What to do with America? Midst all of the ideological claptrap from both the left and the right, serious issues about the future of America and our competitiveness must be addressed. One thing both sides of the political spectrum can agree upon is the need for jobs, jobs, jobs!! Unfortunately, all the politically orientated considerations are taking precedence. It’s time to put those other considerations aside, and concentrate only on what is good for America and its citizens. Without jobs, all of the government programs from the left and the financial manipulations from the right are for naught. Here are the two things that American must address in order to salvage our future.1) ENERGY: It’s all about energy. There are many reasons for the financial meltdown last fall, but the tipping point came from energy prices. The economy just couldn’t handle $150.00/barrel oil. And given the recent run up in oil prices these past few months, it could happen again.
Energy has been lost in the debate over the ideological tenets of “climate change” from the left, and “drill here- drill now” from the right. Hey, you jack asses, it isn’t an either/or thing. We need it all. We are the 3rd most populous country in the world, and our population is increasing. We need oil. We need natural gas. We need wind. We need coal. We need bio-fuels. We need solar. We need nuclear. We need batteries. We need hydro-electric. If we can achieve this, then we are freed of unwanted foreign entanglements and assured of an independent economic future. It is the bedrock of our economy.
What we DON’T need are ideological lectures about climate change. Global warming was recently debunked in a recent BBC analysis which concluded the problem is actually global cooling. Energy policy based on climate change beliefs isn’t energy development, but political wealth redistribution rooted in the new environmental religion.
What we DON’T need are free market lectures from the oil companies and associated political cronies. At the end of the day, the oil will run out. There is not an infinite supply of carbon based fuels in the world. What makes complete economic sense today will not make economic sense 100 years from now, and we better start now because we are going to go broke or get blown up dealing with dangerous Islamic states, the crazy Russians and Venezuelans, and engaging in bidding wars with China and India for ever scarcer natural resources.
There are going to have to be tradeoffs across the board. The left is going to have back off its climate change rant, allow for offshore drilling and back off environmental extremism when it comes to production of any kind of energy. Ted Kennedy has gone to his reward, and maybe now we can put a wind farm off the Hyannis coast. The left is going to have stop worrying about minnows and the use of water for hydro-electric power. No, that doesn’t mean we forget we need to be good stewards of our environment. It means we have to use some common sense.
The right is going to have realize that if there ever is a time to promote massive government intervention; it is in the pursuit of alternative energy sources. Through direct spending and tax incentives, the government should be actively promoting things like rebuilding the electric grid; assisting infrastructure development for natural gas and hydrogen pumps and electric recharging stations along our highways. There should massive subsidies for solar power and battery development. There should be substantial tax incentives for those who purchase fuel stingy cars and retrofit their houses to take advantage of the new technologies the government is promoting.
The technology is there for all of the above. What is lacking is the political will to compromise on our ideological beliefs, and the inspiration to overcome entrenched special interests.
2) China is sucking the oxygen out of the world. They have unlimited labor, and apparently unlimited financial resources. But it didn’t get to where it is today being honest. Its dictatorial political system allowed it to develop the purest capitalist system in the world, with no political dissent, no labor unions, no freedom of movement, no benefits, minimal pay… and it kept its currency valued 30% below the value of the dollar. It used predatory tactics to usurp most of the base manufacturing from the United States built on the backs of Chinese slave labor. It is a totally export oriented economy. You cannot compete with people who cheat without impunity.
As a result, China has amassed unlimited amounts of currency, especially the dollar, which it is now using to buy up any natural resource it can get its hands on, driving up the prices on basic commodities for just about everyone else in the world, including us.
We have all seen the pictures of modern China, with the massive factories and buildings in Shanghai and Beijing. It looks like America. It is not. This is a communist dictatorship that realized there is a lot of money to be made in a capitalist world. With no checks and balances, it has developed a two tiered system of wealthy Chinese, and very poor workers. And we have turned a blind eye dazzled by the possibilities of doing business in China and its huge population. It is a false dream. China is for China, and will exclude and regulate foreign businesses operating within its borders, and throw them out if it suits them.
America must bite the bullet. There can be no free trade without fair trade. The United States must devise a workable and enforceable plan to insist the Chinese let their currency float along with the other major currencies. We must insist that China move to rapidly expand its domestic market for Chinese produced goods and services and limit the amount of its exports in favor of that domestic consumption. That means that Chinese wages are going to have to go up in order to stimulate demand. There is insufficient space here to discuss the issues of the total lack of health care in China, from the government or otherwise.
Unless these issues are addressed, our standard living will approach theirs rather than the other way around. Unless these issues are addressed, we should rethink our policies of free trade until we can get fair trade.
China and Energy are the two most important issues facing the United States today. Failure to address these issues will result in failure in all other American endeavors, and we will be the poorer for it.
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