1. The Economy:  If you look past the cheerleading reporting that the recession is over and jobs are being created, and a falling unemployment percent, you might just see how bad things still are.  I don’t remember a time where I have sweated my employment for so long.  I am not consumed, but the gnawing feeling is always there in the background.  As of November 2011 the U6 Unemployment (U-6 = Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force) rate is 15.6 percent. 
2. Operation Fast and Furious:  It has a few different names, but the Obama Administration took a Bush program that tracked weapons sales finding their way to Mexico and put it on steroids.  Agents under Eric Holder’s “Justice Department” not just allowed, but facilitated and used Stimulus money to get weapons into the hands of drug cartels.  Holder has been holding out and not cooperating with Congressional inquiries.  Any Republican president and most Democrat ones too would be hounded by the press, but not Obama. 
3. Japan’s Earthquake/Tsunami:  We all watched the horrifying video of buildings, houses, cars, and people tossed around like toys in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  The devastation was so great that the images almost didn’t seem real.  After the initial impacts we then watched brave workers try to prevent a massive meltdown at one of their nuclear power plants.  To many this prompted a call to halt the spread of nuclear energy, but it was quite remarkable that with an earthquake, tsunami, and total lost of power to control the reactor that nothing more devastating happened. 
4. Osama binLaden:  Nearly ten years after 9/11 America finally had its revenge on binLaden and his death was a cause to celebrate.  I did not dance in the street at his demise, but felt a sense of accomplishment at the stellar work of our military and Intelligence folks tracking him down and killing him.  I am glad that there will be no trial. 
5. Obama Doling Out Our Green:  The uncovering of The Obama Administration’s outrageous “loaning” of our tax dollars to campaign contributors is shocking in its depth and scope and the refusal of the mainstream media’s lack of coverage.  It is hard to believe that there isn’t some reporter on 60 Minutes aching to make his/her bones by bringing down a sitting president with the scandal.  I first became aware of the quid pro quo when the solar energy company, Solyndra, filed for bankruptcy after Bush rejected, then Obama pushed and we loaned the failing company OVER A HALF A BILLION DOLLARS.   After Solyndra came “Fisker” and “Wind Capital Group“, “First Solar, SunPower Corp. and ProLogis“, and “LightSquared.”
6. Boeing Blackmail:  A sad story that had a somewhat happy ending as Obama’s union-controlled NLRB held up Boeing’s plans to open a new plant in right-to-work South Carolina which irked unions everywhere.  Fortunately the Republicans were holding up Obama’s proposed appointments to the NLRB and kept Congress “in session” so he could not make recess appointments.  With the clock (year) running out and their recess terms expiring the NLRB cut a deal that didn’t hurt Boeing too much.
7. The Left’s (Obama’s) war on energy:  There is not a war on all energy, just those sources (coal, gas, and nuclear) that provide MOST of the energy in the United States.  Defenders of the offensive tout the number of lives that will be saved, but ignore the number lost due to much much higher energy bills that they will no longer be able to afford. 
8. Democrat John Corzine and MF Global:  Corzine, recently touted as Obama’s pick to replace Treasury’s Geithner, is mired in a scandal at the bankruptcy of MF Global where he was CEO.  This one should make Enron look tame if it got any press. 
9. No Budget:  We are fast approaching 1000 days since Congress has last met its obligations and have passed a budget.  There have been far too many continuing resolutions for my taste.
10. Occupy This:   The Whine About This (or Occupy) movement was the most covered non-story of the year.  Like homeless people during a Democrat administration they will just fade away from the front page because they have become unruly, unpopular and are now a drag on Democrats like Obama who supported their movement.  Neo-Liberals (AKA progressives, socialists, communists) just don’t understand that America hasn’t quite lapsed into the brain-dead zombies they think we are…YET!

Other notable stories…The death of Steve Jobs, Obama’s gazillionth vacation/round of golf,  and my favorite Obama’s Battle with Fox News.

A time is coming when I have to make a decision on whether to put a lot of money in a vehicle that still may not be totally reliable. Do I spend the money on this or take the leap and take on a car payment. Which path gives me the better return? Why spend $3,000 to get another month out of the car? Many of us face similar choices. Do I upgrade the windows in our house to save some energy costs? Should I get one of those fancy on-demand water heaters or go with the tried and true tank heaters? Should I pay $10,000 more for a hybrid car? Should I take paper or plastic at the supermarket?

