Top Fed Official: 'It's Going To Take Several Years' Before Jobs Return

Top Fed Official: 'It's Going To Take Several Years' Before Jobs Return

Lets keep thinking them happy thoughts.
Better still, let's make that statement false by December.

"Presently, a record 87,897,000 Americans are not in the labor force."

That condition can be easily corrected in less than 6 weeks.
Open the wells, grab the rigs and start punching holes where the oil is.
Start laying pipe and re-opening and upfitting refineries.
Get the tankers fired up and tell the shiiteheads in the ME to go pound sand, the price of a barrel of oil is now the same as a bushel of corn or wheat.

A Message From the Folks Who Live There

“It’s About Jobs”:
Ice Road Trucker & Fellow Alaskans Testify on Need to Unlock American Energy in Alaska

Posted [on SotH website] by Katie Boyd on September 21, 2011

Opening up resource-rich areas of Alaska to new energy exploration and production will create jobs, ensure the continued flow of energy to the lower 48 states, and promote America’s energy security. That was the message shared by Alaskans today at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the government’s refusal to unlock more American energy production in that state. Boosting American energy production to address high gas prices and help create jobs has been a key plank of the GOP’s plan for jobs and the focus of our American Energy Initiative. Here are some of the highlights from today’s hearing:

“Development of ANWR Would in Turn Create Tens of Thousands of Jobs.” Fenton Okomailak Rexford, Tribal Administrator for the Native Village of Kaktovik and a member of the Kaktovik City Council: “[D]evelopment of ANWR would result in thousands of new contracts, all across the U.S., for materials and services. … The additional expenditures related to development of ANWR would in turn create tens of thousands of jobs, many of which could put unemployed Americans back to work in manufacturing facilities, the construction business, and other industries.” (Testimony, 9/21/11)

“Inaction Trumps Common Sense and Legitimate Need” for Jobs. Tim Sharp, Business Manager of the Alaska District Council of Laborers: “We seem to be caught up in contemplating our navel on process, permitting and politics at a time when it is obvious to most that we have oil in Alaska, development would generate thousands of needed jobs, and the leverage and impact the foreign producers could have on us would lessen. Instead, inaction trumps common sense and legitimate need. … I am addressing today the need for political action to offset our dwindling energy reserves in the next five to ten years but equally important the need for jobs today. ” (Testimony, 9/21/11)

Here's A Good Start If It's Done Right

Got this from GOPUSA in an email blast. At first glance, it looks like it will work just fine, if they install the pipeline right the first time. There are pipelines buried everywhere carrying refined petroleum products and natural gas and they work just fine. I know this project will keep a lot of welders and welding inspectors very busy, and yes, I'm self-serving. I like to work. I like earning a living.

I also know the enviro-wackjobs will be very busy trying to stop it. This project will twist their panties in a wad.

Here's the location map.
And here is the Google Earth satellite view.

View Larger Map

I'm sure they'll find some red-breasted tit-mouse kangaroo owl who only eats snail-darters and claim endangered species.

Here's the link to voice support for this project.

The Keystone XL pipeline would bring North American oil to refineries on the Gulf Coast here in the US.

That means more American jobs, lower energy costs (including lower prices at the pump), and a more stable, secure energy supply. But unless the Federal Government allows access to the vast resources at our fingertips, those jobs will go overseas - and America will stay just another international crisis away from gas prices reaching $4/gallon again, or soaring even higher.

The Reality Is, We Need Oil

The Reality Is, We Need Oil

If Democrats are left to their desires, America will soon resemble Spain. Its government forced green jobs onto the economy and the result was for every one green job created, the private sector lost two. Spain’s green industry caused energy prices to skyrocket and businesses found it too expensive to produce. The added costs were passed to the consumer and the economy naturally contracted. The result is an unemployment rate at 20 percent and political paralysis

and unless someone re-invents impulse drive, we will continue to need it.

