Presidential candidate Donald Trump and the New York Times have recently demonized China for its relationship with Iran, but Sr. Fellow Ivan Eland cautions against such rhetoric. Economically, China is not much of a threat, says Eland. China’s thirst for oil might actually help drive down the price of oil. Criticizing China for human rights violations usually leads to a backlash that harms dissidents. China’s territorial claims in the South China Seas are too far away for the US to be concerned about, says Eland. China is often seen as the evil enemy some politicians in the US need to appear as if they are strong candidates.

Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow of the Independent Institute, is interviewed by TRT World about the tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran following the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by the Saudi Arabian government.

Research Fellow Abigail R. Hall recently wrote an Op-Ed in Forbes about the solution to the growing need for organ transplants: allowing the sale of human organs. Hall rebuts critics who say only poor people would sell their organs, or the practice is morally objectionable. On the contrary, she says. By legalizing the sale of organs, thousands of lives could be saved and desperate, long waits for organ donations would ease.

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David J. Theroux, Founder and President of the Independent Institute, presents the idea and concept behind Love Gov: From First Date to Mandate, the award-winning, satirical video series that portrays the federal government as an overbearing boyfriend — Scott “Gov” Govinsky — who foists his “good intentions” on a hapless, idealistic college student, Alexis Smith.

Senior Fellow John C. Goodman, author of A Better Choice is interviewed about Texas Congressman Pete Sessions’ proposed alternative to Obamacare. It’s legislation that will fix problems with the healthcare system that the Affordable Care Act failed to do. Instead of subsidies, everyone—regardless of income—will be treated equally. Under the proposed plan, which Goodman is helping to craft, the healthcare marketplace will be utilized to lower costs to consumers, with government playing a minimal role.

What is the cost of the long approval process for potentially life-saving drugs by the FDA? The approval process can take up to 12 years and cost $1 billion. But there are other costs. Patients aren’t able to take drugs that aren’t approved and they might die or become more ill. Another cost is that a potential drug maker might not want to take the financial risk of taking a drug to market. Powell recommends testing drugs but possibly making drugs "FDA recommended", rather than "FDA approved." What’s needed is competition and markets to help patients and entrepreneurs, says Powell.

Drawing on C.S. Lewis’s varied writings—fiction for both adults and children, non-fiction essays and scholarly treatises, poetry, and extensive correspondence with people from all walks of life—Independent Institute President David Theroux presents Lewis’s highly developed, Judeo-Christian philosophical insights into our relationship with power and human aspirations. From his declining an offer of knighthood to his keen essays such as “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment,” C.S. Lewis’s timeless thinking provides rich insights into how to apply natural-law principles to our world and the challenges we all face today.

Applauded by many governments around the world as one of the cleanest initiatives for the generation of energy, the wind industry is also one of the most expensive and heavily subsidized, compared with other power generation alternatives. Ryan M. Yonk, Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, presents interesting and little-known facts, which demystify wind power's efficiency, cost, and benefits for the environment.

CONTENT OF THIS VIDEO:
00:00 Opening
00:10 History of Energy Policy
00:40 The True Cost of Wind
03:45 Federal Policies on Energy Subsidies
10:05 Federal Wind-Related Initiatives
12:05 Production Tax Credit
15:53 Cost of the Wind after Federal Policies
17:25 State Policies: Renewable Portfolio Standards
22:26 Total Costs
24:58 Social and Environmental Costs
27:38 Policy Implications
29:35 Closing

OTHER REFERENCES:
PREZI presentation in this link.

Read the full report The True Cost of Energy: Wind here.

About Ryan M. Yonk
Ryan M. Yonk is Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, Research Director for the Center for Public Lands and Rural Economics in the Department of Economics at Utah State University, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Southern Utah University. He received his PhD in political science from Georgia State University.