Tea Party? Wait Until The Hair Dryer Party Gets Organized!

The original Tea Party had its origins with some colonists who were upset about a tax on their tea.

The emergence of the new Tea Party has shown there are plenty of people who are concerned about the direction of the country.  However, they only represent about 20% of the electorate according to most polls. What could increase the numbers who strongly believe that we are on the wrong path?  What could energize more people?

How about if their hair dryer wouldn't work?  Or their air conditioning is off and its 95 degrees outside?  Or they can't turn the porch light on at night? Or they can't check the internet when they want to?

The Obama Administration appears to be on an all-out war on energy in this country.  Investor's Business Daily writes about the EPA's Looming Blackouts.

Energy: It won't matter which light bulbs we use as the administration's implementation of cross-state pollution rules shuts down coal plants across the country. Where will the jobs be when the lights go out?

It's called the Cross-State Pollution Rule, announced last month, and its implementation over the next 18 months will likely result in the loss of a fifth of the nation's electricity-generating capacity.

The result will be likely power shortages, skyrocketing rates and inevitable brownouts and rolling blackouts.

The head of the Texas Public Utility Commission says the rules could lead to rolling blackouts. The American Legislative Exchange Council says that nationally the new regulations will cost up to $129 billion and force utilities to retire one-fifth of coal-generating capacity.

Up to 110 gigawatts of capacity came on-line between 1940 and 1969 and were grandfathered under the Clean Air Act. Now the EPA is saying bring them up to their code or shut them down.

At the same time, John Hinderaker of Powerline writes about how "Obama's 'Industrial Sabotage" Devastates The Gulf".  The article shows how 10 oil rigs have left the Gulf of Mexico since the Obama Administration imposed a moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling in May 2010 and 8 more that were planned for the Gulf have been detoured to other foreign locales.  Hinderaker quotes Bonner Cohen of the National Center for Public Policy on the broader devastation of the Obama Administration's energy policies.

What you are seeing in Louisiana is only a small piece of larger mosaic being put together by the Obama Administration to make affordable energy as inaccessible as possible,” he said. “From the administration’s war on coal to the serious consideration it is giving to imposing a nationwide regulation of hydraulic fracturing, to its shut down of deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, to its `endangerment finding” from the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency], the administration is practicing its own form of selected industrial sabotage. 

To put this in context, about 40% of the nation's $8 trillion trade debt that we have accumulated over the years is the direct result of our continuing dependence of foreign oil.  Over the last 10 years we have sent about $2 trillion in funds to other countries for imported oil, according to Kevin Bambrough in The Daily Reckoning.

The economy does not work without energy.  The consumer cannot spend on other things in the economy if they are spending excessive amounts on energy.  If the consumer doesn't spend, the economy does not grow.  If the economy does not grow, unemployment continues to be a problem.

Hair dryers do not work without electricity.  People do not like it when their hair dryers don't work.  People want jobs.  But they also want their hair dryer to work.

How does it make sense for the Obama Administration to pursue these policies?  It would seem that a cornerstone of any jobs program would be to rollback these rules and regulations.  We have enough problems with energy independence as is by evidenced by the above chart.  Why would we pursue policies to make it worse?

I would like to think that the President would understand that the economy runs on energy...and that people who can't get their hair dryers to work...vote. That is why maintaining and developing as much affordable energy as we are capable of should be Job#1 in any Jobs Program.