American Power Act-Wacky Marxist With A New Name

VALVO: Cap-and-trade magic show
Carbon offset plan puts a new face on an old illusion

It's possible Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lieberman can pull a rabbit out of a hat on this one, but I doubt it.

The trick with any global warming bill is to convince enough people that everything will change but nothing will hurt. You need enough details to appease environmentalists, while using enough sleight of hand so that no one else can tell what you're doing. This is why politicians have abandoned a straight carbon tax - it's too obvious. It's no surprise that Congress hasn't passed a global warming bill - this is a pretty hard trick to pull off.

Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, (he served in Viet Nam) and Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Independent, have unveiled their latest effort, the American Power Act, which tries to put a new face on an old illusion. Instead of using the same, tired, global warming rhetoric the American people have soundly rejected, the Kerry-Lieberman bill is supposedly about national security or energy independence. However, the core of bill is the same cap-and-trade proposal that would drive up energy costs, cripple domestic industries and cost American jobs - with one key difference.

Kerry-Lieberman changes the landscape by using a sector-based approach. The bill targets any source with more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, which the authors estimate would affect 7,500 sources. These sources are then divided into three sectors: power plants, manufacturers and transportation. This is cap and trade via divide and conquer. By establishing separate programs for these major sectors, Kerry-Lieberman attempts to use giveaways to buy off enough opposition in each sector to pass the bill.

However, Kerry-Lieberman is more similar to Waxman-Markey than it is different. Both bills threaten green tariffs on countries that don't self-inflict austerity measures. They both include massive subsidies for politically favored energy sources and use welfare-style energy rebates to buy off consumer outrage.

Both bills also fail to put caps on either agriculture or forestry. The reasons are twofold. Simply put, farm state lawmakers would never support a bill that attacks agricultural emissions. This played out in the Waxman-Markey process when House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, Minnesota Democrat, successfully obtained absolution for farmers in exchange for his caucus' votes.

Second, cap-and-trade bills need to sell offsets as a supplemental way for covered sources to get under the cap. Both bills allow 2 billion tons in offsets per year. Land use, soil treatment and trees are the easiest ways to generate offsets. If agriculture and forestry were forced to account for their own emissions, they would simply consume all of their own offsets and would have nothing left to sell back to other regulated sources. Carbon offsets are the farm subsidies of the 21st century, which is sure to please hesitant farm state senators.

It's no wonder trust in government is at an all-time low. Citizens have seen this game before and they know what cap and trade means for them. It would be refreshing for a politician to embrace the true costs of the bill and not pretend central energy planning comes without significant pain.

Repeal Corporate Taxes

This is a no-brainer.

Done in conjunction with offshore energy exploration, the revenues would be astronomical; companies would be flocking to set up; construction would sky-rocket; supporting industries would set up; the oil, coal and gas industry is the key to Virginia's budget issues.

Just think of the jobs that would be created. The increase in state income taxes. Hell, you could probably employ every able-bodied person in Newport News just in the support industry for the drill rigs and pipelines.

American Resources Review

We can't stop using coal. But we should use every flammable substance we have to generate power.


Millions of Jobs would be Exported

National Mining Association President and CEO, Hal Quinn, contributed to a recent forum on National Journal’s “Energy and Environment” experts blog:
We do not believe that the public interest is well served by policies that approach
our energy future as a zero-sum game.

Public policies encouraging the replacement of coal based electricity generation with natural gas are the bridge for accelerating the export of our manufacturing base and, with it, millions of high-wage jobs.

Look no further than actual experience over the past decade. As the use of natural gas increased for generating electricity, our manufacturing sector paid substantially higher prices for electricity (56 percent) and natural gas (200 percent).

In a report released last year, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) warned that “policies that encourage the use of natural gas to substitute for coal in power generation could very well lead to spectacular price increases for households and industry.”

Zero Cares More About China Than America

China has no environmental concerns, no EPA, no controls.

China buys into U.S. off-shore oil leases.
Mark Tapscott, Beltway Confidential
"If the administration approves the deal, it will be more vulnerable to charges that the White House is being careless with U.S. national security issues in the energy sector, and that it is putting the interests of a foreign power before those of U.S. energy consumers."

