three mile island

Three Mile Island Demonstrates the Value of Free Markets

Originally published at RealClearPennsylvania

In a political environment that increasingly pretends government-imposed fixes are the best answers to everyday problems, it sometimes feels like a rare moment when we can celebrate the problem-solving dynamism of the marketplace.

Three Mile Island – specifically, the new 20-year agreement between Constellation and Microsoft to fire up the decades-old reactor and provide urgently needed baseload power to the electrical grid – is such a moment. This deal represents a genuine market-driven solution to a broader economic challenge: satisfying our unquenchable thirst for electricity.

Too many lawmakers propose government intervention to meet this need. Proposals traditionally use the carrot-or-stick approach: Politicians dangle tax breaks and subsidies (the carrot) to attract the businesses they like and penalize the ones they don’t with increased taxes and regulations (the stick).

Read more at RealClearPennsylvania