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Spread this message with Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, or Stumbleupon, and subscribe to the RSS Feed to track articles Obama's Plan to End Oil AddictionE-mail - editor@economyincisis.org |
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EconomyInCrisis.org does not support any particular party or affiliation. America is addicted to oil. This nation shells out roughly $200,000 per minute on oil imports. In 2007 America imported 3.6 billion barrels of crude oil, 53 percent of which came from OPEC, lining the pockets of petro-dictators and fattening the sovereign wealth funds of rogue states like Venezuela, Iran and Libya. In turn those nations use their oil money to purchase U.S. debt, real estate and businesses. These oil-funded foreign acquisitions end up sending all future wealth, jobs, patents and tax revenues overseas. Both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have promised to end America‘s addiction to foreign oil. However, each has proposed to do so in very different ways. Today we examine the presumptive Democratic nominee’s plan. Senator Obama seems to be aware of the fact that our nation’s addiction to oil is dangerous, not only to national security, but more so to our economic health. Obama stated, “Part of the reason that Kuwait and others are able to come in and purchase … our financial institutions is because we don’t have an energy policy. We are sending close to a billion dollars a day [overseas]. A realistic plan is going to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and invest in solar and wind and bio-diesel. That would make a substantial difference in our balance of payments, and … [foreign] capacity to purchase our assets.” Senator Obama told a Lansing, Mich. crowd in August that "If I am president, I will immediately direct the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector to a single, overarching goal -- in 10 years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela," This is a lofty goal indeed. Especially when oil company employees are such generous campaign contributors. But, Senator Obama has said that his administration would be a failure if he didn’t break America’s addiction to oil during his tenure. One of the hallmarks of the Obama plan is a $150 billion investment over ten years for clean energy sources that would create five million new “green jobs" to help boost an economy suffering from substantial job losses and sustained unemployment. He has compared this proposal to the famed “Apollo Project” that put a man on the moon in the 1960‘s. “When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the moon … he put the full resources of the US government behind the project and called on the ingenuity and innovation of the American people," Obama said, according to Time Magazine. To pay for this massive investment he would impose a cap-and-trade policy, which would essentially auction off the right to pollute to companies that emit greenhouse gases. This would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, he has claimed. “I proposed a cap-and-trade system, because you can be very specific in terms of how to reduce the greenhouse gases by a particular level … Every little bit of pollution sent up into the atmosphere, that polluter is getting charged for it …. On a carbon tax, the cost will be passed on to consumers … We have an obligation to use some of the money that we generate to shield low-income and fixed-income individuals from higher electricity prices,” Obama said during a Democratic primary debate. Senator Obama has a plan to combat inaction on the part of automakers as well. Obama would mandate that fuel economy standards increase by at least 4 percent each year, mandate all new cars be flex-fuel capable and would make $4 billion in loans to help domestic manufacturers retool factories and build more fuel-efficient cars, with the ultimate goal of putting one million 150-mpg plug-in hybrids on U.S. roads in the next six years. To encourage consumers to buy these vehicles he would provide $7,000 tax credits. “… we have to get serious about increasing our fuel efficiency standards and investing in new technologies,” he said in an April debate with rival Hillary Clinton. While this tax credit may help out individuals, it will do little to aid American car manufactures, as the vast majority of hybrid cars are built by foreign owned companies. In the short term, Obama plans to use the windfall profit taxes to provide $500 credits for individuals and $1,000 for families to ease the pain Americans are feeling at the pump. In addition, he plans to close loopholes in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulations to crack down on energy speculation and release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down prices. He also plans to require 10 percent of all U.S. energy consumed to come from renewable resources by the end of his first term in office. Bringing money in through taxing American companies alleviates the need to borrow from foreign interests. We are already accumulating massive amounts of debt from foreign nations. As of April 2008 we owed Japan $592 billion. They have a surplus rather than a debt. By taking money through cap-and-trade taxes to aid U.S. citizens we are able to help boost our economy without relying on more foreign debt. As for offshore drilling, Senator Obama, once an ardent opponent of the idea, has recently adjusted his position, stating that he is skeptical that offshore drilling will bring down gas prices or significantly reduce our oil dependence. It is absolutely imperative that America reduce its dependence on foreign oil and invest in innovative domestic energy alternatives to break this vicious cycle. EconomyInCrisis.org does not support any particular party or affiliation.
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Article Comments From Readers
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guest says "Dope!" on 08/24/08
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How can you say solar and biodiesel will bring down the cost of oil and in the same sentence say drilling for more oil will NOT bring the cost of oil down? Will growing more tomatoes bring down the cost of corn? If something is in short supply then increasing the supply of that commodity is the fastest most direct way to bring down prices of said commodity.
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guest says "duh!" on 08/23/08
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Everyone knows we are addicted to oil. America probably spends as much at the pumps as we do on food. Why do we give our money to other countries rather than take use our own? I'll tell you why: we are not really going to stop using oil. We will suck other countries dry, then use our own. Our politicians talk a good talk, but "alternative" energy is not the answer. Wind energy is a joke, if we put up too many windmills what will that do to our environment? It will have an impact on the weather. It is just like building a damn to get energy from water, it has an effect on nature. Everything we do has an effect on nature. We need to just stop using so much energy. We need smaller cars made with lightweight materials. We need to use trolleys, bikes or we should walk. We need big cars because we are fat and lazy, not because they are better. In today's age of the internet, I do not even know why we go to work. Think of the energy we could save if we all worked from home and had video conferences. Politicians will never make an real difference, we have to get up and do it ourselves. After all, they are the ones selling us out in the first place. Like you said: "oil company employees are such generous campaign contributors" and in the end, money speaks louder than people.
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