Those of us with limited funds usually sit down and look at the returns expected between the choices. For instance when we needed a new washer and dryer we went for the high efficiency front loading models. The water where we live is fairly expensive and our savings have been significant enough to make the extra cost of the washer worthwhile. We did not opt for the higher end model with steam cleaning and other bells and whistles due to their diminishing returns. In other words the value of those features were not worth the money to us.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to not have to worry so much about the cost of things. You know like our federal government. I heard an example of this recently regarding New York City. NYC has long been the provider of some of the best drinking water in the world. I remember a number of years ago that they actually won a blind taste test against many other waters including popular bottled water. The folks in charge of the water supply have done some pretty creative things to protect their supply, much of which comes from neighboring Pennsylvania. In fact they have spent a great deal of money protecting the watershed where their water comes from. It is easier to keep something clean than to clean it later and by “easier” I mean cheaper.

That is not, however, enough for Obama’s EPA. It seems that NYC had 100 cases of intestinal diarrhea suspected to be caused by bacteria in the water supply. If you are thinking statistics that is 100 cases out of a population of nine million. If you really want to dilute the statistic think about 100 cases over how many billions of gallons of water they treat and supply. As a result of EPA requirements NYC is in the process of completing a $1.6 billion ultraviolet light disinfection system, but even that is not enough. EPA rules require “a concrete cover” over all treated water storage facilities. Try to imagine the size of water storage reservoirs needed to serve nine million people. Try to imagine the cost. One such “cover” is likely to be the largest of its kind in the world…and for what? To save 100 cases of loose bowels? If that doesn’t seem like diminishing returns I don’t know what is.

It is not hard to find examples of government’s ability to ignore the “return” factor that you and I have to consider in our decisions. A ban on Gulf Coast and Alaskan oil drilling may provide some protection for the environment, but the result is higher fuel costs, bringing the fuels from greater distances, and supporting countries who then use that money to attack us. Also consider air quality regulations that will cost billions to comply with yet seem to do little more than avoid nuisances for a vast majority of the population. Consider how the federal government forces banks to give loans to people who cannot pay them back. What is the return for that program…2008 happened with the housing bust and near economic collapse.

I do feel for the folks in NYC and the fact that their water bills have been raised significantly and promises to continue their ascent, however, they do routinely elect Democrats so perhaps they deserve what they get. Local politicians are trying to petition EPA for a waiver. What I frighteningly find happening more frequently is a significant diminishing return on my votes for conservatives and/or Republicans.

Obama Back-Assward Administration 1:  One of George W. Bush’s failings was that he let Ted Kennedy write public education’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation giving loads of money to an already faltering system.  It is funny that now that it is time to “pay the piper” and take action based on Kennedy’s plan most media, politicians, and big education are forgetting that Kennedy wrote this.  Rather than accept what Kennedy wrote into the bill Obama and others are looking to give relief to the affected schools by offering a waiver from mandated testing.  Whew!  The schools get relief and the students get screwed by being forced to stay in underperforming schools.  Perhaps NCLB isn’t the best answer, but it seems a waste to scrap it just as poor performing schools have to make changes or get dumped.   This looks back-assward as the only victims here are the children as everyone else gets relief. 

Obama Back-Assward Administration 2:  Standard & Poor made the historic move to downgrade America’s rating on Friday primarily because of out of control spending by politicians.  As much as I’d like to blame it all on Obama the spending started long before he came into office.  He certainly has accelerated and deserves a lion’s share of blame, but in his back-assward way he calls for additional “revenue” enhancements to battle the budget woes.  Of course “revenue” is code for HIGHER TAXES which as anyone with sense knows that in this economic climate  higher tax rates precede higher unemployment, lower job creation, and recession.  In a speech today he noted:

“”It’s not a lack of plans or policies that’s the problem here.  It’s a lack of political will in Washington. It’s the insistence on drawing lines in the sand, a refusal to put what’s best for the country ahead of self-interest or party or ideology. And that’s what we need to change.” 

Isn’t he the quintessential Washington insider?  Doesn’t his government housing have a D.C. address?  Hasn’t he repeatedly drawn lines in the sand?  Perhaps this is chuzpah rather than back-asswardness.  Of course there is his back-asswardness to increase spending when our debt and deficit are out of control.   To further his back-asswardness Obama’s minions are going on the attack against S&P rather than cutting spending like everybody on EARTH knows he should do.

Obama Back-Assward Administration 3:  Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid all told us how important Obamacare was and how it would improve health care in the United States.  We were told that we would have to wait and see what’s in it.  A vast majority of Americans did not favor passage of the behemoth legislation, but we were told how good it was even though payment for the plan started immediately even though benefits don’t start until 2014.  Obama-Pelosi-Reid back-asswarded this crappy legislation so badly that Obama’s Health and Human Services Administration has issued nearly a thousand waivers; many of these waivers are to groups and businesses that supported the measure.  Perhaps our only hope is with SCOTUS.

