Monday, March 5, 2012

Obama Is Of Two Minds

President Obama genuinely thinks that his idiotic grin and rehearsed verbal cadences are sufficient to make every American believe what he is saying. Even when what he is saying directly contradicts what he has just said or done a mere day or two before. He has taken Lincoln’s aphorism and twisted it into “I can fool all of the people, all of the time.” Consider his recent statements and actions on energy policy.

In his State of the Union address, the President sounded almost, well, presidential when talking about energy. He seemed to be supporting the Republican “all of the above” options for energy sources. He advocated bigg[er] tax cuts for domestic manufacturers, incentives for new companies to move into areas where old industry had moved out, and doubling the tax deductions of high tech companies which make their products in the United States.

In later speeches, he advocated increasing domestic natural-gas production by using the process called “fracking.” No, that’s not taken from Battlestar Galactica. It is simply shorthand for “hydraulic fracturing” of rock to release the natural gas contained in its grasp. He told us he was going to break the ban on offshore oil drilling in order to reduce dependence on oil being purchased from Middle East dictators. He promised on multiple occasions that he was open to any and all proposals to produce what is necessary to release or capture domestic energy supplies. He even mentioned coal as a resource a couple of times.

While touting all these abundant resources, he sensibly followed the line of many fiscal conservatives who were desirous of cutting taxes on businesses in exchange for eliminating certain “redundant, counter-productive and unnecessary” income tax deductions. All in all, not an entirely bad agenda. And the American people are certainly united in the concept of weaning ourselves off tenuous foreign energy products.

So how is this actually working out in thought, word and deed? Let’s look at those tax cuts for domestic manufacturers and energy-producers. The Crony Socialist-in-Chief spoke as if he meant all viable manufacturers and producers. But the reality is he meant only his pet projects and crony-owned businesses. He has set aside $800 billion in economic stimulus funds but has used them almost exclusively for “green” projects, many of which have failed or are failing.

On the other hand, where viable and successful operations such as oil drilling and fracking are concerned, he has specifically targeted them for “having received taxpayer subsidized payments” and therefore unworthy of the government’s assistance. What he is talking about is programs such as the oil depletion allowance. Many of us would say that at least some of those allowances are way over the top, but in fact they are little different from standard deductions allowable to all corporations (including his favored green projects), like capital inventory depreciation. If Solyndra hadn’t gone bankrupt, it would have had similar deductions available to it.

So instead of incentivizing these proven industries, he is working with his fellow Democrats to write punitive tax laws that will continue the pattern of putting American companies and workers at a disadvantage in the world market. Even “windfall profits” taxes are back in the leftist lexicon. On the other hand, he seems to favor deductions for companies which engage in “windfall losses.” Very logical. Punish profit and reward failure.

As we’ve discussed before, Obama isn’t really the least bit desirous of increasing domestic American energy production. He is interested in picking winners and losers and favoring pie-in-the-sky green projects while stalling or killing projects with a proven track record. As for fracking, it seemed like only minutes after Obama gave the process a thumbs-up that the Environmental Protection Agency produced a report replete with mathematical and scientific errors, sermonizing, and goals posing as practical solutions to kill a fracking project in Wyoming.

Among the “goals” the Wyoming company must meet in order to get to the natural gas is a 95% reduction in “toxic” and “greenhouse” emissions. The EPA twisted the noxious Clean Air Act to accomplish killing the project, then made it clear that any other company anywhere else in the United States which used similar methods would be subject to the same job-killing and project-killing measures. So much for developing the abundant natural gas resource.

As for all the offshore drilling, only a handful of permits have been actually provisionally granted pending further EPA determination. The approvals are largely for exploration rather than drilling. To show his support for domestic American oil drilling and oil production, Obama announced that “drill, baby, drill is a bumper sticker slogan, not a strategy.” Even his erstwhile political ally, former President Bill Clinton, said that was just plain wrong.

Speaking of the Clintons, how about that Keystone XL pipeline? The EPA couldn’t stop it at the US-Canadian border because of treaty obligations, so the State Department under Hillary stepped in to do the dirty work. 20,000 “shovel-ready” jobs which don’t even require drilling on American soil gone with the stroke of a pen. But never fear, if the State Department ever bows to public pressure, the EPA has offices all along the proposed pipeline to claim that it will produce environmental disaster (including the ruin of some sandhills in Nebraska).

Of the stimulus funds Obama claims he is going to lavish on domestic energy production, most is being frozen for future consideration. But he has set aside $80 billion for immediate use for any huckster or snake-oil salesman who can come along with a magical “green” energy project. Never mind the failure of Solyndra and several other similar favored companies. Never mind the creation of a minuscule number of jobs which disappear as quickly as they are created. Never mind that many of those jobs “created” by the administration and its cronies cost the taxpayers as much as a million dollars per job. Just say the magic incantation “green,” and the money is yours.

33 comments:

Tennessee Jed said...

