Obama: Deliberately Making Americans Poorer
March 1st, 2011Richard W. Rahn, The Washington Times
The Obama administration’s policies are causing Americans to pay far more for gasoline and other fuels than necessary. America is awash in fossil-fuel energy sources with almost 30 percent of the world’s coal and 80 percent of the world’s oil shale – which contains an estimated three times the recoverable oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Canada, with its oil sands, has the world’s third-highest oil reserves, after the United States and Saudi Arabia. New technologies that enable low-cost natural gas production from shale mean that many countries, including the United States, will have gas for centuries at current production rates.
Fossil fuels at some prices are interchangeable. Coal, gas, and oil can all fuel electric power plants. Liquid motor fuels can be made easily from natural gas, and, in fact, many auto, truck and bus fleets already use natural gas. For more than 70 years, the technology has been available to turn coal into liquid motor fuel.
Natural gas now sells in the United States for a British thermal unit (BTU) equivalent of $30 a barrel of oil, and coal sells at roughly half that price. Much of the Canadian oil sands, U.S. domestic oil shale and offshore oil in the Gulf of Mexico can be produced at prices well below $75 per barrel. The United States should be an energy exporter; Canada already is and is the single biggest source of oil for the U.S.
Most countries try to produce oil, gas, and coal and sell it on the global market as a way of increasing the real incomes of their citizens, but not the United States. The Obama administration has a hatred of fossil fuels and is determined to reduce their use despite the economic damage. So-called green energy often is not very green and cannot possibly serve as a substitute for most fossil fuels. Windmills and solar panels are far more expensive than coal and gas; their production is intermittent, unreliable and largely unstorable. Because of the physics of the electrical grid, wind and solar can never produce more than about 18 percent of electrical production – at least not until low-cost storage devices are developed. Many biofuels, and in particular corn-based ethanol, are not only more expensive than the natural fuels but have a bigger total carbon footprint.
The Obamaites believe carbon dioxide (CO2) is evil because they think more of it will cause global warming. They ignore the facts:
Read more.
Fossil fuels at some prices are interchangeable. Coal, gas, and oil can all fuel electric power plants. Liquid motor fuels can be made easily from natural gas, and, in fact, many auto, truck and bus fleets already use natural gas. For more than 70 years, the technology has been available to turn coal into liquid motor fuel.
Natural gas now sells in the United States for a British thermal unit (BTU) equivalent of $30 a barrel of oil, and coal sells at roughly half that price. Much of the Canadian oil sands, U.S. domestic oil shale and offshore oil in the Gulf of Mexico can be produced at prices well below $75 per barrel. The United States should be an energy exporter; Canada already is and is the single biggest source of oil for the U.S.
Most countries try to produce oil, gas, and coal and sell it on the global market as a way of increasing the real incomes of their citizens, but not the United States. The Obama administration has a hatred of fossil fuels and is determined to reduce their use despite the economic damage. So-called green energy often is not very green and cannot possibly serve as a substitute for most fossil fuels. Windmills and solar panels are far more expensive than coal and gas; their production is intermittent, unreliable and largely unstorable. Because of the physics of the electrical grid, wind and solar can never produce more than about 18 percent of electrical production – at least not until low-cost storage devices are developed. Many biofuels, and in particular corn-based ethanol, are not only more expensive than the natural fuels but have a bigger total carbon footprint.
The Obamaites believe carbon dioxide (CO2) is evil because they think more of it will cause global warming. They ignore the facts:
- Earth has been at times in the past both cooler and warmer with higher concentrations of CO2.
- Other factors, such as sunspot activity, are more important than CO2 in determining Earth’s temperature.
- Scientists are in the process of finding new commercial uses for CO2 and are experimenting with the use of biological agents to turn CO2 back into a useful fuel. CO2 always has been part of our atmosphere and is necessary for plants to grow.
Read more.
An election for President and Commander in Chief of the Military must strive to be above reproach. Our public institutions must give the public confidence that a presidential candidate has complied with the election process that is prescribed by our Constitution and laws. It is only after a presidential candidate satisfies the rules of such a process that he/she can expect members of the public, regardless of their party affiliations, to give him/her the respect that the Office of President so much deserves.
Has EVERYONE forgotten that we are living ON PLANET Earth? PlANETS, by definition, are celestial bodies that have NO CAPACITY for the generation of heat! They differ from Stars and Suns which DO HAVE 'atomic engines' that produce heat at many thousands of degrees temperature -- along with many forms of energy in solar rays. Our Earth's climate and surface heat is always the result of radiation from the sun. Since its inception-- presumed to have been in a gaseous state which, with COOLING solidified into molten magma of the interior and, at the surface, with further cooling, hardened into rocks of an igneous source. This basic uknderstanding was once taught in 9th Grade General Science classes as it is fundamental to the understanding of ALL nauure's phonemena. The deliberate dumbing down of our educational system (thanks to NEA), has produced two generations of scientific illiterates who are now elected or hired by our government to create regulations that ONLY serve the purpose of controlling populations. They have NO scientific justification or honest verification. It's ALL ABOUT MONEY AND CONTROL
ReplyDelete"...The Obama administration has a hatred of fossil fuels and is determined to reduce their use despite the economic damage...."
ReplyDeleteDespite the economic damage??? How about, "...and is determined to reduce their use as another way to cause economic damage..." That's a more accurate statement.