The "All of the Above" Fallacy

Question: Does an all of the above energy policy really mean all of the above….or does it only pertain to all of the above green energy?

As far as I know, coal, oil and natural gas are still major components of energy consumption here in America and throughout the world. So why does President Obama seem so hell bent on not only ignoring the production of oil, natural gas and coal but also appears to be doing all he can to stifle it. The Senate, earlier this year, tried to attach an amendment to a highway bill that would allow the Keystone XL pipeline to proceed without the approval of the President. I can understand how this maneuver to circumvent the president may be seen in a bad light among liberals. But when GALLUP polls show that nearly 60% of Americans want the pipeline while only 30% are against it… and President Obama continues to block its approval, the Senate felt, at the time, they were left with no other option to make sure the overwhelming majority of American citizens were fairly represented. The Amendment fell only 4 votes short of the necessary 60 votes that it needed to pass. Among those 56 votes were 11 democrats, and there is a strong belief on the right side of the aisle that if it had not been for President Obama’s admitted lobbying against the amendment, then it would have certainly passed. Our friend and neighbor to the north, Canada, is offering us a deal that would reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 8% and create well over 10,000 new jobs… and yet the White House seems determined to fight against the pipeline while asking Saudi Arabia to produce more oil.

Really????

This administration would rather fatten the pockets of the oil sheiks in the middle east than strengthen our relations with Canada and help the Canadian economy as well as our own. Wow! I am baffled at the sheer incompetence of this President and the people with which he has surrounded himself. I’ve even heard some liberals say that Canada is trying to screw America over and that somehow we’re getting a raw deal in regards to the pipeline.

Again I say….REALLY???

Therefore….by this argument…I am left with no other conclusion than liberals have more faith in fair dealings with Saudi Arabia than they do in Canada. I just shake my head in utter disbelief. The left would also like you to believe that President Obama is doing all he can to increase oil drilling in America. They will tell you that oil production is at the highest levels in years…blah blah blah. While this is technically true… it has nothing to do with the policies of President Obama. The majority of new drilling in this country is taking place on private/state land (which does not require the President's approval)…and the only drilling that has begun on federal land since Obama took office has been by permits granted during the Bush administration. Don’t let them fool you by taking credit for numbers that have nothing to do with the policies they have forced onto the American people.

And if you like numbers Mr. President.... How about this number…3%….you know what that number is? That is the unemployment rate in the state of North Dakota where a lot of private lands being used for drilling oil are located. The average unemployment rate for the six gulf coast states is at 9%….the lowest rate at 7.3% in Louisiana and the highest rate at 9.3% in Mississippi. That’s a pretty telling statistic and a pretty good reason to expand oil drilling throughout this country (on shore and off).  Don't you think that maybe the citizens of these gulf states might like to partake in the numerous jobs that would be created by opening up drilling in the gulf?

The simple fact is that oil, natural gas and coal (like it or not) are the cheapest form of energy and they are a job creating machine. And America is sitting right on top of an abundant supply. Enough to last us for 100s of years... which leads me to my point. Why is it that America can’t develop its own natural resources to create jobs, provide energy independence and low energy costs... as well as ease the pain at the pump in the not too distant future….while still continuing to develop renewable energy? I don't understand how one cancels the other out. To me…that is what an “All of the Above” policy should be. I don’t understand why the left seems to think that these two policies are unable to exist simultaneously. Believe it or not…conservatives are not against green renewable energy. We are against the government wasting taxpayer money on energy industries that are not even close to being ready for the market.

We have a President who’s policy seems to be that somehow the government has become a bank with the sole purpose of loaning money to green energy companies. When did the American taxpayer sign on to take on this burden? I know I sure didn’t. Half a billion dollars thrown at Solyndra (now bankrupt)….another billion thrown at Abound Solar (now bankrupt)... another half billion thrown at First Solar(now bankrupt)... another 200 million thrown at Fisker Automotive…(now laying off employees and bankruptcy seems eminent). These are only a few examples of how this administration has proven to be grossly incompetent venture capitalists and only a small fraction of the 100 BILLION DOLLARS that have been flushed down the drain on similar companies.

