Article Archive

The Bush administration’s muted reaction to the dictatorial rule of Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf has nothing to do with its stated goal of promoting democracy in Asia and the Islamic world.

Coal is the red-headed stepchild of the American energy business. Yes, coal is dirtier than the other fossil fuels. Yes, it pollutes the air and emits more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than oil or natural gas. And of course, coal mining is a dirty business that scars the earth.

I voted for Obama. On Wednesday, I queued up at a supermarket near my house here in Austin so that I could vote early and avoid the lines on Election Day.

Be careful what you wish for. That’s one of the lessons that should be apparent as the price of oil continues to plunge.

Among Democrats, it is widely accepted that George Bush and Dick Cheney are in the tank for Big Oil. Yet some of the leading players in the U.S. energy business can’t wait for them to leave office.

Lots of people favor free markets. But few are more vociferous about the need for free markets in the energy business than the Cato Institute’s Jerry Taylor.

The question that keeps coming to mind amidst the current financial meltdown is this: why is anyone surprised?

Barack Obama doesn’t want to talk about corn ethanol. And it’s no wonder. In early August, his campaign Web site purged several sections of his energy plan that talked about corn ethanol.

There are many reasons oil is trading above $100 per barrel, including soaring global demand and the fading luster of the U.S. dollar.

Enron was only a prelude to the current market meltdown. In the wake of the Enron bankruptcy—which was briefly the biggest failure in U.S. history—two key lessons were obvious: Financial regulators needed lots more funding and personnel, and derivatives markets that were allowed to operate without proper regulatory oversight and reporting paved the way for financial engineers to privatize profits and socialize costs.

Since 2006, Duncan MacLeod has served as a global vice president in charge of Shell Hydrogen. MacLeod, with Shell for over three decades, has held positions in Venezuela, the Caribbean, Nigeria, Japan, and the Netherlands.

The huge corn ethanol mandates imposed by Congress a few years ago may be the single most misguided agricultural program in modern American history.

On August 22, the American Corn Growers Association endorsed Barack Obama for the presidency. It was only the second time in the group’s 21-year history that it has endorsed a candidate for the White House.

As part of the fall elections, candidates will claim to be vigorous supporters of “energy independence.” They will tell voters, “I’m the one who can best deliver America from the dangerous habit of relying on foreign oil.”