Politics and Poker

It's a new year and the presidential elections are around the corner.

We are on the brink of a recession and we are at war.

I was recently asked how we can have a recession while we are at war since war usually has taken us out or recessions. The answer is that the war is such a small part of our gross national product that it has very little economic influence on the country as a whole. World War II took more than our gross national product(prior to the conflict) and therefore was a massive stimulation to the economy. It also took 10% of our population into the military. This war, Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror takes about 5% of our GDP and our military is less than 1% of our population. That is not enough of a stimulation to our economy to matter. What we need is a national program to make the nation energy independent and repair our infrastructure. Now that would be worthwhile. The problem is can we do all that with efficiency, minimal waste and pork?

We need to develop solar power, both on the planet and in space. If global warming is at all a fact, man or natural, then solar power and wind power are the only ways to go. All other forms of power add to global warming to some extent or another.

You ask can we do it? Yes, all we need is tax credits for the placement of solar energy panels. There are in development solar energy shingles which can be used on every house in the U.S.
By using tax credits and guaranteed loans we can turn our nation back to energy, as well as political, independence. As long as we are buying oil from totalitarian regimes we are not independent politically.
We have a great heritage and in order to give our grandchildren the opportunity to live better than our grandparents, we need to act now.
For once I have to agree with Mr. Obama. Just lowering the gas tax is silly. It's not 10% of the cost of fuel, therefore not very helpful. We need the US auto industry to realize that their survival is linked to fuel Independence of the nation. Stop holding back on electric cars. WE need nuclear power, we need to drill off shore. If we don't drill off shore around Florida, the Chinese will from Cuba. We need an aggressive policy towards energy independents, and we need it now.