Obama Back-Assward Administration 4:  Obama campaigned heavily on the platform that he’d end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan yet here we are still in them.  I understood both campaigns early on, but I struggling to understand how we fight a “war” when we back-asswardly tie our soldiers hands behind their backs with silly rules of engagement that increase the danger to them.  Perhaps we should stop attempting to make folks like us and make them respect us.  They’ll never like us and this direction will never convince them to respect us.  Furthering the back-asswardness of Obama he agreed to attack Libya and continues to participate in military action without Congressional approval.  Furthering the back-asswardnessiosity Obama sits by and allows Assad in Syria to basically do to his citizens what we are supposedly trying to prevent Gadhafi from doing in Libya. 

Obama Back-Assward Administration 5:  America needs energy, lots of energy.  We produce approximately 25 percent of the world’s goods and use approximately the same percent of energy.  Forget the silly, misleading statistic about how our 3 percent of the world’s population consumes 25 percent of its energy.  In his back-asswardness, Obama won’t allow development of nuclear power, is taking broad steps to kill coal, has his sights set on strict limits to damage natural gas drilling, and certainly has put a stranglehold on oil production in the United States.  That leaves us relying on backward source like the sun and wind.  We had better pray for some of Al Gore’s global warming as winter gets cold where I live.

Obama Back-Assward Administration 6:  The job market is rather soft and while the reported unemployment number is 9.2 percent the real number when you consider those who stopped looking or are underemployed it is closer to 20 percent.  We need companies to hire.  One of our country’s biggest employers decided to build a new plant to construct airplanes.  Boeing invested $1 billion on a new plant in South Carolina and planned to hire thousands of workers until Obama’s National Labor Relations Board stepped in an forbade them from opening the facility.  It seems that the new location is in a right-to-work state (you don’t have to join a union to get a job) while their other location is in Washington, a join a union to work state.  Boeing has no plans to close the Washington plant and in fact has increased the number of employees there.  It seems back-assward to kill thousands of jobs, high paying jobs when they are so desperately needed.  In a funny twist, the union stated that,

“The International Association of Machinists (IAM) says it will withdraw its ‘complaint’ with the NLRB if workers at the new plant agree to join the union”

I may have that back-assward, but isn’t that blackmail and against the law in South Carolina?

First the headline:

Bill fails to overturn light bulb standards

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday failed to stop the enactment of new energy-saving standards for light bulbs they portrayed as yet another example of big government interfering in people’s lives. [“portrayed” is incorrect as the new standards are an example of government interfering in people’s lives by mandating what kind of light bulb will be available for them to use – taking choices away is interfering!]

The GOP bill to overturn the standards set to go into effect next year fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage. The vote was 233-193.

For many Republicans, those newfangled [Is there any doubt that using “newfangled” is meant to disparage Republicans as bible-clinging, gun-toting idiots who don’t know progress when it runs them over? How about dramatically expensive, mercury and lead filled curly yellow-tinged light bulbs?] curly fluorescent light bulbs were the last straw, pushed by an overreaching government that’s forcing people to buy health insurance, prodding them to get more fuel-efficient cars and sticking its nose into too many places.

Their legislation would have kept the marketplace clear for the cheap, energy-wasting bulbs that have changed little since Thomas Edison invented them in 1879. [God knows that we don’t need inexpensive bulbs and many people, many many people do NOT like the light produced by those expensive foreign made bulbs. It is funny how this writer probably is all for ancient, though updated, energy producing windmill power while clean efficient nuclear energy is an anathema.]

For most Democrats, it’s an exasperating debate that, just like the old incandescent bulbs being crowded out of the market, produces more heat than light. [By the way did happen to know that the expensive energy saving bulbs are actually causing traffic problems because in the winter snow and ice buildup on the bulbs because they generate so little heat requiring deicing measures. Money saved in energy is being spent in maintenance.]

The standards in question do not specifically ban the old bulbs [No they made the standards so high that the bulbs would not meet them – “not specifically” may sound nice, but it is essentially a ban on the bulb.] but require a higher level of efficiency than the classics can produce, essentially nudging them off store shelves over the next few years. [By the way also nudging U.S. manufacturing jobs out as the cute, curly bulbs are all made overseas.] Four of Edison’s descendants said the great inventor would be mortified to see politicians trying to get the nation to hang on to an outdated technology when better bulbs are available.[Four out of five dentists also recommend Dentyne, but who cares what they think. My guess is that NONE of Edison’s descendants ever knew him nor did any of their parents. How many descendants are there? Were they all contacted? What percent like their ancestor’s bulb? These are the facts that American wants to know!]

