Windfall profits?

Microsoft reports a net profit of 29.3% (5 year average of 27.9%) Industry 5 year average 16.3%
Coke reports a net profit of 18.4% (5 year average of 21.2%) Industry 5 year average 16.2%
Gannet (Newspapers) reports a net profit of -22.8% (5 year average of 15.8%) Industry 5 year average 7.2%
BP reports a net profit of 7.3% (5 year average of 8.2%) Industry 5 year average 10.9%
Exxon reports a net profit of 9.2% (5 year average of 9.6%)
Conoco-Phillips reports a net profit of 7.6% (5 year average of 6.7%)

So who’s making more on their investment and which company are you going to invest in? Who is making more off the consumer? The “profits” are distributed to the investors, the stockholders. I.e. Mutual Funds, 401-K’s, Pension funds and individual investors. Tax these “excess” profits and who are you taking the money away from? Vanguard, Washington Mutual, College Retirement Equities, Fidelity and 1624 more mutual funds and institutional funds hold 52% of Exxon alone.

Research the other oil stocks and see who is holding them, the majority holders include your next door neighbor, maybe even yourself. So before you demonize, know what it is you’re demonizing.

The politicians are merely playing into the ignorance of the American, public school educated, people. It takes work to know the facts. Try it, it’s empowering.

“We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty.” – G. K. Chesterson

Will new energy technology be defeated by old power?

Inventors: Solar Dish Could Revolutionize Energy Production

Just read this article on a new solar collector technology that is simple, inexpensive and efficient. American ingenuity is at work trying to find new, better ways of dealing with our energy needs.

Come on Washington, get out of the way and let the American people do what they do best, meet problems with innovative answers. We have some 300 million people in this nation and if turned loose, they can accomplish far more than 535 representatives in Washington who are so stricken with themselves they think only they have the answers.

Our leaders seemed to have forgotton that power corrupts, and truly, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Rarely attributed, the latter phrase is a quotation from Lord Acton, in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 1887.

That quote succinctly describes the political leadership in America 120 years later. And we the people will pay dearly for their corruption if we fail to take serious interest in and responsibility for our nation and return America to a Republic formed “for the people and by the people.”

“We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty.” – G. K. Chesterson

The charge of the light…uh…er…police!

CFLs, Compact Florescent Lights. One of the latest technologies in lighting is making a strong showing as the technology matures. I have a few around my home. In some ways I like them. Long life, low cost to use.

Though they are much more expensive, the 3-way I bought was about $9.75 compared to $2.85 for a comparable incandescent 3-way, the longer life and lower cost to operate make them a good buy in the long run.

Of course there are downsides. Due to their size, especially the base, not all lamp receptacles will accept them. I have one 3-way floor lamp that won’t. To use a 3-way CFL in that location I’ll have to buy a different lamp. But hey, it’s good for the economy, isn’t it?

They are also considered hazardous waste by the EPA and require special methods for cleanup and disposal, especially if broken. What about the long term “unintended” consequences. We Americans are good about that. Rush out to the latest, greatest, best thing, only to find out months or years later there’s something terribly wrong with it.

But wait, these things are made in China, only China. Let’s send more trade deficit to the nation that in 2007 brought us lead paint in children’s toys, industrial chemical poison in pet foods, antifreeze in toothpaste and more.

OK, all that aside, now comes along Congress and they want to tell us we “MUST” stop buying incandescent bulbs and switch everything over to CFLs. Looks like the CFL manufacturers lobby made some campaign contributions.

I’m all for conservative use of energy. After all, I AM a conservative. But what I don’t want is Congress telling me what I WILL do, especially in the privacy of my own home.

Liberals rail against those who have strong convictions on abortion and homosexuality. Their primary argument is no one should tell anyone what they should do in the privacy of their homes or even bedrooms.

But now this Liberal congress wants to invade the privacy of my home and mandate I use a technology that they dictate. Doesn’t this smack of hypocrisy?

Just for the record, I don’t want government telling me I have to wear a seat belt either. Should I wear one? Yes. Do I wear one? Of course. Do I wear it because the law requires it? Absolutely not!

I wear a seat belt because it’s stupid not to. Years of tests and studies have proven seat belts save lives. Two weeks ago I came upon a rollover accident moments after it happened where both occupants were thrown 10′s, perhaps 100′s of feet because they had no seat belts.

In the same way, CFL’s have benefits. But one thing they don’t have the benefit of is years of research. Do we really know how they will perform and what dangers they may impose years down the road?

So to Congress, get out of my personal life, quit telling me what I should buy to light up my life. CFL’s are OK and have many uses, but it’s not up to Congress to tell me to use them.

But, wait a second. I have a thought on how we can use them and maybe clean up Congress at the same time. Rep. Poe mentioned something that may help. Lets all grab a few CFL’s and toss them into Congress! According to the EPA, they will have to evacuate!

