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Since Biden has announced his decision on the Keystone Pipeline, the right has been spreading their misleading fear campaign about extreme gas price increases.  But the issue is far more nuanced than the headlines on Fox news, NewsMax and OAN.  People need to develop a greater understanding of the oil business before blaming either side.  In short, our gas prices and oil supply are determined by many forces outside of the control of the President.

Now in general I support pipelines for the transport of oil/natural gas products rather than using rail or truck transportation.  Rail and truck transportation of oil is dangerous, costly and environmentally unsound but it does create far more long lasting jobs that are fairly distributed across America’s heartland than the short lived jobs needed to construct a pipeline.  So if you really support long lasting jobs that are distributed over the heartland, you should really want to keep moving oil by rail and truck.  And the radical left should prefer a pipeline over the more dangerous and polluting rail or truck transportation. Give this some thought before jumping on the talking points of the politicians and industry lobbyists on both sides.  But the constant talk about loss of oil jobs is an intentional distraction because there is a much better way to increase jobs while securing widely available, well paying jobs fairly distributed across our nation.

Now specifically regarding the Keystone Pipeline, it is important to realize that the underlying goal is to provide a way for Canada to move its tar sand oil to the world markets.  This specifically includes China who has been a supporter and investor in Canadian oil companies.  Once the Canadian oil gets to our gulf, it will be sold to the highest bidder.  This will not be America. 

We are just being used as cheap transport provider for Canada.  If Canada wants to sell their oil to China tell them to build a pipeline over the Rockies and ship it off of their Pacific coast.  Or they could also go to the Atlantic coast.  But they don’t want to do that as it is cheaper to get the US to allow their front company TC Energy, the right to take the land of American citizens through eminent domain.  How can any true conservative support the taking of a person’s land?

So if we are going to build a pipeline, let’s stop it in the heartland, build some refineries and keep that oil in America.  Don’t be taken in by the industry lobbyists.

Further, if we are going to build any pipelines, they must be built with US steel and legal US workers.  No cutting corners.  If any of the sub-contractors are caught hiring illegal immigrants to do the hard labor, their CEO should go to jail.  No fines, no excuses; just jail bedding with Bubba as their cell mate.

But there are even more economic problems with this particular pipeline.  From my research, Canadian tar sand oil is one of the most expensive forms of crude oil to mine and transport.  Estimates put its production cost at $85 per barrel.

Now if you know anything about the oil market, you will know that our so called buddies (in reality terroists and traitors) in Saudi Arabia have a history of manipulating the price of crude oil.  Why? Because they have the lowest cost of production in the world at as low as $5 a barrel.  In addition, they also have a type of crude that allows easy manipulation of the supply.  The Saudis and many of the Middle Eastern oil producers have the most desirable light sweet crude.  This type of oil is easily pumped, transported and refined.  Further, because this is a very light, liquid form of crude, they can rapidly and cost effectively stop or ramp up production.

This is not so with the heavier forms of crude.  Starting and stopping production, transport and refining of the heavier crudes is not as easy and makes the production even more costly.  Some crudes must be continuously pumped or the crude stops moving, permanently.  American fracking operations are also difficult to stop and start on demand.

Here is a somewhat dated chart of the cost of crude production.  Costs may have changed somewhat but the differentials between the producers remain.

Marginal Production Cost, 2014

Cost of producing an additional barrel of oil (USD/bbl)

Country	Exploration Type	Marginal Production Cost	Transportation Cost
Russia	Arctic	120
	Onshore	18
Europe	Biodiesel	110	2
	Ethanol	103
Canada	Sand	90	15
Brazil	Ethanol	66	5
	Offshore	80
United States	Deep-water	57
	Shale	73
Angola	Offshore	40
Ecuador	Total	20
Venezuela	Total	20
Kazakhstan	Total	16
Nigeria	Deep-water	30
	Onshore	15
Oman	Total	15
Qatar	Total	15
Iran	Total	15
Algeria	Total	15
Iraq	Total	6
Saudi Arabia	Onshore	3	2
United Arab Emirates	Total	7

