tag:www.thedonovan.com,2008://1/tag:www.thedonovan.com,2008://1.9566- We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2007 Movable Type 4.12 tag:www.thedonovan.com,2008://1.9566 2008-08-05T05:11:38Z 2008-08-05T06:07:25Z

Kat http://themiddleground.blogspot.com
The shopping reduction was necessary, not only for the saving cost of gas, but because the budget simply had no room for buying books, another outfit for work, new shoes, that camera I've been looking at and a few other purchases that did not fall into "necessity".  Even "necessity" began to look different. 

I needed new front brakes, an oil change and a Universal Joint.  I can afford the brakes and oil change today through judicious saving, but the Universal Joint has to wait.  The truth is, the U Joint needs to get done quickly, but it is going to take two more pay checks to save it up.  I don't use credit cards, by the way.  This is strictly cash transactions.

Let me say, I am making more than minimum wage but less than the minimum income Obama wants to raise taxes on.  And, I'm single.  One thing I know, I'm not going to get any tax breaks or relief at the gas pump from Obama or the Democrats.  I'm not in any of their favored income brackets, and frankly, they actually believe it is good for me to suffer economically for energy because it will force the development of new technologies, increased cafe standards, and the use of gas efficient cars. 

Of course they would love for me to get my truck fixed, get a "tune up," and inflate my tires to help improve gas mileage.   The problem is, with the cost of gas so high, getting those things done is economically difficult  Everything except inflating my tires.  That costs a quarter [air costs a quarter!].  There is another significant problem with their theories.  For instance, there is no way I can afford to get a new, gas-efficient vehicle.  I'm stuck economically with the truck that I have, because I can't sell it or turn it in for a new purchase because I simply will not get enough money for it to make it feasible to immediately buy another vehicle.  Which I need to drive back and forth to work to make money to pay the bills and pay for gasoline.. 

Not to mention, the car payment on any type of hybrid would simply replace some of the cost of the gasoline, not save me money--except maybe the cost of repairs.  That, over a year, would save me maybe $500.  That is not much in today's economy, and not enough to make a car payment.   If I, a staunchly middle class income earner, am in this boat, imagine families living off of less than what I make.

Did I mention that my heating, cooling and electric bill have increased by almost a third, certainly a result of the increased cost of energy?  That is even though this summer has been relatively mild (staying in the 80's tops until the last few days and going back down later this week).  Global warming at its finest.  Yes, that's sarcasm, but also a sigh of relief.  I actually kept the air conditioner off more than half the time this summer compared to summers in the past.

So, I won't be getting a tax break, my gasoline costs will not go down, and neither will my energy costs.  I am not looking forward to this winter, when I believe it's possible my heating bill will double.   I can't afford a new car and can barely afford repairing this one.  I've cut out any extranuous shopping. 
Now, the truth is, I'm not about to starve.  I can gain some additional economic efficiency by cutting out cable and dumping the cell phone to start with, if it becomes necessary.  I'll be blogging from the local library or pretending to sip latte at the coffee shop to scarf off their WiFi.  Then again, with the new government mandated program for televisions coming on line and me owning an old TV, that will also put a crimp in the wallet to either buy a new TV or get one of those boxes for my old TV.  Or, leave the cable on and eat ramen noodles.  As you can see, my choices on economizing do not include cutting out expensive summer camps or  piano lessons, or private school tuition.  If only.

ll in all, I think I'm fairing about as well as the economy: not crashing and burning, but teetering a lot
closer to the edge.   Honestly though, I can recognize that there are many more who are barely surviving--those whose gasoline costs are now a third or more of their budget and who are living close to the edge of not having electricity or food, much less complaining about lack of cable or internet  This winter, they will be the ones who are going to suffer for the cost of heating their homes. 
The Obama/Democrat plan goes something like this: raising taxes on energy companies and using the funds to create a $1000 credit or relief fund for the poor.  This sounds great, except that taxes on a company's income are passed to the consumers.  That includes the poor and middle class who will simply pay more and then have it redistributed back to someone else.  To me, that seems like a shell game and it does not solve the problem at all. 

It does not resolve the rising cost of food, either--a product of both the rising cost of gasoline and energy resources needed to process, manufacture, package and maintain in freezers or in temperate conditions during transport or sale.  A $1000 fund to pay for some people's heating or cooling bills is not going to lower the cost of food or keep it from rising comparatively with the real cost of energy.  The poor, the elderly, those who are just "surviving" will be "the hardest hit," as they say.

Further, as energy costs increase, budgets decrease, and the purchasing power of the average consumer decreases.  That means job losses as businesses are forced to economize over the loss of income.   That would be made even more true as taxes are increased on businesses small and large, as proposed by Senator Obama and the Democrats.  It must be acknowledged that single owner businesses fall under the heading of "individuals" making more than $200,000 who would have their taxes increased and their employees the first to take the hit.  Include in that proposals that would force small businesses to offer health care for each employee at a great expense to both the business and the empoyees.  To put it bluntly, that means higher unemployment, more people on social services, and more people who are barely making it. 

That makes any Democrat claims that it's the Bush economic policies that are leading to increased unemployment bogus.  Inflation related to both the increased cost of business from higher energy costs AND the write downs from over extended markets cause unemployment as companies are forced to "economize", usually through decreasing their most expensive line on the general ledger: labor.

As far as "new technologies" for energy, while they exist and some have come forward in the last two decades, there are none that could possibly be developed or come on line in the next decade that will revolutionize our transportation or other energy needs.  At this point, it can be no more than a sop to our current problems or those in the next decade, possibly two. 

What are the people to do in the meantime? 

Saturday, Obama stated that he would be willing to support a limited increase in drilling, though he does not believe that drilling will have the necessary impact.  It seems, from this point of view, a self-fulfilling prophesy.  Surely, if drilling is "limited" it will indeed have limited impact.

These are "stubborn facts." There are many more stubborn facts that seem to indicate that stubborn insistance on preventing the production of energy resources and relying on unproven energy technologies as some sort of miraculous cure to both our energy problems and our economic problems--while leaving the average American citizen to suffer economically in hopes of some nebulous, decades-away future--is unnecessary and inappropriate.  Particularly when we have the ability today to begin to alleviate those problems by investing in and allowing the production of our own energy resources (including oil and natural gas), so that gas and other energy resources' inflationary rates are slowed and able to be absorbed by the average American, middle class bread earner. 

For the record, Rep. Pelosi, that does not make me a "handmaiden of oil companies."  That makes me THE bread earner responsible for all the bills, and, frankly, the bread is getting scarce around here. 

So, sign me up as a "handmaiden:" Drill here!  Drill now!

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