The standards have not been particularly contentious before now. They were crafted in 2007 with GOP participation and signed into law by President George W. Bush. People seem to like the new choices and the energy savings they bring, polling finds. [Like all crappy legislation the politicians pushed the day of reckoning to after they would be out of office. Now that people like my wife realize that they will no longer be able to purchase (legally) their beloved 150 watt reading bulb or the cherished three-way bulb they are starting to make a stink and demand some action. I have friends who have begun stockpiling the classic bulbs. Funny how they like to trot out W when it suits their cause. W was a big government conservative – even though that seems like an oxymoron.]

But now they have become a symbol of a much larger divide in Washington over the size and reach of government itself. The new bulbs suggest to some conservatives that big government is running amok. [The bulbs are at best a minor issue and to suggest that they are the rallying point rather than Obamacare, EPA rules, etc. is silly. They are not a “divide in Washington” as Washington is all about big government whether you are a Democrat or Republican; it’s only a matter of degree. The divide is between Washington and the rest of the country.]

Note: My household may be the perfect example of how this should work. My wife HATES the CFL bulbs while I don’t mind them. I do like the lower energy expense and the longer life though I am not sure that they are cheaper in the long run. My wife hates the color of the light that they give off and their lack of intensity, especially for reading. We agree to disagree and some of our bulbs are CFL and some are Edison’s classic. It is telling that so many people demand Edison’s invention even though you can often get the CFLs free through government subsidized programs. Why not let the free market decide the winners and losers? Edison was a free market guy as evidenced by his battle with rival George Westinghouse over which current to use to provide electricity to the masses. Westinghouse’s AC won and it is still in use today.

“Corporations have become profitable again. What we need to do now is get the private sector stood up.”

Many in the private sector may want a clarification on the “stood up” line as this administration has done much to demonize the private sector and may feel that “against the wall” would be an appropriate addition. As you might expect from a BIG GOVERNMENT administration the “focus” is all about improving job growth through tax incentives and investment subsidies. Let me translate that for you…we’ll use tax dollars to decide which companies we want to succeed by giving them an advantage over the other companies.

I am not surprised that politicians, and especially this administration would want to control the private sector, but they ignore the simple solution. They know the simple solution, yet they ignore it. All that they have to do to jump-start the economy is to first GET OUT OF THE WAY! That would go a long way toward removing the uncertainty in the economy that has many of the profitable companies waiting to see what the future of government will bring. Why risk capital right now? If Obama is re-elected (it is painful to even acknowledge that possibility) they can expect more “shuns” from his administration…regulaSHUN, demonizaSHUN, taxaSHUN, intruSHUN, and investigaSHUN.

Here are a few ideas that do not cost the taxpayers anything (or at least not much) that will help boost the economy:

• Repeal Obamacare: The vast number of waiver requests and approvals should be an indication that this is a bloated piece of legislation.
• Reign in the EPA: The road blocks being constructed are monumental for companies yet they achieve only nominal improvements to the environment. The best thing for a clean environment is a prosperous country which can afford higher standards.
• Drill Baby Drill: Cheap energy will power growth in America and it’s that simple. We should embrace all energy sources; coal, gas, oil, nuclear, wind, solar, water, etc. We should embrace them, not subsidize any of them.
• Stop the Presses: STOP PRINTING MONEY!
• Tort Reform: Put limits on punitive damages (i.e. those damages far in excess of actual damages and are solely meant to punish) so that companies can appropriately weigh risk. This will help doctors also by lowering their liability insurance.
• Repeal Dodd/Frank: This farce of a banking bill will do as much to improve banking as Obamacare does to improve health care. It should be scrapped and start over.  By the way throwing both Barney Frank and Chris Dodd in the slammer for a few years might make the rest of the politicians think twice before screwing us.
• Embrace Wealth: Rather than demonize the wealthy lets embrace them for the wealth that they create and the jobs they bring. Are all wealthy people nice? Certainly not, but even Scrooge hired Little Timmy’s father. STOP THE CLASS WARFARE.
• Subsidies: Either subsidize every industry or none of the industries (I prefer the latter). This will take power away from Washington and allow local advancements. There will be a lot of screaming, but adults do have to let their kids cry once in a while…at least good parents do.
• Tax Reform: And I don’t mean adding another 5,000 pages to the tax code. Make the tax code so easy that even Charlie Rangel can understand it. There are some folks who are pushing the Fair Tax and we should give that a try for a few decades. The IRS agents can work for other agencies seeking out those who defraud the government.
• Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
• Prisoner Exchange: The Republicans will get rid of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell if the Democrats will get rid of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

While Obama’s focus may have shifted, his tactics have not. More government spending through subsidies and tax incentives are just more of the same unsuccessful policies. It is silly to try to sell this strategy as a new focus. All that you have to do is look at news stories from across the country where states and municipalities gave huge tax incentives for industry to move in only to find that once the incentives expired the companies moved.

