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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by David Holt to Obama’s hostile energy policy, the critical importance of the Keystone XL pipeline, and how a growing energy industry can help revive the American dream.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

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Open the Gulf

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Here at Consumer Energy Alliance, we are glad to see energy policy emerge as a cornerstone of the policy debate leading into the presidential elections this fall.  From President Obama’s recent embrace of an “all-of-the-above” energy policy during his State of the Union address to last week’s Colorado Election Energy Summit where Republican presidential hopefuls former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum detailed their strategies for increased domestic energy, energy policy has rocketed to the forefront of the debate.

Energy consumers across this country who are struggling with the rising cost of fuel should welcome the renewed focus on America’s energy future.  The single most important measure our nation can take to provide relief to American consumers is to implement sensible policies that will enable the full development of our country’s vast natural resources.  The United States’ ability to responsibly develop our abundant natural resources has never been brighter: technological breakthroughs in the oil and gas industry allow us to produce oil and natural gas trapped in deep layers of shale rock and in underground reservoirs thousands of feet below water while advancements in the renewable sector have made wind energy a reality on a commercial scale.  Such advancements could make the United States energy independent by 2020.

Although we have the technology to develop our energy resources – and political candidates paint a rosy picture for our nation’s energy future - America’s commuters, truckers, and airlines are getting hammered by record high fuel prices.  Already, experts project that 2012 will be the most expensive year to date for American drivers. With the global oil market becoming increasingly constrained, and the United States importing 11.8 million barrels per day of crude oil to keep our economy running, every time a disruption occurs — like the threat to close the Strait of Hormuz — American businesses and consumers will find themselves on the hook.

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss Twitter’s decision to sensor tweets, North Dakota’s oil boom and the challenges their rapidly growing economy faces.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Twitter faces accusations of censorship; users plan Saturday boycott
Reporters Without Borders urges Twitter to reverse its decision to censor tweets
North Dakota Oil Boom Brings Blight With Growth as Costs Soar

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President Obama recently unleashed his first campaign ad for the 2012 election year.  The 30-second spot is described as such:

President Obama has taken steps to make us energy independent and create an economy that’s built to last. He’s been a strong supporter of domestic energy production, has made historic investments in clean energy technology, and has nearly doubled fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks. Because of the progress we’ve made, our dependence on foreign oil is the lowest it’s been in 16 years.

The Washington Post gave the ad a rating of “three Pinocchios” for misleading viewers with a suggestion that Obama was responsible for creating 2.7 million clean energy jobs and for cherry-picking certain citations to back up its claims.  The resulting descriptions of the ad included such words as “slippery,” “slick,” and “misleading.”

The Obama administration in a nutshell.

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Tuesday’s State of the Union address is noteworthy because it appears to signal a change in the Administration’s approach to US energy development. If so, this is welcome news. Truly embracing an “all of the above” energy strategy that allows for the robust development of our oil and natural gas resources in the immediate term would boost economic development, lessen our dependence on hostile oil regimes, and save American consumers from record-high fuel costs.

However, while these words are encouraging, the Administration’s actions over the last three years tell a different story.

One highlight was the President’s emphasis on natural gas — a game-changer for the US economy. President Obama mentioned the words “manufacturing” and “manufacturers” fifteen times. This is because manufacturers of such commodities as steel, paint, fertilizer and chemicals, who use natural gas as a feedstock, have seen record low prices for the commodity in the United States. The boom in natural gas, created by the combination of two old technologies – horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing — has made the resource abundant and extremely affordable. Low energy prices, driven by an increased supply, benefits all Americans. This resource has been and should continue to be developed safely and without jeopardizing our environment. Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent considerable time and effort over the past few years trying to impose new regulations on natural gas production that could, in effect, render future production uneconomical.

The President also failed to mention the Keystone XL pipeline. His Administration’s decision just last week to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, a $7 billion energy infrastructure project built completely with private funds, could bring over 700,000 barrels of oil from Montana, North Dakota, and our trusted friend Canada and create thousands of union jobs during construction. If his Administration is serious about generating new jobs and economic growth through energy policy, there is no better, or more immediate, way than approving this “shovel ready” project.