Source:  https://knoema.com/infographics/vyronoe/cost-of-oil-production-by-country

The Saudis know this and take advantage of this.  They have used their flexibility and very low production costs to selectively drive down the price of oil to challenge other oil producing countries activities.  Most recently, they directed their manipulation at Russia which is why gas prices in the US dropped.  They have since reached a deal with Russia which has caused the price of oil to increase. This deal coupled with the recent uptick in the US economy and demand of gasoline is the reason gas prices have increased.

In a few years ago, the Saudi’s also went after the US fracking expansion to make it less attractive to oil producers.  US shale oil obtained by fracking costs around $70 a barrel to produce.  It is an easy target for manipulation by OPEC. 

So all this recent talk of Biden causing the price of gasoline to increase is a bunch of BS.  It is just another Republican and oil industry talking point and is a distraction to drive fear and division in our country.

Here is another thing to think about.  The major oil companies are rapidly divesting of their oil assets.  For example, BP and Shell are divesting many of their oil and gas assets as they recognize the move to renewable energy is the future. They recognize that oil is a bad bet in the long term.  Sort of sounds like Trump’s failure to understand that coal is a dying industry no matter how much he tried to pump it up.  You have not heard him talk about coal for the past few years.  Automated mining drove the loss of coal jobs not Obama.  While simple economics coupled with cheap, easy to transport natural gas drove the demise of the coal industry. 

Now don’t get me wrong, the world will run on oil for a while and the US must protect our national security by making sure we are oil independent. But this independence will come at a cost.  Security is never free.  If you look at the cost of production, using only US produced oil will increase the price of gasoline no matter which party is in charge.  It is simple economics.  And worse, if we choose to go it alone, other countries will enjoy the resulting lower world price that Saudi Arabia will likely set just to make our lives more difficult.  This means that China will likely enjoy even cheaper energy costs further strengthening their world economic power. 

But we also must recognize that the faster and more efficiently we make the transition to other sources of energy, particularly those that offer greater opportunity for decentralization and less dependence on major multinational corporations, the more secure and and productive our nation will become.  And who would rather work on an oil rig when they could work in a job rebuilding our electric grid, installing solar panels all across America, installing and maintaining wind turbines across the heartland, placing charging stations across America, and all the other well paying, clean jobs this inevitable transition will create.

Viewing oil as our future is looking backwards and not ahead.

Only Real Progress Matters

A friend recently sent me a link to a YouTube video that was debunking the scientific consensus of climate change.  This is just one more example of the ongoing war between the promoters of climate change and the deniers.  I spent some time reflecting on this and responded to my friend with the following.

In my opinion, the continuing debate in the US about the reality of global climate change is a distraction for both sides.  The climate change promoters and the deniers both use this debate as a means to forward their agendas and to create fear while missing a discussion of the real issues surrounding the future of energy supply and demand.  In this way our nation will never make any progress while the rest of the world moves on without the leadership that we have long provided and for which we were rewarded through much of our history.

To me it is simply about allowing the free market to work without government subsidies or tax breaks of any type for the energy producers of all types while holding all industries and their leaders fully and criminally (in the case of gross negligence) accountable for all the public costs attributable to their business activities.

If the production of solar cells creates water or air pollution, they should be held fully accountable for all the costs of the mitigation of such pollution and for damages to individual’s lives.  Likewise, if coal production results in water or air pollution these industries should be held fully accountable for their costs and damages.

God gave us one planet and told us to take care of it.  This is a simple instruction.  But the industries on all sides have found ways to avoid God’s instructions.   They buy our government and legislators to create laws that distort a free market and simultaneously avoid virtually all accountability. They own our media and use it to promote messages that are intended to obfuscate thinking and promote fear.