UPDATE: Bishop says Obama policy aids foreign nations, not U.S.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-UT, says the Statoil/CNOOC deal is indicative of the Obama administration's failure to protect U.S. consumers from foreign nations seeking to tap into this country's abundant energy resources:

“Unemployment will continue to exceed acceptable levels and the economy will continue to suffer until this administration reverses its anti-energy policy. China and other foreign countries are gaining access to the abundant natural resources located in the American OCS, meanwhile an energy starved U.S. continues to experience the detrimental effects of Secretary Salazar’s decisions to place special-interests before the American people.

Since taking office this administration has made great strides in helping countries gain access to American energy resources, it’s just too bad the U.S. isn’t one of them.”

Bishop is chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, which includes a number of representatives from Western states with significant energy and other natural resources.

VoteVets, Soros, and Moveon.ogre

PA State Legislator Attacked By Soros/MoveOn.Org-Connected VoteVets.Org

Operation Free exposed as front group working to subvert America’s Constitution and sovereignty through climate control, energy cap-and-tax agenda

Pennsylvania State Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler County) officially responded today to an attack ad now running on KDKA radio and several other local stations urging listeners to contact his district office and demand that he resign.

“The sponsors of this ad are attacking me because my comments have exposed that Operation Free’s radical leftist agenda has absolutely nothing to do with America’s national security, energy independence or protecting our environment, but is a direct attack on our Constitution,” said Metcalfe, a U.S. Army veteran whose honorable service record between1980-84 includes defending the West German border during the height of the Cold War.

Operation Free is a front group for a vast “non-profit” coalition that includes the Truman National Security Project, the National Security Network and the sponsor of the ad campaign VoteVets.org. VoteVets.org supports a far-left group of state and national politicians, including U.S. Congressman John Murtha. All of these groups are affiliated and receive funding from billionaire George Soros and his even more controversial political organization MoveOn.org.

“I stand by my original comments,” said Metcalfe. “Any veteran lending their name to promote the leftist propaganda of global warming and climate change, in an effort to control more of the wealth created in the U.S. economy, through cap-and-tax type policies, is a traitor to the oath he or she took to defend the Constitution of our great nation. If someone is advocating for our government to make statutory or regulatory changes in policy or enter into treaties that violate our Constitution, and they have taken an oath to uphold and protect that same document, then they are traitors to that oath.

“Operation Free and VoteVets.org stand with the likes of Congressman John Murtha, who accused our marines of killing ‘innocent civilians in cold blood.’ I stand with the vast super majority of my fellow veterans in defense of the U.S. Constitution,” concluded Metcalfe.

Heritage Morning Bell - Wacky/Marxist Bill

The Transparent Costs of Cap and Trade

On June 26th of this year, the House of Representatives narrowly passed H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. More commonly known as the Waxman-Markey bill (named after bill sponsors Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), the 1,427-page bill tries to control global temperatures by creating a “cap” on greenhouse gas emissions, and then hoping that greenhouse emitters would “trade” emissions permits meet the cap. Under the scheme, the government would issue fewer allowances each year, causing the cost of the permits to rise. The cost of these allowances is a tax, and under Waxman-Markey, the tax would rise each year. As with any tax, it will ultimately be passed on to consumers in the form of higher energy and product prices.

On August 6th, the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis released a report detailing the economic costs of the Waxman-Markey. Since energy is the lifeblood of the American economy, 85 percent of which comes from CO2-emitting fossil fuels, the Waxman-Markey bill’s arbitrary and severe restrictions on the current energy supply and infrastructure will not only have direct impact on consumers’ budgets through higher electric bills and gasoline prices, but also cause unnecessary inefficiencies at virtually every stage of production. CDA estimates that Waxman-Markey legislation would cost the average family-of-four almost $3,000 per year, cause 2.5 million net job losses by 2035, and a produce a cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) loss of $9.4 trillion between 2012 and 2035.

