Handsy Joe cancels Keystone

[Ronson]

Not sure why you're calling him Cornpop, but I'm guessing you mean Biden.

pop.jpg

[Cow Poke]

I have no doubt you're on the hunt for bargain kilts. =) But the point I was really trying to make is that Cornpop isn't prioritizing economic collapse.....

Not sure why you're calling him Cornpop, but I'm guessing you mean Biden. I don't believe he's running the show at all. And I don't think the libs give a flying flip about anything but consolidating and hanging onto power.

[Mountain Man]

Do you have a source for that?

According to WP, it's an invalid claim since Obama has to serve two masters like all presidents. Do you agree that the environment and the economy are concurrently important? Economic success and the environment are both concerns for NORMAL presidents, so failing on both reflects poorly on Obama. The nuanced reality of the petroleum economy is explained here:

The claim that won’t die: Did Obama want higher gas prices?

The Washington Compost is not a reputable source. Obama made it clear on multiple occasions, through words and actions, that he was in favor of raising the cost of conventional energy:

(2014) In early 2008, candidate Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle that "under my plan ... electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."

Obama was referring to his plan to cap greenhouse-gas emissions, which would, among other things, effectively choke off coal as an energy source. He was just as fond of high gasoline prices, telling CNBC in June 2008 — as gas prices shot up to $4 a gallon — that he "would have preferred a gradual adjustment."

Six years later, and Obama has succeeded.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the energy price index has been higher than the overall Consumer Price Index since December 2010 — 46 straight months and counting.

To say this is a historical anomaly is putting it mildly. Almost without exception, energy prices climbed more slowly than the overall CPI since 1957, the first year in the BLS' monthly energy price data.

Even in the wake of the "energy crisis," the energy index barely topped the CPI. And while the 2008 gasoline price spike pushed energy costs up, it lasted for only a short time. When Obama took office, the energy price index was 15% below the overall CPI.

Since then, gasoline prices have been stuck above $3 a gallon while electricity prices climb. In the first half of this year, they jumped 3.2% — the highest on record since 2009.

Why the big reversal? Despite Obama's alleged "all of the above" energy policy, he's declared virtual war on conventional energy sources.

Oil production on federal lands has dropped 6%, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Obama continues to block the Keystone XL Pipeline, and he's planning new smog rules that will dramatically raise the cost of energy production.

The EPA's greenhouse-gas rules could be the death knell for coal — which generates almost 40% of the nation's electricity.

So congratulations, Mr. President. You've made it that much harder for the economy to grow and for families to make ends meet.

https://www.investors.com/politics/e...r-under-obama/

He was trying to push us to "green energy" and did everything he could to prop that industry up with a massive slush fund that he used to pay off his friends, the majority of whom declared bankruptcy and pocketed the money while sticking tax payers with the bill:

(2012) It is no secret that President Obama’s and green energy supporters’ (from both parties) foray into venture capitalism has not gone well. But the extent of its failure has been largely ignored by the press. Sure, single instances garner attention as they happen, but they ignore past failures in order to make it seem like a rare case.

The truth is that the problem is widespread. The government’s picking winners and losers in the energy market has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and the rate of failure, cronyism, and corruption at the companies receiving the subsidies is substantial. The fact that some companies are not under financial duress does not make the policy a success. It simply means that our taxpayer dollars subsidized companies that would’ve found the financial support in the private market.

So far, 34 companies that were offered federal support from taxpayers are faltering — either having gone bankrupt or laying off workers or heading for bankruptcy.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2012/10/...ergy-failures/

(2019) By every objective criteria confirmed by every independent investigation, the avalanche of green dollars in Obama’s first term was a colossal waste of money. In all, Obama (and George W. Bush before him) spent some $100 billion on giveaways to wind and solar power producers, electric cars and for weatherizing homes and buildings. It was arguably one of the largest corporate welfare experiments in American history, enriching an industry and its investors. Most of this money went for research to speed up commercial applications of green energy or was pipelined into bank accounts of individual companies.

The most infamous of these was, of course, Solyndra, the solar energy company that received $530 million of taxpayer handouts and was touted many times by Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden, as the next big thing in green energy. It never produced any energy to speak of before it went bankrupt.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/03...n-dollar-bust/

Looks like we are doomed to repeat history:

(2021) With Democrats about to control all the levers of power in Washington, the biggest winners might be the wind and solar companies. These firms' stocks continue to surge mostly because President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to invest several hundred billion dollars in green energy through a pipeline of taxpayer-funded grants, loans, tax credits and loan guarantees.

This game plan looks suspiciously like a replay of the litany of green "stimulus" fiascoes that Biden piloted as vice president back in 2009 with the $800 billion Obama stimulus plan. The experiment in the government as an investment banker belly-flopped with embarrassing failures from Solyndra, Fisker Automotive and Abound Solar. Taxpayers lost billions of dollars on these lemons.

https://townhall.com/columnists/step...scams-n2583315

[Stoic]

It wasn't the lowest priority.

Only in the sense that it wasn't a priority at all.

But how was Trump's policy disastrous?

That was a bit of hyperbole.

The disasters would happen if Trump's policies were allowed to stand.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/e...d-environment/

[Reepicheep]

Yeah, sure --- I'm a Scotsman - I HAVE to try to keep abreast of prices and be frugal where I can.

An Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scotsman are sitting in a pub when a fly lands in each of their beers. The Englishman orders a replacement beer. The Irishman removes the fly from his beer and keeps drinking. The Scotsman picks the fly out of his beer and carefully taps it on the back while shouting: "SPIT IT OUT, YE WEE BEGGAR!"

