Saturday, June 12, 2004

Where the jobs are
With signs of a possible light at the end of the tunnel that is Iraq beginning to be seen (or at least imagined), the economy -- specifically, jobs -- once again is looming as the 800-pound gorilla of the 2004 presidential election. Every axe-grinder with a point of view and a political stake is gearing up for the blame game to be played out between now and November. While recent news has indicated job creation is on the rise, there is still a lot of ground to be made up for the losses of recent years.

Much has been made of the phenomenon known as job exporting, a topic currently under discussion in X-voter.com's forum and referendum. How much, if any, pressure will be brought to bear in this election for legislation to address this aspect of job losses remains to be seen. But there is one readily available, significant source of American jobs sitting out there right now, waiting to be tapped. Or should I say drilled? The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR.

Estimates vary, but there could be as much as 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil, or even more, in this small chunk of Alaska. Getting that oil out of the ground and into production could put large numbers of people to work at various levels within the industry, although certainly not all at once. Perhaps as many as hundreds of thousands. That represents a huge stimulus to the economy and a lot of sorely needed tax revenue.

Isn't it worth it to find a way for legitimately concerned environmentalists and the oil companies, in possession of greater technology than at any time in their history, to come together on this one? A lot of people would like to go to work.

By Robert Parker at 12:21 PM | Permalink
Category: Economy | Comments (0)

Sunday, May 2, 2004

Weapons of Mass Confusion
I don’t know why President Bush felt is was necessary to put all of his eggs in one basket in Iraq by making WMD’s the sole justification for getting rid of Saddam. Anyone who doesn’t understand that if Saddam had reached his stated goal, that is to gain control of the distribution of a majority of Persian Gulf oil, that the damage to our way of life would be “economic mass destruction,” is either naïve or rides a bicycle to work. Our dependence on the foreign oil we use in our cars and trucks every day cannot allow terrorists, whether they are heads of state or rouge groups, to interrupt its supply. If we don’t agree with or like the Iraq War, then the real answer is to reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil and disengage entirely from the clearly antagonistic Islamic world that controls much of the world’s exportable supply. This must be done by both conservation and alternative fuel sources. So, my friends, the next time you go out and turn the key on your gas guzzler, remember the real reason why President Bush went into Iraq – to protect us from ourselves. George didn’t lie to us - rather we are lying to ourselves if we believe that our dependence on Middle Eastern oil is not the real WMD we face!

By Ray Darnell at 9:58 PM | Permalink
Category: Economy | Comments (1)