Selective Sustainability, by Lawrence W. Reed

Alarm bells are ringing across the welfare states of Europe. Or to put it another way, the long-term chickens are coming home to roost in the short-term.

British economist and charlatan John Maynard Keynes once smugly declared, “In the long run, we’re all dead anyway.” More sage advice came from the likes of American economist Howard E. Kershner: “When a self-governing people confer upon their government the power to take from some and give to others, the process will not stop until the last bone of the last taxpayer is picked bare.”

When partisans of the political Left talk about environmental issues, they harp on the theme of “sustainability.” We shouldn’t do things to air and water that can’t last, they argue. Sounds reasonable. The problem is that those very same people usually support costly welfare state programs and that’s when they toss “sustainability” to the wind. …

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