Archive for the ‘politics’ Category
Thank You, Boomers
Filed under economics, politics : Comments (0) : Sep 14th, 2008
U.S.S.A.
Filed under economics, politics : Comments (0) : Sep 14th, 2008
Drill Here Drill Now Pay Less!
The Republican energy strategy can be be summed up in one (chant-able) phrase: “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less”. Wow, that sounds like a great plan. But will it work?
Sadly, no. Even if we decided to “drill here”, there would be a minimum of 5+ years before any of that oil hit the market. Rome was not built in a day, and nor is the infrastructure required to bring new oil wells online. (Here’s a great example–there are a finite number of drilling ships capable of tapping the oil reserves off-shore. And they’re all booked for the next 3 years.)
So “drill now” doesn’t really mean “now”. Bummer.
Then there’s the question of “pay less”. Any Econ-101 student can tell you that if you increase supply and demand remains constant, prices will decrease. In the case of oil, we have a few problems that must be dealt with before we can “pay less”:
- Demand. Baring total global economic collapse, demand will continue to increase in the foreseeable future. China, India, Russia, Brazil, and a host of smaller nations are developing rapidly. They will probably want some oil as well.
- Supply. The best estimates from the Energy Information Administration put our new production at somewhere around 250,000 barrels a day. That does not represent a significant addition to the 16,000,000 barrels already being produced every day. (It’s about 1.5%) It’s unlikely that the oil markets will be significantly moved by an extra 250,000 barrels/day.
- OPEC. Just yesterday, OPEC decided that oil prices had fallen too far since their high and cut production by 500,000 barrels/day. (Stop here, read that number again, and compare it with the number from point #2 above.) If we think that domestic drilling will give us leverage over the giant oil cartel known as OPEC we are severely disillusioned.
Here’s a pretty graph that ought to put things in perspective:
So, I’ve made the case that “drilling here, drilling now” won’t result in “paying less”. What should we do instead?
Decrease demand.
That same Econ-101 student would tell you that decreasing demand with a constant supply will also lower prices. By golly, that sounds pretty good. How do we decrease supply?
- Improve automobile efficiency. The rest of the world figured out how to do it–even the American auto makers sell efficient cars in Europe! It’s just disgraceful that we’re still driving cars that get 25 mpg (the same efficiency as a Ford Model T)
- Invest in public transportation. We ship trillions of dollars to the Middle East for oil every year and get nothing but oil (and the subsequent pollution) in return. Investments in public transportation would result in local manufacturing and service jobs and would provide options for American travelers.
- Raise the gas tax. We know that demand for gas will drop as prices go up–we’ve already seen it happen. Why not help things along and recoup some of the money ourselves instead of shipping it all to foreign oil producers? The money could then be wisely invested in public transportation. Wow!
- Study the rest of the world. We seem loathe to look outside our shores for lessons on how to do just about anything. Sadly, transportation is one area that we’ve fallen far far behind the rest of the world. We need leaders who are willing to learn from our global neighbors.
The great thing about decreasing demand is that it’s compatible with all energy options. We can continue to use oil. We can start to use more natural gas. Or renewables. Or hydrogen. Or nuclear. And OPEC or China or Russia or anyone else can’t do anything to stop us.
Filed under economics, energy, environment, politics : Comments (2) : Sep 11th, 2008
The Fact About Fact
You have to hand it them–the Republicans have been incredibly successful in dismantling the concept of objective evidence or fact. In this campaign (just as in 2004 and 2000), it’s not facts that matter. It’s feelings. It’s emotions. It’s who would make a better drinking buddy or hockey mom.
This article from the Washington Post sums it up nicely:
As Campaign Heats Up, Untruths Can Become Facts Before They’re Undone - washingtonpost.com via kwout
This is the theme we see over and over and over again. In the unholy alliance between the big two parties and their big media friends, politics have degraded into “he said/he said” juvenile bickering with no adult supervision. No one is being held to any standard of honesty or integrity. Fact has become nothing but a four letter word.
In my mind, this election is as much a referendum on the American electorate’s ability for rational analysis as it is a contest between McCain and Obama. I really hope that fact still have a place in our Democracy. Because once we give up on that, what do we have left?
Filed under culture, education, politics : Comments (1) : Sep 10th, 2008
Political Cartoons
My two favorite politcal cartoons from this week:
Above really captures the way I’ve been feeling ever since McCain started on his new “change” campaign. Did we really forget that the Republicans have been in charge for the last 8 years? And for the first 6 of those years they controlled both houses of Congress as well!
Below just makes me laugh.
