Joe Kennedy II Wants More Regulation of the Oil Industry
CAFE HAYEK
Don Boudreaux
Joseph Kennedy II knows neither the relevant history nor economics. Here's a letter that I sent today to the Wall Street Journal in response to Kennedy's essay that appeared yesterday in that paper.
Joseph Kennedy argues for more government regulation of the oil industry ("We Need a New Bargain With Big Oil," March 22). His argument, however, is suffused with ineffective anecdotes (such as the untearful tale of the "young mother, who had to move in with her mother to keep her children warm and healthy") - with mistaken history (Teddy Roosevelt's attack on Standard Oil was for "the good of the nation" only if the nation was served by breaking up a firm that steadily pushed the price of kerosene down) - with naivete about government (Mr. Kennedy assumes that all those additional powers that he demands for government will be exercised by apolitical geniuses) - and with bad economics (his assertion that private firms have no right to charge "whatever they want" reveals his failure to understand that prices convey vital information and incentives to producers as well as to consumers).
So why, exactly, did you publish Mr. Kennedy's uninformed and ill-reasoned essay?
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
cafehayek.typepad.com
How Dare She (by Don Boudreaux)
By Don Boudreaux on Nanny State
I just read Ryan Lizza's March 17th New Yorker essay on Hillary Clinton. That essay inspired this letter:
I'm outraged that Hillary Clinton promises, if elected president, to help people (in her words) "quit smoking, to get more exercise, to eat right, to take their vitamins" ("The Iron Lady," March 17). Perhaps I'm overreacting because I buried my mother on Wednesday, but neither Uncle Sam nor Mrs. Clinton is my parent. That role was performed remarkably well and lovingly by the persons who had responsibility for it: my father and late mother. I, like any self-respecting adult, resent beyond words the impertinence of any stranger presuming to possess the moral authority to intrude into my affairs.
To my own dying day, I will live by the creed instilled in me by my parents: My life is my own, and just as I have no right (or wish) to meddle in the affairs of others, no one - regardless of how exalted her status or how large her electoral majority - has the right to meddle in mine.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
cafehayek.typepad.com
Message 24433027 |