Surely our study did not produce the results Waxman and Markey expected. Earlier this month Reps. Waxman and Markey sent us, and a number of other institutions, a letter asking us to answer 33 methodological questions about the analytical techniques used in our study. We were delighted by Waxman and Markey’s letter since it is just the kind of thoughtful investigative work our lawmakers should do more often. For example, they asked if our model took into account an increase in private sector investments in research and development that would be sparked by the legislation and a new carbon market. Answer: It did. Our model incorporates both short and long-run responses to higher energy prices.

Waxman also asked if our model quantified any benefits of avoided climate change. Answer: It didn’t. Because according to estimates based on IPCC data, the Waxman-Markey bill would only impact global temperatures by .044 degrees C (about .09 degrees F) by 2050. There simply are no economic benefits from such a minuscule impact.

Waxman-Markey did not send their questions to some notable organizations that have conducted analysis of their bill like the Congressional Budget Office and the Brooking Institution. After we requested they do so, we have since received word that Waxman and Markey sent the same letter to the CBO. They had previously included the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Energy Information Administration (EIA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), CRA International, the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF), and the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC).

In the interests of an honest and transparent debate about the costs of cap and trade the Heritage Foundation has devoted a space on our website, www.heritage.org, where we have posted our answers in their entirety. We have formally invited the other organizations who were asked these questions to allow us to post their responses as well, in the interest of full transparency.

Let’s hope the Waxman-Markey questionnaire signals that a serious debate can now take place. American families deserve to be kept fully apprised of how Congress intends to act, and how those actions will most likely affect their pocketbooks, their jobs, and their lives.

A Gusher of Hypocrisy

From the NRCC Newsletter:

PELOSI AND THE DEMOCRATS PROMOTE SHAM ENERGY PROPOSAL

"While Nancy Pelosi is off on her cross-country tour trying to get her book moved off the New York Times' worst-seller list, voters are wondering why she and her fellow Democrats can't be bothered to address the issue of out of control fuel costs," said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the NRCC. (www.PolitickerCA.com)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Majority are well into the third week of their paid five week vacation right now. And no, they aren't showing any signs of getting back to work before September to vote on an energy package that would increase the supply of American oil.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that kids are about to head back to school where they'll be paying more for lunch, studying from old textbooks and walking further to the bus stop - assuming their bus schedule hasn't been cancelled altogether - thanks to higher fuel prices.

This past Sunday, Pelosi proposed a sham of an energy proposal during her weekly radio address. And it was nothing short of an insult to the American people. Madam Speaker, who hails from California, refuses to allow Congress to vote on - or even debate - legislation that would open the Golden State to offshore drilling.But listen to this - even George Skelton, a left-of-center columnist for the Los Angeles Times, advocates opening up California to more drilling.

He writes:"California is the nation's biggest consumer of gasoline - 45 million gallons a day, plus 10 million gallons of diesel. That makes us the third-biggest petroleum-consuming entity in the world, behind on the United States and China. ... So there's a gusher of hypocrisy here: The state that is the biggest consumer of gasoline in the nation - but produces less than 40% of what it uses - is opposed to drilling for more oil off its shores. We're slackers not pulling our weight."

The long and short of it is that our nation is being held hostage by one woman from San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi, who opposes drilling for American oil off the shores of California.

REPUBLICANS WINNING THE DEBATE ON ENERGY

The good news is that Republicans are winning the debate on energy. A recent Rasmussen Poll finds that 61% of Americans want Congress to get back to work immediately and lift the ban on offshore drilling. In terms of how they'll vote for Congress this year, 77% say offshore oil drilling is important.
And 67% of Americans recognize Republicans - not Democrats - are pushing the drilling issue.

OUR CANDIDATES' ADS

Our candidates across the country are doing a great job of getting out the message that we must increase the supply of American energy. This week, we're highlighting a fantastic new television ad by John Gard, who's running against Democrat incumbent Steve Kagen in Wisconsin-08.Republicans are on the right side of the energy debate. Meanwhile, a lot of vulnerable Democrats risk getting swept away by Speaker Pelosi's gusher of hypocrisy.

