Posted on 05/11/2014 10:21:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
Have you noticed that the cries of the cultural and political “left” in the U.S. are becoming more venomous and shrill? As President Barack Obama flails on the international stage and approval for his domestic agenda and his party in Congress slips away, so-called “progressive” Americans are also watching something else slip away: the chances of politicians and government bureaucrats getting a strangle-hold on the petroleum energy industry.
The stated goal of progressive energy policy is to stave-off “global warming” (or “climate change” or “climate disruption” or whichever term progressives choose at any given moment), and the means to that end is curtailing oil production and consumption. But expanding government power to force a reduction in oil production and consumption and in turn to mandate “green energy projects” is the only way to make it all happen, so progressives say, and anybody who dares to doubt the agenda is a “climate denier” and to be despised.
Legitimate questions that thoughtful people might otherwise have about “climate science” or the economic viability of alternative energy projects shall not be expressed, and concerns about conflicts of interest or corruption with “climate activists” are to be ignored. Consider for example the excerpt below from New York Times contributing columnist Timothy Egan. In a May 8th piece about billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, Egan wrote, in part:
“They have used a big part of this fortune to attack the indisputable science on climate change, to buy junk scholars, to promote harmful legislation at the state level, to go after clean, renewable energy like solar, and to try to kill the greatest expansion of health care in decades.”
Did you get that? The “science” that animates global warming policies is “indisputable” regardless of how many scientists dispute it. “Clean, renewable energy” is to be praised- always – no matter how much American taxpayer money gets handed-over to green energy companies that end up going bankrupt and never producing any energy at all.
And here’s something else about which American progressives seem completely unaware: free people on at least three different continents have elected governments that are abandoning the progressive goal of destroying the petroleum energy industry and moving in the exact opposite direction of the Obama Administration. One of the most obvious examples of this is just a bit further northward, but right here in North America.
Consider Stephen Harper, the Prime Minster of Canada. First elected in 2006 on a campaign pledge to, among other things, foster close ties to President George W Bush and America’s efforts to fight terrorism, Harper has over the past eight years championed free trade, federal government spending reductions, and a significant 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 oil 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’s 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 win 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. Shortly after his September 7, 2013 landslide victory he set a date of July 1, 2014 by which he intends to eliminate his nation’s “carbon tax.”
And – gasp! – could it be that the European nations are abandoning their “green” status? It would appear that way. Two months ago the European commission, the legislative body 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.
True believers in President Obama’s agenda probably won’t allow themselves to ask difficult questions or to consider how the world is changing, at least that probably won’t happen anytime soon. The rest of us, however, need to speak up, face the facts, and stop ignoring harsh realities on the economy and energy policy.
Drill baby drill and be debt free. Sounds like our Canadian and Australian cousins get it economy wise.
These liberals have a religious zeal about global warming and the environment.
I’m all in favor of a clean environment, but, and it’s a big but, we should have a cost/benefit analysis of anything we do in this area.
For example, if we see the EPA put draconian rules into effect for coal fired power plants, which results in big increases in electric rates, and/or the possibilities of brownouts or rolling blackouts, is that really a policy we should adopt??? It seems to me we’re not being allowed to have that sort of discussion by the liberals who currently control our government.
And this is driven by the fact that Congress did not pass Obama’s cap and trade bill. So, Obama is using his phone and his pen, issuing executive orders, or using executive agencies such as the EPA to enact these draconian policies, policies which Congress chose not to adopt.
We could win the next few elections on the basis of petroleum production and distribution ... if the politicians on our side were willing to stand for ANYTHING.
Could win it on the economy too. Prices are through the roof, but our people act like clueless gerbils.
While we're certainly heading in the right direction, this overstates things. Canada is on track to be deficit-free in 2015. We'll then have increasingly large surpluses, part of which will go toward reducing the debt. (There will likely also be future tax cuts.) The national public debt peaked last year at 33% of GDP. It is projected to drop to about 25% of GDP over the next 5 years. The longer-term objective is to be debt-free.
There's also the matter of provincial debts -- which have to be considered part of the country's total public debt. Most (but not all) provincial budgets are headed in the right direction. The Alberta government is already back in a budget surplus, and has a sizable savings account.
The economy is very tenuous:
Hardly any of the men in my upscale, urban neighborhood are working.
Wife went to Target yesterday, a Saturday afternoon, and found it empty, one register open and low on inventory in every department.
When the economy collapses, it might get very ugly.
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