While his emphasis on the return of domestic manufacturing rightfully deserves attention, he left out several other key energy issues – some of which could strengthen energy security and put Americans back to work in weeks, not years. (more…)

Media Matters for America (MMfA) sent an email yesterday, likely in error, to the office of Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)–hardly a regular recipient of MMfA spam–attempting to coordinate Democratic opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline that was recently blocked by the Obama administration.

Photo: National Post (Canada) / Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

The email apparently targeted staff from the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works, and recipients included staff working for Sen. Inhofe as Ranking Member, apparently in error. (Sen. Inhofe is an ardent supporter of the Keystone pipeline and has objected vehemently to President Barack Obama’s decision to prevent it from moving forward.)

The fact that MMfA’s email was, atypically, sent to Republican staffers might suggest a gesture at bipartisan outreach–except that the email was explicitly addressed to congressional “allies” on an issue where Republicans have shown unusually strong unity, and the opposition, such as it is, has come from Democrats and the White House. (Last year, the House of Representatives passed a bill supporting the Keystone pipeline with Republicans favoring the project 232-3, and Democrats opposing it 144-47.)

The email announces that Media Matters aims to assist fellow opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline (i.e. congressional Democrats) based on the premise that the media has focused on the jobs the project could create, and not on the potential downsides of the pipeline:

From: [redacted]
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 09:11 PM
To: [redacted]
Subject: Heads up – MMFA study on media coverage of KXL out tomorrow

[Redacted],

I wanted to flag that MMFA will be putting out a major, quantitative report on media coverage of KXL tomorrow morning.

The study will be similar to our EPA counting study (http://mediamatters.org/research/201106070010) — and will drill home the point the media bought right into Big Oil’s desired frame on KXL, focusing largely on the (inflated) number of jobs that could be created, without paying due attention to the many other important issues at stake. (Ranchers’ land, spills, climate change, etc.)

We are hoping for a big media splash,  but – more importantly – we’re hoping that allies will be able to leverage it to gain favorable coverage.

I’ve pasted a very brief summary below – and will be sure to send along the final study as soon as it’s up.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

All the best,

[Redacted] (more…)

This morning, Rep. Jan Schakowsky appeared on the Don Wade and Roma show on WLS-AM Chicago to comment on President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. Schakowsky praised the president’s green energy initiatives, claiming that the (recalled) Chevy Volt “is doing pretty well” and defending Obama’s failed investment in Solyndra.

When the hosts asked her to defend President Obama’s decision to block the development of the Keystone pipeline, Schakowsky did not dispute that the project would create jobs, but denied that these jobs were significant:

Twenty thousand jobs is really not that many jobs and investing in green technologies will produce that and more. But I’ll tell you what, you know it seems to me that the Republicans would rather have an issue than a pipeline.

When the hosts pointed out that Schakowsky’s union allies support the pipeline, she was speechless. (The full audio from the interview is available here.) (more…)

Labor union membership continues to be blind to the fact that the support of its “leadership” to President Obama and his political allies is coming at the cost of the members. Big Labor bosses and their political allies are happy to continue to throw the membership under the bus for their own personal gain. For President Obama, this is the prospect of re-election; for the labor bosses, this is the survival of their “way of life.” This can be seen through the President’s actions and comments over the past three years.

Early in his presidency, President Obama made disparaging remarks about business owners whose companies had corporate jets. This was done in a blatant attempt to incite class warfare, despite the fact that the country was in a deep recession. By his words, the President willingly sacrificed the jobs of the very people who supported him through union dues. He knew the liberal media would not expose the tragic result his words would have on the private jet and airplane manufacturing industry.

In Wichita, Kansas, the home of private aircraft manufacturing has suffered tremendously, as thousands of union employees employed by Cessna and Beechcraft have been laid off, not to mention the thousands of jobs affiliated with general aviation lost across the country including manufacturers, part suppliers, fuel, pilots, mechanics, FBO services and insurance providers. Additionally, due to the loss of significant sales, use, income environmental and aviation tax revenues, thousands of local, state and federal employee positions, many of which were union jobs, have disappeared.

