Which Way, USA? America At A Crossroads With Economic And Energy Policy

 by Austin Hill

 Will Americans continue allowing a radicalized environmental agenda to animate Washington, one that prohibits the utilization of natural resources – oil in particular – and that squelches the nation’s economy? Or could it be that, at such a time as this, rationality might take-hold in the USA yet again?

As if our own problems aren’t a sufficient reason to bolster the U.S. energy industry, the world is now upended by a Russia that appears intent on re-creating another Soviet Union while simultaneously forming an energy axis with China. If America could supply more of the world’s natural gas and oil supplies, it would mean more wealth flowing in to the U.S., more American employment, and greater stabilization for the Western world, even at a time when the NATO nations appear to be in a leadership vacuum without steady leadership from the U.S. 

 Instead, eco-warriors on the left are poring big money in to political advertisements bashing congressional Republicans who support the Keystone pipeline project with Canada, and some are even threatening to abandon the Democrat party if President Obama doesn’t abandon the pipeline project altogether.

The real needs of human beings – needs for employment, expanding opportunity, and a stable economy – take a backseat to the “one true religion” of green energy.  Yet as the American left continues to worship at the same altar and the American president tries not to offend them, other nations of the free and industrialized world are actually trying to improve their economies and get out of debt.   

 Consider Canada and its Prime Minster Stephen Harper. First elected in 2006, Harper has over the past eight years championed free trade, federal government spending reductions, and  - a dramatic boost in oil production. Today the Canadian government is on track to be debt-free in 2015, as Harper tirelessly lobbies the U.S. to become more cooperative with pipeline projects and energy exploration.

Then consider the country of Australia and it’s new Prime Minister Tony Abbott. It wasn’t sufficient that in 2013 Australia was already a global leader in iron ore and timber production and that its’ government was set to close out the calendar year debt-free – no, the citizenry of the land “down under” wanted an even more business-friendly and fiscally sound government for themselves, so they elected a candidate for Prime Mister who repeated from the campaign trail that the global climate change agenda is “absolute crap.”

Shortly before his election victory Abbott was asked in a nationwide television interview “with our government debt so low, why do you want to cut government spending even further?”

“Because there’s still waste in our government, that’s why” Abbott replied. After his September 7, 2013 landslide win he set a date of July 1, 2014 by which he intends to eliminate his nation’s “carbon tax.”

And despite that fact that American eco-zealots ignore this, it is nonetheless a fact that the European nations are abandoning their “green” status. In January the European commission, the legislative body of the union that sets policies shared among the member nations, voted to officially abandon specific sets of “climate change protocols.” Even more stunning, the commission appears to be preparing to allow fracking among the member nations, with the hope of making Europe a leader in the global natural gas and oil shale markets.

America may continue to embrace the economic hostility of Obama, Biden, and the radicalized Democrat party.  But the rest of the industrialized world is moving in the exact opposite direction of our President and Vice President, away from the Obama traditions of dangerous government debt and economy-killing environmental zealotry. 

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Get A Grip: Americans Must Demand Better Government In November And Beyond

by Austin Hill
Barack Obama is beating Mitt Romney.

Wait- Romney and Obama are tied in Pennsylvania.

And how about all those bungled calls from the NFL fill-in refs?

Americans are seriously pre-occupied as we enter the fourth quarter of 2012. Obsessions about the football season and “Dancing with The Stars” are a pleasant diversion from our present hardship and gloomy future, and frustrations over the logic-defying presidential polls makes for interesting talk show fodder.

But after the election – and after the close of 2012 – Americans will need to grapple with myriad problems in our government. Whoever wins the White House will face an avalanche of trouble in the months ahead, and the ways in which these problems are addressed will reverberate for generations.

Americans must begin to see through the rhetoric of politicians and the slant and soundbytes of the media, and demand better government from those elected to serve. The “pass the bill and then figure out what’s in it” approach is unacceptable. So let’s start with our “get a grip” agenda with this: Americans must sober-up about our economic and fiscal condition.

At present it would seem that we’re taking the upcoming election about as seriously as a football game. Team Obama has the home field advantage, while Romney and company are the visitors trying to upset Obama at his homecoming. The make-up of the Congress will then round-out each team’s roster, but the “players” are thought to be all essentially the same.

Yet America is in serious trouble. Private industry is suffering shell shock from the flurry of demands and restrictions placed upon it in the last three years, most of which have stemmed from environmental constraints, so-called “banking reform,” mortgage restrictions, and Obamacare. Our currency is being debased by the minute, as our government’s debt exceeds 70% of our GDP and the Federal Reserve continues to print money while keeping interest rates artificially low.

President Obama is committed to making matters worse- he promises higher taxes and more government spending, and has offered no vision for undoing the disastrous and damaging components of Obamacare. Mr. Romney is moving in the correct direction by proposing an expansion of free trade and modest spending cuts, but does not (and in political terms perhaps cannot) come close to where we must go.

