Remember back in 2008 when Barak Obama said this? “If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them. Under my plan, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” Well, well. It took almost five years and his re-election, but now it looks as though Obama’s prophecy is coming true.
Circumventing Congress and ignoring the will of the American people, Obama is forging ahead with his promises to thwart “climate change” through Executive Orders.
Why, one would ask, would he do this in the midst of an anemic economic recovery that could go on life-support at any moment? Is he completely tone-deaf as to what this country and the American people want and need at this time? Or is he seeing some positive signs that maybe, perhaps, things might be turning around and he needs to put the brakes on that? It sounds crazy, but why would anyone make “climate change” a priority right now?
The decisions that are coming out of the White House since his re-election are mind-boggling. Nowhere are there calls to “create jobs” or ease the tax burden on the American people. In fact it is just the opposite. We are looking at massive chaos with Obamacare, causing more people to be laid off or scaled back from their jobs; we have a frantic push to pass a gargantuan immigration bill that will legalize millions of illegal immigrants ultimately taking jobs away from citizens. (Employers don’t have to worry about Obamacare if they hire people on the path to “citizenship”), and finally we are going to come face to face with coal plants shutting down, skyrocketing energy costs, and billions of our tax dollars going to alternative energy companies like Solyndra. They rolled the dice on that one and lost big-time.
Obama’s primary strategy in his second term seems to target three things. He wants to cut carbon pollution in America, “prepare” us for the impact of climate change, and lead international efforts to cut global emissions. Yeah, right. I can just see China and India falling right in line for that one. Obama is living a pipe dream if he thinks that these other countries will slow down their industry to “save the planet”. As of November 2012 there were at least 1200 coal-fired plants on the drawing board, most of which are in China and India. Turkey and Russia also have big plans to expand their coal capacity so good luck, Obama, in getting them to comply with your plans for a “cleaner” planet.
How is this the top priority with this White House? When he made his speech on climate change at Georgetown University, he also danced around the subject of the Keystone Pipeline. In true Obama fashion, he didn’t commit either way and said that the subject needs more research on its environmental impact. Once again, jobs that are waiting to be filled and people that are begging for work are put on the back burner to appease his ideological agenda.
It is patently clear that this administration does not have the interests of the American people as a priority. They are more concerned about their legacy and the massive programs and regulations that they can put into place.
With these forthcoming Executive Orders, not only will coal companies and workers be shut down, but taxpayers once again will be funneling billions of tax dollars into risky, unproven experiments. For instance, within the next few weeks the Department of Energy will issue a draft of a plan for $8 billion dollars in loan guarantees for alternative energy projects.
So looking ahead we know that our energy costs for our homes and businesses are going to rise. More oppressive regulations are going to be put on the trucking industry, causing their prices to rise and thereby passing that cost on to the consumer. We know that at least four states will see a rise in unemployment due to the scaling back or shutting down of the coal industry. Pennsylvania, for instance, has 63,000 men and women including 8,100 miners working in jobs supported by the coal industry.
With unemployment numbers still above 7%, more people on food stamps than ever before, nearly half the country not paying Federal tax, and the administration mired in scandal; wouldn’t you think that Obama would have more important things to do than trying to manipulate the climate? If this is a battle over who will win THAT war, I’m putting my money on Mother Earth.
Morgan Brittany
Politichicks.tv