This applies not only to the energy industries but to most multinational corporations and most of the world’s governments.  There is a war going on between our past and our future, between our fears and our hopes, between opportunity and adversity and between our communities.

I am skeptical of many things but I trust science more than I trust multinational corporations and government.

And even my trust in the free market is not without much skepticism.

In the Showtime  series “Billions”,  Wendy Rhoades, the staff therapist of AX Capital  while debating with one of her aggressive traders said, “It is more than numbers and decimal points, the things that make it matter are relationships, true honesty, real trust. ”

The young trader, Taylor Amber Mason replied, “No, I am pretty sure there is only money and it can buy all those things or at least the same result.  That is what your have taught me.”

I think this may be the world we have given ourselves.

As with all human progress, there will be winners and losers.  But only if the planet and our children not only survive but flourish will it make a difference.  Otherwise we are all losers.

For those who are interested, here is the link;

97% Global Warming Consensus Debunked

 

After a long absence from my blog, the two proposed Congressional “Trump” Tax Plans compel me to call for your help. President Trump promised a “miracle for the middle class” with his tax plan. The only miracle I see with the proposed House and Senate plans is that many of us will pay a few thousand dollars more in taxes and in turn we get a $1.5 trillion dollar deficit while the wealthy (including Trump) get a massive tax cut.
The talking points being used to sell us (scam us) on this plan are ridiculous. One is that we can do our taxes on a post card. Of course, they forget to mention that there are pages of worksheets not shown that will be required to get to the few numbers on the post card. Already, for most working class Americans, the 1040 EZ is virtually a post card and the IRS will figure your taxes for you for free. And for those of us that itemize, Schedule A is little more than a checklist to make sure we don’t cheat ourselves out of a deduction. Even the long form 1040 is simple with most lines not used by many Americans. Further, does anyone really want to file on a postcard where all of your personal information is out there for anyone to view? I think not.
Another talking point is the alleged simplification by going from seven to three tax brackets. Give me a break. When was the last time you sat down with paper and pencil to figure your taxes using the brackets? Most of us don’t even know what bracket we are in. You either use the tax tables provided by the IRS or you use a computer. The number of brackets is meaningless.
Lastly is the claim that the corporate tax rate will be cut from 35% to 20% will result in money raining down across America that will cause jobs to sprout up like mushrooms in shit rich soil. About 40% of the corporations pay zero taxes anyway and only the really dumb ones pay anywhere close to the 35% rate.
Now I do not have a great problem with cutting the corporate tax rate as long as most of the corporate tax breaks, loop holes and corporate welfare programs are stopped. It is only fair to reduce the rate if corporations actually pay their fair share of taxes for all the services they get from our government. But the proposed legislation does little to end the most egregious corporate loop holes and actually opens many more tax loop holes for businesses.
We have experimented with so called trickledown economics for the last fifty years and we have had the lowest tax rates in our recent history for many years now. Have we seen the jobs and growth in GDP sprouting around us? Not so much. When will we realize that the economy is driven by demand and not by supply? When the average low and middle class person has money, they will spend it and that spending creates growth. The average wealthy person changes their spending little when rewarded with a massive tax break. Trickle down is a myth.
But let’s get back to personal taxes. The proposed tax bills eliminate many of the deductions for middle class wage earning taxpayers that corporations will still enjoy. For example, if a teacher needs to buy paper and pencils for her students, she will no longer be able to get a deduction. But a corporation can still deduct any purchases they deem related to their business including fancy lunches and corporate jets.
We will no longer be able to deduct medical expenses to keep our bodies in working condition so that we can earn a living for our family but a corporation can deduct all expenses for maintaining the plant and equipment they use to make a profit.
We will no longer be able to deduct the sales taxes we pay on the car we need to get back and forth to work but a corporation can deduct all of the sales taxes they pay in the course of doing business.
We will no longer be able to deduct the property taxes on that car or on the home for ourselves and our family so that we can be well rested and productive when we report to work but the corporations can deduct property taxes they pay and even get us to pay for having them relocate in our community by forgiving them of taxes for many years with TIF and other taxpayer subsidies.
We will be limited on the interest we can deduct for the purchase of our homes to shelter ourselves and our families but the corporations can deduct all their interest expenses. And Trump breaks one of his promises by not addressing the carried interest and pass-through deductions by the likes of hedge fund managers.
A corporation can continue to deduct all of their insurance expenses while working individuals have to choose between food and health care coverage by not being allowed to deduct some of the basic necessities of life.
Trump made many promises and has yet to fulfill any of the major reasons people voted for him. He needs to get off of his ass and start leading and demanding Congress to fulfill those specific promises. Instead he seems to only be sitting on the sideline tossing out Tweets and obscuring the fact that the Congress is coming up with legislation that is not in keeping with his Populist promises. Very disappointing.
It is time to stop the charade. Call and write your Senators and Representatives telling them that you will fire every one of them unless we see real tax reform. Reform that fairly taxes corporations, eliminates all corporate loopholes and cuts government subsidies to corporations. Reform that taxes wealthy individuals at a level that does not result in them paying a lower effective tax rate than our hard working, wage earning American families. Only in this way will we make America Even Greater and restore true prosperity and opportunity to all Americans.
Calling your Senator and Representative is probably the most effective. Go to town halls if your elected official has the courage to stand in front of you. Sending an email is also somewhat effective. Social media and Tweets are the least effective unless you have lots of followers. Find your Senators or Representatives number by using
https://www.callmycongress.com/