Vice President Biden said in 2009 that Fisker Automotive would create more than 3000 new jobs by the year 2011. That didn’t quite come true as they only employed 100 people at the peak of their three year run, and are now beginning to lay people off. When Fisker accepted the government/taxpayer loan, they said they would open a plant in the United States and would employ two thousand people. They began to keep that promise by buying a shuttered GM plant in Delaware, but as of yet there has not been a single Fisker automobile built within its walls…and the company now says they are looking to produce their vehicles overseas where it is cheaper. While the argument of the cost of doing business in America has its merits, there are much bigger reasons for Fisker’s money troubles. One reason is the fact that Consumer Reports bought one of their cars for testing which broke down in the parking lot before the testing could even begin. The Fisker Karma was the name of the car…and while it looked really cool…it failed to stay started, it failed to go into gear, and there were numerous electrical problems. It eventually had to be towed out of Consumer Reports parking lot at its testing facility. And this fabulous Fisker Karma can be yours for the low low price of $140,000.

SERIOUSLY???!!! $140,000!!!!!

This is the President’s plan to help middle class families deal with raising gas prices??? How many middle class families do you know that can afford a 140,000 dollar car? Not many I’d suspect. I suppose then the President would direct the middle income family to the fabulous Chevy Volt. The Volt’s technology is almost exactly the same as the Fisker Karma…at a third of the price. The Volt carries a sticker price of around $41,000 and doesn’t have nearly the operational problems as did the Karma. However, there have been a few cases of Volts catching on fire…but other than that…they run and drive pretty good. The problem with the Volt is that it is still slightly more than the average family is able to invest in. Especially when you can buy a much cheaper compact car that gets comparable gas mileage to the Volt. For example: Both the Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla get great gas mileage at 40 mpg and come with a much more agreeable sticker price of $16,000 to $17,000. Now, I agree that 40 mpg isn’t as impressive at the Volts 60 mpg and in some tests said to be as high a 70 mpg, but when a consumer is looking at almost 25,000 dollars in price difference (more when you include taxes and finance rates) its easy to see why the Volts are still sitting on the dealership’s showroom and production of the vehicle has been haulted. Not to mention that the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion-Hybrid are also competitors of the Volt with sticker prices of $24,000 and $27,000 respectively…and both getting 50 mpg.

To bottom line is this….if there were a market for these green energy cars and green energy companies, there would be no need for a 100 BILLION DOLLAR investment of taxpayer money. If this technology were ready for the market, then PRIVATE INVESTORS would be lining up to invest in them. THAT’S HOW THE FREE MARKET WORKS!!!!! I know that liberals would want you to believe that big oil companies are somehow preventing the emergence of alternative renewable energy, but this is absolute nonsense. The cold hard truth is that the technology is just not far enough advanced to be competitive with fossil fuels. I’m sorry that technology isn’t as advanced as people thought we would be 50 years ago. I know that we were suppose to have flying cars by now and inhabited space stations and all that jazz….but we are just not there yet. Its true that technology is progressing at a miraculous rate, but I honestly believe that we are decades away from the technology we need in order to replace fossil fuels as our main source of energy in this country.

News flash... gas powered cars are NOT going away anytime soon!

Oh…and by the way, people don’t always realize this, but electric cars would also run mostly on FOSSIL FUELS since coal and natural gas provide nearly 70% of America’s electricity. So if everyone owned an electric car…coal and natural gas production would have to increase monumentally in order to keep up with the electricity demands. Power doesn’t just magically appear in a wall socket…and at current coal production under President Obama as well as regulations prohibiting the building of new coal burning plants… there is no where near enough electricity to support an electric car in every driveway…there isn’t enough electricity to support an electric car in half of America’s driveways….hell, there isn’t enough electricity to support an electric car in a third of America’s driveways without massive brown and black outs sweeping across the country. These policies put forth by President Obama have put the cart so far out in front of the horse that the horse can’t even see the damn cart.

What ever happened to the government simply allocating grants to private research facilities for the purposes of developing new technologies? When did the government get into the business of starting companies from scratch? I look around and I notice things starting to happen as though I’m watching chess pieces strategically move into position. The government now has its hands deep into wall street, the housing market, the banking industry and the car industry. Its as though a picture is starting to come into focus… Its becoming clear the left doesn’t hate the oil companies because they pollute the earth or because they’re greedy fat cats. They know they will never be able to get their hands into the oil industry. Its too big and too profitable to ever need a government bail out. So it would appear that perhaps they don’t want the private market to someday create another private energy industry that will become just as large as the oil industry (which will happen if the free market is allowed to work). It appears that the government wants to have their hands deep into the new energy industry from the beginning. Which brings me to my conclusion. This President’s administration doesn’t want to improve the energy industry, they want to own the energy industry. Which to me goes way beyond socialism...and takes us down a road that would change the face of America forever.