Adding insult to injury now the White House Defends User Fees of $100/flight on general aviation and corporate aviation to raise revenues in Obama’s continued class warfare and redistribution of wealth scheme in his effort to bring down America. Ironically this will cost more jobs, many of them union, as revenues ultimately will be reduced as fewer aircraft are purchased and general aviation travel is curtailed due to the added expense. The vicious cycle will continue to perpetuate itself at the expense of American jobs!

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From Bloomberg Government:

Warren Buffett’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration’s decision to reject TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.

With modest expansion, railroads can handle all new oil produced in western Canada through 2030, according to an analysis of the Keystone proposal by the U.S. State Department.

“Whatever people bring to us, we’re ready to haul,” Krista York-Wooley, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern, a unit of Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said in an interview. If Keystone XL “doesn’t happen, we’re here to haul.”

The State Department denied TransCanada a permit on Jan. 18, saying there was not enough time to study the proposal by Feb. 21, a deadline Congress imposed on President Barack Obama. Calgary-based TransCanada has said it intends to re-apply with a route that avoids an environmentally sensitive region of Nebraska, something the Obama administration encouraged.

The rail option, though costlier, would lessen the environmental impact, such as a loss of wetlands and agricultural productivity, compared to the pipeline, according to the State Department analysis. Greenhouse gas emissions, however, would be worse.

If completed, Keystone XL would deliver 700,000 barrels a day of crude from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico, crossing 1,661 miles (2,673-kilometers) over Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. (more…)

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson is joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss Barack Obama’s recent decision to halt construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the job loss that creates, and the Air Force decision to award a new plane contract to a Brazilian company.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:
Lawmakers seek to undo pipeline denial
Republicans Look for Alternatives After Keystone XL Rejected
The Fight is On: Super Tucano Selected by USAF But Beechcraft Launches Legal Challenge

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In an exclusive interview with the Heritage Foundation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had strong words for President Obama:

When Ronald Reagan was elected the 40th President of the United States the competition between nation states was defined along the political terms of communism, democracy, and fascism. But Reagan sought to redefine nation state competition in terms of the market. This capitalist worldview was powered by Reagan’s own American experience of upward mobility of the middle class. As President, Reagan pursued policies that reflected his personal belief in individual freedom, economic independence, and reduction of people’s reliance upon government. Reagan’s “market states” competition is broken down into America as the laissez-faire state, Europe as the managerial state, Japan as the mercantile state, and China a combination of the three. The Obama Administration sought to move America to embrace a post-Reagan managerial state. But with the U.S. credit downgrade and Europe facing financial collapse; the U.S. has no option other than a hard turn back to the laissez-faire market state.

The European advocates of the managerial state argue the core idea of government in a democracy is to provide services to the public through professional and political bureaucracies. The managerial state rationalizes that ethics demands only government can allocate society’s wealth to fund socially beneficial ends. The managerial state acknowledges that scientific management and efficiencies of the laissez-faire state maximize supply and growth; but they see these capitalist tools as leading to adverse outcomes of intense materialism and inequality of income. The managerial state demands control of healthcare: where death and pain cannot be priced without creating some very unhealthy social consequences and control of infrastructure where markets do not think in decades or would not properly price environmental damage as core state functions. University intellectuals are expected to embed therapeutic criteria to achieve right reasoning through public education.

Problems with these concepts according to Paul Gottfried of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, is that the managerial state will use its professional and political bureaucracies to sponsor a “series of social programs based on vague egalitarian spirit”. If anyone criticizes the bureaucracy’s lack of scientific management and efficient use of resources; they are attacked as unethical. If government loses popular democratic support for their policies, elites simply resort to ridicule, regulations, and litigation to maintain their monopolies.

C.S. Lewis remarked that every increase in man’s power over nature can turn out to mean an increase in the power of some men over others, with nature as its instrument. He stated:

“Given technological progress, we need to fight hard to retain our clarity about the nature and rights of human beings. We hear of human “autonomy” and of man’s “control of his own destiny.” But the autonomy is enjoyed by a select (or self-selected) few, and the control is exercised by a shrinking elite.”

Three years into America’s managerial state experiment, the middle class is in revolt over loss of upward mobility.

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