It's tempting to call the shameful taxpayer subsidy for electric cars - vehicles that are unaffordable for all but a small number of wealthy Americans - this nation's costly little secret.

There are some ideas that, no matter how often they rise and how spectacularly they fail, just won't go away. Perpetual motion machines, for example. Passive exercise machines. Diets that work. These technologies sound great in theory, but don't seem to pan out in practice. Add to the list, electric (or largely electric) cars.

The private sector is entirely capable of developing EVs and other new automotive technologies without the need for subsidies.

Could Obama's energy plan actually work?

If we are to avoid future distortions and government-inflated bubbles in the housing market, Fannie and Freddie can and should be dismantled.

Barack Obama talks about "innovative approaches," but his policies are tired and economically retrograde.

Bill Ford is under attack for a change of tack away from hybrid vehicles. But activists must see that the environment is not the only stakeholder.

The American Constitution uses competition to promote good government and private competition. The founders regarded competitive enterprise as a critical source of prosperity and national strength. The causes of the decline of competitiveness in our political institutions are many and complex. But certainly one of them is a decline in public appreciation for the virtues of competition.