So Americans must decide – do we want prosperity and opportunity for the long-term, or do we want the short-term yet unsustainable pleasure of politicians satiating our petty jealousies towards “rich people” and dolling-out lots of free goodies? If it’s the former we want, then we’ll have to seriously change some things: freeze income tax rates where they are; cut corporate taxes; raise the Social Security eligibility age to 72 (for, say, American workers age 45 and younger) and allow for private investment of portions one’s withholdings; gut Obamacare and start over; and cut taxes on small businesses and restrictions on small business lending.

And here’s another agenda item: America must begin utilizing its own resources again. While the currencies of Europe, Japan and the U.S. have fallen in to varying levels of disrepute over the past four years, the dollars of Canada, New Zealand, and Australia have remained relatively strong. And these three countries share something else in common as well- they all harvest and export their own natural resources.

Canada exports oil and natural gas. Australia exports iron ore. New Zealand uses its land to produce and export food, wood products and heavy machinery. Americans must decide – do we want to be more prosperous and secure, or do we want to feel like we’re doing something nice for plant and animal life by not using our natural resources?

A radical environmental agenda has co-opted the national dialog to the point that we only talk about drilling and refining when gasoline surpasses four dollars a gallon. And as for manufacturing and farming – plenty of us blindly accept the notion that these endeavors do nothing but rape and pillage the earth and consume “too much” energy (if you don’t believe this, ask a farmer in California). It’s time to utilize our resources and unshackle our farmers and manufacturers – and to do this we have to demand change with our government.

And agenda item number three: Americans must respect private enterprise as the necessary engine of our sustenance, instead of allowing it to be co-opted for political agendas. President Obama’s “renewable energy” agenda sounds noble and makes people feel good. But after running up untold billions of dollars in debt with the financing of “green energy” companies (over 80% of which were headed-up by Obama campaign donors), there has been no such energy produced and a majority of these companies have already lapsed into bankruptcy. What masquerades as the “green energy industry” is nothing more than debt for future generations spent financing the President’s environmental politics of today.

A similar phenomenon took hold last decade. Despite President Bush’s attempts to slow things down, both Republican and Democrat leadership in the Congress enabled the cheap credit, lax lending, and “affordable housing” policies that supposedly drove “home ownership” to an all time high (it’s hard to say no when “everybody gets a house”). It made the politicians popular in the short-run, but it drove us to the brink when the bubble burst. Government co-opted the real estate and lending industries, and it failed us in painful ways.

We are not helpless victims of politicians. But will we demand better?

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UMWA: Stupid Is As Stupid Does

During his campaigning in 2008, Barack Obama promised, on several occasions, “I will bankrupt the coal industry “.

In spite of that promise, the president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Cecil E. Roberts announced on May 21, 2008 that his organization is endorsing Barack Obama for president. Roberts then added, “He understands and will fight for the needs our members have today and the hopes our members have for a secure future for themselves and their families.”

Obama has taken the steps needed to fulfill that promise. All coal burning power plants are scheduled for shutdown and the supporting mines are being shuttered.

Yet, in several recent appearances Roberts has addressed the issue as if it were a rogue EPA and not Obama that is responsible for the dismantling of the coal industry.

A couple of weeks ago it was announced that the United Mine Workers of America had decided not to endorse either Obama/Biden or Romney/Ryan.

Mike Caputo stated, “As of right now, we have elected to stay out of this election.” Then added,
“Our members right now have indicated to stay out of this race, and that’s why we’ve done that.... I don’t think, quite frankly, that coalfield folks are crazy about either candidate."

(Note: Mike Caputo is an UMWA official and a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates.)

Stay out of the race? Endorse no one? How stupid can they get?

Full disclosure:
The old WachDog grew up (at least my first 23 years) in the coalfields of WV. My Grandfather was a miner (WV and IL); my father was a mining engineer and superintendent, I spent four summers working at assorted mining jobs. And there are still many relatives and friends working in mines.

I was for a brief time a member of the UMWA. At that time, John L. Lewis, a devout communist, was the president. In the fifty years since, the UMWA has had a long history of ho-hum presidents. It would appear that Cecil E. Roberts is no exception!

The rank and file members are not stupid people. You cannot function in a modern mine without a considerable degree of intelligence. So why do these otherwise smart people blindly follow their idiot leadership down the road to oblivion? I could not answer that question in the 1950’s and I can’t answer it now. But I can tell you that if you have a choice between someone that you don't like because he is not a democrat and someone that is is devoted to wiping out your job, your community, and your families future, you want to make damn certain that the bastard is defeated.

To insure that Obama is defeated, you must support Romney! 

