Some have asked me why I am not an in-stride lock-step environmentalist if I run a think tank. Well, it’s rather simple. I see this push to turn environmentalism into a religion, and I’ve watched the politics involved, and greed line up for the free-flow of taxpayer’s money being promised. I am not pleased. But rather than me put out a cynical rant, let me give you yet one more example. Let’s talk.
I read an interesting article in Machine Design News which was published a while ago on June 15, 2000 titled; “New carbon fibers from petroleum,” and thought to myself; perhaps the USA ought to work very hard to becoming the leader in carbon-fiber and lower the costs by economies of scale, think of the value to our over-all economy by how much we save in fuel costs. But even as I say that I am reminded that if the fuel costs go down the taxes on fuel go up so the government can continue to spend, in essence the same result – it acts as if it is a tax on our entire economy.
That is a pretty problematic fact considering our GDP growth is less than 2.2% with a 1% margin of error, meaning we are might only be at 1.2% growth, ouch. Meanwhile, just today, I met a petitioner asking for my signature outside of Trader Joe’s to protest the gas taxes increases slated. “Houston, we have a problem,” but it’s not what you think. You see, we have all the power, knowledge, capability and resources to stay ahead of the oil game, and all the refinery left-overs we need for a strong and robust petroleum based carbon fiber industry. Unfortunately, we are preventing that by making life hard on the oil industry, chemical industry, while simultaneously demanding lighter cars for better CAFÉ standards, and stronger automobiles to prevent injury.
Are we schizophrenic or what? Unfortunately the answer is yes. Are we going to give this carbon fiber sector away to foreign competitors, while we tax our society and civilization with higher taxes for transportation? This without even discussing the energy costs due to subsidizing alternative energy technology which cannot compete yet for an ROI – this is killing our advantage in exports and jobs in both light and heavy manufacturing, and you think you want an electric car? Not. And if you have one you want to be safe, it needs to be light, and for it to have optimal performance it too will need more carbon fiber components, just as, oh yah, wind turbine blades? Whoops?
May I ask why we are busy cutting off the hand that feeds us for a pie-in-the-sky fantasy driven energy policy? I’d like you to understand how the Good Intentions Paving Company, LLC is driving us to economic ruin and the law of unintended consequences. Please consider all this and think on it.
