"I Hope Obama Fails"

[TheScout]

I agree. I live in a relatively liberal state. I don't mind supporting Democrats when they have good ideas for my state. Our state constitution lets them do a lot of things, so one doesn't have to worry about constitutional barriers.

 

I do get disillusioned though when they start talking about moral issues such as gay marriage and abortion. They alienate people like me in the conservative part of our state when they do that.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Narraticong writes:

But within his first week in office, Mr. Obama has made it a priority to change Mr. Bush's Exec Order prohibiting money being sent abroad to fund abortions. When we need to be focusing on our own economy and how to cut spending, Mr. Obama has opted to spend more money overseas.

 

From what I can tell, all his order does is change which organizations are eligible to receive funding; this doesn't mean the total amount of funding available has changed.

[SR540Beaver]

frankj,

 

Do we continue chasing and depending on cheap oil or do we try to develop new types of energy to break our dependence? The idea of using higher gas prices to help wean us off of oil isn't an idea floated by only liberals. Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer has been floating the idea for some time.

 

http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/949rsrgi.asp

 

While there are arguments for drilling here, the other side of the argument is that it just prolongs our dependence and slows our inevitable move to other forms of energy.

[TheScout]

Krauthammer is a neocon. I guess liberals can like their ideas when it comes to things like this they like but revile Bush ones they hate.

 

Don't worry, when oil runs out people will come up with a better solution. That is how the free market works. It has been doing it for a long time.

 

I like cheap gas and oil. I think we should find as much up it as fast as we can. The poor who liberals claim to help out like the cheap fuel too.

[SR540Beaver]

scout,

 

Even a squirrel will store nuts for the winter instead of wait until it is cold to go looking. I understand the market and how it works, but that doesn't mean you wait until we run out. Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door is part of the market as well. I liked my old vinyl albums that worked just fine until cassettes came along and then CD's and then MP3's. NNone of those came about due to disapperaing vinyl supplies. They were improvements. Energy is a national defense/security concern. Cheap oil can/does keep us from planning for the future.

[TheScout]

Have you stopped planning because of cheap oil? I still make plans. The federal government does too. Obama seesms to have a lot of ideas. I guess cheap oil really doesn't stop planning, does it?

 

I don't have a problem with my car. I like it. Gas is still pretty cheap, considering what it does. Think of how much orange juice or milk costs. That isn't nearly as cool, it can't take me anywhere.

 

I bet there is not a cost efficient fancy type of car like you want, whatever you would call it. If it was profitable, I am sure a company would make it. Do you think somebody knows of a profitable car and is not making and selling it?

 

As oil goes up in price and technology improves we will develop such a fancy car. No big government planning or tax dollars either. The government wasn't needed to replace your albums or cassettes.

[frankj]

SR540Beaver asked:

Do we continue chasing and depending on cheap oil or do we try to develop new types of energy to break our dependence?

 

My answer is, Yes, that is exactly what we do, for the time being, at least. And here is why.

 

First, using your word, oil is "cheap." Secondly, we have the technology and the know-how to get it out of the ground, or from beneath the oceans. There is no substitute for it in our current economy and there will not be for years to come. Natural gas could come into the picture and it should, as a fuel for fleet-type vehicles that can be fueled and serviced at a central location. But for the short term, and maybe the medium term, petroleum, pumped out of the ground, will fuel and lubricate our vehicles, heat houses and continue to be put to the many other productive uses we make of it.

 

Another reason to exploit our own oil: national security. The more oil we produce, the less we buy from regimes that hate us. Iran and Venezuela to name two. The writer you cited, Charles Krauthammer has made this point, I read the article you cited when it was originally published. Lower oil prices are hurting Hugo Chavez, he has asked for help from oil producing companies now, after having nationalized oil production. Krauthammer called for $1 per gallon tax on oil to spur conservation by American consumers -- along with, and this is the key, an equivalent REDUCTION in taxes elsewhere. That's ok with me.

 

Now about these other forms of energy you referred to. I love wind power, but wind produces less than 1% of current energy needs. Wind farms are fought against in many of the places they are proposed. Wind energy would not even be the minor player it is today without tax subsidies from the federal government. Wind energy is not "portable" like petroleum and natural gas. It has to be linked to existing transmission lines from the point of generation. Some of the energy generated is lost in the transmission through the lines and I don't think it is a trivial amount. Maybe an electrical engineer can weigh in.

 

Coal? We have a lot of it, but it is dirty. If you're against drilling for oil, then logically, you should also be against using coal. Are you?

 

Solar -- same category as wind -- a footnote in the scheme of things.

 

Tidal?

 

Hydropower? Clean, doesn't pollute, but so many environmentalists don't like it that dams are being taken out in the Western US.

 

Nuclear -- Now, that's what I'm talkin' about. Here is where you will get your baseload power, so when you flip on the light switch on a windless night, when the windmills aren't turning and the sun isn't shining, -- the lights actually come on.

