Let’s accept for the moment that Barack Obama’s energy policies will create (or save) millions of “green jobs”. (I know, that’s a huge stretch)
We only produce enough energy to meet demand. Electricity is not stored in off peak hours and gasoline doesn’t accumulate during recessions. So, does it make sense to hire a million more people to provide the same level of energy?
It will be expensive to add all those people to our energy supply chain. It means the price of energy will go up.
To some expensive energy is a good thing. It means less pollution. But to the adults in the room, it is not. Higher energy prices means the average Joe will have less money to support his family. Maybe Dad will work two jobs. Maybe Mom will take on extra hours. That leaves less time with the kids. Maybe it will just leave families with less money. Economists like to call that a depression.
To the government, higher energy prices means a slower economy…which means less tax revenues…which means more debt. To deal with the debt, we will sell more bonds (increasing interest rates killing investments) or we print more cash (more dollars chasing fewer products means inflation).
Green Jobs will trigger all kinds of unintended consequences. That is a principal that conservatives understand. Liberals don’t.
Everything is a crisis to a liberals that needs to be met head on. They have inflated egos that lead them to the false conclusion that they can manage these problems. More often then not, there solutions cause problems to pop up somewhere else.
Did Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty end poverty? Absolutely not. What it did do is make it easier for a woman to raise a family without a husband. 40% of all babies born in this country today are from unwed mothers. You don’t need an education to receive a welfare check. Education in our inner citys is horrible and it is mostly due to the kids and parents. There is no reason Philadelphia schools can’t perform as well as any other school. The culture just doesn’t place value on education and that is truly sad. The War On Poverty set of a cycle of dependence, apathy and ignorance never seen in this country…and yet, we still have poverty.
Some of the unintended consequence of a progressive energy policy are quite predictable. “Unintended” doesn’t mean unknowable. What you must do as a voter is decide what is more important to you. Would you rather have tens of thousands of dollars over the next ten years to spend on your family as you see fit, or would you like to spend that money to reduce the global temperature by 0.2°? Would you like to create a million “Green Jobs”, but send the economy into recession killing tens of millions of service sectors jobs.
Those are the predictable consequences. There are many unpredictable ones which may be far worse. If our economy is weakened, will our enemies be emboldened? Will electronic systems break down because power is unreliable? Will people die as a result? These are all possible outcomes of a radical change to our energy policies.What are the unknowables? Is it worth the risk?
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