Saturday, August 9, 2008

Blame games

Liberal and conservative politicians alike are playing silly games over oil, and we are idiotically enabling them. They've got dueling web sites urging us to rant and rave about our "pain at the pump". True Majority is spearheading the liberal effort at http://www.stoppainatthepump.org/. Conservatives are led by Scott Garrett, who's sponsoring an email campaign at PainAtThePump@mail.house.gov. The bipartisan focus on pain is noteworthy - perhaps Republicans and Democrats are both into S&M?

Each side has their own favorite scapegoats. Conservatives blame Democrats and environmentalists, for opposing offshore drilling. Liberals blame Republicans and oil companies, for their "windfall profits". Of course, neither of them talk at all about the real issues.

I sent both groups a version of this email (which they promise to forward to my Congresspeople). If you are so inclined, feel free to cut & paste, modify, etc and do the same.
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I am a school teacher, and a liberal, living in New Hampshire. I tell you this so that you will understand that I am not well-off, I make a middle class living. And I am not an oil company shill, far from it.

The current price of gas is the best "energy policy" we've had in this country in 30 years. With gas at $4 a gallon, Americans are driving billions fewer miles. Americans have stopped buying SUVs. Americans are riding mass transit in record numbers. Americans are investing in alternative energy in record numbers. Americans have cut their production of greenhouse gases. And America is importing less oil.

Congress is focused on the wrong issues, when it comes to offshore drilling, "high" gas prices and "windfall profits". We know that gas & oil prices are driven primarily by worldwide demand and supply. We know that the American level of consumption of oil is unsustainable - Americans represent 5% of the world's population and consume 25% of the world's oil. And we know that the way we consume fossil fuels is a major factor in global warming.

Offshore drilling may result in a modest increase in domestic oil production, in about 10 years. The EIA and the DOE both caution that we will not see any near-term (or long-term) drop in gas prices by increasing offshore drilling now.

Europeans and Japanese pay about twice what we do for gas and oil. They have very high standards of living (equivalent to or better than ours in the US), and consume less than half the petroleum we do per capita. Their energy efficiency makes their economies much less vulnerable to upticks in the price of oil. Cheap gas and oil is not a requirement for a thriving economy, or a high standard of living.

Most Americans can afford to pay $4 or more per gallon for gasoline and heating oil. Americans will respond to higher prices by cutting their consumption, buying smaller cars, driving less, insulating their homes, changing thermostat settings, etc. The American economy, and our environment, will be far better off if we keep gas & oil prices high, and cut our oil consumption.

Instead of sending misleading messages to voters about "pain at the pump" Congress should focus on helping those who are truly struggling with energy prices - by offering low cost loans to the poor so that they can trade their gas guzzlers in for more efficient vehicles, insulate their houses, buy more efficient furnaces, etc. Congress should also establish a "gas stamp" program for those most in need, similar to our food stamp program. For the rest of us Congress should do nothing to cut gas prices, but instead should be passing a gas tax to ensure that prices remain at this level.

As for a "windfall profits" tax, how should we define "windfall"? Are we going to tax every company that makes more than a specified profit margin? If so, long before we start taxing oil companies, we'll have to tax companies like Google, companies that make much higher profits than Exxon.

Google's profit for the first 6 months of 2008 is a whopping 25% of revenues. Exxon's profit for the same 6 months of 2008 is 9% of revenues. If Exxon is making "windfall profits" at 9%, then Google's profits of 25% are absolutely obese. Oil company profits are modest, compared to many businesses. Congress must first define windfall profits, and then impose any windfall profit tax consistently and fairly, on all businesses.

Politicians are playing blame games here. They seem to think that their constituents are idiots. Many of us are not, and we expect that politicians will do the right things, not the expedient things. Keep gas prices high, provide aid to those who suffer real hardship, invest in mass transit, invest in solar and wind power, and make America the most "oil efficient" economy in the world. Doing these things will cut oil imports, cut emissions of greenhouse gases and leave our country a much better place for our children and grandchildren. They will thank us for it.

Stop pandering!!!

Sincerely,

John F. Ranta, etc...