Everybody Wants to Rule the World
People know bureaucratic overreach when they see it.
New York Bureaucrats Get Their Squirrel, P’Nut
This is the kind of thing that gives bureaucracy a bad name.
‘Mr. Longo told the Post he took in P’Nut seven years ago after the squirrel’s mother was killed. P’Nut has since become something of a star on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Mr. Longo published images of P’Nut behaving more like a domesticated house pet than a rodent in the wild.
‘The squirrel cops nonetheless took custody of P’Nut and Fred and euthanized them to check for rabies after P’Nut allegedly bit one of the raiding agents on the hand. Mr. Longo told the Post he saw no evidence of the bite and that the agents wore heavy gloves. It is against state law to keep a wild animal in a home without a license, but Mr. Longo said he tried to release P’Nut into the wild only to rescue him after he was attacked by other animals.’
Gavin Newsom Wants a Climate Bailout
Electricity rates are up a disproportionate 57% in the last five years in part due to California’s aggressive climate-driven policies.
Now he wants to identify programs and regulations that drive rates up, even as he wants other parts of the country that didn’t go full California to pay subsidies to his state.
Who could have done this?
‘Mr. Newsom now wants his energy commission to identify programs and regulations “that may be unduly adding to rates, for which the electricity system benefits may not be justified by the costs.” This applies to all of the state’s climate mandates and programs.
‘Unwilling to renounce climate religion, he directs his regulators “to pursue any federal funding available to help lower electricity costs for Californians.” That sounds like he wants people in states with more sensible energy policies to subsidize progressive lunacy. That’s what the Biden Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is trying to do via a regulatory back door.’
What’s the point of having regulatory power if you don’t exercise it?
Apparently, some people have had enough.
‘Mr. Dimon of JPMorgan told the banking conference that it’s time to fight back: “We are suing our regulators over and over and over because things are becoming unfair and unjust, and they are hurting companies, a lot of these rules are hurting lower-paid individuals.”’
How to Free Elon Musk’s SpaceX From Federal Red Tape
Could legally binding agreements between states (ratified by Congress when they encroach upon delineated federal powers and regulations) displace kooky federal bureaucracy and insert some rationality?
Imagine replacing the FAA in southern states including Texas to set up a Space Launch compact, as the article suggests.
‘The ideal solution to our nation’s regulatory woes would be to reform America’s sclerotic federal institutions. But while we await fuller reform, states that want to forge a future for their residents should lean into interstate compacts to create zones of freedom where man can still boldly go where none has gone before.’
Climate Coercion Meets Washington State Voters
Regulation dies in sunlight.
‘Progressive climate dreams tend to crash and burn when voters are confronted with their real costs. That collision is playing out in Washington state this year in a pair of ballot measures that would repeal extreme climate policies.
‘Prop. 2066 would strike down large parts of rules designed to cripple natural-gas use by consumers. The first rule by the state Building Code Council in 2023 made it cost-prohibitive to put natural-gas appliances in new buildings. The Building Industry Association of Washington says the rule will raise the cost of a single-family home with gas appliances by $15,000-$20,000.
‘The ballot measure would also push back against a March law that lets Washington’s largest natural gas and electricity provider, Puget Sound Energy (PSE), shift the costs of meeting the state’s climate goals onto consumers. It also mandated that PSE by Jan. 1, 2027 file a plan to “achieve all cost-effective electrification of end uses currently served by natural gas.”’
Our current tax regime is just a tapestry of distortions.
‘California’s tax revenue is exceeding budget projections this year owing to a buoyant stock market that has lifted capital gains. Mr. Newsom’s first instinct is to spend the money helping his Hollywood friends. On Sunday he proposed increasing the state’s film tax credit program to $750 million a year from $330 million.
‘“We’re losing our market share and there’s no reason,” said California Film Commission executive director Colleen Bell. “Production companies are just seeking these tax credits. It’s not enough anymore just to be the state with the best crews and the best weather and the best locations.”
