Travellinguist's Musings

Energy with Obama and McCain.

So it seems that both McCain and Obama have "energy plans." Well McCain's plan is basically let's do what we've already done despite the fact that I know global warming is going to kill us and my plan will just produce more global warming for years before I reduce it, possibly pushing us way beyond the tipping point. Of course he wants to drill for more oil, you know W style.... give oil companies who've been strangling our economy while reaping record profits even more of the same.
This is so stupid I can't even believe people are listening to him. Multiple people have repeated the claim which if true is even more damning that oil companies have only used 18% of their off-shore licenses already. If this is true, which it might be since I've heard from several reputable organizations, than McCain is in full pander mode, just utterly bending over for the companies who have caused these problems through their suppression of alternative energy research. (What I mean is that it is an open secret that oil companies buy up patents for technology which might challenge oil's dominance) It is a shame that McCain is pandering, but not unexpected given the way he's sucked up to all kinds of people from his own party who've smeared him over the years, particularly George W Bush who won South Carolina by starting the rumor through a "push poll" that McCain fathered "an illegitimate Black child." Of course given that Strom Thurmond did too and the good people of South Carolina kept sending him back to Congress suggests that this shouldn't have worked, but it did and President Bush got to steal the election from Gore in the fall rather than having a campaign about McCain and Gore. This probably could have not only saved McCain's soul but our nation's.
McCain has gone crazy the last eight years as his party has slimed and rejected him. He is like the son of an abusive father who aspires to be just like him despite being punched, knocked down and rejected by the same father. You feel bad for him, but don't want to have a lot to do with him. Given that the current president Bush already has used his father issues to warp this country the last thing we need is another damaged dysfunctional Republican in the White House. This brings us to Obama, raised by a single mom, who likely has his own father rejection issues, but who thus far seems to have put them behind him and used them as a source of strength not weakness and irrationality. His energy plan is the typical Democratic stuff. "Alternative energy" but don't be too rough and honest because we remember what happened to Jimmy Carter for telling it like it is to us. The sad truth of American politics is that you can't challenge the American people or tell them hard truths or else they will reject you. President Bush told us the best reaction to 9/11 was to go shopping and we did and ignored the looming economic crisis as we spiraled downward into debt and stupidity. They want quick fixes even ones that aren't quick (like drilling for more oil which wouldn't do anything for years and just delays the inevitable extinction of oil supplies). As we know the Democrats are the weird type of panderers in that they try to please everybody especially those people who aren't going to vote for them anyway. Republicans know that liberals won't vote for them so they just slime and disregard us, but Democrats suck up to Christianists and neo-fascists as if that will somehow get them votes from these psychos. Well I guess this is American politics in general, but it is particularly egregious for Democrats to not stand up when they are the opposition party called upon to OPPOSE the dominant party's ideas. Obama talks a beautiful game, but ultimately is just slightly more liberal than Clinton and not nearly as liberal as Edwards or Kucinich or Gravel.
So this is the way I am thinking about the energy plan. Ideally, the Apollo Alliance plan would be our wholesale strategy, but since it is not, I have a new idea. We should build nuclear power plants. Ok that's not new, what is new is my idea for that plan: we should only build them in states whose representatives are stalwart supporters of the plan, such as Alabama, Idaho, Mississippi, Texas etc. Besides the fact that the people will get what they want, nuclear power plants in their own backyard, we can perhaps have some of those states like Alabama and Mississippi and Idaho which are net recipients of federal money (as in they get more money from the Feds than they pay in taxes despite being fiercely opposed to taxes), contribute to the whole country. They will have lesser power needs so they can produce surplus nuclear electricity and provide it to states like New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and California which pay more taxes than they ever get back from the Federal government and provide more economic activity for our national economic health. I would suspect that this would be a win win. Jobs at nuclear power plants would be a boon to these job poor states as well.
As for John McCain's other proposal, to suspend all gas taxes. That is another stupid pander. Our federal highway money comes from gas taxes, and without that money more bridges would collapse like in Minneapolis and the roads would end up destroying cars and trucks. I was in Louisiana when the state was being punished for keeping an 18-year-old drinking age by losing Federal Highway money. The roads were HORRIBLE, like driving in the third world. If McCain got his way (which he knows he wouldn't so this is a no risk proposal for him) we'd either go further into debt because we'd borrow the money to maintain the roads, or our roads would collapse. Since his excuse is that the trucking industry is suffering from high gas prices, I wonder what the impact would be of driving trailer trucks on crumbling roads. I suspect more blowouts leading to higher tire costs, more accidents leading to more destruction of property and life, and of course more late deliveries so a net loss to the trucking industry. Far be it for McCain (or Obama for that matter though this isn't his proposal) to tell the straight truth about this. Of course, even this depends upon the oil companies instantly lowering their prices to compensate for their cut tax costs. I suspect we'd see a gradual and thus illegal decrease in prices which would mean extra money from our pockets into oil company coffers as they slowly brought gas prices in line with costs, plus some excuses for why they couldn't just reduce the gas prices overnight as they should do if the taxes were eliminated overnight; these would be excuses which, no doubt, McCain and other Republicans would be happy to repeat to us since oil companies fund their campaigns.
We waited too long to do this, to recognize this problem of oil dependency. I mean I understand it because the mass of the American people wouldn't have spent more to begin changing things during the Clinton boom years, but that is when we could have done it. Clinton, of course, was neutered (though sadly if he'd been physically neutered than he couldn't have been politically neutered) by his stupidity and so couldn't (or wouldn't) challenge us to fix our problem back when gas prices were low and we had money, so now we are stuck with this mess. I mean sadly, there is an advantage to Bush's stupidity. By destroying Iraq he brought us to the crisis point quickly (rather than waiting until the environmental crisis) so that we are now more willing to do things to fix it, but of course that wasn't his plan.
Anyway this is disorganized, but I will say one last thing, Corn ethanol is not an answer. That is just stupid. It is summer and I saw 4 ears of white corn for $3 on sale at Acme! I mean that is insane. I used to get corn 4 for a dollar in-season, but now corn costs TRIPLE that and since Free Markets dictate growing more corn to take advantage we don't have other sorts of vegetables and what not which constitute a healthy diet. Living in a country that is the fattest on Earth this is definitely a problem. In other words, oil problem leads to FAKE ethanol solution which drives up food costs, which cuts into healthy food options which contributes to fatter citizens which contributes to more health problems which contributes to higher health costs on a system that doesn't even insure those most vulnerable to dietary problems means even higher insurance costs. So yeah high gas prices are literally going to drive up insurance premiums which will make companies less willing to provide it and will price it further out of reach of those lower income people who eat cheap unhealthy food. What a disaster!
Anyway this is enough. I know I hardly have any links or specific but I suspect a quick google search will find my evidence easily enough so if you don't believe me I challenge you to find the evidence to disprove me. It will not be that easy and I will no doubt have an answer to your challenge. I am not burdened as politicians are by having to provide simplistic stupid answers to the ignorati.

Labels: energy plans Obama McCain

posted by travellinguist @ 7:56 AM