Comments on: Unvarnished Technocracy

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:22:24 +0000

Coyote, Amazingly, the EU seems to be catching on that biofuels are a self-imposed death sentence.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/14/business/biofuels.php

In a sign of shifting attitudes toward biofuels, European Union officials are proposing to ban imports of certain fuel crops whose production could do more harm than good in fighting climate change, according to a draft law seen Monday.

Oh, wait, I stand corrected... Once again, the only villians here are Third World countries. Protectivism wins the day again!

In its draft, the EU requires that biofuels from crops grown on some kinds of land covered in forest, wetlands and grasslands as of January 2008 should be banned for use in the 27-nation bloc.

At the same time, the EU does not want to abandon biofuels because of the contribution they could still make to increasing Europe's energy independence.

The draft EU rules probably would have the biggest effect on growers of palm oil in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Matt Drinkwater, a biofuels analyst with New Energy Finance in London.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:22:32 +0000

Warren Buffet and Bill Gates already voted with their money when they moved it into charitable foundations to avoid death taxes that the NYT’s beloved Congress would have used to bribe voters.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:56:16 +0000

"Public spending is allocated democratically among competing demands."

Typical statist error. They assume that the government would be free from corruption and abuse of power in distributing money.

"Rich benefactors can spend on anything they want, and they tend to spend on projects close to their hearts."

Translation: It's not fair! Some nonprofits get less money than others!

"A study last year of 8,000 gifts of $1 million or more to 4,000 nonprofits found that 44 percent went to higher education, 16 percent to medical institutions and 12 percent to arts and cultural organizations. Only 5 percent were dedicated to social service groups."

The error here is to assume that all nonprofits need the same amount of money. Do the arts need as much funding as higher education, more, or less?

"Philanthropic contributions are usually tax-free. They directly reduce the governmentâ€™s ability to engage in public spending."

So they've identified the problem (unequal distribution of philanthropic donations) and the culprit (freedom to contribute as you wish). Now on to the solution:

"Perhaps the government should demand a role in charitiesâ€™ allocation of resources in exchange for the tax deduction."

Translation: Maybe the government should take away some of your freedoms to ensure equality of outcome.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:29:49 +0000

I’m glad someone else noticed that “probably”. I was reading this editorial while waiting for one of my classes to start and I gasped so loud when I read the line that people turned around to see what the fuss was about.