‘What do you know? Golden State progressives suddenly want to compete for businesses—at least politically favored ones. They claim the benefits from the film tax credit program will trickle down to low-income communities, even though most studies find that such subsidies produce a trivial economic return. That’s because they don’t generate long-term investment and jobs.’
Elon Musk Beats Biden’s Regulators on Free Speech
Persuasion is not coercion.
‘The Fifth Circuit’s 9-8 en banc decision reverses a ruling that the NLRB could force Mr. Musk to delete a 2018 tweet that the United Auto Workers claimed was coercive. The National Labor Relations Act makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer “to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise” of their labor rights.
‘The NLRB argues that Mr. Musk interfered with the United Auto Worker’s efforts to organize a Tesla factory, citing a years-old tweet that responded to a Twitter user’s question about his views on unions: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?”
‘Mr. Musk later said the “UAW does not have individual stock ownership as part of the compensation at any other company.” The NLRB ruled that Mr. Musk’s statements were an unfair labor practice and ordered him to remove them. A split Fifth Circuit disagreed, holding that the Tesla CEO was entitled to express his views.’
The 2024 choice on regulation: Trump wants America unleashed, Harris wants it strangled
The CEO of one of the largest financial institutions in the world has an opinion and he isn’t holding back.
‘The asphyxiating climate has gotten so deadly that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon just blasted it at a bankers’ conference in New York City: “It’s time to fight back. I’ve had it with this s–t.” ‘
Trump’s Regulatory Agenda Is The Opposite Of Authoritarian
The REINS act would provide novel defenses for individuals accused of rule violations, mandatory Congressional approval of rules with an economic impact exceeding $100 million, and an exemption for large-scale de-regulation.
‘Consider Trump’s support for the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, a rather anti-authoritarian reform that would crimp the executive branch’s ability to unilaterally impose new regulations that come with significant economic cost. In September, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced the most recent version of the federal REINS Act, which would subject all federal regulations with an annual economic cost exceeding $100 million to an up or down vote in Congress.’
Dealmakers will celebrate the demise of Biden’s bold experiment
Sometimes, they say it out loud.
Regulators have been using laws meant to protect consumers to target corporate power. This is political.
Unsurprisingly, the FT descries what they call the pre-Biden environment of “benign corporate deference.” (Is this the parallel of Loper?)
If the accumulation of corporate power is a public bad, then make laws to that effect.
Really, what the administration has been doing is nothing more than glorified turf protection.
‘One of the hallmarks of his administration will have been his empowerment of forces critical not so much of commerce, but of concentrated corporate power. That has been evident not just in high-profile antitrust and securities law enforcement agencies. But the mood also changed at the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau and even the Department of Transportation, which has harshly cracked down on airline abuses towards passengers.’
Nuclear Energy’s AI Boom Blew a Fuse—Here’s What Could Happen Next
The issue appears to be related to direct sales from the nuclear power plant to the data center and whether they are free-riding on the transmission system.
This ruling, without prejudice, is part of the normal regulatory negotiation that takes place when novel use cases or significant questions arise.
Undoubtedly, there will be some sort of arrangement. Microsoft, for example, is buying power from an independent producer where Microsoft draws the power from the grid, effectively paying the producer to put the same amount of power into the grid from clean nuclear energy.
‘Late on Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected Talen Energy’s TLN 7.73%increase; green up pointing triangle request to increase the amount of power that it could provide directly from its existing Susquehanna nuclear power plant to Amazon’s data center from 300 megawatts to 480 MW. That hamstrings Talen’s ability to step up the amount of power it sells directly to Amazon, whose co-located data center has a potential capacity of up to 960 MW.’
Meta’s plan for nuclear-powered AI data centre thwarted by rare bees
China loves nuclear power. Do they even have bees?
‘Plans by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to build an AI data centre in the US that runs on nuclear power were thwarted in part because a rare species of bee was discovered on land earmarked for the project, according to people familiar with the matter.’