RR Again, profitism before patriotism. Comrade B In a message dated 9/10/2014 2:07:50 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ristad@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: Kelly, We've discussed the Keystone pipeline already. The part of the Keystone pipeline that EXPORTS U.S. oil and gas from the Oklahoma hub to the Gulf Coast opened last year without opposition. It's already a done deal. The part of the Keystone pipeline that Obama opposes is the northern section that IMPORTS oil and gas from Canada. The reason Obama opposes it? Because Canadian oil and gas is brought into the U.S. by railroad tank cars that are owned by Warren Buffet, one of Obama's biggest campaign contributors. Rail tank car accidents have caused far more environmental damage than pipelines ever have so it's not an environmental issue. The argument used against opening the Keystone pipeline from Canada that it will cause higher gasoline prices in the U.S. is that the oil and gas that is currently being imported will simply pass through Oklahoma and go to the Gulf Coast but that doesn't make sense since Canadian oil and gas are already being imported into the U.S.. An argument that makes more sense is that opening the northern section of the pipeline would mean the Canadian oil and gas would compete against domestic oil companies. It would lower the price that producers of U.S. oil and gas could charge because Canadian oil and gas is cheaper. The fracking boom we keep hearing about is suspect. I think the only reason it happening is due to the rising stock market as a result of Fed money printing. Banks who can borrow money at 0% interest and gullible investors rush in to supply the capital to drill the fracking wells and there is an immediate return but, unlike conventional oil wells, fracked wells deplete very rapidly. The fracking boom is really just a Ponzi Scheme that will turn into a big bust for both investors and the U.S. economy when the money runs out and the wells run dry and the banks and investors are left with worthless shares in dry wells. But hey, Warren Buffer will be crying all the way to the bank. -RR -----Original Message----- From: Kelly Sent: Sep 10, 2014 11:09 AM To: "sparkscoffee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" Subject: [sparkscoffee] Re: Favors and Loot for Sale <ZZZHT Ron, Very true that money is power and money powers Washington D.C. and the world. Just this morning my wife was reading an interesting article giving statistics for current wealth distribution across society. I've heard these numbers elsewhere, but every time I am reminded, it stuns me. It turns out that the 400 richest persons on the planet (0.0001% of the population) together hold two trillion dollars in wealth. That's like all the adults in my little neighborhood here having the power to rule the planet. These few individuals and the corporations they control, put undue influence on law making bodies in order to favor themselves, regardless of how it might effect us, and often at the expense of the general population. The examples your author Walter Williams uses though are curious ones. Of all the inequitable and odious rulings that big money has succeeded in pushing through congress, Mr. Williams' two examples happen to be quite innocuous. In fact, they are two examples that a large segment of Americans would happily consider rare instances of corporate interest falling in line with the economic interest of most consumers. Compact Florescent Lights have long been popular with the public, even when they were relatively expensive. Their much longer life alone warranted their greater cost even at the outset. And now that they have radically dropped in price, it's a no-brainer for most consumers who know that they not only last much longer, but use a fraction of the amperage of an equivalent incandescent bulb, all at a very affordable price. If there is any corporate pressure to restrict natural gas exports, I wholeheartedly support it! It's simple supply and demand Ron. You're a smart guy, right? Remember 'supply and demand' from Economics 101? The greater the supply of natural gas we accumulate in this country, the lower the price to the consumer will be. In the U.S. there are a rapidly growing number of natural gas burning electricity generating plants and coal burning plants that are converting to natural gas. It's cleaner burning and less costly than coal. These plant operators no doubt would also support export restrictions, as it would hold down the price of running their plants. And ultimately the consumer wins with lower electricity bills. I drive a Honda Civic GX which burns natural gas exclusively. I pay $1.77 per gallon equivalent unit and the car gets approximately 32 miles per gallon equivalent units. When I bought the car in 2008 I was paying $0.63 per gallon equivalent unit and driving literally for pennies. If Americans didn't have to drop a good chunk of their income into petroleum and businesses including trucking companies didn't have to drop such a good chunk of their budgets into petroleum, the local economy would be greatly stimulated. But apparently the author Walter Williams prefers to support the extractors of natural gas and other petroleum products over the consumer. The extractors of course want to sell their products at the highest possible price, which often means shipping them overseas. That's great for the extractors but not so good for the local consumer as gas prices rise. It's the very same argument for and against the Keystone pipeline. There's been a gargantuan discovery of fossil fuels in the northern U.S. and Southern