Welcome to my weekly digest for December 15, 2022. For new subscribers, this contains a roundup of my recent writings and podcasts, as well as links to the best articles from around the web this week. You can control what emails you get from me by
As someone who works at a 501c3 whose raison d'etre is to facilitate grants to other 501c3s, I'd love to be connected with anyone who's concerned about holding them accountable. Aside from the dearth of good leadership among American elites generally, nonprofits also have at least 3 structural factors working against them (I'm sure someone can think of others):
1.The tendency to view profit-seeking organizations as inherently suspect and charities as warm and fuzzy, regardless of what they do outside of the public eye.
2. Generally, nonprofit bylaws stipulate that directors of the organization are to be appointed by the other current directors, rather than outside actors / shareholders / membership. An effect of this is that *no outsider can shake anything up unless the directors give their permission*, unlike in for-profit corporations where there's always a possibility (however remote) of a shareholder revolt or a hostile takeover. A second order effect is that businesses run by nonprofit organizations tend to be run less accountably than businesses run for profit.
3. Additionally, because there aren't shareholders, there's no pressure for a cash-flush nonprofit to pay out a dividend, and the leadership has an easier time paying themselves higher salaries, funding their pet projects, etc..
This might be partially an urban-rural divide, but the average person in rural America is not enthusiastic about electric cars at all, let alone green energy. Much like we saw with the switch from incandescent light bulbs first to CFLs then LEDs, part of the issue is outright lying about the performance of the replacement product. People who drive longer distances through lightly populated areas don't trust the promises being made about electric vehicles and certainly don't trust that green energy will reliably heat their homes in winter. Here's a good article from MotorTrend on how pathetic the driving range is with the Ford F-150 Lightning when towing a camper. How much is the cost of camping going to go up when campground owners are forced to put in a bunch of "rapid" charging stations for electric trucks that only go 100 miles on a full charge?
The market for this truck is small and not going to grow unless, like with the light bulbs, the original product is made illegal. If the regime wanted public buy in on this they would be transparent about the shortcomings and pressure developers to improve performance quickly. Instead they will continue to lie and try to punish dissenters and drive competitors out of business.
As someone who works at a 501c3 whose raison d'etre is to facilitate grants to other 501c3s, I'd love to be connected with anyone who's concerned about holding them accountable. Aside from the dearth of good leadership among American elites generally, nonprofits also have at least 3 structural factors working against them (I'm sure someone can think of others):
1.The tendency to view profit-seeking organizations as inherently suspect and charities as warm and fuzzy, regardless of what they do outside of the public eye.
2. Generally, nonprofit bylaws stipulate that directors of the organization are to be appointed by the other current directors, rather than outside actors / shareholders / membership. An effect of this is that *no outsider can shake anything up unless the directors give their permission*, unlike in for-profit corporations where there's always a possibility (however remote) of a shareholder revolt or a hostile takeover. A second order effect is that businesses run by nonprofit organizations tend to be run less accountably than businesses run for profit.
3. Additionally, because there aren't shareholders, there's no pressure for a cash-flush nonprofit to pay out a dividend, and the leadership has an easier time paying themselves higher salaries, funding their pet projects, etc..
This might be partially an urban-rural divide, but the average person in rural America is not enthusiastic about electric cars at all, let alone green energy. Much like we saw with the switch from incandescent light bulbs first to CFLs then LEDs, part of the issue is outright lying about the performance of the replacement product. People who drive longer distances through lightly populated areas don't trust the promises being made about electric vehicles and certainly don't trust that green energy will reliably heat their homes in winter. Here's a good article from MotorTrend on how pathetic the driving range is with the Ford F-150 Lightning when towing a camper. How much is the cost of camping going to go up when campground owners are forced to put in a bunch of "rapid" charging stations for electric trucks that only go 100 miles on a full charge?
The market for this truck is small and not going to grow unless, like with the light bulbs, the original product is made illegal. If the regime wanted public buy in on this they would be transparent about the shortcomings and pressure developers to improve performance quickly. Instead they will continue to lie and try to punish dissenters and drive competitors out of business.
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/ford-f150-lightning-electric-truck-towing-test/