From: New York Times
It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. ...deciding to line up in pushing to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for this summer's travel season. This is not an energy policy. This is money laundering: we borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks. What a way to build our country.
When the summer is over, we will have increased our debt to China, increased our transfer of wealth to Saudi Arabia and increased our contribution to global warming for our kids to inherit.
No, no, no, we'll just get the money by taxing Big Oil....Even if you could do that, what a terrible way to spend precious tax dollars — burning it up on the way to the beach rather than on innovation?
Peter Schwartz of Global Business Network describes as the true American energy policy today: "Maximize demand, minimize supply and buy the rest from the people who hate us the most."
But here's what's scary: our problem is so much worse than you think. We have no energy strategy. If you are going to use tax policy to shape energy strategy then you want to raise taxes on the things you want to discourage — gasoline consumption and gas-guzzling cars — and you want to lower taxes on the things you want to encourage — new, renewable energy technologies. We are doing just the opposite.
"It's a disaster," says Michael Polsky, founder of Invenergy, one of the biggest wind-power developers in America. "Wind is a very capital-intensive industry, and financial institutions are not ready to take 'Congressional risk.' They say if you don't get the [production tax credit] we will not lend you the money to buy more turbines and build projects."
If we are not subsidized - If the wind and solar credits expire, said Resch, the impact in just 2009 would be more than 100,000 jobs either lost or not created in these industries, and $20 billion worth of investments that won't be made.
Haase - There is as much wrong as "right" with this NYT article, simply increasing subsidizes without cuts increases inflation... and when the payback on the "clean" energy investment takes 2 decades, why should banks or congress start writing blank checks to "Green Greed" investors. Germany and Japan are NOT models of the climate, economy geography or politics in America. What works there will not work the same here... we are a much larger mass with 10 fold loads. Solar and wind farms from coast to coast in America will not keep the lights on in NY and Chicago very long (sorry it's a math thing). I think Congress knows this.
And simply bashing candidate plans without a opposing plan is called "propaganda". What was Obama's alternate plan?
Earth to America - Billions of tax dollar subsidized investments are not an investment in the economy, it is a withdrawal.
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