Usually, Roy and I spar over the usual Goomba stories of yore: he of course having more pertinent tales of Italian life, ranging from the “Backouse” or Southern Italian/American pidgin for Backhouse or bathroom, while I prefer the history of the Italian people in general. But, today I think I’ll drop a little Chianti for my not-so-Italian hommie, Bruce Yandle.
For those of you who may not know, Bruce does an exceptional job explaining the economic/regulatory theory of Bootleggers and Baptists (scroll down to section 4 for the specifics, though the whole lecture rocks). When Roy refers to the enviros who are helping OPEC, he means that their overly earth-friendly blather, which by the way is full of fairy tale meanderings of the Pastoral nature, actually helps OPEC maintain their control by adding a moral spackle to their cartel actions.
With no double-speak, when we “preserve” our natural surroundings by disallowing oil drilling, we simultaneously reinforce the oil cartels, essentially handing them a get-out-of competition card. It’s quite a remarkable interaction, if you ask me.
