Javier Blas is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities. He is coauthor of “The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources.” Every few ...

His big get was immediately dubbed ‘Seward’s Folly.’ ” The end there, that is the problem. Alas, we will never be free of the Seward Folly myth, if only because people love a story about a ...