Unintended consequences abound when playing favorites with special interests.
During a January 19th panel discussion at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Tesla Motors general counsel Todd Maron said: “We make money from one thing: car sales and car sales alone.” In reality, electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla Motors loses more than $4,000 on every car it sells on a “full-cost” basis (keep in…
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This week is National Sunshine Week, a time when many journalists across America publish stories on government spending and transparency. One organization that needs more sunshine is the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) at the University of California at Berkeley, a union propaganda mill disguised as an academic think tank and…
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Fresh from its near-death experience in this year’s congressional budget hearings and after yet another two interminable weeks of begging for dollars from its listeners and viewers, America’s taxpayer-financed public broadcasting system (PBS) has announced plans to launch a new television channel dedicated to programming available only to our British cousins. (See Paul Sonne,…
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In a December 1 article in Wired, “In Role as Kingmaker, the Energy Department Stifles Innovation,” former Tesla Motors Chief Marketing Officer Darryl Siry critiques the federal government’s campaign of “green” corporate welfare for the American automobile industry (Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program). With the recent Climategate revelations that indicate that the stampede…
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Walmart takes a lot of heat for its alleged effects on wages, employment, labor standards, and community quality-of-life. In research we’ve worked on over the last few years, my co-authors and I have examined the merits of these claims and have found that a lot of this heat is undeserved. Rigorous empirical research shows…
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There are some definite shifts to the left in Obama’s governance, as well as some symbolic or even real gestures toward centrist pragmatism on issues like the environment and abortion. But the general thrust can broadly be seen as hyper-interventionist. Although some depredations under Obama have picked up their pace and some under Bush…
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