Well, that didn’t take long. The same day Texas started experiencing blackouts in the midst of an unprecedented winter storm, critics started pointing to markets as the problem. Monday’s Dallas Morning News ran a Bloomberg Wire story that claimed “The extreme cold appears to have caught Texas’s highly decentralized electricity market by surprise.” Yes, Texas has…
Author: Bill
Renewables Put Millions of Texans in the Dark
With almost hundreds of thousands of Texans still without power—and many without water, everyone is looking for someone to blame. Monday’s Dallas Morning News ran a Bloomberg Wire story that blamed the blackouts on freedom: “The extreme cold appears to have caught Texas’s highly decentralized electricity market by surprise.” Not to be left out, state…
Will the Texas Renewable Energy Gravy Train Ever Stop?
Wind has dominated Texas’ renewable energy landscape for the last 20 years. However, solar is making a concerted effort to catch up. Utility-scale solar capacity almost doubled in 2020, topping 8,000 gigawatt hours. Texas, which already leads the nation in wind capacity, is moving up the ranks of U.S. states in terms in solar capacity….
Texans’ Liberty is at Risk Through Corporate Cronyism
Economic development means a lot of things to different people. One fairly common definition comes from the International Economic Development Council: “Typically economic development can be described in terms of objectives. These are most commonly described as the creation of jobs and wealth, and the improvement of quality of life.” What it really is, though,…
Why Texas Should Take a Closer Look at Renewable Subsidies
The Liberty Café 30: Texas Leading the Way in Surrendering to Big Business
Recently filed legislation by highlights Texas’ effort to lead the way on expanding corporate cronyism. This partnership between big government and big business is becoming the greatest threat to liberty we face. On Episode 30 of the Liberty Café, we examine how bad this problem is and where it might take us. Podcast: Play in new…
The Liberty Café 29: The Public Utility Commission of Texas
The Public Utility Commission of Texas regulates electricity, telecommunications, and water markets in Texas. Though nowhere near as bad as their federal counterparts, PUCT bureaucrats still can’t keep their hands out of markets–and consumers’ pocketbooks. This week on the Liberty Café, we examine the effects of the PUCT’s intervention on markets in Texas–particularly the electricity…
Biblical Criticism of Civil and Church Rulers
Texas Scorecard, one of the most important organizations fighting for liberty in Texas, has several principles which guide their operation. One of those is don’t make it personal. Michael Sullivan, Texas Scorecard’s CEO, applied this principle to how citizens should approach politics in a recent commentary: We need to step back, for the sake of…
It’s Time to Cut the Texas Budget
In 2019, the Texas Legislature appropriated a total of $258 billion, a 24 percent increase over what it appropriated in 2017. Looking at it a different way, the $248 billion the Legislature appropriated in 2019 for the current biennium was an increase of $32 billion, or 24 percent, over what it appropriated in 2017 for…
The Liberty Café 28: The Liberty Budget
Given the tough economic times we are facing, Texas has a real chance to cut spending and reduce the size of state government through the Liberty Budget. But the only way we will see this come to pass is if Republican policymakers are more scared of us than they are of liberals, big business, and…