepted symbols of Australia are golden wattle, the red kangaroo, and the emu.Although they are not officially proclaimed as national symbols, they feature in the Coat of Arms pictured.

The Coat of Arms of the State of Western Australia was granted by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, by Royal Warrant dated the 17th day of March, 1969.

The Black Swan was first recorded by the Dutch navigator Vlamingh in January 1697 in the Swan Estuary. Although it is to be found throughout Australia, this graceful bird has been regarded with special affection by many generations of Western Australians and has long been used to identify things Western Australian.”

(Source: Irish Australia on the Web)

Today this picture caught my eye. There is just something about seeing this Afghan with his beard, pseudo-military outfit, and weapon of choice next to a clean and surprisingly refreshing looking glass of Gin. I doubt the American military is utilizing what I have named the ‘drink-and-be-merry’ plan, but this picture reminds me of its potential. Instead of shooting at each other and engaging in military battles, the US Forces and the Taliban should simply enjoy a few drinks together. Maybe not Gin, but perhaps some coke and whiskey, something tells me the Taliban would really enjoy some Makers Mark. Then instead of our taxes funding this military campaign we could have lotteries in Afghanistan where the winners are sent to a resort in the Middle East for a weekend of ‘relaxation, spas, and golf.’ The only way you could get a raffle ticket is if you put down your arms and worked in the economy. Then perhaps instead of our taxes being used to invade and occupy Iraq we could just spend a 2-3 billion building a resort in Iraq for those who win the Afghanistan’s ‘Worker’s Lottery’. That would be the same cost as occupying both countries for 2-3 weeks. A win-win situation.

Technorati Tags: Taliban, Makers Mark, Afghanistan, Middle East

Waking Life
One of the best movies I have ever seen.