T Boone Pickens Plan

Now, I've only started to look at T Boone Pickens energy plan- at first I just dismissed him as odd, and was confused by what exactly he is trying to accomplish. But, it was the topic of discussion today on the Ed Schultz show, so now is a good time to take a stab at it.

For an hour or so, lots of liberals were calling in saying how much they loved the plan- they raved about having the government undertake a massive multi-billion dollar initiative to pour money into wind, solar, biomass, and other alternative energy 'solutions.' Ed got the most excited about the idea of the government giving land and money to chosen individuals, who would taken build inefficient windmills, and the government would regulate the energy, it's use, and tax a portion of the profits. The part that got callers and Ed most excited though was no drilling and no more oil.

What I notice about Pickens plan and Ed's enthusiasm of it is the idea of having taxpayers foot the bill for favored people to make money. Pickens wants the government to subsidize his risky endeavour, and he keeps the profits. Ed liked the idea of using other people's capital (taxpayer funds) to also make money for himself. These ideas bother me a lot- they smack of state-sponsored monopolies favoring chosen individuals decided by the state. Smack of a despotism to me.