If we throw enough of ‘em, maybe the cleanup will take so long they’ll be out of session for several years and “we the people” will be able to take our country back from the career politicians and we can do something positive for this nation.

How ’bout it!

“We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty.” – G. K. Chesterson

Curing cancer…and our energy problems

I’ve been “covered up” the past few days with work obligations making it difficult to even think about posting. Not that there’s a lack of stuff to comment about.

One thing caught my attention though. As mentioned before, I listen to podcasts when I’m able to at work. I control what I listen to, it’s stuff that interests me, I’m not at the whim of some radio station and it’s more mentally engaging than just music.

On that note, I’ll have to post a list of my favorite podcasts sometime. But that’s for another time.

On my list of listening material is “Cranky Geeks,” a tech podcast that discusses all things technology.

On a recent podcast there was mentioned just in passing an item about an inventor, John Kanzius, who has discovered a way to attack cancer with radiowaves. It’s done by attaching minute metallic particles to the cancer cells and directing RF energy towards them, heating the metal and the cells, killing the cancer cells.

According to other researchers working in the next stage of the project, it holds great promise. The procedure has already been proven to work in animal subjects and the hope is to soon begin human trials. As it goes into further research and probably medical trials, Mr. Kanzius hopes he will be able to see the procedure used to help a cancer patient. Oh, he’s a cancer patient himself, he has leukemia.

But I said the mention on the podcast was in passing. The panel pretty much panned the idea, questioning if it could be done and how would they get the metal particles to the cells. If you weren’t paying attention you might have even missed the whole thing.

What really caught my attention though took place a few days later. A friend was over and she mentioned she had heard of a guy who had discovered a way to make fuel out of seawater. Huh! Like that’s been the “holy grail” for years! Making fuel out of water? Wow!!

While she was here I did a search and low and behold I found the article. It was a CBS news item, but the focus of the item wasn’t fuel from seawater, but killing cancer cells with RF waves.

It seems that in his RF/cancer research, Mr. Kanzius discovered that if he directed radio waves at seawater the chemical bonds of the seawater were weakened and the result was hydorgen. The same stuff others are wanting to use to make hydrogen fuel cells to power cars. Wow! Fuel from water!

To my knowledge, the energy angle to this has barely made a ripple in the news. The 5 and a half minute CBS broadcast of Mr. Kanzius’ cancer discovery didn’t mention it. It was the A/P print article along side that carried that part of the story.

Local Kentucky TV station, WKYC, produced a story on the energy angle that is heavily viewed on YouTube.

I’m just amazed that as big a story as energy has become in recent months, this discovery hasn’t received more air time. But then, hydrogen isn’t the “darling” of the environmental cartels. They are true believers in solar, wind, tidal. Anything that is even remotely linked to petroleum is anathama to them.

As I’ve mentioned before, to work our way out of this energy problem, we must employ all resources. We cannot depend on any single source. Hydrogen is a clean fuel. When it burns it gives off CO2 and H2O. That’s Carbon DiOxide and Water. For a fuel that’s as clean as it gets!

“We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty.” – G. K. Chesterson

A comprehensive solution needed

Finally, a major factor in the rising cost of crude oil and fuel is the decline of the dollar. Having lost about a third of its value since 2001, this loss of value has weighed heavily on the cost of foreign goods imported into the US. Taken another way, all else being equal, a barrel of oil that sells on the futures market for $133 would, with the dollar returned to its former strength, cost only about $90. That would result in a corresponding drop in the price of gasoline back to about $3.00 – $3.15 per gallon, just on the strength of the dollar.

Of course the question is, “how do we do this?” The short answer is, “we don’t.” The rise and fall of the dollar is a response to US monetary policy. In the US the Federal Reserve, a non-governmental group that wields huge control over the money supply, drives monetary policy.

In it’s attempts to thwart a slowing economy, fight inflation, stabilize the stock market and generally reassure everyone from Wall Street to Main Street, the Fed raises and lowers interest rates and increases and decreases the availability of money.

As it relates to the value of the US Dollar (USD), low interest rates, while good for business and consumers, decrease the investment potential of US currency, increase the investment potential and therefore demand of foreign currencies, and in the process lower the value of the dollar as it relates to the world currency market.

When the Fed increases the money supply, and the US Treasury increases the amount of dollars in the economy, the value of the dollar is diminished as well. The value of the dollar in your pocket is not fixed. It is based in the perceived value of that dollar as relates to the integrity of the US government to back it.

Many think the basis of the value of the dollar is the US Gold Reserves. They couldn’t be more wrong. The US total Gold Reserves is reported to be 8,133.5 tonnes valued at $256 billion, the largest in the world but a mere fraction of the total gold ever mined.

