The free-market think tank Strata, based in Logan, has embarked on a new initiative called The Stratasphere, which publishes short articles and seeks to find common ground with critics.
Randy Simmons, president and co-founder of Strata, issued this statement:
“A cartoon in an old policy analysis book showed two analysts looking at a computer printout and one says to the other, ‘Well, we can’t tell Congress that!’ At Strata we have too often delighted in telling people what they do not want to hear in ways that they do not want to hear it—subsidies are environmentally and economically bad so end the subsidies, fears of nuclear power are irrational so build new reactors, wind and solar are too variable to be viable without fossil fuel backup so keep drilling and fracking…
“Strata’s newest initiative is what we call The Stratasphere, a series of short articles from a network of contributors, each of whom has specialized expertise in public policy analysis. The scholars who write for The Stratasphere will continue our history of making strong statements about analysis and policy. But, they will also seek to find common ground with our critics to see where we can agree on common sense proposals. Expect them to lead with facts, recognize economic and political constraints, consistently seek for voluntary rather than mandatory approaches, and accept that the best proposals can be the enemy of the possible.”