I’ll try to identify the “irrational” fear and please note that some of the fears may be somewhat rational until you look at other risk factors. You’ll have to decide whether the media just wants to attract consumers or have a real political agenda. I’ll opine – you decide.

Many regions of the country have been blessed by the occurrence of vast stores of natural gas which promise well-paying jobs and an abundance of cheap energy. Don’t these two things sound like wonderful ingredients to nudge a weak economy? Drilling technology has advanced to the point where some of the deepest areas can now be accessed through deep and then horizontal drilling. In order to effectively remove the gas from deep formations companies need to fracture the gas-bearing rock to allow collection of the gas. A common concern is that fracturing or fracking uses large quantities of water, treated with proprietary compounds, to crack the formations.

A recent article from ProPublica (“journalism in the public interest” or believe us because we don’t care about profit – a good name goes a long way in establishing your credibility…superficially) highlights a recent study about the effect gas drilling has on private drinking water wells where gas is being extracted.

The “Irrational” Fear: Energy companies are pumping unknown chemicals into our groundwater systems that will contaminate our drinking water.

The “gut” tug: “a scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire.” That is a pretty powerful first sentence in the article, but there was more. “The average concentration of the methane detected in the water wells near drilling sites fell squarely within a range that the U.S Department of Interior says is dangerous and requires urgent ‘hazard mitigation’ action, according to the study.”

Use of “gut” terms: “Scientific Study” – scientists aren’t biased; “severe”; “dangerous”; “hazardous”; and “alarmed” to name just a few.

Some data for the “head”: “thermogenic methane — which many scientists say comes from the same deep gas layers where drilling occurs — could be naturally occurring. He also said the researchers didn’t test enough wells to support their conclusions.” The “other side” was not presented until the much later in the article and after “gut” was engaged and was qualified using such terms as “A hydrogeologist closely affiliated with the drilling industry” to perhaps diminish the statements from other experts.

The hedge: “In a white paper the group issued along with the journal article, Jackson and the others acknowledged the uncertainty and called for more research.” (or show me the money and lots of it).

It would not have been simple for ProPublica to factually provide information on risk, but it should have been their duty to provide some background on how relative the risk of burning faucets was to say placing your drinking water well too close to your septic system, a more common cause of drinking water contamination. What about the lead pipes found in many older, rural homes who probably are much more likely to have private drinking water wells. Or how about providing some information on how to mitigate the problem if you have methane or even how to test to see if you have the problem.

When I used the term “irrational fear” I am not always assuming that the fears are not warranted, but that they should be balanced by relative risk. I remember a decade ago a tragic story was covered on a day-time talk show where a young couple lost their child when he became entangled in the draw strings of their window blinds. At the parents’ suggestion one of my colleague’s wife cut off the “loop” end of all of their blinds rendering them somewhat useless. Her “gut” told her that this was prudent and it may be, however, they also had a built in pool. There was a far far higher risk of their child drowning than becoming fatally caught in their blind drawstring.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”

FDR

“We have been slow to move in a better direction when it comes to energy usage. And the president [Bush], frankly, hasn’t had an energy policy.  And as a consequence we’ve been consuming energy as if it’s infinite. We now know that our demand is badly outstripping supply with China and India growing as rapidly as they are. [Then Senator Obama is asked if the high oil prices help us]  I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment. The fact that this [$4.00 per gallon gasoline] is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing. But if we take some steps right now to help people make the adjustment, first of all by putting more money in their pockets, but also by encouraging the market to adapt to these new circumstances more rapidly, particularly U.S. automakers.”

