Electricity prices are sky-rocketing. There’s no end in sight. What does the Prime Minister think the solution is? Send more letters:
The situation will only get worse as more states introduce their own Renewable Energy Targets. On Friday in The Herald Sun, Simon Breheny called Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ claim that he could reduce energy prices by increasing red tape “hogwash”.
And in The Australian today David Uren described the PM’s much-touted ‘Snowy 2.0’ scheme as something that “could have been scripted by comedian Rob Sitch“.
The flood disaster unfolding in Houston is not a sign of climate change, as meteorologist (and contributor to Climate Change: The Facts 2017) Dr Roy Spencer explained on Monday. As Politico explained on Tuesday, government intervention did make things worse though by encouraging people to build in flood prone areas.
Wealth in Australia is the third most evenly distributed in the developed world. This is what Daniel Wild told MPs and Senators in the IPA’s latest Parliamentary Research Brief sent today.
The ABC won’t stop asking us about statues! After statues in Sydney were defaced by activists, Evan Mulholland explained to ABC News Weekend Breakfast on Saturday why he thought “we should have more statues, not less”. Georgina Downer explained to ABC News Weekend Breakfast on Sunday that “we should never seek to eradicate our history”.
A virtue signalling food store in Germany recently emptied its shelves of imported products to highlight the “need for diversity”. As Mark Perry explained at AEIdeas last week, it unintentionally proved the importance of free trade. Perhaps they should check out the “ Free Trade” section of the Cato Institute’s awesome Encyclopedia of Libertarianism, which went online on Tuesday.
Article of the week:
Charles Kesler’s excellent 5,200 word essay from the latest issue of Claremont Review of Books on “The Old New Left and the New New Left” contrasts the intellectual depth of 1960s progressives with the radical shallowness of the left today (the article was also excerpted on Real Clear Politics on Monday).
IPA Staff Pick:
Each week an IPA staff member shares what they have enjoyed recently. Today: Daniel Wild
Chuck DeVore (who visited the IPA in 2016) explained in Forbes how protecting property rights by dismantling red tape and government intervention is the best way to help the poor. For instance, Chuck writes “many policymakers know they have a housing problem but instead double down on regulation and market intervention…This, in turn, pushes rents even higher, restarting the whole, dismal cycle.”
Here’s what else the IPA said this week:
- Matthew Lesh, Australians can’t be silent amid the misery of Venezuela – The Australian
- Daniel Wild, Rebelling against fake experts – IPA Review
- Andrew Bushnell, Why we need criminal justice reform – Sky News
- Georgina Downer, Statues, same sex marriage and executive pay– ABC
- Evan Mulholland, GST, inequality and same sex marriage– Sky News
