Let's Prize Climate Skepticism | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary

Let's Prize Climate Skepticism | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'We keep hearing that 95 percent or 98 percent of scientists believe catastrophic, man-made global warming is proven. Climate skeptics are widely denounced as science deniers. However, as Schechtman showed, 99 percent of scientists can be and have been wrong.

Science proves nothing beyond all doubt. Rather, it progresses by knocking down existing theories in favor of better ones, which in turn are subject to fresh attacks. Skepticism is at the very heart of the scientific method. The scientific approach is at odds not with climate-change skeptics, but with those who claim global warming is completely proven, contestable only by madmen and blackguards paid by oil companies.'

Why Politicians Lose So Much Money Trying to Pick Winners | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why Politicians Lose So Much Money Trying to Pick Winners | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'If business is challenging when entrepreneurs make decisions for sound business reasons, it's doomed when politicians become involved, because they make decisions for political reasons. Politicians like to pay off big campaign contributors by steering government contracts their way, regardless of how dubious the campaign contributors might be as business executives.

Politicians want projects they can brag about during an election campaign, whether or not the projects make business sense. Politicians demand that projects be located in their districts or states, even when such locations create problems like higher costs.

And of course, politicians expect that those who receive government funding will help their re-election campaigns. No surprise that many businesses have chief executives best known for their ability to find a place at the public trough, rather than boosting sales in free markets.

Government attempts to pick winners are most likely to increase the amount of money lost betting on losers. This is because with the power to tax, subsidize and mandate, politicians are able to pour money into unprofitable projects that private investors would never touch voluntarily.'

'Precisely because one never knows where innovators might come from, free markets are open to all comers, foreign and domestic. Market economies are more flexible and dynamic than government-run economies.

Unlike taxpayers who are dragooned into paying for political schemes, private investors are volunteers risking their own money or money they worked hard to raise. If they make mistakes, it will be harder for them to raise more. Investors constantly revise their estimates of business performance in light of the latest information. Investors pull capital away from laggards, which can help discipline them if anything will. Investors reward solid performers with more capital, helping them do more good work.'