a perfect opportunity to take pleasure in the misery of others

The news of the near-bankruptcy of the group that opposed the Cape Wind project brings me joy. How rare it is that one of the plutocrat Koch brothers is on the losing side of a political battle. In this case, joining the late Sen. Kennedy, Bill Koch opposed a much needed technology because it might interfere with his yachting pleasures. Of course, the fact that he makes his billions in the oil business has nothing to do with his opposition to clean energy.

It is comical to listen to the opposition to this project. One of my students told me that he is against it because the electricity to be produced will be more expensive that what coal or nuclear plants can produce. Of course, he (like many of his ilk) are ignorant of the concept of externalities: that is, if polluters had to factor environmental or social costs into the equation, their artificially cheaper electricity would not survive the comparison. But I guess Koch et. al. see that 130 windmills in their ocean pose a threat to their navigation skill, thus imposing a social cost on the rest of us? Hmmm, perhaps he could invest in a nice Garmin GPS unit so that he can chart a course around Nantucket Shoals. As for the rest of us, I hope this project represents a chance to chart a course away from the dangerous 19th Century technologies that have enriched people like Koch while endangering the whole planet.

Pity the rich: they really are different from the rest of us.