In Which the Wisdom of the Blogfather is Questioned

Glenn Reynolds notes a story about the near monopoly in rare earths held by the Chinese and the market reaction to same.

The reaction is for rare earth mines to open around the world, including one in California, to compete with the Chinese. The master's throw away line: "My advice to the Chinese: Pay off some environmental groups to shut this down."

My guess is that he doesn't really think the Chinese would have to pay the eco-nuts to try to shut down a mine.

Not in California.

Those rare earths are rare and need to be protected! (But not from the Chinese, of course.)