Excellent stuff, Hawk. I always appreciate these drill downs because it makes a nice reference. Problem is, I am not running for president, and much of the electorate seemingly cannot be bothered to seek the truth or think for themselves. As such, Obama gets away with it . . . sort of. If enough folks who are not firmly in his choir loft pay attention, he will be sent packing back to Chicago where he belongs next January.

T-Rav said...

Don't forget that earnest, whiny, near-whisper of his when he's really trying to sell himself to you. That's when you know he cares--or at least, is making it look like he cares.

Joel Farnham said...

Good article LawHawk.

Jed, I wish Obama goes all the way back to Kenya. Chicago won't have him.

StanH said...

These kind of articles are important to understand the obvious, this is all by design. “If you can’t dazzle them with brains, baffle them with BS!” Unlike in ’08 Barry has a record, and a history that can be nicely linked together, such as, “energy prices would necessarily skyrocket…” and the price of gas. We have a double dealing Marxist in the Whitehouse and needs to exposed and explored as such, informing voters as we approach the critical 2012 election. Good read, keep the bright light shinning Lawhawk.

Unknown said...

Tennessee: That is a constant problem, though the internet and cable news have helped some. Too many people hear Obama say that he's going to do everything to get our domestic oil and natural gas production going, but if they don't have a refinery in their back yard to see the results, they don't know he's just telling another one of his big lies.

Unknown said...

T-Rav: I know what you mean. I sometimes think if you snuck up on him in the middle of the night and slapped him he'd come up shouting like he was in a speed-swearing contest between Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy.

Unknown said...

Joel: I disagree. Kenya is far too civilized for him. Chicago is just the right place.

Unknown said...

Stan: Thanks. I really think Obama will be the easiest president in my lifetime to attack solely on his record. Grandiose promises have turned out to be pixie dust. He told us what his agenda would be (as you mentioned), and now all the Republican candidate has to do is make him eat his own words. I just hope we get a candidate willing to do exactly that.

He did keep one promise, though. He fundamentally transformed America. He turned it into Greece.

T-Rav said...

In all seriousness, the fact that cheap oil from friendly Canada could go to freaking China instead because TOTUS cares more about us being a greener nation makes me want to throw something. This person is an ideologue in the worst way: He puts his own utopian ideals before the good of the country.

tryanmax said...

TJ, LawHawk, that is the problem I run up against all the time -- the "true believers" buy 0bama's promises and could care less about the follow-up.

T-Rav, it makes me want to throw something, too: up.

Unknown said...

T-Rav: Oh, we'll get the Canadian oil sooner or later. It takes time to come up with a plausible explanation for why it's being transported by Warren Buffet's railroads instead of a simple pipeline.

You did hit the nail on the head. Obama is a true ideologue. Facts, evidence, history and common sense have zero effect on him. If the theory's good, don't worry about the practice.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: That reminds me of a paraphrasing of Kipling's "If." If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, perhaps you don't understand the situation. Liberals see things crumbling all around them, and don't have a clue that it's their own failed ideas and policies which are causing the collapse. So they calmly go on repeating their nostrums as if nothing were happening.

BevfromNYC said...

Well, now, the WH et al. has been very forthcoming about how the President does not have the power to do anything about the price of gas. Jay Carney said it. Fancy Nancy said it. Sec't of Energy Chu said it. And many others have said it. Of course they are the very some people who said that Bush was totally responsible.

I'm fortunate because I don't have a car to fill up. Gas here is up to $5 a gallon and one of our legislators wants to pass a "anti-gouging" law. Seriously, how can you tell? He should look to the Sec. of Energy and state legislators for all of the taxes they tack on to each gallon...that's where we're being "gouged".

Unknown said...

Bev: That's the beauty of the big lie. It has to be ridiculous to start with, and then repeated over and over and over, ad nauseam, by as many true believers as possible.

I not only have to buy gas, but the closest station is thirty minutes away. I paid $4.79 a week ago, and it's probably right at $5.00 by now. I'm driving a very practical vehicle for the local terrain (a Suburban which will hold me, the grandkids and supplies), but it's a gas-guzzler. My doctors and main shopping areas are in Bakersfield, nearly 50 miles away most of which is winding, steep mountain road. A simple shopping trip or doctor's appointment is now costing me a king's ransom in gasoline alone. The only thing I want to gouge right now is to gouge out the eyes of the ecoweenies and "green" public officials.

tryanmax said...

T-Rav, Bev, the NY legislators don't have to be smart, just smarter than the people who elected them.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: Which brings us full circle back to the proposition that people get the form of government they deserve. Bah, bah, bah.

BevfromNYC said...

LawHawk, Tryanmax and T-rav - But as our Gov stated proudly last week, we've gone almost 14 months without a scandal in the Gov's mansion and 3 months with no legislator being sentenced to a jail term! That's a new NY record.

rlaWTX said...

Bev, YAY for NY!

Hawk, that pic looks like an ant colony or something... took me a couple of looks to realize it was a 2-headed snake in the sand...

