NoCoPolitics.com

This Would be Hard to Make Up if it Weren't True

The nanny-state food police are getting more aggressive.  This is from Scotland:

BUSINESSES will be encouraged to monitor the weight of their employees as part of a £56m Government plan to tackle Scotland's obesity epidemic.

Workers will type in their weight every morning – using Government-provided software – allowing occupational health staff to spot significant weight gain and offer early help, under the scheme unveiled by ministers.

(Hat tip: Junk Food Science)

Price Controls in the Futures Markets

Sebastian Mallaby explains in a Washington Post op-ed.

So it's time for a quick refresher: Richard Nixon's early-1970s price controls were a disaster. Administering the controls on energy alone took an estimated 5 million man-hours per year and punished motorists with gas lines. Repeating this experiment by clamping down on oil trading is like burning your hand on a gas stove and then sitting on a barbecue.

Our Trash Future in Fort Collins?

There's been a big push in the past few years to give more and more control of our waste management over to the Fort Collins City Government.  This can come in the form of "districting" the current trash haulers or creating a city-run utility to pick up garbage.  Both have been proposed by overzealous recycling advocates.

This would be destructive to locally-owned family-run businesses.  It would inevitably cause higher rates by eliminating competition.  It would eliminate your ability to switch vendors if you're unhappy with customer service. 

But more ominous, however, would be the amount of control it would give to nanny-state bureaucrats to tell you what you can throw away, how much waste you can produce, and when. 

Right now, you can choose what you recycle or compost.  Put the City of Fort Collins in charge...

Right now, you can choose the date your trash is picked up.  Put the City of Fort Collins in charge...

Right now, if you've got a complaint that's not addressed by your trash hauler, you can switch haulers.  They know this, so they're responsive to their customers.  Put the City of Fort Collins in charge...

Right now, if you have some friends over and would like an extra pickup, you can call your trash hauler.  Put the City of Fort Collins in charge...

So what does it look like when the government can tell you what you can throw away, how much, and when?

WHITEHAVEN, England — The citizens of Whitehaven try, really they do. They separate out their cans, their paper, their cardboard and their glass, and they recycle them all. They compost. They jump up and down on their trash to cram it into their government-issued garbage cans, and they put the trash out for collection at exactly 7 a.m., twice a month.

But when Gareth Corkhill, a bus driver, was fined $215 — and given a further $225 fine and a criminal record when he failed to pay — for leaving his garbage can lid slightly ajar this spring, Whitehaven’s residents banded together in dismay...

Threatened with steep fines if they dump too much trash, local governments around the country are imposing strict regimens to force residents to produce less and recycle more.

Many now collect trash every other week, instead of every week. They restrict households to a limited amount of garbage, and refuse to pick up more. They require that garbage be put out only at strict times, reject whole boxes of recyclables that contain the odd nonrecyclable item and employ enforcement officers who issue warnings and impose fines for failure to comply.

Nominations Open

Nominate someone for the Larimer County Environmental Stewardship Awards...

And each year, county residents have an opportunity to recognize even more individuals, businesses and organizations that are working to create and foster sustainability. Nominations are open until Aug. 29 for the Larimer County Environmental Stewardship Awards.

The 6th CD

Wil Armstrong is lining up a powerhouse list of endorsers in the primary against Mike Coffman. 

"Big Oil Bob"? Bring it on.

So contends Jessica Peck Corry, writing at PoliticsWest.  She contends that higher energy prices could benefit Republican candidates who are pushing for more exploration and production.

Nicknaming him "Big Oil Bob," ProgressNow claims Schaffer is "little more than a puppet of the Big Oil industry."

But the strategy is misplaced, especially as escalating oil costs raise the cost of just about every product we buy as consumers. As Denver Post editorial page editor Dan Haley recently pointed out, "The threshold at which you begin to make lifestyle changes depends on your income level and on, well, whether or not you're a masochist. But it appears that $4 may be the threshold that begins to shift the prevailing political winds."

Schaffer, on staff with a major energy company, has actually worked to improve relationships with international energy leaders and oil-rich governments....

But for savvy Republican candidates, they should remember this: Voters this November want a responsible energy policy that will balance our energy needs with reasonable protections for the environment. They are starting to see that off-shore drilling—already done in green nations like Norway—may become inevitable here. While once Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was too sacred for exploration, we may just want to take a second look.

Even More Anti-Supply Extremism

Two years for the federal government to study whether solar panels damage the environment. 

Solar panels. 

Anti-Supply Extremism in the Senate

Here's the proposal from Senate Republicans:

The GOP legislation would repeal a moratorium on shale leasing to encourage exploration; allow deep-sea drilling in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans if the affected states approve; promote new battery technologies for hybrid vehicles; and require a study of whether speculation is affecting oil markets.

Here's the response from Senate Democrats:

Manley said the plan had "no chance" of moving forward.

More on Cap and Trade

Take it away, Andrew Stuttaford.

In short, cap-and-trade is, in many respects, more of a cap on growth than carbon emissions. And the real trade it will bring in its wake is in political favors. In fact, that's much of the reason it appeals to so many in the Congress.

Hilarious, In a Sad Sort of Way

Mike Rosen has to break out the Bailey Building and Loan analogy to educate a letter-writer how capital works. 

He'd charge the borrowers interest for the use of the capital provided by the depositors at a rate marginally above the interest rate he was paying those depositors. That differential enabled George to recover his operating costs (payroll for Uncle Billy and others, utilities, rent, maintenance, taxes, etc.) with, he hoped, something left over for profit. That was his business and livelihood.

George's value to the community and the service he provided to the good people of Bedford Falls was to enable them to live the American dream, to enjoy the benefits of owning their own home sooner rather than later. Had they not been able to borrow money from the building and loan, they'd have had to defer the purchase and save for a lifetime to cover the full price of a home.

Read the whole thing.  Mandatory economics education for graduating high school seniors, anyone?