In the business world most successful companies do a cost benefit analysis before they make big decisions. In the real world, we rely on politicians, many of whom have never worked in the real world, to make the big decisions. We are influenced by the media, so called thought leaders, and high profile celebrities to decide where we stand on issues.
Example, global warming. Most of us have bought into the idea that we will destroy the planet if we don’t stop all progress. Few have the nerve to say I disagree or I’m not sure. You will be stomped by the group for being uncaring about the world and your children and grandchildren.
What would a cost benefit analysis show about this?
If I asked you, are you willing to destroy our country and our society, as we know it, for what may or may not be a medium term issue, what would you say? What if we destroy our society and our country and there is no change. Bad decision, cost too much, benefits too small.
I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have set that decision in motion. I am not sure about global warming, but I am reasonably sure the Chinese will offset our efforts. So here is the cost. We stand a very real chance to lose everything and gain nothing.
In the business world, this would be scrapped. We would begin to take steps to insure our economy stays healthy and we are self -sufficient in energy and do everything we can to do it the most responsible way. This would be lots of nuclear plants, the pipeline from Alaska to carry natural gas would be fast tracked. We can work hard on conservation. We would build refineries in states where they are now dependent on imports. Ethanol would be scrapped now. It’s a band aid and a bad one. It makes us think we are doing something when we aren’t. Clean coal mining and the cleanest coal gasification and power production would be stepped up. We would do just the opposite of what we are doing now to keep our economy strong and our future bright. The "anything you do to generate energy idea is wrong" would be replaced by " we must have energy to remain strong as a Nation and create jobs and have a reasonable standard of living for our people".
We need to stop lying to ourselves and our neighbors. None of us want the world we are going to get if we don’t. We need to stop going with the flow on this. Common sense is all we need to do the cost benefit analysis. We are banking everything on being bailed out by someone or some science yet unknown. Bad business. Better take care of ourselves and our kids and grandkids and continue to work to make the world a cleaner place. But, not to the destruction of our entire country and our future.
Anything done to extreme is dangerous. There is always a price and we will pay ours dearly. You are seeing how hard it is to make things work in this country with crude at $110 a barrel. The economy is in the tank, jobs are being lost, the dollars is dropping, and many, many sacrifices are being made by the poor. At $200 we are done as a Nation. It could be as early as next year. Are you still going to be so willing to save the world when it cost you yours?
