It's a big Fracking Deal

I learn via Alan Krueger* that the US Federal Government played a major role in the development of Fracking.  See my first google hit.

Al Gore didn't invent fracking, but a lot of the financing came from Jimmy Carter's DOE.  It is odd how frequently evidence of the wonders of US capitalism ends up being evidence that Carter was a brilliant President (see also interstate trucking deregulation, airline deregulation and beer deregulation -- someone sometime discussed the wonders of disruptive entrepreneurial companies including Southwest Airlines and micro breweries -- both made possible by Jimmy Carter).

See also computers, internet (the) and mortgage bonds (can't win them all).