Stimulus package
Well folks, this is going to be a big test. There is going to be a vote on the stimulus package probably tomorrow sometime. As usual, there are several sides to the issue. It reminds me about the old saying that there's 10 people in the room, and 15 different opinions.
This is very confusing. One side says this is the perfect plan to stimulate the economy, and the other says that it can't stimulate anything if the spending is going to be several years out. Even the different sides use the Congressional Budget Office to bolster their claims. Here are two online articles that will show that disparity:
Washington Post
Wall Street Journal
When it comes to the energy issue, in my opinion, it falls way short. Most of you know by now how I feel about all of the proposals we have heard about, dealing with so-called green initiatives and fuel efficiency regulations. I am a very positive person, but one thing I can't sit back and allow is for our elected officials to try to pull the wool over our eyes.
We can talk about making sure our tires our inflated properly, or how we can turn off lights as we go out of the room, or my favorite is how we can force the auto makers to offer cars with increased fuel efficiencies. Those are just smoke screens. For example; we talk about improving our fuel efficiency on our cars. But, did you ever consider the percentage of gasoline that our passenger vehicles use as compared to the rest of the uses of our oil? Well, it's pretty insignificant when you consider that it takes nearly one barrel of oil to produce one tire. It's also tiny when you consider the amount of oil that goes into jet fuel, diesel, and many other products, not to mention the real nasty part that is used for things like asphalt.
If we improve the gas mileage for our passenger vehicles by even 50%, we will only make a tiny dent in the overall oil consumption. When people hear about the fact that we import nearly 70% of the 25 million barrels of oil per day in this country, surprisingly, most people associate that with gasoline only. I don't want to bore you with too much science right now, but suffice it to say that getting better MPG's out of our cars may be a nice gesture, but that's all it really is.
However, there is a solution. If we replace 20% of our oil used for transportation (all varieties) with compressed natural gas (CNG), then we will be able to make a significant impact. Something that also goes overlooked is the usage of wind power in place of our energy used to heat buildings. Many parts of the country depend on heating oil to keep their homes and businesses warm in the winter. Converting to a more efficient natural gas, or even better - using solar or wind energy, will also make a noticeable difference. The great thing is that the technology is available NOW. In fact, in some form or another, it has been available for decades, and we have improved the technology immensely.
Please join me in demanding from Congress that we don't simply give the issue of energy independence a cursory glance. The stimulus package that would include better funding for alternative energy usage will not only be valuable for our national security, but will have a significant impact on our economy. We don't need to be going "green," we need to be going "red, white, and blue!"
Just a thought...
This is very confusing. One side says this is the perfect plan to stimulate the economy, and the other says that it can't stimulate anything if the spending is going to be several years out. Even the different sides use the Congressional Budget Office to bolster their claims. Here are two online articles that will show that disparity:
Washington Post
Wall Street Journal
When it comes to the energy issue, in my opinion, it falls way short. Most of you know by now how I feel about all of the proposals we have heard about, dealing with so-called green initiatives and fuel efficiency regulations. I am a very positive person, but one thing I can't sit back and allow is for our elected officials to try to pull the wool over our eyes.
We can talk about making sure our tires our inflated properly, or how we can turn off lights as we go out of the room, or my favorite is how we can force the auto makers to offer cars with increased fuel efficiencies. Those are just smoke screens. For example; we talk about improving our fuel efficiency on our cars. But, did you ever consider the percentage of gasoline that our passenger vehicles use as compared to the rest of the uses of our oil? Well, it's pretty insignificant when you consider that it takes nearly one barrel of oil to produce one tire. It's also tiny when you consider the amount of oil that goes into jet fuel, diesel, and many other products, not to mention the real nasty part that is used for things like asphalt.
If we improve the gas mileage for our passenger vehicles by even 50%, we will only make a tiny dent in the overall oil consumption. When people hear about the fact that we import nearly 70% of the 25 million barrels of oil per day in this country, surprisingly, most people associate that with gasoline only. I don't want to bore you with too much science right now, but suffice it to say that getting better MPG's out of our cars may be a nice gesture, but that's all it really is.
However, there is a solution. If we replace 20% of our oil used for transportation (all varieties) with compressed natural gas (CNG), then we will be able to make a significant impact. Something that also goes overlooked is the usage of wind power in place of our energy used to heat buildings. Many parts of the country depend on heating oil to keep their homes and businesses warm in the winter. Converting to a more efficient natural gas, or even better - using solar or wind energy, will also make a noticeable difference. The great thing is that the technology is available NOW. In fact, in some form or another, it has been available for decades, and we have improved the technology immensely.
Please join me in demanding from Congress that we don't simply give the issue of energy independence a cursory glance. The stimulus package that would include better funding for alternative energy usage will not only be valuable for our national security, but will have a significant impact on our economy. We don't need to be going "green," we need to be going "red, white, and blue!"
Just a thought...
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