The choice is yours, defy your union handlers and vote to save your job or spend the rest of your life dreaming of what might have been.          -- WD

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"Energy Bill -- All Hype & No Substance"

Yesterday, President Bush signed into law an “Energy” Bill that will bring more fuel-efficient vehicles and require wider use of ethanol. Mr. Bush called it, “a step toward energy independence and easing global warming”.

The legislation increases the CAFE standard automakers must meet to 35 mpg for passenger cars, SUV’s and small trucks. The current standard is 27.5 mpg for car, and 22.2 mpg for SUV’s and light trucks.

Refineries will be required to increase the use of ethanol from about 6 billion gallons a year this year to 36 billion gallons by 2022 and mandates that by then at least 21 billion gallons are to come from sources other than corn.

Democrats have hailed the legislation as a turn to a new direction in U.S. energy policy.

Mr. Bush noted that bill failed to address the need for more nuclear energy and domestic oil production. Instead, the bill focuses largely on conservation, calling for more energy efficiency.

In reality, this is one of the most destructive bills ever enacted into law.

The current CAFÉ standards created small, relatively dangerous cars. Americans protested by purchasing SUV’s and pickup trucks in record numbers. Even thought the number of SUV’s and light trucks doubled, more than 2000 addition deaths per year were attributed to under sized automobiles created to meet the CAFÉ requirements.

With the new standards, cars will be even smaller and lighter. In addition, they have taken away the option to purchase a safer SUV or light truck. Estimates on the number of deaths that will result from ultra-light vehicles range from 6,000 to 10,000 per year. Where will those that trailer a boat or use other trailers turn for a tow vehicle?

In spite of claims to the contrary, experts do not believe that this legislation will result in any reduction in imported oil, but will instead, be very harmful to the economy of the U.S. and contribute to global hunger. Most experts, in fact, project major fuel shortages.

Let’s be perfectly clear, this legislation does nothing to reduce the number of coal burning power plants, nothing to increase the use of clean nuclear power, and it does not address the 40% of additional energy that will be required by 2015. It also does not address the problems associated with jet fuel.

The current demand for Ethanol based fuel has doubled the price of corn, decreased the supply of all food grains, and increased the cost of virtually all animal products including milk. This new bill triples the need for corn based Ethanol. Food prices will follow!

Major grain shortages are occurring world wide. These shortages are and will continue to be exacerbated by the use of grains for fuel.

All this legislation does is extend our dependence of OPEC another 20 years and delays any solutions well into the future while sacrificing 10,000’s of American lives at the alter of Environmentalism.

A simple program supporting the conversion of coal into natural gas and other clean burning synfuels would resolve all the above problems.

Furthermore, there are trillions of barrels of recoverable oil lying under U.S. soil just waiting for a Congress with the intelligence and guts to do the right thing.

If Congress had the will, we could be rid of OPEC in a matter of months.

Ethanol Is Not The Answer!

U.S. demand for Ethanol may contribute to an international food crisis in the near future!

Increased demand for crop-based fuels is forcing up the price of corn, wheat, and other grains. The need of alternative energy sources is putting pressure on food prices throughout the world and unleashing a unique source of inflationary pressure.

Global grain supplies are at their lowest level in over three decades. While current demand for grains for food is at an all time high and growing.

Most experts fear the situation will get worse if more crops are set aside to make ethanol or other forms of alternative energy.

Traditionally, U.S. corn crops have been the reliable source when other food sources were in short supply. That is no longer the case!

Corn to Ethanol -- "The Unavoidable Truth"

As usual, Congress has ignored the 'Law of Unintended Consequences' with the move to Ethanol made from corn.

Some facts taken directly from USDA data and other government agencies:

1. A car which gets 30 mpg on Gasoline gets 20 mpg on Ethanol
2. At best, Ethanol will reduce petroleum imports by 2.6%
3. In 2006, Ethanol was subsidized at $2.21/gallon
4. Because coal is being burnt to distill the Ethanol, Greenhouse gases are greater than that of the gasoline replaced.
5. It takes about 80% as much energy to produce Ethanol as the energy one gets from the Ethanol
6. Ethanol requires special handling as it cannot be transported or stored in the same manner as is gasoline
7. Ethanol has almost zero Greenhouse gas benefit when used in cars newer than 1990 models
8. The cost of corn has already doubled and is expected to do so again
9. Ethanol from corn is causing the cost of nearly all foods to increase
10. Rain Forest are being cut as Brazil and other South American countries prepare to export Ethanol to the U.S.A.

In summary, one must conclude that there was/is no economic benefit, no Greenhouse gas reduction, or OPEC independence, reason(s) for Congress to have adopted an Ethanol from corn policy.

Some argue that as technology improves the cost of Ethanol will be reduced. This makes no sense as Ethanol is merely 200 proof corn whiskey. We have been distilling whiskey for over two hundred years—how much more is there to learn?