How to Become an Independent and Solve the Future of Energy Production!

Friday night's theme episode of The Independents—which, shamefully, did not come complete with an open Hit & Run thread—was entitled "Here's the Plan," and included Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on taxes, Glenn Reynolds on higher education, Michael Cannon on health care, and so on.

The co-hosts took their own swings at two sets of plans: How to usher in the future of cleaner energy production, and how to become an independent…in your mind. Watch those segments below:

Comments

[OldMexican]

Kennedy's plan is utter rubbish.

There! I said it!

[sarcasmic]

The entire concept of energy independence is economically ignorant.

[OldMexican]

Totally. It would be like saying you want to be apparel-independent and then spin your own yarn as if you didn't have more productive things to do. It's a facile argument. Kmele's plan - let the market sort it out - is still the most rational approach.

[sarcasmic]

Self sufficiency is the road to poverty.

[Jon Lester]

As Brazil has shown us, we can have energy independence, or we can have cheap energy, but we can't have both. There's still a base cost for producing it.

[Virginian]

The entire concept of energy independence is economically ignorant.

Huh? There's nothing wrong with energy independence, so long as it is the result of a free market. Just like there is nothing wrong with outsourcing energy production, so long as outsourcing is the result of a free market.

I'd argue that if it weren't for the insane levels of federal regulation, most American energy would be domestically produced.

[OldMexican]

Re: Virginian,

Huh? There's nothing wrong with energy independence, so long as it is the result of a free market.

That's not what's being argued. The concept of energy-independence cannot be good in and of itself, that is cannot be the ultimate goal as it would lead to misallocation of resources and waste.

For instance, Hong Kong has NO energy production but that does not mean it does not enjoy vast supplies of energy, precisely because the population has focused their endeavors to be productive in other areas rather than in futile searches for energy sources. The population is thus rich enough to buy its energy from wherever they want.

[GILMORE]

'energy independence' is something of a code-term meaning different things depending on who is tossing it out there.

For many on the right, it actually has more of a Foreign Policy implication, in that what is intended by the term is a 'disengagement with petro-states a la Saudi Arabia - the relationship with whom is complicated by the fact that they wield disproportionate impact on domestic energy prices'

For those on the Left, 'energy independence' really means "spending billions of Federal dollars on all sorts of crony domestic "alternative" energy programs to empower specific Democrat constituents; they use the term while simultaneously opposing things like new Offshore extraction leases or the Keystone XL - believing that 'dependence' on oil is itself the problem.

Neither is particularly realistic in the context of 'actual' energy policy. Which does nothing to reduce the popularity of the term.

[Jon Lester]

There needs to be a campaign, driven and sponsored by industry, of course, to convince people and businesses not to throw away plastic cutlery after one use. A knife, fork and spoon set is just about enough plastic to press a 7" vinyl record.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...which, shamefully, did not come complete with an open Hit & Run thread...

But it did come with an ass-load of speculation. I say Kennedy is on an unannounced, forced vacation for making a stagehand cry.

[GILMORE]

"Friday night's theme episode of The Independents?which, shamefully, did not come complete with an open Hit & Run thread?was entitled "Unbridled Hatred, Bitterness, and Contemptuous Froth"...