energy

Allow People To Interact

Dave Davis Commentary, Policy, The Long Journey to "More", Uncategorized , , , ,

All the noise about the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) lopping off unneeded chunks of the Federal Government and the horrified response by the big government-favoring progressive left got me thinking about what the purpose of Government is in the modern world and how we can match it to those goals.

My take on the question will shock and horrify others, but hear me out. The purpose of modern Government is to provide the structure for free and open markets to thrive. These markets are another way of saying people can freely and safely interact.

Markets are the best way to allocate resources to better the human condition. Nothing, including the various forms of socialism, mercantilism, feudalism, or tribalism, has lifted humanity more than free and open markets. If you don’t accept this, I urge you to read “Super Abundance.” As the structures necessary for markets to thrive expanded, humanity’s living standards have dramatically improved, even as its numbers have grown.

The reasons for market superiority aren’t hard to find. Billions of people using the latest information will arrive at better decisions and make them quicker than the relatively few elites in Government. In the information age, this advantage only grows.

Markets are the most democratic form of choice. People vote for their preferences. These are hard choices because their money is involved rather than theoretical. We are all human, so markets make mistakes momentarily but self-correct as new information enters the continuous exchange. We invest funds to receive a proper return. If the profit potential leaves, so do we.

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Rethinking World Energy

Dave Davis Uncategorized , , , ,

Trump’s energy policies are far more practical and less costly than Biden’s. Relying on natural gas as a competitive, lower-emitting fuel source while we seek even lower or non-emitting sources at a competitive price is a good fit for the U.S. Unlike the Biden Troika, the supply line is all domestic.

Where the Trump policy may fall short is on the global stage. If natural gas is our transition fuel, it makes even more sense to promote it worldwide. In my last post, I drew attention to the coal boom in Asia. As we know, emissions will never fall worldwide until we rein in coal use. We’re doing it here with Natural Gas. With sensible policies, the same is possible globally.

Delivering lots of stable energy is crucial for providing better lives enjoyed by more advanced nations. Look around your abode and count everything you plug in without a thought that makes your life better. For three-quarters of a billion people, this is just a dream.

While Asia has made great strides in providing electricity, albeit using a lot of coal, Sub-Sahara Africa has the most people without power and the fastest-growing population:

The area isn’t bereft of natural gas—just the opposite. There is plenty of gas to exploit, but the problem is attracting the capital and expertise to exploit the deposits—financial institutions in the developed world, like Biden, favor windmills and solar panels.

This mindset has resulted in bizarre projects like Rift Valley windmills. The magnificent area in East Africa is a major migratory route for birds and animals, and we all know windmills and birds don’t mix. They detract from an area’s beauty. Would we stand for windmills at the Grand Canyon? Yet this project gets financing.

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