It's The Supply, Stupid

Congress Can Lower Gasoline Prices By:

• Cutting gas taxes and banning earmarks that drive up costs
• Supporting Congressman Ryan's "Roadmap for America's Future" HR 6110 is a good first step.
• Increase American oil production by allowing drilling in ANWR and increasing exploration in the OCS.
• Authorizing the construction of new refineries and expansion of existing ones.
• Ending the moratorium on oil shale production in he US

America Deserves a Sound and Responsible Energy Policy

• The best way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and keep our money here, is to utilize the resources we currently have at our disposal while we wait on a viable market source of alternative energy.
• The free market, if allowed to work, will encourage the necessary innovation that will yield clean and cheap sources of energy.
• The United States is the most environmentally responsible and successful nation in the known universe, but current climate regulations proposed by the enviro-nazi wacko lobby would put a stop to this prosperity and ultimately do more harm than than good to the cause of energy independence and financial (and national) security.

First and foremost, the United States must increase it's domestic supply of oil and natural gas. Nearly 85% of the OCS is off-limits for drilling and exploration because of a dhimmicrat imposed Congressional mandate. Similarly, the vast supplies of oil contained in the northernmost portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) are impounded. These are two areas that are proven to contain vast reserves of oil and natural gas, that the government, (i.e. dhimmicrat and environmental lobbyists), has chosen to allow to sit idle. By opening these reserves for exploration and drilling, Congress could decrease the cost of fuel. According to recent pols, nearly three-fourths of Americans support drilling in these areas.

Seond, Congress must authorize the construction and expansion of oil refineries in the United States. There has not been a new refinery built in this nation for over 30 years. In 2007, the U.S. consumed nearly 21 million barrels of oil PER DAY, but produced only 5 million. By lifting burdensome regulations, we can dramatically increase the amount of oil produced in this country.

Finally, Congress should simply allow the free-market to work to meet the energy needs of the nation. Three things that Congress can do right now that would spur on the free market are cutting taxes, banning earmarks, and eliminating the wasteful spending that is rampant in Washington DC. If the free market is allowed to work with minimal intervention, then not only will we see a decrease in fuel prices because of increased domestic production, but we will also witness the emergence of viable alternative sources of energy.

The Congressional ban on offshore drilling expires on 30 September 2008. The best thing Congress can do is what has continually done, NOTHING. Let the ban expire. Free the market to run on it's own.

Let the American people do what they have always done, overcome adversity and show the world we are the greatest country in the known universe.

Cross posted at The Talon and DCProtestWarrior

I'm Not Going To Defend Ted Stevens

He is accused of having lied on a federal form and if he did, he needs to suffer the consequences, just like any of us; but this is the best example of the government creating conditions which restrict citizens from creating wealth and improving their own lives.

Alaska is the richest state in natural resources, (gold, oil, natural gas) and has the lowest population per square mile of any of the 50 states. I doubt that 1 in 10 residents are actually from Alsaka originally. I could be wrong, I'm doing this on the fly with no research, except watching the History Channel (Ice Road Truckers, etc)

The resources are hard to get to and the government has imposed environmental regulations which restrict the exploitation of these resources.

Had the government not imposed these regulations, the citizens of Alaska could be enjoying the benefits of jobs working the oil fields, pipelines and drill rigs, in addition to the support stucture, which require people to fill them, (you have to WANT to work in Alaska,) which increases the tax base, which fills the state tax coffers, which reduces the amount of money the federal government has to send back for improvements, which would have eliminated the need for Senator Stevens to make all those backroom deals, which would have negated the necessity of lying on a federal form.

Open ANWR, let the people of Alaska go to work supplying us with much needed domestic oil, which will decrease our imports of foreign oil. Its a win/win situation.

Will it happen? I don't know, but it sure needs to happen. Sooner than later.