Obama: No More Euro Model!

Let's Go China Model on Energy!

Justice Dakota

03/29/2012

A 13-year-old Chinese company called PetroChina just surpassed America's Exxon Mobil as the world's biggest publicly traded producer of oil. The crazy thing is that the Beijing company was created by the Chinese government to secure more oil for that nation's booming economy just 13 years ago.

It is safe to say, "China is kicking Ass!"

PetroChina (and possibly China in general), is kicking Western ass because PetroChina's goal is to acquire more petroleum reserves in places like Canada, Iraq and Qatar.

China figured out what most 5th graders in America should be taught: Oil fuels economic growth and prosperity; prosperity improves living standards; improved living standards, not surprisingly, is something all people want (it pays for education, pays for a strong military, creates jobs, provides for cheaper consumer goods -- including food ... oh and cheaper gas -- and, acquisition of oil generally makes life better for everyone).

China figured this out at about the same time the United States and Europe began investing in wind-mills, corn (Ethanol), carbon-taxes, solar panels, and non-functioning (from a practical standpoint) electric vehicles that may or may not work (not to mention that when you plug them in, you need oil, gas, coal or Nuclear energy to charge the "Green" electric battery.)

How did China get so smart? Or, how did we devolve into macro-economic illiterates?

It's not a fair fight! China does not have a "Green" movement. As a result, I suspect they will continue to get stronger and wealthier while the United States and Europe will get weaker and poorer. I find that to be very sad. It did not have to be this way.

"We must push ahead," PetroChina chairman Jiang Jiemin said in January 2012"

Today, March 29, 2012, President Obama moved to end subsidies for oil and gas companies. Uh, those subsidies are called tax-break incentives to encourage a particular behavior -- like research, development, discovery, and recovery of new sources of oil and gas. A mortgage tax-break was a policy to encourage a particular behavior -- home ownership.

So, as PetroChina is " ... pushing ahead," the leader of the United States is is trying to put the brakes on American oil discovery and recovery. He is ostensibly "demonizing" oil companies. I presume PetroChina is laughing at the United States. They are bidding on abundant Canadian oil more than Canada's oil-thirsty neighbor to the south.

I assume President Obama has calculated that if he can convince Americans to blame "Big Oil" for the high price of gasoline, they will not blame him. What about the greater good of the American economy? What about prosperity for future generations of Americans? Maybe China has it right ... do you think the POTUS has considered that possibility?

Here is the huge irony: America is giving up on future wealth-creation and future generational prosperity despite the fact we are the most resource-rich nation in the world.

According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service: America’s combined recoverable natural gas, oil, and coal endowment is the largest on Earth. It’s far larger than that of Saudi Arabia, China, and Canada combined.

With all due respect to the President, he may go down in history as the POTUS who hated oil so much he jeopardized the future economic well-being of numerous future generations of Americans (rejecting the Canadian Keystone Oil Pipeline could end up being symbolic of his antipathy toward North American oil and gas exploration, discovery, and recovery). 

I get the impression Obama wants us to go Euro-style with respect to energy (skinny-pants -- they seem to be required --, tiny cars, and a lot of annoying scooters).

Instead, maybe, in the context of energy, we should go "China-style" on the world? Maybe, we should re-establish ourselves as being serious about jobs, prosperity, and national wealth creation?

I can't "carry all of Governor Romney's water for him" when he faces Obama in the 2012 Presidential Election; however, I will give Mitt the following advice: figure out a simple way to communicate to the American people that which we already know in our guts (that we have everything we need to be a rich, prosperous and powerful nation for generations to come) -- if we responsibly tap our energy wealth.