Senator Blumenthal: Tough on the Issues

Look at Senator Blumenthal's Twitter page, for his views on the DoJ's subversion of the Free Press, the IRS attack on free speech and the NSA's spying on domestic citizens.

He is silent on those issues on his Twitter account.

Check his Facebook page for his views on these issues.

He is silent on these issues on his Facebook page.

Check his website for his views.  Check the Issues tab, and the Newsroom tab. He is again silent on these issues.

But the good news is this:

Blumenthal Issues Letter Calling on Nickelodeon to Prohibit Advertisements that Market Unhealthy Food to Children

That's quite a relief. For a second I thought he wasn't paying attention to some of the important issues of the day.

According to the NY Times Senator Blumenthal decided not to vote on the Patriot Act extension.  He voted for the extension of FISA 

Dick Blumenthal, protecting Nickelodeon watchers from unhealthy food.

Himes Against NSA snooping except when he's for it

Jim Himes is Shocked! Shocked there is gambling in Casablanca!

He decries the overreach of the NSA domestic spying program but doesn't mention he voted FOR the extension of the FISA Amendments Act

“a law so broad and vague that, despite its passage four years ago, we still have little idea how the government is using it.” 

Good for Mr. Himes for voting against the Patriot Act. It's too bad his commitment to liberty didn't extend to voting against FISA.

Note to Choose to Reuse:

Note to Choose to Reuse. See below:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2196481

Grocery Bag Bans and Foodborne Illness

Jonathan Klick 

University of Pennsylvania Law School; Erasmus School of Law; PERC - Property and Environment Research Center

Joshua D. Wright 

George Mason University School of Law

November 2, 2012

Abstract:      

Recently, many jurisdictions have implemented bans or imposed taxes upon plastic grocery bags on environmental grounds. San Francisco County was the first major US jurisdiction to enact such a regulation, implementing a ban in 2007. There is evidence, however, that reusable grocery bags, a common substitute for plastic bags, contain potentially harmful bacteria. We examine emergency room admissions related to these bacteria in the wake of the San Francisco ban. We find that ER visits spiked when the ban went into effect. Relative to other counties, ER admissions increase by at least one fourth, and deaths exhibit a similar increase.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 23

Keywords: plastic, environment, pollution, e-coli

JEL Classification: I18, K32

working papers series  

Brother Can You Spare $300 Million,

From my friend Bill Knabe at the Bipartisan Soapbox

Brother can you spare $300 million?

Oops. Connecticut is coming up short of funds, upwards of $300 million, for its fiscal 2013 budget. Governor Malloy is between a $300 million rock and a promise to not raise taxes hard spot.

The story in the link portrays this as something of a surprise, but it's not. The source of this forecast is something called the Connecticut Consensus Revenue Report. They arrive three times a year and give out year projections of the expected revenues from taxes, other revenue (gaming payments, licenses, transfers) and other sources, mostly Federal grants. The graph below shows the estimated "Taxes less refunds" the biggest chunk, about $15 billion, of the $21 billion total CT revenue expected for FY13. You can see the big Malloy tax increase in October of 2011 and you can see the forecast was optimistic from the very start. The current estimate of total taxes less refunds is $439 million lower than originally expected.

But not to worry. Let's tax the rich. After all, Keith Richards has a house in Connecticut and surely he wouldn't mind paying more of his fair share.

What is it about oil prices that results in politicians taking leave of their senses?

Earlier this week Bob Duff sent a letter to Congress, "Urging Swift Action to Fight Oil Speculation." Duff says, "“We have done what we can at the state level to protect consumers. Now we ask Congress and President Obama to take the torch and crack down on irresponsible oil speculators on Wall Street.”
Carlo Leone, echoes Duff's sentiments and congratulates himself on stopping the prices from going higher.

Almost all of the Connecticut Congressional delegation has come out against Wall Street speculation driving oil prices higher. Jim Himes has been silent on the issue. We congratulate him in not joining the inanity of his colleagues.

It's embarrassing. What is it about oil prices that results in politicians taking leave of their senses. Do we really have to waste more time and energy in another useless investigation that shows oil prices respond to market dynamics. We have never discovered the boogeyman speculator politicians have conjured up.

We frequently disagree with Duff and Leone. But we always thought they were smarter than this. Maybe not. Bob, Carlo, do you really have to be so silly?

Lierbman wants to save Post Office. What next? Bring back Pony Express?

The Connecticut Mirror reports Joe Lieberman wants to save the US Post Office. Our first reaction was, Why? We may as well try to resurrect the Pony Express.

"We're trying everything we can to save this great institution," said Lieberman. This is the same insitution that raises prices for less service and the same one that is increasingly irrelevant due to email, text messaging, FedEx and UPS? The one that is going bankrupt? That great institution? Let it go. Sell the real estate and the little trucks. Use the proceeds to fund the pension obligation. Turn off the lights.

 

 

How Solar Subsidies Wastes Money, Increases Electricity Prices and Hurts the Poor

The CT Mirror has a story today  on Connecticut's solar subsidy program, "Controversy flares in new solar program for homeowners." In our rush to pat ourselves on the back for being green, what we ignore is solar subsidies wastes money, increases electricity prices and hurts the poor.

The gist of the story is solar subsidies aren't big enough and don't last long enough. That is, the pigs at the trough want more and more and more. From their perspective it is entirely fair for the average ratepayer to pay more for electricity in order to subsidize their business.

The math just doesn't work. Connecticut ratepayers pay about 18.26 cents per kilo watt hour for residential electricity. (see page 6). The relevant metric in solar is "levelized costs" which is the equivalent cost per kilo watt hour for a solar system over the life of the system. Levelized costs will vary based on the cost of the solar system, the installation costs, the efficiency of the system and the amount of sun the system can collect. In Connecticut the levelized costs for a solar system is about 30 cents per kilowatt hour. In order to make a solar system competitive what the government has to do is make sure everyone doesn't get a fair shot, everyone doesn't do their fair share, and everyone doesn't play by the same rules, to coin a phrase.

The system is rigged in Connecticut in three ways. First there is "The Combined Public Benefits Charge represents a combination of three charges formerly known as: "Conservation and Load Mgmt Charge, Renewable Energy Investment Charge, and Systems Benefits Charge."That is, we pay a direct fee to subsidize solar energy, it's about 3% of our electric bill. Second the state mandates the amount of electricity that must be generated by renewable energy. This results in less investment for natural gas and other traditional power sources, which are lower cost than solar and wind. Third, the state gives direct subsidies to solar producers and residential customers to install solar.

We end up then with higher costs, to subsidize a politically connected group of businesses to install solar systems mostly on homes of high net worth residents (the average costs of a residential solar system tops $40,000) and the poor get hurt most since electricity is a bigger part of their budget.