Duke University recently released a study that has almost no use whatsoever. The study indicates that if South Korea would stop using its own coal sources and start importing US coal, it could save America's coal industry. They also guess that, even accounting for the long transit, that it could reduce the so-called "greenhouse gases" by 21 percent.
What they mean by "save" is interesting. Although South Korea does rely heavily on imported gas, oi, and coal, the country is slightly smaller than the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It currently ranks 11th in use of energy, but it utilizes a lot of imported gas and oil.
Do the Duke researchers mean that South Korea alone could preserve all US coal jobs?
Most likely, if US coal fired plants all go off line, the coal will go to the Third World and China. Many backers of EPA regulations against coal fired plants in the US also back construction of unregulated plants in poor countries.
Tim Carney, currently with the Washington Examiner reported that this scheme was at the heart of Enron's demise. When George W. Bush refused to sign on, it helped the company collapse.
In other words, EPA regulations kill relatively clean US coal plants. Environmentalists rejoice. World coal prices dip. New coal plants open in developing countries with no regulations whatsoever. World pollution gets worse thanks to the US EPA.
The Duke study, like many academic products, only posits what will happen if they waved a magic wand. It has no real world use.
Showing posts with label Tim Carney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tim Carney. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Monday, August 26, 2013
Universities That Begged For Subsidies Now Fight Obama's Power Grab
They begged for them and got them. But at what price?
The college and university system in the United States fought long and hard to obtain as much student aid and tuition subsidies as possible from the federal government. And now, Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney explains that their chickens have come home to roost.
Last week, Obama gave a higher education speech. It addressed the endless upward spiral of tuition and debt, as well as the declining value of a college education in many fields. What was Obama's idea? As usual, let the federal government handle it.
Obama proposed that the federal government rate colleges (based on what criteria!) to determine which offered the best educational value. Suddenly, hard bitten liberal and left wing academics protested like Tea Party activists about the potential for political abuse.
Carney quoted former Harvard president Derek Bok, "I have to be somewhat apprehensive when any force as powerful as the federal government undertakes the task."
William and Mary economics department chair David H. Feldman warned in the Chronicle of Higher Education that tying outcomes to funding would force colleges and universities to reject at-risk students who could come and do well otherwise.
Others say that the information proposed as a baseline to analysis is incomplete.
The universities themselves invited this bind. They begged for the subsidies and got them. Then, as years passed, they built dorms that would make an Embassy Suites blush. They bloated salaries, travel budgets, and other perquisites of office. Higher education went on spending sprees, leaving faculty salaries and cash strapped students in the dust.
Now the federal government proposes to meddle in higher education in the same way that it has ripped apart the public school systems. Killing it with kindly bureaucratic help.
Interestingly, all that stands in the way of Obama is House Republicans. Congress has refused to authorize the sweeping data collection needed by the federal government to implement this. That being said, some conservatives may agree that the federal government deserves more bang for its buck. It is not as if academia has ever given Republicans a reason to offer a helping hand.
Not to mention that overspending taxpayer funds created this mess for the colleges
Will left wing higher education-ocrats deign to work with the Republican Party? Stay tuned!
The college and university system in the United States fought long and hard to obtain as much student aid and tuition subsidies as possible from the federal government. And now, Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney explains that their chickens have come home to roost.
Last week, Obama gave a higher education speech. It addressed the endless upward spiral of tuition and debt, as well as the declining value of a college education in many fields. What was Obama's idea? As usual, let the federal government handle it.
Obama proposed that the federal government rate colleges (based on what criteria!) to determine which offered the best educational value. Suddenly, hard bitten liberal and left wing academics protested like Tea Party activists about the potential for political abuse.
Carney quoted former Harvard president Derek Bok, "I have to be somewhat apprehensive when any force as powerful as the federal government undertakes the task."
William and Mary economics department chair David H. Feldman warned in the Chronicle of Higher Education that tying outcomes to funding would force colleges and universities to reject at-risk students who could come and do well otherwise.
Others say that the information proposed as a baseline to analysis is incomplete.
The universities themselves invited this bind. They begged for the subsidies and got them. Then, as years passed, they built dorms that would make an Embassy Suites blush. They bloated salaries, travel budgets, and other perquisites of office. Higher education went on spending sprees, leaving faculty salaries and cash strapped students in the dust.
Now the federal government proposes to meddle in higher education in the same way that it has ripped apart the public school systems. Killing it with kindly bureaucratic help.
Interestingly, all that stands in the way of Obama is House Republicans. Congress has refused to authorize the sweeping data collection needed by the federal government to implement this. That being said, some conservatives may agree that the federal government deserves more bang for its buck. It is not as if academia has ever given Republicans a reason to offer a helping hand.
Not to mention that overspending taxpayer funds created this mess for the colleges
Will left wing higher education-ocrats deign to work with the Republican Party? Stay tuned!
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