(an oldie but a goodie)

[whag]

Yeah, sure --- I'm a Scotsman - I HAVE to try to keep abreast of prices and be frugal where I can.

I have no doubt you're on the hunt for bargain kilts. =) But the point I was really trying to make is that Cornpop isn't prioritizing economic collapse. He needs to get a 2nd term, and raising gas prices isn't a great way to do that.

And also, he doesn't have a "HURT COWPOKE" button: Can the President Control Gas Prices?

While gas prices might be a controversial topic for politicians, it's an easy one for economists. Virtually all economists agree that the U.S. president has very little control over the global price of crude oil, and therefore the local price of gasoline. If we can't rely on our leaders to help lower our fuel costs, we should rely on ourselves. The hard truth is that it's within our power to decrease the amount we spend on gas simply by driving less. I say it's a hard truth, because like most of you I depend on my car for all sorts of "important" things and resist the idea of cutting back. If I could afford a brand-new hybrid, I'd buy one in a heartbeat. In the meantime, the best thing I can do to lower gas prices is to lower the demand, one "staycation" at a time.

[Cow Poke]

Yes, Cornpop is out to bankrupt you with higher gas prices, thereby stopping you from buying things. His aim is to tank the economy so he can slide into a 2nd term.

Yeah, sure --- I'm a Scotsman - I HAVE to try to keep abreast of prices and be frugal where I can.

[whag]

I just went and filled up my truck with gas - you know where those prices are going.

Yes, Cornpop is out to bankrupt you with higher gas prices, thereby stopping you from buying things. His aim is to tank the economy so he can slide into a 2nd term.

[whag]

And now Joe has put a 60-day freeze on oil and gas leases and permits on Federal lands. It's a reenactment of the disastrous Obama policy when he tried to encourage the sales of electric vehicles by deliberately making gasoline prohibitively expensive.

Do you have a source for that?

According to WP, it's an invalid claim since Obama has to serve two masters like all presidents. Do you agree that the environment and the economy are concurrently important? Economic success and the environment are both concerns for NORMAL presidents, so failing on both reflects poorly on Obama. The nuanced reality of the petroleum economy is explained here:

The claim that won’t die: Did Obama want higher gas prices?

Here’s what the president said:

“Look, here’s the bottom line with respect to gas prices. I want gas prices lower because they hurt families, because I meet folks every day who have to drive a long way to get to work. And then filling up this gas tank gets more and more painful, and it’s a tax out of their pocketbooks, out of their paychecks. And a lot of folks are already operating on the margins right now.

And it’s not good for the overall economy because when gas prices go up, consumer spending oftentimes pulls back.

And we’re in the midst right now of a recovery that is starting to build up steam, and we don’t want to reverse it.”

Some of Obama’s comments from 2008 suggest that he thinks there’s a silver lining to higher prices, but they also indicate that he doesn’t want energy prices to affect the pocketbooks of working families. Critics say the president’s policies have caused the recent price hike, but experts suggest he has less control over the current cost of oil than people generally think. With that in mind, he probably deserves less blame for existing pain at the pump, as well as less credit for the increased production he likes to brag about.

[Cow Poke]

And now Joe has put a 60-day freeze on oil and gas leases and permits on Federal lands. It's a reenactment of the disastrous Obama policy when he tried to encourage the sales of electric vehicles by deliberately making gasoline prohibitively expensive.

I just went and filled up my truck with gas - you know where those prices are going.

[seanD]

I really don't get this name calling thing. Yeah, I've called him Sleep Joe, but he's POTUS now, and as much as we don't like it, he WILL be for at least a few more months.

We risk being accused of Biden Derangement Syndrome.

God is still on His throne, and it is HE to whom we look for the future.

I think, considering his history as a racist and corrupt career politician, on up to his China scandal with Hunter,, BDS is justified, regardless what he does or doesn't do as POTUS. IOW, he's already earned the scorn with his wayward and corrupt history in government. Whereas with Trump is was just his personality folks didn't like and it just snowballed for four years from there.

[Ronson]

It's more a rollback of the disastrous Trump policy of making the environment lowest priority.

It wasn't the lowest priority. But how was Trump's policy disastrous?

[Stoic]

And now Joe has put a 60-day freeze on oil and gas leases and permits on Federal lands. It's a reenactment of the disastrous Obama policy when he tried to encourage the sales of electric vehicles by deliberately making gasoline prohibitively expensive.

It's more a rollback of the disastrous Trump policy of making the environment lowest priority.

[Mountain Man]

And now Joe has put a 60-day freeze on oil and gas leases and permits on Federal lands. It's a reenactment of the disastrous Obama policy when he tried to encourage the sales of electric vehicles by deliberately making gasoline prohibitively expensive.

[Stoic]

The oil sands, or, better yet, the Athabaska oil sands, are mislabeled "tar sands" by people who want to defame them.

Yet they are commonly enough called tar sands that one doesn't have to be a moron to get it wrong.

This thread is not about them, except that I commented on Joe's likewise misuse of the term.

But discussion of the pipeline necessarily includes discussion of what flows through it.

I see nobody wants to address the loss of thousands of livelihoods on both sides of the border.

The loss of jobs is one factor to consider.

And I guess the US is content to continue to purchase their oil from the Midfle East and South America instead.

That's another factor, which includes impacts on security, the economy, and the environment.

A shame. I hope those folk can find other work. Not likely in this climate of covid and enviro-fear.

I hope they can find work, too. But unlike under Trump, jobs and profit are not the only considerations.