Thinking about the Conservative Thinkers

Abstract

Look out, EPA! Just when you thought you'd survived the conservative onslaught, here comes Fred L. Smith, Jr., and friends. The environmental policies of Bush-Quayle/Reilly-Habicht have emphasized reforming EPA's programs to incorporate market incentives, risk-based priorities, cost-effectiveness, and voluntary cooperation from industry to prevent pollution. According to the Smiths of the world, these reforms are mere halfway measures. They amount to "the ecological equivalent of ... market socialism," the failed policy of former Communist countries in which goals were set politically but implemented through markets. They may even be dangerous, because they "make it [regulation] easier" (horror of horrors), not to mention cheaper and more efficient.