Only Nixon Can Go To China

     The big news out of the talks in China is the climate agreement President Obama reached with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. China and the USA agreed to lower CO2 emissions by 25-30% by 2030 and 2025, respectively. Senator Mitch McConnell jumped up on his bipartisan soapbox soon after and offered up this gem.

     "...this unrealistic plan, that the President would dump on his successor, would ensure higher utility costs and far fewer jobs."  Mitch McConnell (R)-KY  Washington Post November 12th, pg A1

     Man! I guess the GOP wasn't kidding about rolling back progress to force their agenda on the world. Not only did President Obama get China to come to the table on reducing pollution, they agreed! Anytime China agrees to something, its big fucking news! Everyone knows that! Leave it to our new Congressional leaders to shit on such an historical event. I imagine if a Republican president was in office, they would be touting him as all powerful. A Republican President would be idolized and worshipped regardless of whether he was ineffective, corrupt and paranoid in reality. If you don;t believe me, look up Richard Nixon.


     I admit, I can't see the future. I'm not psychic. I'm not a seer. (Although I did predict Corey Haim would die young, but you didn't have to be a psychic to know that.) But I don't see how increasing the market share of three or more industries, in the business of generating energy to power our country, would ensure fewer jobs. It will take a long time to switch over to a total renewable economy. Decades, in fact. And it would require the manufacture of solar panels and wind turbines on an unprecedented scale. If a breakthrough in wave energy ever happens (and from what I have read, wave energy is closer to happening than you think), we are talking even more jobs in manufacturing and maintenance. When taken together, the potential long-term job creation in the renewable fields far out paces job creation in, say, I don't know, the Keystone Pipeline? Maybe McConnell mixed up his notes on Keystone with his notes on the China Summit.

     Win, solar, wave...all with moving parts, installers, mechanics, engineers and salespeople to get out there and grow those industries. When you account for the improvement of existing technology and the emergence of new and better technologies, we would be talking about replacing old, worn and outdated turbines and panels to install newer, more efficient and more powerful parts. Plus, someone has to pick up all the dead birds from around wind farms and solar fields that conservative republicans are so upset about. (I guess they want those birds to die a more natural death, like from oil spills, chemical pollution or buckshot.)

      I used to work for a solar company. I will tell you what I used to tell my customers. Utility rates will continue to go up. That's a fact. When gas prices skyrocketed, your utility bill went up and you paid more. When gas prices dropped, your utilities went up and you STILL paid more. The utility companies run a monopoly and they do what ever they want. Which means, they charge you more. If you don't believe me, go online and look at your utility bill of the past 5 years and tell me if your prices ever dropped. The cost per kWh may be less during past of the year, but the fees, taxes, charges and Oompa loompa costs are always going up. Those Oompa Loompas are expensive.

Copyright: http://metro.co.uk/2013/01/28/three-men-arrested-in-oompa-loompa-assault-case-3370505/

     What President Obama has done with China more than noteworthy. The US and China account for around 40% of the world's CO2 emissions. In the past 10 years, other world leaders and governments have complained that the world's two biggest polluters did not take climate change and environmental policy serious enough. Now, those two biggest polluters are showing they get it and are taking action. Meanwhile, the US Congress has blasted the plan and dismissed it as "unrealistic". I guess Congress doesn't want the US to be a world leader in innovation and technology. Which fits, I suppose, since they are all living in the past and not trying to make a better future.

Nakamura, David, and Steven Mufson. "China, U.S. Agree to Limit Greenhouse Gases." Washington Post. N.p., 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.