At the same time, the US M2 money supply as measured by the Federal Reserve is $7676.1 billion, or 30 times the total of US Gold Reserves. In practice this means that faith in the US government and economy are by far the driving factors in the value of this fiat currency called the US Dollar, not the objective value of an underlying treasury reserve.

Why does the value of gold go up in terms of US Dollars? In short it’s because the USD is seen as having less value. The same goes for the price of crude oil. Supply and demand being as they are, they affect the day-to-day price fluctuation of this commodity. The longer-term price is impacted by the value of the USD in the world.

The lower it goes, the less it buys and more of it is required to purchase a particular item of value.

To increase the value of the USD the Federal Reserve and US monetary policy should begin to take steps to normalize interest rates and money supply. While that may have a negative effect in the short term on the US economy, the short term pain would result in longer term gain.

Secondly, the US policy towards business should be less restrictive in terms of tax policy. As noted before, businesses do not pay taxes but merely collect them from consumers embedded in the cost of goods and services, from investors in lowered investment value and passes it on to government.

Corporate income taxes and such issues as the Lieberman-Warner “Cap and Trade” scheme currently before the US Senate saddle business with costs and expenses that strangle it in the world economy, often driving business and the attending jobs away from US shores to nation with more friendly tax policies.

Voters must demand that politicians get control of government spending, cutting back budgets and reducing spending to minimal levels and enact a transparent and balanced budget. The US has over $9 trillion in Public Debt having a devastating effect on the national economy, interest rates and exposure to the whims of overseas investors.

The Fair Tax put forth by Congressman John Warner would create a transparent US tax policy, replacing all federal taxes, Income, Social Security, Medicare ad infinitum, with a single sales tax. While there is plenty of discussion over this proposal, and it’s attendant misrepresentation, there remains difficulty in gaining traction in Washington.

So in summation, the problems facing the energy crisis are multifaceted in nature and require a comprehensive response. There is no one “magic bullet” solution. Rather, in the interests of long term solutions and national security, answers must be long thought out, deeply researched, span a variety of technologies and energy sources to protect against vulnerability to single source attacks like we’ve seen on crude oil.

As a nation we should:

Immediately begin using those resources and technologies we currently have including opening blocked areas for oil exploration and drilling and rapidly expand the use of nuclear power.

We should focus effort into development of proven resources and technologies like Hybrid cars, CSP and Shale Oil to bring these rapidly on line in providing diverse energy to the nation.

Third, we should encourage private research in a variety of way to expand research into new, exciting technologies needing further development. Wave power, wind power, battery technologies, fuel cell technologies and many others perhaps not even thought of should be fully vetted as to their feasibility and contribution to the energy needs of this nation without unintended consequences elsewhere.

Finally, we need to close down those technologies that, while begun with good intentions, have proven to have disastrous consequences. Ethanol is one of these.

It’s not a matter of finding answers to the current pain nor is it simple environmental, economic or security in nature. In the long term it’s a matter of providing a sustainable future for the nation and our children and grand children. To think less is nothing more than selfish.

This series:
1. Gas prices, taxes and politics
2. Crude, profits and big government
3. Dealing with petroleum production
4. Optimizing petroleum
5. Is there a single solution?
6. Monetary policy and energy

“We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty.” – G. K. Chesterson

Lieberman Carbon Tax a Dangerous Idea

The Lieberman-Warner carbon tax scheme before the Senate is a dangerous grab for power, tax dollars and control.

It’s put forth as a marketplace to help business deal with carbon emissions. What it will end up being is another tax on the consumer. Don’t be fooled. A tax on business is a tax on the consumer. In all business the cost of doing business is passed on to the consumer.

There are no corporate taxes, only corporations that collect for government taxes embedded in the price of their product or service.

“The EPA has estimated what the McCain energy tax would mean to consumers. Since the bill’s provisions are phased in, the full cost of the tax would not be felt for a number of years. But in a letter to Senator McCain dated July 2007, the EPA estimated that the tax will be about $.26 cents in current dollars per gallon of gasoline by 2030 and $.68 cents per gallon by 2050. For electricity, the EPA estimates that the McCain energy tax would increase individual’s electric bills by 22 percent in 2030 and 25 percent in 2050.” Roy Cordato-NRO

More power will be vested in Congress and the Lobbyists will have a field day working your Senator and Congressman for perks, loopholes, and breaks on the tax.

The loser will be the consumer, again. Anytime Washington comes up with a “great idea” its the taxpayer, the consumer, the citizens who pay. Make no mistake, this is a bad idea.

Even Canadians are concerned about carbon taxes and “cap-and-trade“, and they have data to back it up. Never forget, government will never miss an opportunity to remove income from the pockets of it citizens.

The question is, will the citizens allow it to continue or will they rise up and say “NO MORE!”

We better decide quick or there won’t be anything left to keep.

“We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty.” – G. K. Chesterson