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3 Jul, 4 tweets, 1 min read

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More from @AlexEpstein

Alex Epstein Profile picture
4 Jul
What has made America great?

Today, it is considered American for government to pursue "the common good" by dictating how we live or by taking huge portions of our earnings. I disagree.

I agree with philosopher Ayn Rand that *individual rights* are what make America America. 🧵
"America’s founding ideal was the principle of individual rights. Nothing more—and nothing less. The rest—everything that America achieved, everything she became...unprecedented in human history—was the logical consequence of fidelity to that one principle." -Ayn Rand
"All previous systems had held that man’s life belongs to society, that society can dispose of him in any way it pleases, and that any freedom he enjoys is his only by favor, by the permission of society, which may be revoked at any time." -Ayn Rand
Read 14 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
2 Jul
At our Congressional hearing on Wednesday, @AOC confidently said that a @Siemans report supports shutting down "tomorrow" the coal plant that provides 20% of Puerto Rico's power.

100% false. The report *does not even consider* a shutdown before 2027.

The smoking gun quote @AOC attributes to @Siemens is "No adverse impacts were identified on the transmission system with the retirement of AES coal." But I couldn't find any phrase like that in the report Siemens prepared for Puerto Rico.
In fact I can't find @AOC's "quote" of @Siemens--"No adverse impacts were identified on the transmission system with the retirement of AES coal"--anywhere on the Internet.
Read 7 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
1 Jul
At today's Congressional hearing, Rep. @AOC advocated shutting down "tomorrow" the reliable, resilient coal plant that provides *20%* of electricity-challenged Puerto Rico's electricity.

I tried to convince her that this would be beyond devastating to the people of Puerto Rico.
I tried to make clear on my Whiteboard of Justice to @AOC, @RepKatiePorter, and others advocating a rapid shutdown of coal--a reliable 20% of electricity--in favor of "renewables," that "renewables" provide a mostly-unreliable *2.5%* of PR electricity.
Written testimony: "To provide low-cost, reliable electricity in Puerto Rico, fossil fuels are...crucial--along with massive regulatory reform that enables low-cost natural gas and/or coal to replace the very expensive oil-based power plants that dominate Puerto Rico today."
Read 15 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
30 Jun
Today I will testify at a Congressional hearing about energy in Puerto Rico. The hearing begins at 10 am ET.

While the hearing's organizers seek to rapidly eliminate fossil fuel use in PR, I will make the case for liberating and expanding it.

THREAD
youtube.com/user/NaturalRe…
"Thank you for the honor of testifying before this committee. What I will say today may shock many of you. My views on energy are indeed unconventional, but I hope you will hear me out with an open mind since we share the same goal: a prosperous and flourishing Puerto Rico."
"I want to make the case that the one thing that will most help the people of Puerto Rico lift themselves out of crushing poverty is the thing many of you believe should be eliminated: low-cost, reliable, fossil fuel energy."
Read 22 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
23 Jun
I am a big believer that we should not just criticize terrible things but also offer a positive alternative.

So today I am offering a positive alternative to the terrible phenomenon of ESG.

Introducing LVC -- Long-term Value Creation.

THREAD
The primary purpose of a publicly-traded company, according to LVC, is to increase shareholder value by *engaging in long-term value creation*--including mutually-beneficial relationships with one's trading partners and communities, as well as high ethical standards.
ESG says companies should serve "stakeholders"--an overly-broad term that includes committed enemies.

LVC says companies should pursue mutually-beneficial relationships, specifically with trading partners and communities, *in order to serve shareholders.*
Read 8 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
10 Jun
The ESG divestment movement poses as a long-range, financially savvy, and moral movement. In reality it is a short-range, financially ruinous, and deeply immoral movement that perpetuates poverty in the poorest places and threatens the security of the free world.

THREAD
Over the last 5-10 years, "ESG"--standing for Environmental Social Governance--has gone from an acronym that virtually no one knew or cared about, to a cultishly-embraced top priority of financial regulators, markets, and institutions around the world.
The preposterous financial pretense of "ESG investing" is that the promoters of it have so accurately identified universal norms of long-term value creation--Environmental norms, Social norms, and Governance norms--that imposing those norms on every company is justified.
Read 27 tweets

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