 

Wow, it has been a busy month for me and for our nation.  And it looks like this summer will be even busier.  I apologize for the lull in my writing.  It is time to drop in on a few of the critical issues being considered in our Capital.

Today’s topic is healthcare, the 1000 pound elephant that has been sitting in our living room for decades.  Sure, every now and then we all complain about him.  Congress and the Presidents make proclamations about him every four years or so and recently the Republicans have voted over 50 times to repeal him.  But here he sits and shows no sign of moving.

The truth is no one in Washington wants to really tackle the healthcare problem.  You might ask why when this is one of the most important and urgent issues that touches the lives and pocketbooks of virtually every American.

I think the American people are clear on what we want.  We want good quality healthcare at an affordable price.  We want protection against the catastrophic costs of serious and prolonged illness for ourselves and our families.  We want reasonable coverage in cases of pre-existing or hereditary conditions.  We want choice and convenience in our healthcare providers.  We want the latest medical technology and miracle drugs.

Contrary to what many politicians would say, our current healthcare system is a manifestation of a free market capitalist system on steroids.  This has resulted in layer upon layer of special interest groups and multinational corporations who all seek to maximize their profit by allegedly providing Americans the health care we all want.  And for the most part, our system provides most Americans everything they want in healthcare except for an affordable price and protection from the cost of catastrophic illness.

This free market capitalists system has resulted in annual US healthcare spending of $3.2 trillion dollars or almost $10,000 per year for every American.  This is almost 20% of our gross domestic product.  We Americans spend  almost two times more on healthcare than any other developed country and yet we are often less healthy and have no better outcomes than countries spending half as much.

Our legislators keep promising they will fix the cost and access problems we all want fixed.  First attempt was with Obamacare and now by repealing and replacing Obamacare with Trumpcare.  Yet all proposed legislation keeps ignoring the cost issues that are endemic to our healthcare system.  They keep thinking that the magic of yet more competition will drive down prices.  Meanwhile the major corporate players providing our healthcare keep consolidating and erecting barriers to entry of new players to keep their profits high and their completion limited.

Both Obamacare and Trumpcare amount nothing more than generous handouts to the insurance companies paid for by the tax payers.  Obamacare did it with subsidies and Trumpcare proposes to do the same thing with tax credits.  Trumpcare is even worse in that it includes a massive taxpayer handout to the wealthiest.  The top 0.1% of Americans will get a tax cut averaging $165,000 with Trumpcare.  What is this about?  How is this solving our healthcare cost problem?

