Our
Cup Runneth Under.
 Let's
play a game. Suppose you were a carbon-based energy
company and you're starting to feel the pinch
in the old pocketbook, even a very minor one, from
renewable energy resources. What would you do?
Well, you could glut the market with natural gas. This
would cause electric rates to fall below those that
renewable enegry could deliver, resulting in the failure
of both
producer and manufacturers of green equipment,
thus leaving the energy field once again in your control.
That, unfortunately, is pretty much what's happening
now. The energy companies are sucking massive bonanzas
of natural gas from the ground using their nifty little
"fracking" technique. Sounds too good to
be true, and it is, as it also poisons
the local water supply
with
any
number
of noxious chemicals.
As a bonus, China is happily swooping in to take up
the slack in solar panel and wind turbine production
as domestic manufacturers shut down.
As usual the
American consumer, the American worker, and the environment
all take
it up the keister for the benefit of our pals down
at Big Oil.
It's clear that a healthy renewable energy industry
would benefit us all but it will never happen in America,
and the reason is you can't speculate on the wind
or the sun. Prices for finite energy resources, like coal and oil, vary at the
whim of the Market. The reason the cost of gasoline, in particular, fluctuates
like
it
does
has
nothing to do with demand and supply. It's the result of Wall Street tossing
petroleum futures back and forth like a hot potato, and while they're raking
in millions in manufactured profits with each catch their media arms give us
the
old "trouble
in
the
Middle
East" song and dance.
Wind and sun are not subject to such speculation and Wall Street HATES that.
The Simpsons episode in which Mr. Burns blocks the sun is their wet fever dream.
It's a race now to see which gives out faster; oil or the environment. But where
I live it's
75
degrees in January so I think that question is being answered.
(The above also explains why we don't have thorium
reactors yet.)
=Lefty=
------------
And now our Chart of the Day:
Global Average Termperature and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations.
Click here to embiggen.
=Lefty=
------------
Republican Job Creation Update
 1-25-2012: John
Boehner claims that the GOP passed 30 jobs bills in
the past session of Congress. Well, they passed 30
"somethings"
but they certainly had little to do with
job creation. Follow the link and laugh.
------------
Dump Fox News
 Mitch
Daniels was part of George Bush's economic team that
trashed the economy. Guess who Fox News is drooling
all over now, just because he gave a speech. Uh-huh.
Click here to help Drop
Fox from your cable system.
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