August 2013

Politicized Implementation of U.s. Oil Import Quotas, 1959-1973

The oil import quota system in place from 1959 to 1973 restricted imports to an amount equal to the difference between the federal government’s estimate of domestic oil demand and the estimate of domestic oil supply. But, of course, nothing in industry-protection policy can be easy, so the policy contained a number of adjustments and …

Politicized Implementation of U.s. Oil Import Quotas, 1959-1973 Read More »

Public Choice Theory: Skwire’s First Law

Some time last spring, my friend and occasional KP contributor Sarah Skwire formulated on Facebook what’s now dubbed “Skwire’s First Law”, and we’ve been using it, kicking its tires, and discussing it all summer. In a timely manner (given what we’ve learned this summer about widespread, unwarranted government surveillance and the impending likelihood that yet …

Public Choice Theory: Skwire’s First Law Read More »

“In the Spirit of Apollo, with the Determination of the Manhattan Project”: Nixon’s Project Independence

When Arab oil exporters imposed their embargo on the U.S. and the Netherlands in October 1973, George Schultz noted that the United Kingdom and France faced hardly any problem accessing crude oil supplies.Schultz was Secretary of the Treasury at the time and had earlier been in charge of Nixon’s Cabinet Task Force on Oil Import …

“In the Spirit of Apollo, with the Determination of the Manhattan Project”: Nixon’s Project Independence Read More »

Energy Imports and Energy Security: a View from 1970

A few weeks back George Schultz posted a few happy memories on a Hoover Institution website from his time heading Nixon’s Cabinet Task Force on Oil Import Control way back in 1969 and 1970. The task force was charged with reviewing the existing mandatory oil import quotas, first imposed under the Eisenhower administration, and recommending …

Energy Imports and Energy Security: a View from 1970 Read More »

Will Domestic Health and Tourism Concerns Lead China to Curb Pollution?

Take these two facts and consider them together: (1) China’s air quality has been notoriously poor for the past three decades or so; and (2) according to the BP statistical Review of World Energy, China’s energy use and coal use relative to other countries indicates that any greenhouse-gas-reducing policies by other countries are likely to …

Will Domestic Health and Tourism Concerns Lead China to Curb Pollution? Read More »

Lysander Spooner on Government Surveillance

Put yourself in the 1830s-1840s United States. What was the most disruptive, anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian activity going on at the time? Abolitionist, anti-slavery advocacy, organized nationally through written correspondence. These rabble-rousers threatened to upset the social, cultural, and economic balance of a young nation. Who cares about pesky considerations like the morality of slavery? In that …

Lysander Spooner on Government Surveillance Read More »

Language, Deception, and the People Comprising the Surveillance State

Newspeak, anyone? Language has long been a tool for persuasion and in the fight against tyranny and oppression, and in 1984 George Orwell pointed out how important language is when he featured the effects of the state’s attempts to steer and control the content and use of language. This week, more reporters are revealing the …

Language, Deception, and the People Comprising the Surveillance State Read More »