The health insurance companies represent massive overhead and contribute about 30% of additional healthcare cost to our system.    Of every 70 cents they spend on providing healthcare coverage, they pocket 30 cents for their executives and shareholders.

In comparison, Medicare has an overhead of only 5% and most senior Medicare recipients love their Medicare coverage so much they protect it with their votes.  Yes, Medicare has its problems but because the service does not need to make a profit, it can provide healthcare insurance for a fraction of the cost of our large consolidated corporate insurance companies.

Our legislators are under tremendous pressure by the corporate insurance lobbyists to eliminate Medicare and turn the Medicare fund over to private for-profit companies because these companies see massive profits in doing so.  And they don’t like to see the government doing something for much less cost than they are willing to provide.

Medicare provides a working demonstration of a reasonable model for providing affordable healthcare insurance for all Americans.  It provides a basic level of standardized coverage while providing for supplemental private insurance with consumer choice of additional levels of coverage.  Any new legislation would be wise to build upon this working system rather than continuing to write legislation that rewards the healthcare insurance companies with more government handouts.  Our Congress needs to stand up to the massive lobbying efforts by the healthcare insurance industry by working for the citizens and not the special interest groups who want to confuse the American public and line their pockets.

Our drug companies are another part of the healthcare system where costs are out of control.  America’s pharmaceutical companies spend more for advertising than any other industry segment.  Over 28% of pharmaceutical company expenses go to advertising.  This is about $200 billion dollars.  Of course, you are not going to hear about this because the media — lame stream, fake news, talk radio, internet etc all feast on this advertising money.  Media companies profit more from drug advertising than any other product category.

Our Congress under George Bush even wrote into law that Medicare Part D must pay list prices for drugs.  Our Congress also has enacted laws preventing Americans from buying drugs from other countries.   The lobbyists for the drug companies got their way with our legislators.  As a result, we often pay ten times more for a drug than do citizens in other developed countries.

We must demand legislation that requires most favored nation pricing.  This means that if a drug company sells a drug for less in another market, Americans must be able to purchase that drug for the most favorable price.  We must also demand legislation that requires Medicare Part D to negotiate the lowest prices for drugs.

We must outlaw drug advertising.  Such advertising is banned in virtually every country except the US and New Zealand.  Drug advertising accomplishes nothing other than raising the cost of our drugs and creating additional work for our doctors and hospitals.

Our hospitals and healthcare providers are also responsible for contributing to the high cost of healthcare.  Lack of transparent pricing, high readmission rates, high rates of hospital caused infections, poor records and quality assurance systems all contribute to higher costs.  In many communities, there is only one hospital provider system resulting in no competition.    In larger communities, hospital consolidation is resulting in less competition.

Any healthcare system legislation must establish requirements to address these issues.

Yes, this is complex legislation and our representatives are under intense pressure from the industry lobbyists and special interest groups to only make changes which will continue to enrich their businesses.  We must be involved and keep challenging our legislators to write and pass legislation providing for affordable and quality healthcare for every citizen as promised by President Trump.

We must also demand that President Trump make good on the promises he made to the voters.  The Republican attempt to repeal and replace failed because President Trump was not involved in the details and did not follow through on his promises.  Instead, he let Paul Ryan and a small group of industry backed lobbyists draft yet another piece of crap healthcare bill.  Without leadership, Congress will always bend to the will of the moneyed interests and not to the will of the people.

 

My proposals for a New Energy Policy for America will include several common themes designed to meet the goals I outlined in my previous post.  These were:

• It will provide jobs all across our great land.
• It will reduce and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.
• It will make our nation’s energy supply more reliable and very resistant to attack by terrorists.
• It will reduce energy costs for most citizens.
• It will be a springboard for a resurgence of American innovation.
• Oh, and by the way, it will reduce carbon emissions.

