Back in 1987, World magazine published an article by veteran journalist Garry John Moes that asked, “Is there a connection between Socialist doctrine and the homosexual rights movement?”That striking lead disturbed me. While the article presented clear evidence that there is, in fact, such a connection, it didn’t answer a corollary question: Why is there a connection between homosexuality and socialism?Why, for instance, did Plato endorse both socialism and … [Read more...]
Biden’s Gas Tax Suspension: Meager Help and Deficit Spending
Today President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass legislation suspending the federal tax on gasoline for July through September, “to give Americans a little extra breathing room as they deal with the effects of Putin’s war in Ukraine.”Not Much SavingsPut the emphasis on “little.”The average driver drives 1,125 miles per month, and the average car gets about 25 miles per gallon, so the average driver uses about 45 gallons per month. The federal gas tax is 18 cents per gallon. Multiply that by … [Read more...]
Bad Ideas Have Bad Consequences
If you haven’t noticed rising prices here in America for the past twelve months, you’re either Rumpelstiltskin or dead. And if you didn’t expect rising prices, either you’ve not been paying attention to American monetary, fiscal, welfare, and pandemic policies or you’ve not understood basic economics.So, May’s year-on-year “inflation” rate was 8.6%, following April’s 8.3%, continuing a rapid rise that started in October. (Why the scare quotes around inflation? Because properly speaking … [Read more...]
Taxing Sheep and Cow, Uh, Burps
Get ready, farmers. The climate catastrophists are after you!New Zealand's Ministry for Environment on June 8 released a draft plan to tax farmers for the methane their sheep and cattle produce---because, of course, that methane causes climate change, aka global warming, and we all know that's an existential threat to humanity.Except that the moderate warming actually to be expected from rising greenhouse gas levels will bring benefits as well as costs, and it's entirely possible that the … [Read more...]
Will SCOTUS Rein in the EPA?
Back in 1970, Congress passed the Clean Air Act (CAA), and for the next two decades or more actions taken under it significantly improved the quality of America’s air. In 1990 it passed significant amendments to it, and some of these also had salutary effects.But, combined with an increasing tendency to allow administrative agencies, especially the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to impose regulations without a clear statutory basis, and a tendency of courts to defer to agencies’ “expert … [Read more...]
Did Global Warming Cause Chicago Heat Wave Deaths?
Temperatures barely climbed into the 90s and only for a couple of days. But the discovery of the bodies of three women inside a Chicago senior housing facility this month left the city looking for answers to questions that were supposed to be addressed after a longer and hotter heat wave killed more than 700 people nearly three decades ago.Now, the city — and the country — is facing the reality that because of climate change, deadly heat waves can strike just about anywhere, don't only fall in … [Read more...]
States’ Opposition to Federal Social Cost of Carbon Use Survives Supreme Court Decision
For years the federal government, especially its Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has sought to use “social cost of carbon” (SCC) as justification, at the cost of billions of dollars, for regulations making it more difficult to drill for and use fossil fuels. That practice can continue—for now.On May 26, the Supreme Court declined a request from 11 states to block the Biden Administration from using the estimated SCC in regulatory activities. The states had argued that the modeling to … [Read more...]
Must Fossil Fuel Extraction Be Stopped to Limit Global Warming?
“Fossil Fuel Extraction Must Be Stopped to Limit Global Warming.” That’s the headline of an article at Earth.com, an environmental activist website. It purports to convey the message of a study published May 17, 2022, in Environmental Research Letters, “Existing fossil fuel extraction would warm the world beyond 1.5°C,” though the study makes no such claim.According to the study, the world is already committed, through its 25,000 oil and gas fields and 3,000 coal mines, to … [Read more...]
Unlikely Source Throws Cold Water on Climate Catastrophism
The Biden administration wants America to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve "net-zero" by 2050. Other advanced nations have similar goals. They all need a bucket of cold water in the face.The New York Times Company is as unlikely a source of that icy bucket as you can imagine. Call it Climate Alarmism Central.But last month, it dashed that bucket of cold water in the face of millions of climate alarmists. In New York Times Magazine it published an interview with Vaclav … [Read more...]
Recovering the Moral Foundations of Economics
Editor's note: This piece was originally published by the Acton Institute over a decade ago. Many years later, this piece still provides a poignant reflection on economics, socialism, environmentalism, and Christian ethics. During the summer of 1980, I met weekly for breakfast, prayer, and study with a minister friend of mine. A warm-hearted, intelligent man, Bob Hager kept challenging me to broaden my interest from the biblical studies, theology, and apologetics that were my great loves to … [Read more...]
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