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First we had the massive stimulus package that has stimulated nothing. We had to pass it now. We need this bill to save jobs and keep unemployment from rising above 8%. We passed it and unemployment has continued to rise to 9.5% and it is expected to get higher. I can give the administration a bit of the benefit of the doubt that they could have been wrong there. However, when Obama sits there with a straight face and tells the American people the stimulus package is working as planned, then me thinks he is not being completely honest.
Next we have the climate change bill. We have to act now. We have to get off our dependence on foreign oil, yet we won't drill for oil and we won't build nuclear power plants. Instead we must switched to technologies that are not efficient and are more expensive than existing technologies. Then we are going to implement a cap and trade bill that will not reduce CO2 emissions, and if it did, would have little to no impact on temperatures.
Now we must pass health care reform and we must do it now. How many times has Barack Obama told us that under his "government option" for health care that if you like your current doctor and insurance policy you can keep it? Do you believe him? I don't trust him or his cronies as far as I can throw them (and I have a better arm that Obama).
If you did not believe that Obama's plan was to implement total government health care, then maybe you should take a look at this article by Investors Business Daily. In April, the nonpartisan Lewin Group estimated that under the government option, then 120 million Americans could lose their current group policies forcing them into the government program. At that time, they estimated that only 50 million individual policies would exist for private insurance.
Well the first draft of the proposed bill has been released. In the new bill, there is a provision that will eventually drive all private insurance out of existence. Private insurance companies will not be allowed to issue any new policies once the bill is signed into law. If you have an existing policy, you can keep it. However, if you want to change the policy or find a new one, you can't. You must then go to the government plan. Same if you have a group policy with your employer. If you change jobs, you can't buy a new policy or be covered under a policy with your new employer.
I am not sure I want to go so far as to say that I think that Obama and his fellow Democratic leaders are liars. OK, maybe I do. At least I believe they are not being completely forthcoming in what they are really trying to accomplish. Thanks to the Mark Levin show for discussing this article on his show yesterday.
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Is it really, "get it done" yesterday, when it's a topic that's been discussed, over and over for a good like, 30 years? I think it's more like, Get it done, FINALLY.
ReplyDeleteThe climate change bill is about a lot more than just our dependence on foreign oil. If you are wondering why we aren't going with Nuclear or Coal, or Drilling more, it's because -
1.) Those are old technologies that do not create all that many jobs
2.) Green Energy Technologies are the next global boom
3.) Global Climate Change is an ongoing threat that is getting worse by the year
4.) The idea of drilling more is nonsense. We use 25% of the world's oil consumption and only have 4% of the world's Oil in our lands, period. It is impossible to become energy independent through oil sources.
5.)The green energy technologies are actually cheaper and plenty efficient when you compare building new coal or nuclear plants. The problem with the "efficiency" is more directly related to our poor power grid (Which is also a national security risk and part of this climate bill)
6.)Cap And Trade will reduce CO2 emissions fine, it's only real issue is its dependence on people not being crooks. A straight up carbon tax may have been more effective, but both can work.
7.)Green Energy Technologies are products that are increasing in demand across the globe and are products that we can create in the United States and sell to other countries. Otherwise, we will continue to buy our products from overseas, sending our money over there, and continue this trend we are on now.
So, we can either sit and continue this path we're currently on, or see the growing trend, hop on board and take advantage of it Now, before it's too late.
And please, don't try to use the line that China will never get on board, they're already ahead of us in the green technology race. We better get a move on, or we'll be the ones falling behind.
The sad part is, these are not new predictions, they are old and as time goes on they are proven to be more and more right. Yet, here we are, still debating the same old stuff, when we should be done and beyond these issues.
As far as the health care - It's not in any real position to be making judgments on. The issue with health care right now is that it's clearly not working. It puts too many people into debt, whether covered or not, it does not help those that need it because of pre-conditions, it is ridiculously over priced. There's so much wrong with our health care currently.
It needs to be fixed, period.
1-They may be old technologies, but they are cheap and inexpensive technologies. No technology will provide any jobs if the government will not allow new development of those technologies.
ReplyDelete2-I am all for developing green energy technologies. There should be tax incentives for developing those technologies. However we should not abandon existing technologies until those are developed.
3-Global Climate Change is primarily driven by solar activity and not man made carbon emissions. The Earth has been far warmer than it currently is before we industrialized. Plus, temps have been stable or cooler over the past 10 years, so hardly getting worse every year. 97% of CO2 emissions is occurs naturally.
4-We may consume 25% of the oil, but we also produce 25% of the wealth. There is a correlation there. The EPA estimates that with cap and trade, we will still use fossil fuels for well over 50% of our energy sources in 2050. What is insane and nonsense is relying on foreign countries that do not like us for oil when we have resources here we could utilize.
5-I will agree that we need to upgrade the power grid.
6-If Cap & Trade will reduce CO2, then why has Europe, who has been under Cap & Trade since the Kyoto Protocol, had their emissions increase rather than decrease? All a carbon tax and cap & trade accomplish is to raise energy prices, disproportionately impacting the lower and middle classes. Also, even if we were to reduce those emissions to the desired levels, they will have little impact on temperatures.
7-Again, I am all for developing green energy technologies, but I am also for utilizing the technologies that are already in use until the green technologies can provide all our energy needs
China may be developing green technologies, but they are also greatly increasing their demand for oil and are building several coal fired power plants, so they actually are taking an "all of the above" approach which is what I want the US to do.
Obama wants to say we can't keep on the same failed policies, but then he wants to put the failed policies of Europe in place here, specifically cap & trade and government run health care. Yes, something needs to be done about health care costs, but it isn't letting the government run it.