Similar issues are confronting both the U.S. and Europe today. As the Grecian debt tragedy unfolds, the underlying fear is that it may be a prequel to what will happen here. The nation’s spending and debt situation is dire and our course must change. Washington is coming closer to the debt ceiling deadline; terse negotiations have led several in Congress to pull out of the talks reportedly over some insisting on tax increases that would harm a fragile economy. While Americans have clearly expressed their desire for bold action on …
When faced with losing one of the most brilliant companies in the country, Twitter, even San Francisco can have a moment of revelation regarding tax policy. Burdened with heavy California taxation—and San Francisco’s on top of that—Twitter presented a letter to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors giving them an option: either exempt Twitter from the city payroll tax for six years or watch the tweeting company walk. The board decided in favor of Twitter’s proposal, and Twitter signed its new lease last Friday.
Last week, The Washington Post pointed out one near-fatal flaw to Obama’s plans for subsidizing green energy and electric cars: snowstorms. On Wednesday a snowstorm hit D.C. commuters harder than usual, causing gridlock on the road and dragging a normally 20-minute commute into, in some cases, over six hours as people crowded the roads struggling to get home. With current technology, electric cars typically have much shorter battery lives, especially in cold weather. In an instance where a regular combustion engine car would keep its occupants safe and warm while …
This week, National Journal hosted an energy, environment, and economic policy summit on the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). Participants included Sens. Mark Begich (D-AK) and Sam Brownback (R-KS); Dr. Robert Simon, the Majority Staff Director of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; David Friedman, the Research Director of the Union of Concerned Scientists; and Phil Sharp, the President of Resources for the Future. RES proponents acknowledged that the nation’s current double digit unemployment makes near term adoption of RES politically impossible, but they also outlined a long-term strategy: …
Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced an energy bill without a cap-and-trade provision—a victory for the American economy. Yet, like the famous Miracle Max scene in The Princess Bride, cap-and-trade is only “mostly dead.” In a year when seemingly-dead legislation has suddenly come back to life, it is premature for Americans to dance a victory dance that their economy has been spared. Even small victories in Washington are followed closely by new battles. We must remain watchful for cap and trade to return later in the year, stay focused …
If the University of East Anglia report set up to investigate the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) was meant to put the Climategate controversy to rest in time for Earth Day, it failed spectacularly. The panel was led by Ernest Oxburg, who happens to be the honorary president of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association. Carbon capture and storage is an industry that definitely wouldn’t suffer should CO2 limits be imposed. Also, Oxburg’s involvement with the wind-energy industry raises further conflict of interest questions. With this in mind, …
These are times straight out of Alice in Wonderland, as everything becomes an “un-birthday” and definitions are turned on their head. Climate change scientists, according to The Washington Times this last weekend, are turning to PR, rather than data, to defend their work. Then there’s Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who yesterday continued to make patently false job-creation claims to sell the administration’s radical environmental agenda. His timing was unerringly bad, as his statements came on heels of further evidence that two front-runners—California and Europe—are discovering that their “green” policies …
Despite claims that the theory of global warming is “irrefutable,” the science behind this theory is now being called into question. Al Gore and all the others who wanted the world to take the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report as untouchable science now have a problem as reports of flaws in both the methods and the data keep on coming. The Washington Post laid out yesterday multiple flaws in the IPCC report. These include everything from misreporting critical dates, sloppy sourcing—including the use of anecdotal evidence from mountain climbers …
This week, Obama showed himself once again to be out of touch with both Americans and with the current debt situation in the United States. He called on the determination, optimism, and fundamental decency of all Americans, but then seemed to suggest that Americans should focus that determination on passing his health care bill. If Obama wants his presidency to be a success and for our economy to turn around, he will need to learn the lessons of the recent elections. To regain his footing with the American people, he …
In a Christmas Eve vote, the American people watched a U.S. Senator betray his pro-life principles for $100 million. The version of Obamacare that passed the Senate is the one to watch—it changes current law and allows taxpayer dollars to fund plans that cover elective abortions for the first time in years—and with the hair’s-width margin by which it passed, it may well emerge from the negotiations between the House and the Senate. The only thing that stands between Americans and a law forcing them to fund abortion coverage against …