The first theme will focus on decentralization of our energy infrastructure.  Centralized energy means corporate controlled energy.  Think of the big oil companies and electric power companies.  Centralized energy makes our energy supply subject to massive disruption by single point failures or terrorist attacks.  Centralized energy means that any failure or attack can take months or years to repair and restore.  Centralized energy means that jobs are concentrated in a few energy centers around the United States.  Centralized energy means that prices are controlled by a few companies limiting the benefits of a free market.  Centralized energy limits consumer choice of their energy supply.  To get the benefits of a free market in energy we must evolve our energy infrastructure to one more distributed in nature with redundant interconnections, alternative sources of supply and localized storage.

In the case of electricity supply this will mean moving more electricity generation and storage capacity to be located at local businesses, residences, municipalities and cooperatives.  Our power grid will need upgrading to become smarter and capable of moving and aggregating electrical energy in both directions as sources and users of electricity become more distributed.

In the case of oil and natural gas this will mean better strategic location of our refineries, oil and natural gas storage facilities and a network of interconnected pipeline systems for both unrefined and refined oil products.  Due to the scale needed to make a refinery profitable, oil refining will need to remain somewhat centralized while natural gas storage and distribution can be more easily distributed.  In time, investment in innovative refining technology will allow more on demand smaller refineries.

With regard to coal, I believe we must move away from coal production as we know it today. Due to the cost of production and distribution coal will continue to become less economically competitive, particularly with natural gas.  We should continue to fund some basic research in new technologies that could result in the clean conversion of coal to gas or another refined energy product as a back-up to oil and natural gas.

The next theme focuses on elimination of our dependence on foreign oil.  This is best done by driving change in what types of energy supply are best suited to the end use of energy.  Fixed users of energy such as residential and business must migrate to electricity and natural gas supplies and move away from oil and coal energy sources.

Some forms of transportation will require oil or natural gas based fuels for the foreseeable future.  These include air transportation, long distance water vessels, long distance rail, large trucks and busses.

Other forms of transportation such as automobiles and regional rail transit systems must continue to migrate to hybrid, fuel cells or electricity based energy supplies.

The migration and realignment of energy supply and consumption is already well underway in some areas just because the economies make sense.  But as expected,  the large oil and electric power companies are promoting legislation, creating fake news stories and running numerous advertising campaign to protect their monopoly on energy.  You know they are worried that Americans are waking up and they want to keep us from seeking legislation that will support the decentralization of energy.

As citizens we must become educated in the alternative energy sources available and not believe the advertising campaign being mounted by the entrenched energy companies that now control our federal and state legislators.

As we enter the mid-term elections, we all must seek out and support legislators who are willing to stand for American citizens and are not owned by the powerful energy companies and their wealthy owners.

Taking a break from the commentary and on to something possibly more fun.

I found this site that sends your honey a dive bar tee shirt every month.  Just the thing for Valentines Day.

Check out the collection to tee shirt and dive bars.

Maybe take a road trip to some of these bars as a Valentines Day surprise.

The shirts

The Shirts

Dive Bar Tee Shirts

Well folks, I was willing to give President Trump a chance but he continues to do things that are what the swamp dwellers want and not what will help the American people.

Last week he signed two executive orders rolling back banking regulations.  Apparently his cabinet buddies from Goldman Sachs whispered in his ear.  Unfortunately,  given all the drama over some of his other executive orders, these orders did not receive much press.  And like he says, the corporate owned press probably does not want to cover these orders since these orders benefit them and their advertisers.

Now I understand reducing some of the onerous regulation on corporations but such a reduction must be implemented with a commensurate increase in holding corporate executives personally accountable for their actions.  We need either corporate regulation or executive accountability.  By his executive actions we are setting our economy up for another Great Recession.

