Big0ne
Shared on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 08:18The election is finally almost here and more importantly, almost over. I thought that I’d try and cut through the pundits and spin doctors that have made some good coin the last 24 months covering this thing and go straight to the candidates for a comparison. The positions listed come straight from their respective web sites. My opinion on the matter(s) will be marked as such. In no particular order and in no way is this list complete in terms of the number of issues.
Energy
McCain:
- Commit Our Country To Expanding Domestic Oil Exploration.
- Believes In Promoting And Expanding The Use Of Our Domestic Supplies Of Natural Gas.
- Clean Car Challenge to the automakers of America, in the form of a single and substantial tax credit for the consumer based on the reduction of carbon emissions. He will commit a $5,000 tax credit for each and every customer who buys a zero carbon emission car
- Effectively Enforce Existing CAFE Standards.
- Put His Administration On Track To Construct 45 New Nuclear Power Plants By 2030 With The Ultimate Goal Of Eventually Constructing 100 New Plants.
- Encourage The Market For Alternative, Low Carbon Fuels Such As Wind, Hydro And Solar Power.
- Make Greening the Federal Government a Priority Of His Administration.
- Does Not Support A Windfall Profits Tax.
Obama:
- Enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families.
- Create a New $7,000 Tax Credit for Purchasing Advanced Vehicles.
- A “Use it or Lose It” Approach to Existing Oil and Gas Leases.
- Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology and Safe and Secure Nuclear Energy.
- Reduce Federal Energy Consumption.
- Require 10 Percent of Electricity to Come from Renewable Sources by 2012.
- Put 1 million Plug‐In Hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon – on the road by
2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America
My Opinion:
As I said before, this isn’t an exhaustive list but rather the “highlights” that struck me as I read through both candidates’ websites. If you want more, I’d encourage you to check out their sites. So, as I look down the list I’m not sure who is who. Both want to “encourage” more fuel efficient/flex fuel/alternative fuel vehicles. Both are in favor of nuclear/wind/solar exploration and development. Both want to start by implementing efficiency and energy saving programs within the Federal government as a means of example and job creation. There are some differences. Most come in the form of numbers of dollars and time lines. None of that really matters though, quite frankly. The difference between a $5000 credit and a $7000 credit won’t matter much by the time Congress puts their stamp on it in committees. They’ll push for a totally different number. Same for time lines. Ever notice that the time lines always push out beyond a candidate’s term?
So where are the real differences?
They do differ on the windfall profit tax. Personally, I side with McCain on this issue. Taking from the “greedy” “rich” oil companies to give to the “poor” American family isn’t a solution. It’s playing class warfare. The companies will just increase their prices to make up the difference and you’ll give it all back at the pump anyway. Plus we all know that as a percentage of their total business, the oil companies aren’t making as much as places like McDonald's anyway. Curiously, McCain doesn’t support the windfall tax, yet his running mate did. I guess we shouldn’t expect any two people to be in total agreement.
I do like Obama’s “Use it or lose it” stance in regard to domestic oil exploration. If the oil company has acreage that they aren’t using, they should have to give acre for acre back for each new spot they wish to develop. McCain offered no position on this that I saw (or remember reading).
They both seem to have bought into the “global warming because of the cars we drive” dogma of the last 15 years. It’s not a position I’d agree with but there’s no better alternative at this point. In the end, on this issue, there’s very little that I’m all that worked up over to give on guy a clear edge over the other. I guess I’d lean slightly with McCain based on the windfall tax issue alone, but overall there’s not enough difference here to get my panties twisted one way or the other.
I was going to explore a half dozen different issues on this blog post, but I can see now that it’s gonna get pretty long. More to come…
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Comments
Submitted by Teufelhunden11 on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 11:14
Submitted by d0od on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 15:02
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Submitted by ekattan on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 08:41
Submitted by ekattan on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 08:41