Barack Obama (2008 interview on CNBC)

To paraphrase Senator Obama’s words;  I don’t mind high gas prices.  I like high gas prices.  Our gas prices are too cheap.  We should be paying a lot more for gasoline.  It would be nice to be able to look back in history for a time when gasoline prices spiked so rapidly; if only that example existed.  If only…

At the height of the gasoline price rise during Bush’s administration the media was all in a frenzy.  Bush and Cheney were linked with “big oil” and vilified about the prices.  On July 14, 2008 President Bush took the bold step to withdraw a presidential executive order banning drilling for oil in the Outer Continental Shelf (I believe that his father issued the original order).  A quick look at the chart (the white section between Bush and Obama) tells a startling tale about what a suggested increase in oil production can have on market prices.  Now that Barack Hussein Obama faces a similar situation, though painfully accelerated and with much higher unemployment numbers, WWBD?  What will Barack Do?  Here is a sampling of recent headlines to give you a sense of his commitment:

Gas prices rise for 35th straight day

Obama reissues call to end oil company tax breaks

Attorney General Holder expresses energy market concerns

Obama: Task Force To Investigate High Gas Prices

Energy in America: EPA Rules Force Shell to Abandon Oil Drilling Plans

My summary…Higher prices, less oil exploration, send in the clowns (Justice lawyers), task force = delay, less crude available = higher prices.  That’s kind of a loop.  In case you were feeling depressed here are some words from our fearful White House resident;

“High oil and gasoline prices are weighing on the minds and pocketbooks of every American family…there is no silver bullet to address rising gas prices in the short term.”

BHO

What me worry?”

Alfred E. Newman

Solar power’s outlook grows brighter in Pittsburgh region

The story was about a geology professor from the University of Pittsburgh who had a $50,000 solar power grid (48 panels) installed on the roof of his Pittsburgh home.  To further the “greening” of his home he plans to cover the rest of his roof with plants for insulation.  Professor Ramsey believes that the panels will provide all of his energy needs even though Pittsburgh is one of the cloudiest cities in the United States’

“Statistics from the National Climatic Data Center indicate Pittsburgh, with an average of 59 sunny days a year, is among the country’s cloudiest cities.”

Though the experts (that is the folks who are selling the solar systems) are quoted that there is sufficient light to convert sunlight to power.  The sun’s free right?  Unfortunately I read the rest of the article where the details are less “sunny.”  Professor Ramsey did not pay $50,000.oo for his system.  He did not pay $40,000.00 for his system.  He did not pay $30,000.00 for his system…

“his $23,000 system will pay for itself in seven or eight years, maybe sooner.” 

I would say that an eight year Return on Investment (“ROI”) is moderate to poor.  I don’t know if you noticed, but the system cost $50,000.00, but the good professor’s investment was much less.  Any guesses who picked up the remaining $27,000.00 so he could have free energy from the sun? 

“a combination of state grants, federal tax credits and the knowledge that they could sell solar renewable energy credits — known as SRECs — every year to utilities, to put solar systems within their reach.”

In case you didn’t know, power generators are required by law to produce a certain percentage of their electricity from “renewable” sources.  In addition to providing our tax dollars for individuals to benefit personally the government has also required utilities to purchase energy credits which in turn increases the price to the rest of us.  I am not against solar power, however, I am against my tax dollars paying for them for individuals.  The green energy here is full of the green removed from my paycheck.

Penn State whitewashed ClimateGate

A little over a year ago global warming scientists’ unethical behavior and tactics were exposed in the Climategate scandal.  Implicated in the scandal was Professor Michael Mann from Penn State University.  Being a man-made global warming doubter and a Pitt graduate this news was doubly delicious.  Penn State dutifully investigated the accusations and their internal investigation found that Mann did nothing wrong.  There were certainly doubts about the veracity of the investigation, but the media seemed satisfied to put this story away.  But not so fast…

“A federal government inspector general has revealed prima facie proof that the so-called independent inquiries widely if implausibly described as clearing the ClimateGate principals of wrongdoing were, in fact, whitewashes. This has been confirmed to Senate offices. It will not be released to the public for some time because the investigation is ongoing.”

At this point it is not enough to dump Mann, a step they are likely to try.  That would have worked initially, but now that they have conspired (allegedly) to hide the evidence more must be done.  Perhaps Penn State should lose all grant funding for their unethical behavior.  There are probably many ethical research universities more deserving of our tax dollars. 