We witnessed what happened when Wall Street executives were allowed to run our nation’s economy into the ground and then expect to be bailed out by the taxpayer.  Not a one of them went to jail or were held accountable for their frauds upon the American people.  Instead they received big bonuses and have resumed their irresponsible operation of screwing the American people.  Just look at Wells Fargo and their fraudulent methods to pump up their profits by fraud.

If we truly believe that less regulation is what we want, then we must demand a commensurate amount of personal accountability by corporate officers and board members.  By this I mean real jail time in real jails.

Thanks to the recent Supreme Court ruling called Citizens United (which should be called Corporations United Against US) which gives personhood to corporations and equates money to free speech we now have given corporations the ability to fill the swamp with dwellers of their choice.

So I say if corporations are indeed people, then their executives need to be treated with the same consequences that a real person faces when they break the law.  A real person goes to jail when they injure another person.  A real person faces the death penalty when they are found guilty of grievous crimes.  Even in civil cases, when a real person is negligent, they may face ruinous judgments that may bankrupt them and even their future earnings.

But under our current laws, corporations can literally get away with murder and theft and face a mere slap on the wrist by paying a few dollars in fines or penalties.  Even worse, many corporations have purchased laws that limit their liabilities and make the taxpayers the backstop.  For example, BP’s liability for the Horizon oil platform catastrophe was limited to $70 million with the taxpayers backstopping their liability above this amount.  Twelve workers were killed and the Gulf area residents and environment was severely damaged.  For this, BP executives should have faced criminal charges and the corporation driven to pay for all the damage and claims with no limits on liability.

It is time to call on our Legislators to stop being owned by the corporations and their lobbyists and to call for the overturn of the Supreme Court Citizens United ruling by holding corporations accountable when they choose to hurt the American people.  It is either accountability or regulation and the Republican demand for smaller government must call for increased corporate accountability and responsibility.

And for the strict Constitutionalists, our Founding Fathers were clear in their thinking about the dangers of unbridled corporations.  Indeed, they took action against one of the largest corporations of their time in the Boston Tea Party.  I suggest you read some of the following:

From the Harvard Business Review:  https://hbr.org/2010/04/what-the-founding-fathers-real.html

From Forbes Magazines:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2014/06/30/founding-fathers-spinning-in-their-graves-as-scotus-rules-that-corporations-are-people-too/2/#5ecf868367cf

And for some writings by our Founding Fathers and Presidents on corporations:

http://addictinginfo.org/2013/06/09/founding-fathers/

Yes, it is from a liberal source but has collected in one place their writings for a quick review.

This is the first in a series of specific proposals for a sustainable energy policy for America.  It will provide jobs all across our great land.  It will reduce and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.  It will make our nation’s energy supply more reliable and very resistant to attack by terrorists.  It will reduce energy costs for most citizens.  It will be a springboard for a resurgence of American innovation.  Oh, and by the way, it will reduce carbon emissions.

But first I will address the elephant in the room.  What about the climate change debate?  Is it real or a Chinese hoax?  Is it a natural cycle or is it man made?  Is it an existential threat or is it going to make Chicago a wonderful place to visit in the winter because of the cool breezes from Lake Michigan?

For too long the energy companies and climate deniers have been focusing our nation on this debate because keeping this debate alive serves their needs and their profit agenda.

Take the Koch brothers, the guys who grow forests of trees and own oil pipelines and cattle ranches.  They have publically stated that carbon dioxide is creating climate change.  Yet they are spending millions supporting organizations to reinforce the message of climate change denial.  Why would they do that?

These guys are smart.  They know that climate change will disrupt many of their businesses.  So by creating confusion and distraction around the issue, they can position their companies to take advantage of the disruptions climate change will cause.  They know they can profit from it if they plan and invest well.

Likewise, all the oil companies believe that climate change is real and are positioning their operations planning for the likely changes.  Virtually all the large multinational businesses and giant insurance companies are already factoring climate change into their long range business plans.

As with all disruptive events, those that see the coming disruption and plan for the changes will profit while those that are made to believe that things will continue as they are will lose everything.

