Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (24285)	6/17/2008 8:47:22 PM
From: ChinuSFO	Respond to of 149317

My post had more to do with the policy than with the details. Regarding jobs coming and to those saying that it won't come back, I say they can come back if there is a will starting with things like take away the tax benefits. If that does not work, then make them pay for the job retraining etc.

To: tejek who wrote (24285)	6/18/2008 1:33:56 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

Obama had better get more inclusive in his ideas on energy independence. I agree with 99% of what Obama wants to do, but I think he'd better get on the bandwagon on offshore drilling. It's the right thing to do. Energy independence will require a basket of approaches. There is no silver bullet and we can't kill the oil industry overnight. Instead, we have to move full steam ahead with drilling, while we also wean ourselves off the oil through a Manhattan project on alternatives. If Obama doesn't back offshore drilling, he'll lose a lot of people who would see him as someone who cuts his nose off to spite his face. See article below. I don't agree with much of what it says, in particular the parts where it doesn't elaborate on Obama's plans for energy independence. However, I took away a few thoughts from the article that are worth noting: 1) we need to drill off our own coasts, 2) McCain will get a lot of voters to vote for him because he backs this, 3) Obama being against this has no upside. McCain's Sea Change On Offshore Oil By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY \| Posted Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:20 PM PT Energy Policy: While Democrats want to continue to outsource our energy supplies to the likes of Hugo Chavez, John McCain wants to repeal the federal ban on offshore drilling. The energy tide is turning. IBD Series: Breaking The Back Of High Oil McCain has rightly called rising energy costs due in large part to restricted domestic supply a national security issue. On Monday, he previewed a Tuesday speech in Houston and said that as commander in chief he would end the federal ban on offshore drilling first enacted in 1981 and continued by every president since. We "must embark on a national mission to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil," he said. "But a federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production. . . . It is time for the federal government to lift those restrictions." Indeed, a Manhattan Project on domestic energy is long overdue. Democrats say that increasing domestic production will take years and won't have that much of an effect on prices. Yet when the Saudis agreed last Friday to increase their production by a meager 500,000 barrels a day, oil prices fell on the New York Mercantile Exchange by $1.88 cents a barrel. Imagine the impact of opening up the Outer Continental Shelf. The OCS holds an estimated 115 billion barrels of oil and 635 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. If this and other domestic sources are developed, U.S. reserves would increase by a factor of five, and we'd jump from 11th place to 4th in the world in the size of our proven reserves — enough to make OPEC and speculators blink. In his speech, McCain had harsh words for speculators who drive prices higher by betting they will go higher still. The way to deal with what McCain calls "reckless wagering unrelated to any kind of productive commerce" is not through legislation, as the Democrats want, but through offshore drilling, as he wants. Increasing supply reduces prices. Barack Obama doesn't like the idea, saying through a spokesman that "John McCain's plan to simply drill our way out of the energy crisis is the same misguided approach backed by President Bush that has failed our families for too long and only serves to benefit the big oil companies." Obama's approach is to tax our way out of the energy crisis by targeting oil companies' "windfall" profits. But that will only increase what we pay for gasoline at the pump. Obama says he's for "change." Lifting the offshore ban is the change we need. "Our dependence on foreign oil strains family budgets, and it saps our economy," Obama said in Flint, Mich., on Monday. Yet he wants to leave American oil in the ground and in coastal waters while sending half a trillion dollars overseas to foreign dictators, some of whom use it to support America-hating terrorists. Who knows? Some of these petrodollars may even be used to prop up energy prices in the futures market, putting further strains on a U.S. economy that our enemies wouldn't mind seeing "sapped." The one problem we have with McCain's proposal is that while lifting the federal ban, he'd still let the states decide. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist had opposed offshore oil development even while China and Cuba planned to drill off his coast. But on Tuesday, Crist said he now supports exploratory drilling because "Floridians are suffering." We commend the governor for selflessly bowing to economic reality and his courage in touching what has been considered a "third rail" of political issues to be avoided by coastal governors. As for other states with offshore resources, maybe letting them share in the revenues (as McCain has suggested) will change minds. But federalism and national security usually don't mix. Environmentalists are aghast at all this. But Brazil, Britain, Norway and other countries drill safely offshore, and no major spills were recorded when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita roared through some 3,000 offshore oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Energy is a national security issue, one that should be discussed in this campaign. A clear majority of Americans now say they want to drill here and drill now. John McCain has caught a wave, one he may ride all the way to the White House.