 

Our technology and infrastructure have developed around petroleum-based energy. We can't wish this away and the government cannot mandate changes to non polluting types of energy, although I am sure they would like to. The reality is, we will continue to rely on fossil fuels because they are, in your words, cheap. There will have to be an orderly transition to other forms of energy and I see our exploitation of petroleum resources off our own coastlines, in ANWR and elsewhere in the US as part of a logical, orderly use of resources.

[TheScout]

I love coal.

 

There is so much of it. It is so cheap. And it is all in America!

[Narraticong]

Merlyn-

 

Only time will tell whether more money is spent in supporting organizations which promote abortion in other countries. And that will be fodder for discussion at that time.

 

At this point, I am questioning why this was even something cosidered during the first week in office. I want to see my new president hit the ground running to get us out of our financial troubles.

 

Unfortunately, early reports hint that the bills are dominated by pork and all kinds of spending which is related in no way to economic recovery. Mr. Obama can show his backbone and truly endorse "CHANGE", by saying no to any bill so loaded with pork. If he does not have the courage to send it back, then we must question the integrity of his campaign promises.

 

It is not easy being President, but nobody made him run.

 

(This message has been edited by narraticong)(This message has been edited by Narraticong)

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Signing a directive reversing a Bush directive back to the way things used to be doesn't take a lot of time, and a lot of people (including me) were glad to see Bush's policy get reversed, and this wasn't the only such policy reversed in the first few days of Obama in office.

[TheScout]

Yes I am glad that federal money is now going to organizations that help abortions.

 

I think I remember seeing that authorized in the Constitution.

[SR540Beaver]

It appears that President Obama may be taking Democrat Congressmen to task for not being willing to act in a bipartisan way.....especially on ths issue of birth control pork.

 

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090127/D95V83N81.html

[packsaddle]

SR540Beaver, from that article one can find the following words:

""How you can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives how does that stimulate the economy?" House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio said on Friday after congressional leaders met with Obama at the White House."

 

I could respond that the flow of funds into the hands of pharmaceutical companies by purchasing their products might just provide some stimulus. I suspect those companies would agree. However, everything about this 'stimulus' and the recent and ongoing meltdown in our economy is related to the Ponzi scheme that we recognize as our financial system. I refer you to the article by Bill Gross of PIMCO:

http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Featured+Market+Commentary/IO/2009/IO+Gross+Jan+09+Andrew+Mellon+vs+Bailout+Nation.htm

 

I've tried everything with the html editor and I can't make that link work right so just cut and paste it into your browser to make it work.

 

Gross has a pretty good bead on this and he is making a pile of money off it because he really does understand the Ponzi (or should that now be 'Maddoff'?) nature of our economy as well as the huge deception that we're perpetrating during this bailout/stimulus. We need to pay the piper now and not to hostage future generations to debts that can never be repaid. And yes, Lisa, people are going to die in poverty or worse without adequate food, shelter, or health care. That is, and always has been, the fate when resources cannot support the population or the society. Yes, it is going to be very painful for most of those who survive. Yes, the worst of the burden will be borne by our children in the future. And Yes, the slimes who floated the scheme are going to do just fine. They're not going to get caught or punished. As Gross says, Ponzi, Ponzi, Ponzi!

These outcomes are already determined. It's just a question of which generations are going to make the payments.

 

My solutions: Eliminate social security. Period. Eliminate medicare and medicaid. Period. Let the "thousand points of light" pick and choose which wretches to allow to live. And let the rest die.

This is the way the unseen hand and magic of the free market really works. Just let it do its magic.

 

[TheScout]

Massive federal government spending could go along with massive tax cuts.

 

More money would be in the hands of the people.

 

Local governments could take a larger cut to provide better services on smaller levels with less bureaucracy and more efficiency.

 

As people see the government will no longer bail out everyone, there will be a renewed sense of social responsibility. People could use their extra money to donate more to charities which provide better services than the federal government.

 

People would have more money to look after their own needs and that of their relatives.

 

But we need the federal government to save us all. That is the only way it can be done. Who needs liberty? Who needs the Constitution?

[gwd-scouter]

Stimulus Payment info:

 

This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:

 

Q. What is an Economic StimulusPayment?

A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

 

Q. Where will the government get this money?

A. From taxpayers.

 

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?

A. Only a smidgen.

 

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?

A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

 

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?

A. Shut up.

 

 

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:

 

If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.

 

If you spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs.

 

If you purchase a computer it will go to India.

 

If you purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala (unless you buy organic).

 

If you buy a car it will go to Japan.

 

If you purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan.

 

And none of it will help the American economy. We need to keep that money here in America.

 

You can keep the money in America by spending it at yard sales, going to a baseball game, or spend it on prostitutes, beer and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the only businesses still in the USA.