Canada. That's a boon for us folks who live in North America. That means that there will be an oil/gas glut and downward price pressures. That also means that local economies will be stimulated by lower fuel prices and the extra buying power that consumers will have left after filling their tanks. But the extractors of these resources know this as well. They of course want to maximize their profits and that can't be done if locally extracted and produced petroleum products are sold and consumed locally, and if the net effect of extracting these large deposits simply results in downward pressure on the price. That's where the Keystone pipeline comes in. Shipping petroleum offshore to the highest bidder maximizes the bottom line, while preventing a glut locally and the associated softening of the price at the consumer level. Kelly A. ____________________________________ Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2014 09:15:36 -0600 From: ristad@xxxxxxxxxxx To: sparkscoffee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [sparkscoffee] Favors and Loot for Sale The Founding Fathers were not unaware that "times change." But in the whirlwind of life they saw that reason and experience could and had demonstrated that there were unchanging qualities to the human condition, grounded in the fundamental political idea of individual rights. They understood the various mantles that tyranny could take on – including the cloak of false benevolence in the form of compulsory redistribution of wealth. They established a constitutional order that was meant to guard us from the plunder of violent and greedy men, while leaving each of us that wide latitude of personal and economic freedom in which we could find our own meanings for life, and adapt to new circumstances consistent with our conscience and concerns. This is what made America great. This is what made a country in which individuals could say without embarrassment or conceit that they were "proud to be Americans." - See more at: http://thedailybell.com/editorials/35634/Richard-Ebeling-Proud-to-be-an-American-What-Should-It-Mean/#sthash.120AKuSg.dpuf By _Walter E. Williams_ (http://www.lewrockwell.com/author/walter-e-williams/?post_type=article) September 9, 2014 During the 2012 presidential campaign, Barack Obama raised a little over $1 billion, while Mitt Romney raised a little under $1 billion. Congressional candidates raised over $3.5 billion. In 2013, there were 12,341 registered lobbyists and $3.2 billion was spent on lobbying. During the years the Clintons have been in national politics, they’ve received at least $1.4 billion in contributions, according to Time magazine and the Center for Responsive Politics, making them “The First Family of Fundraising.” Here are my questions to you: Why do people and organizations cough up billions of dollars to line political coffers? One might answer that these groups and individuals are simply extraordinarily civic-minded Americans who have a deep and abiding interest in encouraging elected officials to live up to their oath of office to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution. Another possible answer is that the people who spend these billions of dollars on politicians just love participating in the political process. If you believe either of these explanations for coughing up billions for politicians, you’re probably a candidate for psychiatric attention, a straitjacket and a padded cell. A far better explanation for the billions going to the campaign coffers of Washington politicians and lobbyists lies in the awesome government power and control over business, property, employment and other areas of our lives. Having such power, Washington politicians are in the position to grant special privileges, extend favors, change laws and do other things that if done by a private person would land him in jail. The major component of congressional power is the use of the IRS to take the earnings of one American to give to another. The Dow Chemical Co. posted record lobbying expenditures last year, spending over $12 million. Joined by Alcoa, who spent $3.5 million, Dow supports the campaigns of congressmen who support natural gas export restrictions. Natural gas is a raw material for both companies. They fear natural gas prices would rise if export restrictions were lifted. Dow and other big users of natural gas make charitable contributions to environmentalists who seek to limit natural gas exploration. Natural gas export restrictions empower Russia’s Vladimir Putin by making Europeans more dependent on Russian natural gas. General Electric spends tens of millions of dollars lobbying. Part of their agenda was to help get Congress to outlaw incandescent light bulbs so that they could sell their more expensive compact fluorescent bulbs. It should come as no surprise that General Electric is a contributor to global warmers who helped convince Congress that incandescent bulbs were destroying the planet. These are just two examples, among thousands, of the role of money in politics. Most concerns about money in politics tend to focus on relatively trivial matters such as the costs of running for office and interest-group influence on Congress and the White House. The bedrock problem is the awesome power of Congress. We Americans have asked, demanded and allowed congressmen to ignore their oaths of office and ignore the constitutional limitations imposed on them. The greater the congressional power to give handouts and grant favors and make special privileges the greater the value of being able to influence congressional decision-making. There’s no better influence than money. -RR