6.23.2008

The Free Market

Adler:
Speaking Monday at Fresno State University in California, Sen. John McCain put forward what may be the most promising and important energy-policy proposal of the campaign: a $300 million prize for the development of advanced battery technology. “In the quest for alternatives to oil, our government has thrown around enough money subsidizing special interests and excusing failure,” he noted. Yet rather than have Washington pick winners and losers from within the energy industry, McCain suggested that the government should reward innovation and actual achievement.
Indeed. Rather than have a nameless bureaucrat in Washington decide which technology is best to increase battery range and fuel efficiency and then shower the makers of that technology with taxpayer money, McCain's plan would allow a nameless bureaucrat in Washington to decide which battery technology is most promising and then shower the makers of that technology with taxpayer money. It'll be totally different--and by definition better--than Obama's plan.