The White House’s Green-Jobs Fantasies

One of the foundations of the renewable energy push is the creation of green jobs.  President Bush used tax dollars to push green jobs and now Obama has jumped on the accelerator with $2.3 billion in additional money.  As an aside, I am amazed at how desensitized I am to the “billion” dollar threshold as we are faced with tens of TRILLIONS of dollars of deficits.  One billion seems small…and that’s scary.  Fox Business’ John Stossel weighed in on Obama’s green-jobs initiative using such descriptions as “snake oil,” “fantasies,” and “illusion” leaving little doubt about how he feels about the green push.  Stossel relies heavily on the research of Kenneth P. Green,

“”It is well understood, among economists, that governments do not ‘create’ jobs.  The willingness of entrepreneurs to invest their capital, paired with consumer demand for goods and services, does that. All the government can do is subsidize some industries while jacking up costs for others. In the green case, it is destroying jobs in the conventional energy sector — and most likely in other industrial sectors — through taxes and subsidies to new green companies that will use taxpayer dollars to undercut the competition. The subsidized jobs ‘created’ are, by definition, less efficient uses of capital than market-created jobs.”

Kenneth Green took a looked at the similar efforts by many European countries and the results are not surprising, but because the main-stream media chooses to ignore the information you may not have heard about it.  Stossel’s article is full of good economic reasoning unlike what you will usually see in most media outlets.  It is time to learn what we are NOT getting for our tax dollars.

“Green programs in Spain destroyed 2.2 jobs for every green job created, while the capital needed for one green job in Italy could create almost five jobs in the general economy.”

We had  something called the green stagecoach when I was in grade school.  If you were not paying attention and walked along a hedge a “friend” often gave you a ride in the green stagecoach…not a pleasant ride.  I am suggesting that we are all being taken on a green stagecoach with the green energy push.  The thorns in this ride, however, are that this White House is also working to make other energy sources less available and/or more expensive.

The first volley seems to be the Food Safety Modernization Act prompted by the egg recall this past summer.  There are a lot of stories, myths, talking points about this legislation from regulating your home garden to safe food everywhere for everyone.  The truth lies somewhere in between.  What the act will do is grow government with no provision for how to pay for it.  It’s as if they cannot waste a crisis to get things passed.  Me feeling that this Act is just the framework for burdensome government regulations to follow and more POWER to the Food and Drug Administration.  

Also on the legislative clipboard:

1. Repeal of Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for the military.  I don’t have a strong feeling either way on this issue, but most military people feel that having openly gay people serving in the military would cause problems.  I am talking about real military people, not those who work directly for this White House.  Since these citizens put their lives on the line to protect our freedom we should heed to their will. 
2. Both Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid are reportedly ready to bring the DREAM Act up for a vote.  It’s not your or my dreams, but the dreams of illegal immigrants as it will allow illegal immigrants to move to the front of the line if they came here illegally before the age of 16 and have managed to remain “in the shadows” or uncaught for five years.  They would become citizens and presumably Democrat voters if they attend college for two years (which I guess that we’ll pay for) or join the military.  Why on earth would we accept illegal immigrants into our military?
3. Not one to be left behind, Michelle Obama is pushing The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act aimed at improving nutrition for all kids.  Who could be against that?  It seems to have broad support but it looks like more government intervention, more costs, and more nanny-state entitlements.  My predictions is that schools will end up providing three square meals per day to students further removing their parents responsibilities.  My daughter packs her lunch every day and will they “protect” her by searching her brown bag?  I would rather support The Parents Are Responsible For Their Kids Act.  Though no such act is actually been proposed.
4. The White House also want to push through the ratification of START (nuclear arms reduction treaty) that Obama signed with Russia.  Obama is in quite a hurry to ratify since it is not likely to pass once the new class of conservative senators is sworn in.  The Associated Press reports that Obama is dangling lots of money in front of Senator Kyle (R-AZ) to get his support.  My question is if it is such a good treaty, why does the White House have to bribe Senators to ratify it. 
5. If you love the web you’ll be unhappy to know that the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an internet censorship bill named The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act.  It was described by Wired magazine as “the most draconian laws ever considered to combat digital piracy, and contains what some have called the “nuclear option,” which would essentially allow the Attorney General to turn suspected websites “off.”  Hey let’s give partisan Attorney General Eric Holder unfettered power over the Internet.
6. Is there any doubt that Democrats want to repay the hundreds of millions of dollars donated to their campaigns by labor unions?  Expect to see Card Check to brought forward as it is likely to die once the new Congress begins in January.  My guess is that union leadership is in panic mode at this point.
7. In a related payback to labor unions Senator Tom Harkins (D-Iowa) is pushing measures to bail out union pensions and create a government run Guaranteed Retirement Account.  Of course you will be required to give up your private pension, give the government your IRA, and pay some specified percentage of your income to more “fairly” distribute retirement funds.  That sounds a lot like the Social Security ponzi scheme that is expected to go in the red as soon as next year.  Do they really think that we’ll fall for that again?
8. The American Spectator reports that Congress is hoping to pass a plethora of land bills before this session of Congress closes.  Actually they called it a “lame duck land grab” and in rather strong words said, ”Immediately upon taking office, President Obama rushed to seal off our domestic energy supplies from public access. In a frenzied offensive, he intensified the long-running, multi-front campaign by his allies seeking to block production and use of the abundant coal lying beneath the ground. Obama vowed new policies to “bankrupt” coal and cause energy prices to “necessarily skyrocket.” America’s ability to supply oil and gas was already dangerously threatened by inane measures severely limiting domestic production.”  For some reason this White House wants to limit our ability to provide reasonably-priced energy for ourselves.
9. I don’t know if this is really on the progressive agenda or just liberals pushing their “holiday list” (they don’t like using the whole Christmas theme), but scientists are pushing The Stem Cell Advancement Research Act.  Remember that there are no restrictions on stem cell research.  George Bush didn’t stop stem cell research, he just wouldn’t authorize tax dollars be used to fund destroying human embryos for research.  The “advancement” is just a fancy way to say give us lots and lots of Obamamoney to pay our salaries.
10. They’d also like to push Cap n’ Trade
11. No word on whether they’ll push a little know measure to count every Democrat vote as two for every Republican vote.  [You just know that they'd love that, but don't quite have the "nerve" to propose it just yet]