So I think this is why there is so much money being spent to convince the public that climate change is not real.  This is simply because there is much money to be made by keeping the public confused and debating while the corporations set the national agenda.

Yes, I believe that climate change is real and that it is a direct result of human activity.  In 200 years we have released more carbon into our atmosphere than it took God and the dinosaurs 200 million years to place into the earth for us to use.  To think that this will not affect our climate is naïve at best.    And there is even less talk of methane and other gases also being released into our atmosphere that may have an even greater effect on the climate.

So I am sidestepping the climate debate because I believe implementing a sustainable energy policy for our country will result in all of the changes I outlined in the first paragraph.  If we can focus our citizens on the benefits of a sustainable energy policy maybe we can move away from the climate change debate and get on with Making America Even Greater.

Of course, the large centralized oil, electricity suppliers and natural gas companies do not want most Americans moving away from their dependence on centralized and corporate controlled energy.  So get ready to start telling your legislators and friends about a new energy movement in America.

 

 

 

With President Trump’s recent executive orders on immigration and building a great wall, I need to delay my planned series proposing a path to a rational energy policy for America to offer a few observations on immigration.

My first question, is why do we need a wall when net immigration from Mexico has been hovering around zero for the last several years?  President Trump says that terrorists are coming in from Mexico.  So we build a wall on our border with Mexico, do we really think terrorists will not simply start coming in from Canada?   Then we will need an even bigger wall with our northern neighbor.   Or maybe they will just fly here and land in one of our many airports.  You might not know that almost half of all illegal immigrants arrive by airplanes.  So maybe we need to build walls around our airports.

My point is that the wall is a red herring.  What we lack is a reasonable immigration policy and an effective system for processing immigration.  We have a jumble of laws on immigration some of which are not even enforced.  Our immigration system is not working.  We cannot even track vacationers who simply decide to stay.  Worse, talented people who come here seeking legal immigration and a path to citizenship must navigate an expensive and time consuming system that can take several years and mounds of paperwork. 

So you might ask why we need immigration.  The first and simplest reason is that if it were not for immigration, our country would rapidly enter a long economic and social decline. You can see this happening in Japan for over the past two decades.  The aging population and a strict zero immigration policy in Japan has resulted in negative population growth causing persistent deflation and a declining economy.  Our nation’s economy depends on continually growing consumer demand. Our Social Security and Medicare upon which so many of our seniors depends requires a growing economy.   So economically I can say if our country is not growing we are dying. 

There are many other benefits of immigration to our country.  There are many sources and studies on the benefits of immigration.  Just Google Benefits of Immigration to read many analysis of the pros and cons of immigration.  Sure there are a few downsides but on net, our country benefits from a good rational immigration policy.

Now back to the wall.  If approved, we will spend between $20 and $40 billion dollars and yet more billions every year thereafter maintaining the wall. 

President Trump says that Mexico will pay for the wall yet he has only offered one plan saying we will tax Mexican imports at a 20% rate.  So who will end up paying for the higher prices that will result from such an import tax?  We will.  Our Coronas, our tomatoes, our avocados and all the many things we import from Mexico will cost us 20% more.  Sure, the taxpayers will not be directly paying for the wall but instead all American consumers will be paying for the wall.  I see no viable way to force Mexico to pay for the wall that will not ultimately result in Americans really paying for it.

Here are a few recommendations for a rational immigration policy.  Enforce the law currently on the books that requires companies to verify the legal immigration status of employees.  Develop a guest worker program for seasonal workers so that businesses requiring temporary workers can better plan their worker requirements.  Fix our broken system for tracking legal visitors who choose to stay and become illegal immigrants.  Enact a law forever denying citizenship for anyone who has ever entered the United States illegally.  Enact a law that forever denies a work permit for anyone who has ever entered the United States illegally. 

So contact your Representative and Senators demanding a rational immigration policy and to deny funding for the wall for which we will end up paying.