from R-Squared
In that article is a link to an earlier 2006 article that RR wrote on Ed Rendell -I have seen Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell floated as a possible candidate. I think that signals that open warfare is the direction, as Rendell has been quite a demagogue over the oil companies. As I documented before, Rendell is someone who doesn't seem to see the connection between the 'drive anywhere, anytime' mentality and high gas prices. He wants to have the convenience of hopping in his suburban to drive two blocks, and then he wants to punish the oil companies because prices are too high. He actually wants to reward the people who drive the most. Fundamentally, I don't think Rendell has an understanding of the nature of the problems we face.
It's (past) time for politicians to stop playing on public ignorance to demagogue for votes on energy issues. RR links this article from the Oil Drum at the bottom of the second post of his that I linked above.Don't follow the example of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, as documented below.
I have read with a bit of amusement over the past couple of days stories of Governor Ed Rendell’s rhetoric. First, let me make it clear that I don’t even know which political party this guy belongs to. When I criticize a politician, their political affiliation is of no concern to me. Shallow, pandering remarks come from both parties.
On Monday the Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
Gov. Rendell yesterday urged President Bush to impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies to curb \"profiteering\" that he said is driving the recent spike in gasoline prices.
\"The profits are ungodly; there is no excuse for this,\" Rendell said. \"Oil companies should not be permitted to drain Americans' bank accounts to collect record-breaking profits.\"
However, Rendell's office got it wrong when it said that U.S. oil refiners' profits more than doubled to 99 cents a gallon from 2004 to 2005.
The refining industry's gross profit last year was 47.7 cents per gallon, up from 40.8 cents per gallon in 2004, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. Those figures don't include the cost of refining, which would make the per-gallon profit even lower. (1)
This article was also from 2006. It should be clear to anyone who has been paying attention that not much has changed in the intervening years.The political discourse on this topic is simply so devoid of fact, and constructive discourse so buried and out of the mainstream, that we felt we needed to raise a voice of reason. Public officials will continue to misinform and obfuscate if we allow it.
The only solution is to educate the public about the most important problem we face as a generation. We, the citizens of the US and the world, must move our attention to this the issue of energy more than any other. We must hold our representative governments accountable for having an open and honest debate on the subject.
If you want to bring change, Mister President-elect, then bring some here.
