Army Bob: Wind and solar subsidies have their costs

by Robert M. Traxler

The midterm elections are on the way, and indeed many of us have already voted. Will it be the predicted landslide for the Republicans? Probably not; as predicted, most of the media have been in a full court press in support of the progressive/socialist movement.

Crime is increasing despite the shell game played by many big city mayors and prosecuting attorneys and a few governors, who decriminalized or reduced penalties for many offenses, making them not reportable to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report. Truth be known, crime is much higher than the numbers indicate over the last two years. 

In the Peach State of Georgia, despite changes to the voting laws (what is called Jim Crow 2.0, per our President and darn near every Democrat), early voting is on track to exceed the last election as far as voter participation is concerned. If it comes to pass that the vote under “Jim Crow 2.0” is larger than it was before the changes. Will the media and willing accomplices in the Democratic Party admit they were wrong? Not a chance in hell. Being a progressive/Democrat means never being held accountable for their words and the damage they cause. 

Common sense dictates that increasing the cost of motor fuels, gas and diesel, along with heating fuels, natural gas and propane, will be inflationary. It stands to reason that if we limit the availability, the cost will increase. Add in shipping costs (we are now shipping oil from Saudi Arabia halfway around the planet to our refineries on the Gulf coast). It is much cheaper to ship oil by pipeline from American and Canadian oil fields than by super tanker from other sources on other continents. By the way, it is better for the planet not to burn millions of gallons of the dreaded fossil fuels in super tankers. 

The good folks in the environmental religion just do not care about the increased damage to the environment that shipping fuel halfway around the world brings. They just do not care that making things in China and other third world nations that we need for life results in more carbon emissions, as the United Nations “allows” them to pollute more than in Europe or the United States and Canada. To the amen corner in the environmental movement, to the folks who called people who questioned the end of the world in 2030 was “settled science,” wake up and look at the facts. Google ‘pollution in China’ and stand back to be shocked.

The American progressive movement gives out awards and decorations to the environmental warriors who close manufacturing plants in the western world. Gourmet dinners with big name entertainers and wait staff in tuxedos are thrown, but they do not have a clue that they have just increased the world’s carbon by a disproportionate amount. No matter; American carbon is bad, Chinese carbon is ignored. Is not the saying we only have one planet?   

The good folks in the mainstream media and the progressives will tell us that alternative energy is cheaper and better. By alternative energy they mean solar and wind, not hydro or nuclear. It may be, however not for decades to come, if ever.

Please keep in mind that despite spending trillions of taxpayers’ dollars on massive subsidies of wind and solar over the past three decades, from 9% to 13% (a few sources maintain it is as high as 20%) of our energy comes from “alternative energy” wind and solar. In attempting to nail down the number, the old saying “figures don’t lie but liars figure” jumps to mind; some use nuclear and hydro when it suits them but not when it is more advantageous to ignore it, and many use predictions rather than facts. 

Reports in the New York Post and Wall Street Journal that President Joe Biden asked Saudi Arabia to keep pumping more oil until after the midterms are mostly downplayed, but after the midterms they will be discovered and widely reported, as will crime and inflation. If the media was fair and reported facts as opposed to politically correct propaganda, the midterms would be a landslide for the conservative party. But the same folks who championed the end of the world by 2030 as settled, undeniable science always censor and cancel the facts until they will not damage the socialist/progressive movement, damage to the American people, even the sacred planet, be damned. My opinion.