Obama on Energy: Change Behavior by Raising Prices
"Price Signals." Otherwise known as punitive taxes and fees, which would primarily affect the middle class, just like the One's plan to tax small businesses. Watch as Obama advocates sending "price signals" to the middle class in order to "change their behavior."
"It's not gonna be painless...a lot of us who can afford it are going to have to pay more per unit of electricity." So that's his plan: raise energy prices so Americans will be able to consume less, thus benefiting the environment and catalyzing the production of new energy. This is completely ignoring Obama's lack of initiative (to put it very politely) in respect to nuclear power, coal, and offshore drilling.
And it gets worse. In the same interview, Obama said that under his plan, electricity rates would "skyrocket," as companies passed higher fees on to consumers:
As profits for energy companies begin to fall, less money can ultimately be funneled to research and development, which means the deployment of any revolutionary technology for a society will be significantly delayed, or simply never realized at all.
So, what do you get if you vote for Obama on energy? Well, he's a de facto nuclear opponent. He doesn't support additional drilling. He's said nothing about improving oil and gas infrastructure or building more refineries. He's obviously no "coal booster," as he recently admitted. And he is literally guaranteeing that energy prices will rise under his administration. Believe him.
The problem? Obama has no plan for the period of transition. He thinks he can wave his divine wand and shackle the energy companies, save the environment with a Captain Planet-esque PSA, and "science" will heroically come to the rescue and invent a magic new energy source to fuel his SUV and power his mansion.
We need to adopt sound policies to keep energy prices down, harness our own supplies of oil, coal, natural gas, wind, tide, and the rest of the lot, and use the resulting cushion to sustain our economy while we develop the alternatives and the infrastructure to deliver them.
Here's hoping America sends Barack his own "signal" on Tuesday.
Update: Chris Hamilton, senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, has made a statement declaring Obama's remarks as "unfortunate."
And it gets worse. In the same interview, Obama said that under his plan, electricity rates would "skyrocket," as companies passed higher fees on to consumers:
"You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."Engineered price shocks are the last thing our economy needs right now. As we've seen with this year's gas crisis, rising energy prices can wreak havoc on an economy, affecting families and businesses alike. Obama talks about technology "catching up," but a receding or even stagnant economy will hardly ever produce major scientific breakthroughs, especially when the powerful hand of government is increasing taxes and imposing unnecessary cost burdens on energy.
As profits for energy companies begin to fall, less money can ultimately be funneled to research and development, which means the deployment of any revolutionary technology for a society will be significantly delayed, or simply never realized at all.
So, what do you get if you vote for Obama on energy? Well, he's a de facto nuclear opponent. He doesn't support additional drilling. He's said nothing about improving oil and gas infrastructure or building more refineries. He's obviously no "coal booster," as he recently admitted. And he is literally guaranteeing that energy prices will rise under his administration. Believe him.
The problem? Obama has no plan for the period of transition. He thinks he can wave his divine wand and shackle the energy companies, save the environment with a Captain Planet-esque PSA, and "science" will heroically come to the rescue and invent a magic new energy source to fuel his SUV and power his mansion.
We need to adopt sound policies to keep energy prices down, harness our own supplies of oil, coal, natural gas, wind, tide, and the rest of the lot, and use the resulting cushion to sustain our economy while we develop the alternatives and the infrastructure to deliver them.
Here's hoping America sends Barack his own "signal" on Tuesday.
Update: Chris Hamilton, senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, has made a statement declaring Obama's remarks as "unfortunate."
"His comments are unfortunate," Chris Hamilton said Sunday, "and really reflect a very uninformed voice and perspective to coal specifically and energy generally...If they're victorious Tuesday, they'd better go to someone other than Al Gore on energy and environmental matters," he said. "They've tipped the balance way -- unnecessarily so -- toward protecting the environment."Mmmhmm.
Labels: Election 2008, Energy, Obamamania