One should not be surprised at and at the same time deeply concerned about the outcome of the November 6 re-election of Barack Obama. This President came into office in 2008 talking about spreading the wealth, and now he believes he has a mandate to raise taxes on the wealthy come hell or high water. He has a democratically controlled Senate that will rubber-stamp this idea but a House controlled by the Republicans who are against that idea. The Country is divided, and we elect representatives for the House and Senate who are also divided. Consequently, and shock of shock, they are not working together. Thus we are in for stalemate while we continue to face major problems such as the “fiscal cliff”, a non-job creating sluggish economy, huge and growing entitlement driven debt and a middle east about to explode. This is not the first time that a President has had to work with a divided Congress, but at this critical time leadership from this President will be vital!
The problem is that during the last four years President Obama has demonstrated his inability and/or unwillingness to lead. He proudly let Nancy Pelosi develop the “Affordable Healthcare Legislation” (Obamacare). The nearly one trillion dollar stimulus bill was nothing more than a huge pile of “pork” which nearly everyone agrees had virtually no effect on improving the economic condition. On foreign policy he takes pride in “leading from behind”. We need only observe the fiasco of the Terrorist attack on our Consulate in Libya and the murder of our Ambassador and three other Americans to see the lack of leadership on that issue.
Bob Woodward in his latest book, “The Price of Politics” documented Obama’s rudeness to the Republican leaders from the very first days of his becoming President. This past week we saw it again in both Obama’s embarrassing tax increase proposal, and a few days later we saw it again in the way he dismissed the Republican’s counter proposal. Because of such a high-handed approach, it is no wonder that Republicans not only can’t trust Obama, they can barely stand him.
Despite these perfectly clear deficiencies in his leadership capabilities, especially when contrasted with those demonstrated by Romney, and notwithstanding that Obama may just be following Saul Alinski’s principles for destroying the country, a majority of the voters decided to keep Obama anyway. So, we are stuck with this kind of inadequate and inappropriate leadership.
However, the Country simply can’t afford Four More Years like we have just finished. So what can be done? Perhaps the Congressional Democrats could persuade Obama to hire Colin Powell for some key advisory position in the Administration. Why? Well, Powell has just co-written a book on Leadership. Perhaps he could teach Obama how to lead. Moreover, Powell endorsed Obama thus there may be a buddy to buddy relationship which will help our Country at this dangerous time.
But let’s assume the worst from this President and his clueless entourage. What is in store for the Country? Is it doomed, will it fall apart? Will the takers increase to a point where the makers can’t give any more? Worse, will the makers decide to make it in an other country? In this digital age that is distinctly possible.
The good news is that we have two very important assets which will be vital for not only our survival but for the United States to continue to be the powerhouse we have been for the past two centuries.
These assets are:
• An unbelievable abundance of energy supplies
• The best Universities in the world for creating cutting-edge technology
The energy resources are so enormous that no government will be able to shunt them aside or completely control them regardless of theories that utilization of these fossil materials may cause and/or exacerbate so-called global warming. Specifically, we are talking about the super abundance of natural gas found a mile underground which is already being liberated and additional supplies being discovered a mile or so below that. We are now told that our Country has the largest supply of natural gas and oil on the planet
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is the perfect fuel of our trucks, trains and even automobiles. Already fleets of busses and trucks are being converted to CNG. Not only is it less expensive than diesel fuel and gasoline, it is more environmentally friendly. It produces only half of the so-called greenhouse gases of any fossil fuel, and it produces virtually none of the toxic gases of coal or petroleum. Moreover, it does not require a refinery to convert the oil to fuel. Equally important, it avoids using increasingly scarce food stuffs such as corn and soybeans to make ethanol and bio-diesel.
An ancillary benefit of converting our trucks and cars to CNG is that we can stop importing OPEC controlled oil. This not only will strengthen the dollar, but will permit a complete overhaul of our foreign policy. The United States would no longer need to place expensive military equipment and personnel in Arab territories to protect the supply of oil. We could then let the Chinese and the Russians, who have never supported us, take over that role.
Chemicals and plastics can also be manufactured from natural gas. It is a perfect raw material, and natural gas is perfect for heating the chemical plant boilers, as well. Already Shell Chemical and Dow Chemical have announced multibillion dollar plants based on this low cost supply of natural gas
In addition to the above, the idea of low cost electricity made from natural gas is being eyed by manufacturers who, utilizing the latest digital high tech technology, can now afford to bring manufacturing back to the United States.
As regards our second resource, namely that our universities are the best in the world and at the cutting edge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, (STEM), the problem is they are not producing enough graduates who major in STEM. Today after spending about
$ 200,000 for a four year college degree only half of the graduates can find employment commensurate with their degree. However, the ones who majored in STEM are having no difficulty finding very remunerative jobs. In fact the demand is so great for STEM graduates in the United States that the starting salary for a chemical engineer needed to design and run the aforementioned Shell and Dow chemical plants is
$ 125,000.
In short, the good news is that the force of this natural gas windfall is so powerful that any attempt by Obama’s Czars to throttle it will fail. Further, we don’t have to reconstruct the K-12 system to solve the stem problem as the Obama administration suggests. We simply have to find a way to encourage the half of college students who are taking courses for which there are no jobs, to take courses for which there are jobs. In other words to major in STEM.
These are the questions that will be considered in future blogs as we examine the broad question of “Whither the United States of America?
