Atlas is Shrugging - a clear example of Proggressives carrying out the Equalization of Opportunity law - Granite Grok

Atlas is Shrugging – a clear example of Proggressives carrying out the Equalization of Opportunity law

TMEW and I just finished re-watching Atlas Shrugged (Part 1) as we are going to march through them all (far less time than rereading the sometime heavy and boring tome of the same name).  It ended on the note where one of the power hungry and greedy socialists, Wesley Mouch,  had just proclaimed the Equalization of Opportunity Law (which said that one person could only own 1 company – to “let” others have more opportunity) which was meant to “ration” that opportunity (and provide a better platform for politically connected Crony Capitalism).  And then I remembered that I had bookmarked this – where real life Progressives (aka, incremental socialists) who always pooh-pooh the ideas expressed in the book are actually proposing it under the rubric of  (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Liberal think tank floats plan to revive Appalachian coal communities

One liberal think tank has an idea for helping hard-hit Appalachian coal communities: Raise the royalty rates for federal mines in the West.

The Center for American Progress [a very Left leaning one – Skip] said that federal Powder River Basin coal in Wyoming and Montana amounts to a market distortion that’s made Appalachian coal less attractive to extract. The think tank proposed ending what they called favorable terms for private companies to “balance” the coal market.  “Powder River coal companies we believe are not paying a fair share,” said CAP counselor Ted Strickland, the former Democratic Ohio governor who is exploring a Senate bid against Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

So, is this perennial professional Lefty going to call for the high cost of one brought down to that of the lower cost one?  If you believe that…

…have I got a bridge.  Or thin air – they both amount to the same thing. Nope, just like my previous post, it’s also about “cost to Government” and not about the cost to the individual:

The CAP proposal called for two options: raising the federal leasing rate on new Powder River Basin surface mines for the first time in 42 years to match the rates paid by offshore oil and gas developers, or assessing the royalty fee at the end-user price rather than at the point of sale.

The changes would have brought $5 billion in additional federal revenues the past five years, half of which would have gone to the states, according to an analysis by Headwaters Economics. The CAP plan proposes shifting some of those federal revenues toward economic development and job retraining efforts in Appalachia.

Nope – equalize is ALWAYS never to the lower – always to the higher.  Ever higher and higher cost to the good of Government.  “Equalization” is always pushing prices higher – who cares about the cost to Joe and Jane Sixpack – Government workers are gonna get more!

Strickland said the federal policies have kept Powder River Basin coal prices below true market value, fetching $13 per ton compared with $60 per ton for Appalachian coal. Brad Markell, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, said the changes wouldn’t result in job loss out West because Powder River Basin coal would still remain some of the cheapest in the country.  Some of the price difference is structural. The federal government owns Powder River Basin land, so coal companies pay to lease it. In Appalachia, private companies have to buy the land; much of what’s left after decades of mining easier-to-access coal isn’t economical given competition from the West.

So once again, Government is to go in and distort the marketplace even more.  What will be the unintended consequence of this, even as the EPA and others have distorted the TRUE marketplace pricing with regulations almost the same weight as the coal itself?  And then Government makes rules – then gets upset when enterprising folks “use” them as written?

Federal coal royalty fees also contribute to the divide, and have come under scrutiny from both sides of the aisle.  The royalties are assessed at the point of sale, rather than by the ultimate user of that coal. A 2012 Reuters investigation showed coal companies sold Powder River Basin coal to subsidiaries they owned and then flipped the coal to Asian markets at a profit, shorting potential state and federal revenues. The Interior Department floated a rule in December to end that loophole.

Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., said he planned to introduce legislation mirroring the CAP report that he said would “eliminate loopholes that right now are allowing private companies to game the system.” It will likely be a tough sell for Western lawmakers who have touted the Powder River Basin’s booming coal industry, which more than doubles the Appalachian region’s production.

No, not a loophole – a perfectly legal way to use their product.  In this case, it shows what jerks are in the Government can’t do because markets are too big and too nimble for them to keep up to changing conditions. And never, NEVER will they admit that it was Government that rigged “the game” in the first place.  It is always the capitalists, just like in Atlas Shrugged, that are “ruining it” for everyone else and NEVER a word that Government is the one at fault and even less that Government, perhaps, should just stay out of it for each time they make a change, they just have this outlook that no one will ever adapt to those changes.

Raising royalty rates, especially on land for energy production in the West, has been a sticking point for the GOP. Republicans have viewed such actions as trying to curtail fossil fuel development, which they say stems from President Obama’s climate change agenda.

And yes, Strickland has that in mind because running for Senator takes a boatload as well.  Too bad, it isn’t to Asia.

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