Every time the news (as I'm passing thru the living room) mentions how the gov't and gas prices, I lose another 1/4 inch of tooth cuz I have to grind to keep from yelling at the anchors. WHat totally cracks me up is when there is one of the "poor us, gas prices are too high" followed by some "YAY EPA" story. Irony, thy name is MSM.

OH - the sand dune lizard "crisis" is being worked out on a state level (so far). However, I am expecting to hear that the EPA decided that the state solution was incomplete and the feds are taking it over... wanna hear WTXns scream???? endanger the oil economy...

and in other news: http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_98a680f0-0c67-53e3-b296-5d290b5cb5ed.html

Notawonk said...

we looked at land, but they weren't selling the mineral rights, so it was a no go. we've decided when/if we buy, we have to get those mineral rights. helps to have a husband who used to be a landman.

in regards to this post: i suggest we get together and form a green company. it's where the money's at. doesn't have to really do anything, we just say we do something green, then BAM! "free" money!

AndrewPrice said...

Obama is all about saying what needs to be said to try to win both sides. But in his actions, he's a hard-core ideologue.

Unknown said...

Patti: My parents taught me the same thing. Believe it or not, I have mineral and water rights for everything except uranium. This parcel was originally divided up in the 50s, so I guess that was a big consideration back then.

Great idea. We'll form a consortium and call ourselves the Jolly Green Investment Company. We're rich, we're rich! And we don't even have to be good at it. If we fail (which we will, because we don't have a viable plan or a real product), the taxpayers will pay the bills.

Unknown said...

Andrew: Succinct and well-said.

Koshcat said...

Actions speak louder than words.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: I hope you have better luck than I did with my initial attempts to do a full sign-up with Disqus. For no logical reason at all it wouldn't work with my main e-mail and the merge feature, but when I switched to my backup e-mail, it went very smoothly. It only took me about an hour and several swearing sessions to make that work.

BevfromNYC said...

As to the Jolly Green Investment Co. Inc. Corp. (I'm no legal eagle, but if we add all those abreviations at the end, it makes it legitimate.), aren't we already a "green" entity? We are a "think tank" of green ideas to invest in our future. We can't help it if no one has bought any of them yet. And ideas do not add any carbon to the ozone too! Maybe we should switch our background color to green just to make it official.

Unknown said...

Koshcat: Unfortunately, with the full assistance of the MSM, with Obama it's the other way around. They tout his reasonable-sounding speeches then completely ignore his contradictory actions. That's why we have to keep getting the message out on the blogosphere.

Unknown said...

Bev: Green, green, it's green they say, on the far side of the hill. Green, green, I'm going away to where the grass is greener still.

OK, enough with folk songs from the 60s. Our greenery, including the blog background, will help. But for safety's sake, we'd all better re-register as Democrats or we won't get a dime.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: Disqus just sent me a notice that says your stalking, uh, following me. So I returned the favor. LOL I think we'll probably be turning widgets on and off at Disqus until we have a handle on how they work.

T-Rav said...

Okay, I'll join this thing, but I don't want any of you stalking me with guns. There's a kitten shortage and I can't afford to booby-trap any more of them.

rlaWTX said...

around here they do not sell mineral rights. those apparently stay with the families who were smart enough to get them back in the stone age.

Hawk, I've been told by those in the business that what she got is "fair". And folks side with oil companies in court...

Although it did get her out of jury duty. Last fall she was called and got as far as listening to the individual lawyers do their questions. Extrapolating from the questions so far, she realized that the case was between either and oil co and a land owner or 2 oil companies. SO, they went around the room asking benign "how long have you lived here; what are your hobbies" questions. It got to mom and she said she had a question. They conferred and said OK. She asked to confirm her suspicions about the litigants. They answered in legalese that more or less meant "you're right". Then she said, "I hate oil companies. They just drilled on my land and have caused me a headache." The lawyers realized that they had left an important Q out of their list and opened that up to the group at large. Turns out 2 others had similar situations and a couple others had other legit oil co gripes (spray painting a pump jack in west TX wind - painted the house & car an acre away, etc). And they were all let off.

How much to get in on the JGICIC??

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: Getting the mineral rights on new properties is indeed virtually unheard-of. But at least your mom figured out how to get out of jury duty. LOL

We're still working on the buy-in, so be patient. But with the government's help, it will be way less than what the IPO will go for (that's the move we make just before we file for bankruptcy).

Individualist said...

Lawhawk

In China to join the communist party you have to fill out an application. You have to have two party members give you a reference strating they know you follow Maoist principles. Then if accepted by the local committee you have a one year probations where you have to perform "work" for the party. Then you can be approved by the local party but that approval can be resicnded by the regional and higher level party agencies.

The Chinese join because being a party member is necessary to own or operate a business or have a good job. Funny how the chronyism of Obama seems to mirror the system already in place in China isn't it.

Unknown said...

Indi: Unfortunately, there's nothing funny about it.

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