Xcel getting fat off Colorado ratepayers
The cost of the New Energy Economy is just being felt by Colorado ratepayers and enjoyed by Minnesota-based Xcel Energy as proved by the chart below, which is based on the energy company’s third quarter earnings report. But first a few facts about the economics of utility companies: Investor-owned utilities such as Xcel Energy operate […]
Happy New Year
Best wishes from the Antiplanner to all my faithful friends and loyal opponents. I hope you had a good year this year and that 2011 turns out to be even better. I know I’ve featured my late friend, Chip, here three times already this year, but I’m going to indulge myself and do so just […]
Confused about a constitutional phrase? The law of the Founders often provides the answer
[Rob Natelson is the author of The Original Constitution: What It Really Said and Meant – an objective explanation of the Constitution as understood by the Founders.] One of the most neglected tools for understanding the Constitution is also one of the most important: The Law of the 18th century. The Constitution is a legal […]
Health Insurance Rate Hikes: Unreasonable if Excessive, Excessive if Unreasonable
New insurance premium regulations by the Department of Health & Human Services would prohibit “unreasonable” price increases. An increase is “unreasonable” if it’s “excessive,” while “excessive” means it’s “unreasonably high.” Imagine if speed limit laws worked this way.
Yes! Forest Plans Make Decisions!
A recent decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has upended years of forest planning that were based on a Supreme Court decision made back in 1998. The Supreme Court had ruled that forest plans didn’t really make decisions, so even though the Forest Service spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year writing […]
Mandatory insurance & Counterfeit ‘Responsibility’
The White House’s “individual responsibility” rhetoric masks its drive to subvert individual freedom. “Forcing people to act in a certain way inverts the very notion of responsibility …[which] arises from the fact that humans have free will, and can thus choose to act in ways that benefit — or harm — themselves.
Washington Voters Rein in Big Gov’t
by Barry Poulson In the November election, Washington citizens approved Initiative I-1053 by a more than 64 percent margin, requiring that “Legislative actions raising taxes must be approved by two thirds legislative majorities or receive voter approval.” In other words, Washingtonians have elected to reign in their legislature’s ability to further tax them through a […]
Movie Review: North by Northwest
The somewhat tongue-in-cheek movie review earlier this week reminds me of one of my favorite movies. Not many people realize that North by Northwest was actually based on a true story, though of course Hitchcock changed many of the details to make his action/adventure movie. As cinemaphiles will remember, Cary Grant plays Roger O Thornhill, […]
Don’t Let the PUC Hide the Cost of HB 1365
“I have a moderate proposal” was how PUC Chairman Ron Binz introduced his interpretation of cost recovery provisions in HB 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, legislation that effectively mandates fuel switching from coal to natural gas for almost 1,000 megawatts of base-load electricity generation along the Front Range. It was a very important […]
“Government takeover of health care”: Lie of the year?
PolitiFact has chosen “government takeover of health care” as the 2010 Lie of the Year. But the health care bill is a dramatic increase in government control of medicine. These add up to a good case for the bill’s being a government takeover.
Welcome to the Blogosphere
Martin Engel is a typical northern Californian who says he is “not a Libertarian or absolute free market idealist.” But he has become skeptical of high-speed rail, and through his email list has kept people up-to-date on the various shenanigans at the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Now he has started a blog, High-Speed Train Talk, […]
HB 1365 Update: Xcel Remains Undecided; Coal Interests Begin To Litigate, Promise More
Regarding HB 1365 (a.k.a. the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act), the big news is that Xcel has yet to make up its mind. As I noted here, the Minneapolis-based utility has the authority under HB 1365 to veto the fuel switching implementation plan chosen by the PUC on December 10. So far, Xcel has kept […]
