I think people are absolutely right when they say that we should not only research clean coal technology, but we should give it to China. Given that China (like the United States) consumes more oil than it produces and has huge domestic reserves of cheap coal, it's a given that the Chinese will continue to use coal for their energy far into the future. The Sino-American relationship in the 21st century will be a strangely symbiotic one, and I don't think that the United States will necessarily decline as some have predicted. From a certain point of view, our relations are reaching the apex of what American traders in the 19th century always wanted: an open China with a huge middle class that will demand American goods.
In order for that long-held dream to finally become a reality, it will be necessary to crack China's protectionist tendencies and its brilliant but short-sighted policy of having American industries produce products in China at the expense of the U.S. workforce.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Democrats: Better Than The Alternative (For Now)
This is from a registered Democrat: President Obama had better get his act together. I see some troubling signs that he is tone-deaf on some very key issues that are critical to our recovery as a nation and a society. If he truly wants to restore America's greatness, he needs to solve these problems to prove that he is up to the task:
One, California. I've been going back and forth on this for a while, but at this point the crisis has become critical. The state needs a bailout. If government loans are the answer, so be it. Attach strings that will force our state to get its financial house in order. We simply cannot handle junk status on our bond ratings, falling tax revenues, and huge cuts in our world-class university system and expect the biggest economy in the United States to recover.
Two, foreclosures. It was a boneheaded move to tie the hands of bankruptcy judges. They should be allowed to adjust mortgages to keep people in their homes. I've even heard that banks are now bulldozing homes because it's cheaper than keeping them on the market. This is insane.
Three, China. Allowing the country into the WTO without forcing it to change its mercantilist policies was a suicidal maneuver. General Motors is forced to build cars in China in order to sell there, meaning that Michigan will continue its slide into irrelevancy. The fact that Obama's "brain trust" led by Larry Summers thinks this is protectionism on our part just goes to show how out of touch that guy really is. And that leads me to...
Four, the American economy. Why are Joseph Stiglitz, Nouriel Roubini, and Paul Krugman being ignored? These are some of the brightest minds in America, and Tim Geithner and the aforementioned Larry Summers have the President's ear instead. Geithner didn't even pay his taxes until he was trying to become Treasury Secretary, and he's in charge of the IRS now. Does that strike anyone else as odd? These guys are the understudies of Robert Rubin, who did a fantastic job leading Citigroup to zombie status. Obama needs to learn from Schwarzenegger's mistakes and realize that in order to make every single other priority of his Administration a reality, the American economy needs to become dynamic again. That does not mean Goldman Sachs should make billions while small businesses scrape by and unemployment creeps above 10 percent.
I'm not the only person that sees what is going on, and that's why Obama's approval numbers are slipping. If he wants to turn things around, he needs to make a course correction now.
One, California. I've been going back and forth on this for a while, but at this point the crisis has become critical. The state needs a bailout. If government loans are the answer, so be it. Attach strings that will force our state to get its financial house in order. We simply cannot handle junk status on our bond ratings, falling tax revenues, and huge cuts in our world-class university system and expect the biggest economy in the United States to recover.
Two, foreclosures. It was a boneheaded move to tie the hands of bankruptcy judges. They should be allowed to adjust mortgages to keep people in their homes. I've even heard that banks are now bulldozing homes because it's cheaper than keeping them on the market. This is insane.
Three, China. Allowing the country into the WTO without forcing it to change its mercantilist policies was a suicidal maneuver. General Motors is forced to build cars in China in order to sell there, meaning that Michigan will continue its slide into irrelevancy. The fact that Obama's "brain trust" led by Larry Summers thinks this is protectionism on our part just goes to show how out of touch that guy really is. And that leads me to...
Four, the American economy. Why are Joseph Stiglitz, Nouriel Roubini, and Paul Krugman being ignored? These are some of the brightest minds in America, and Tim Geithner and the aforementioned Larry Summers have the President's ear instead. Geithner didn't even pay his taxes until he was trying to become Treasury Secretary, and he's in charge of the IRS now. Does that strike anyone else as odd? These guys are the understudies of Robert Rubin, who did a fantastic job leading Citigroup to zombie status. Obama needs to learn from Schwarzenegger's mistakes and realize that in order to make every single other priority of his Administration a reality, the American economy needs to become dynamic again. That does not mean Goldman Sachs should make billions while small businesses scrape by and unemployment creeps above 10 percent.
I'm not the only person that sees what is going on, and that's why Obama's approval numbers are slipping. If he wants to turn things around, he needs to make a course correction now.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
The Never-Ending Saga of Sarah Palin
Of course she jumped at the chance to become Vice President of the United States - who wouldn't? But a serious and thoughtful politician would have thought about whether it was good for the country before diving in to the national stage, especially a one-term governor with zero foreign policy experience. Tragicomically, it was Dick Cheney that taught us how powerful and influential a Vice President can be. Americans took that lesson to heart, and quickly realized that with the septuagenarian John McCain as President, they were uncomfortable with Sarah Palin only a heartbeat away. So does Sarah Palin's resignation as Alaska Governor after only two and a half years in office surprise you? Why should anything she does surprise anybody?
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