This has been mind-numbing to realize how much damage that they can wreak with very little to lose.  They actually have taken comfort in the fact that the far left of the Democrat party fared well in the recent elections and that moderates were dumped.  It is an interesting, though frightful, evaluation of the historic wins by Republicans.

In order to collect the gas, drillers much drill very deep (nearly one mile) vertical wells followed by horizontal drilling.  Once complete drillers want to maximize the amount of gas production so they fracture the rock with water to open up spaces by which to collect gas.  Fracturing wells a mile underground takes a great deal of water and in some cases chemicals are added to the millions of gallons of water to facilitate fracturing.  This creates three distinct problems for Marcellus Shase drilling; where can you get that much water in locations that are often remote, what do you do with the water that comes back out and now contains chemicals (either natural or added), and what are the possible ramifications of introducing chemicals into groundwater systems.  This an oversimplification of the issues.

There are many people and politicians stepping up on their soap boxes attempting to halt drilling in certain areas.  Unfortunately there are these pesky legal agreements called mineral rights that allow the owners to exercise their legal rights to their property.  They still try.  Much of the debate in Pennsylvania however has been about taxing the gas producers.  There are a lot of discussions about how best to tax (sometimes masked as “severence” payments) this rapidly developing market.   Pennsylvania’s Democrat-controlled House recenty approved a tax on this gas production.  The Republican-controlled Senate, however called the rate a “staggering economic blow.”  Both, however agree that this gas production will be taxed. 

This reminds me of a story about a man and a woman discussing sex.  The man asked if the married woman would sleep with another man for 20 million dollars.  The woman obviously hesitated and even said no at first, but when reminded what she could do for her family with the windfall, she demurred and admitted that she probably would.  The man then asked her if she would sleep with the same man for a thousand dollars and her agitated reply was a hearty “NO” and “what do you think I am a prostitute?”  The man calmly stated that “we have established what you are, we are now just negotiating the price.”

Republicans and Democrats both want the money the difference is a matter of price.  The taxpayers see the issue much the same way.  I recently was talking to a colleague in the environmental field and she briefly brought up the issue and made the statement that “I just know we have to tax this.”  I was like most residents assumed that a gas tax was a fete accompli. 

Why do we HAVE to tax it?

What would this amount of gas do for the economy of the region?  How would our personal finances be enhanced by an abundance of less expensive energy.  Winter is coming and I would love to see lower gas prices.  I cannot go a day without hearing or reading about high unemployment levels.  Would politicians be able to attract a company that needed a large supply of energy?  Would any company jump to locate where energy was abundant and cheap?  Would this create jobs?  Would these workers pay taxes? 

When you tax an activity you get less of it. 

As I mentioned, there are significant environmental obstacles to capturing this energy source.  These issues are rightly being handled in addition to the tax issue by professionals.  Costs to drillers should be commensurate with the environmental risk that can be reasonbly be calculated.  This is not new ground with processes that have a high potential impact on the environment.  We do need to regognise that it is impossible to fund every doomsday scenario.

I think back to a favorite television show as I was growing up, The Beverly Hillbillies (not the silly movie).  Those of you younger may have seen it on TV..Land.  Rather than celebrating the poor Jed Clampet’s fortunate discovery politicians would be participating in a feeding frenzy to see how they could take as much as possible.  The Ballad of Jed Clampett would have to be changed…