Filed under culture, politics : Comments (2) : Sep 8th, 2008
McCain vs. Obama : Taxes
Like all good Republicans, John McCain is promising to lower your taxes. Barack Obama, staging himself as a populist, also promises to lower the taxes of all but the very top income earners.
Let’s take a closer look at the details of each plan, using the analysis provided by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.
Or, if you prefer pretty graphs, here is a comparative graph I put together using the numbers above. (Note that the scale is logarithmic for the purpose of easier comparison.)
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Both Obama and McCain will cut your taxes if you earn less than $227,000 a year.
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Obama will provide significantly higher tax relief for those earning less than $66,000 a year (i.e. the poor).
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McCain will provide significanly higher tax relief for those earning more than $227,000 (i.e. the rich).
It should be noted that during the last 8 years of the Bush administration (with Republicans controlling Congress for the first 6 of those years), taxes were cut significantly (especially for the rich) and as a consequence the defecit has soared to new heights. The national debt now stands at $9 trillion.
Republicans love to explain that cutting taxes will result in more jobs, a stronger economy, and more tax revenue. The contrast between the era of Clinton in the 1990s and the era of Bush in the 2000s should put this bogus argument to rest (but of course it won’t).
Take a look at the data above and draw your own conclusion.
Filed under economics, politics : Comments (3) : Sep 8th, 2008
Third party candidate to steal McCain’s votes?
Filed under politics : Comments (0) : Sep 5th, 2008
McCain’s speech : well done
John McCain’s acceptance speech was really quite good. In a stark contrast to Palin’s speech from the night before, McCain took his own party to task for essentially failing the American people for the past 8 years–by growing government, raising spending, and succumbing to corrupt lobbyists. He proposed a number of measures that I (and Obama) more or less agree with and presented others that I disagree with. He carried himself with dignity, even stopping to laud his opponent as a fellow servant to the American people. The finish was particularly strong with a rousing plea for people to “stand up” and take a more active role in our communities. (community organizer, anyone?)
As one insightful pundit pointed out to me, the irony here is that Obama and McCain hold very similar views and would honestly make a damn good team. Contrary to the horse race media coverage, Obama is a fairly conservative Democrat and McCain a liberal Republican. What a shame that our two party entrenched political system prevented them from joining forces.
Well done, Mr. McCain. It’s not enough to win my vote in November but I applaud you as a maverick, a hero, and a man of character. The next two months are going to be a lot of fun.
Filed under politics : Comments (2) : Sep 4th, 2008
Community Organizers
I thought it was an exceptionally low blow when Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani laughed at the concept of a community organizer last night. To be clear, they weren’t saying that Obama is inexperienced because he was a community organizer, they were saying that “community organizer” is a job worthy of ridicule in and of itself. This, in my estimation, is shameful–and a big mistake.
In so doing, the GOP last night really drove home the notion that they’re the party of wealthy white people who don’t need (or understand the role of) community organizers. The kind of people who have been in positions of power for so long that they don’t even recognize their own affluence anymore. (And yet, ironically, seem to always make themselves out to be the victims of some attack by the ‘liberal elites’)
Here’s a gentleman who agrees:
Filed under culture, politics : Comments (2) : Sep 4th, 2008
Sarah Palin Sex Ed “Don’t ask, don’t tell”
My most recent tadfad post (and artistic endeavour) takes a direct shot at the Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. Some (including Barack Obama) want to take the high road and keep Palin’s family out of the debate. I’m not ready to be the good guy.
And here’s why. For years, self righteous socially conservative Republican religious extremists have advocated abstinence only sex education (or as I call it, “don’t ask, don’t tell”). This unique flavor of [non]education tells kids to “just say no” to sex until marriage. Because if we’ve learned nothing else from the last few thousand years of human civilization, it’s that teenagers raging with hormones are just not that interested in sex.
This is lunacy. Sheer and utter lunacy. A complete abdication of our moral duty as adults in equipping our children with the knowledge required to safely navigate the world they live in. Teenagers need to comprehend safe sex and need easy access to contraceptives. There is no morally acceptable alternative. And that is why I’m not ready to be the nice guy with Sarah Palin.
She has demonstrated in a very personal way exactly what her “don’t ask, don’t tell” sex education approach creates : teenage mothers. And frankly, this infuriates me. We can do better. Our children deserve better. We owe it to our future generations.
In closing, a brief plea to Sarah Palin (and the) : WAKE THE FUCK UP AND START TALKING TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT SEX. Thank you.
Filed under culture, politics : Comments (1) : Sep 3rd, 2008
