Progress From The Free Market

As many of you know, I am a firm believer—a fanatic, perhaps—in the free market and am convinced that it solves most economic problems faster and more efficiently than the guvmint. I love to watch the efforts of entrepreneurs as they make airplanes more fuel efficient. I also enjoy comparing the market’s efforts to those of the guvmint. This blog has previously mentioned that Pratt & Whitney has developed and is now taking orders for a new geared turbine engine that will cut fuel use by 15 to 20%. Boeing has been testing an electric airplane. Today you can actually buy electric airplanes on the market. Small engines for small airplanes so far, but what will come in the future? Now I find that Boeing is also flying a fuel-cell-powered airplane. Again, it is small, but so was the first Wright airplane. Just today, I learned that John Leahy, COO of Airbus, has announced new wing devices—called Sharklets—for the Airbus A320. The Sharklets will reduce fuel burn by 3.5% on “longer†sectors. Remember that reducing fuel burn means you don’t have to carry as much fuel for a trip, so the airplane will weigh less which will cut fuel further. Saving fuel also means cutting emissions. Leahy—who used to teach sales for Piper when I was selling Pipers—says the Sharklets will reduce CO2 emissions by 730 metric tons per airplane per year. Some of the big news is outside of aviation. One of my friends is in negotiations to turn old tires into oil. He’s done it before, but oil prices then were not high enough to make a profit with the process. Oil prices are high enough now to make it work. This type of progress is happening all over the world—paid for by entrepreneurs reacting to changes in the marketplace. In the meantime, the guvmint has given us—at our expense—subsidies for ethanol which have caused zillions of acres to be converted from food production to ethanol production. Let the good times roll. We’d love to post your comments. Please click the comment tab at the top.