How do we know that Solyndra and First Solar and Fisker Automotive and thirty other failed Obama-subsidized green energy ventures are (or were) highly moral enterprises? Because they are all going bankrupt. They all produce less value for consumers than they cost in resources. That’s good because producing net value—making money—is the criterion of immorality.
Such, at least, is the message from ExxonHatesYourChildren.com, where an actor pretending to speak for Exxon smugly plays the Grinch:
Here at Exxon we hate your children. We all know the climate crisis will rip their world apart but we don’t care, because it’s making us rich.
Wait a minute. If they are getting rich, doesn’t that mean they have to be creating quite a bit of value? Doesn’t it mean that people need the gasoline that Exxon is producing and find it’s price inexpensive compared to the value they get out of it? Indeed, if gasoline producers stopped producing, wouldn’t everyone, including the children, die practically on the spot?
Condemning energy suppliers is just as perverse as condemning food suppliers. Unfortunately we have to take these people seriously because the country just re-elected a president who thinks much the same way, so witness the dripping hatred for mankind, made palatable (to some) by a sugar coating of anti-capitalism and class warfare. Here’s the video:
Here at Exxon we hate your children. We all know the climate crisis will rip their world apart but we don’t care, because it’s making us rich. That’s right, every year Congress gives the fossil fuel industry over ten billion dollars in subsidies. That’s your tax dollars lining our pockets, making a fortune destroying your kids’ future. At Exxon, that’s what we call ‘good business’.
The ExxonHatesYourChildren.com website was created by Andrew Boyd, an eco-leftist activist who was an originator of the class-war demagoguery of the Occupy movement. That’s why Boyd’s group is called “The Other 98%.” Boyd got in early, before his Occupy comrades decided that 98 to 2 was not enough advantage and changed their slogan to “the 99%.” These people have backing all the way to the top of the Democratic Party. New Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren claims to have laid the intellectual foundation for the Occupy movement and Obama himself endorses it (“we are on their side“).
Where are the REAL subsidies going?
Of course Boyd’s demagoguery goes beyond his explicit appeal to class warfare. His group is also fabulously dishonest. When they (and Obama) claim that oil companies are getting billions in subsidies what they mean is that Exxon gets to take advantage of the same tax breaks that other businesses do in order to keep a bit more of the money they earned. Keeping your own money is not a subsidy.
Want to see some real subsidies? Check out Obama’s bankrupt 33 (from The Heritage Foundation), with the amounts of direct taxpayer funding each received from the Obama Administration. The 19 asterisked companies have already filed for bankruptcy. The others are near bankruptcy:
1.Evergreen Solar ($25 million)*
2.SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
3.Solyndra ($535 million)*
4.Beacon Power ($43 million)*
5.Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
6.SunPower ($1.2 billion)
7.First Solar ($1.46 billion)
8.Babcock and Brown ($178 million)
9.EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
10.Amonix ($5.9 million)
11.Fisker Automotive ($529 million)
12.Abound Solar ($400 million)*
13.A123 Systems ($279 million)*
14.Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($700,981)*
15.Johnson Controls ($299 million)
16.Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
17.ECOtality ($126.2 million)
18.Raser Technologies ($33 million)*
19.Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
20.Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*
21.Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
22.Range Fuels ($80 million)*
23.Thompson River Power ($6.5 million)*
24.Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
25.Azure Dynamics ($5.4 million)*
26.GreenVolts ($500,000)
27.Vestas ($50 million)
28.LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($151 million)
29.Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
30.Navistar ($39 million)
31.Satcon ($3 million)*
32.Konarka Technologies Inc. ($20 million)*
33.Mascoma Corp. ($100 million)
As for “tax subsidies” (letting earners keep their money), the vast majority of those also go to “green” energy. From the Congressional Budget Office:
Since green energy is tiny compared to brown energy, the subsidy as a percentage of the industry is vastly larger for green energy than even this graph indicates. Heritage has run the numbers:
…wind energy companies, for instance, get about 1000 times the subsidies that oil companies do, per kilowatt-hour of energy produced.
Just for fun, somebody should ask some actual children what they would think of a character who tried to turn off the electricity and take away gasoline. It’s like the villain in a superhero movie. And that “climate crisis” that is supposedly going to “rip their world apart”? Notice that Boyd et al. lack the conviction to even call it “global warming.” Apparently they know full well that global temperature has not risen significantly in over a decade but are unwilling to relinquish the demagogic power that comes from blaming natural phenomena on their capitalist enemy.
I found this satire on Youtube. Apologies to George.
Doug Allen says:
December 9, 2012 at 7:13 pm
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Those who believe that they are entitled to take other people’s money so that it can be spent on themselves have earned every drop of contempt that they receive.
RoHa says:
December 9, 2012 at 8:39 pm
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Bankers and financiers do not get rich by ripping people off. They get rich by providing services that people are willing to pay a lot of money to receive. Just because you don’t understand economics, don’t assume that nobody else does either.
LazyTeenager says:
December 10, 2012 at 3:54 am
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You definitely live up to your tag, don’t you.
The increase in production under Obama occurred due to leases that were let during the Bush administration and for the most part on lands outside the control of the federal govt.
Obama tried the same lie during the campaign, and only his syncophants bought it.
LazyTeenager says:
December 10, 2012 at 3:54 am
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Obama tried to sell that lie during the campaign. I’m not surprised that you bought it.
The increases occurred from two factors, leases let during the Bush administration, and on state and private lands that he doesn’t control.
Every action he took during the last 4 years was aimed at reducing current and future production.
georgi says:
December 10, 2012 at 3:55 am
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The subsidy comes from the fact that Exxon’s tax rate is not 100%
I would add that it is only a small step to go from the statement that “Exxon hates your children” to “Climate D** niers hate your children”.
Is this libel or slander? Either way Exxon needs to get some cojones and tackle this idiot.
I’m an environmentalist and I hate your children, I hate you, and I hate your success. We know that Marxism is destroying civilization, but we don’t care because it makes us powerful…
Yes, highly recommended for those unable to absorb more reputable sources on the ‘banking system’ or if one likes reading ‘high drama’ and made-up stories … IMNSHO of course.
Griffin, film maker, JBS member, child actor, former voice on WJR Detroit MI once upon a time took some courses to become a certified financial planner, and somehow came away with the idea that he had become an ‘expert’ on the subject of the origins of our ‘monetary system’ and furthermore found the ‘root cause’ of all our financial woes (Creature from Jekyll Is.)
More debunking G. Edward Griffin’s works and links to debunking website can be found here.
BTW, FSS, nice self-ident as a “Keeper Of Odd Knowledge” (K. O. O. K.)
.
Wrong (again)!
Domestic oil production in the USA is up because of increases in production on private land. Production on federal land is down. The number of leases approved on federal land is down. The Obama administration, particularly the EPA, has worked very diligently to create regulations to reduce every type of fossil fuel energy production and use. The Obama administration opposes coal mining and coal-fired power plants. The Obama administration opposes hydraulic fracking. The Obama administration opposes the development of North Dakota oil shale. The Obama administration opposes development of the Keystone pipeline.
metamars,
Your initial concern was about carbon and peak oil rather than mercury, high pressure drills, spills, or dolphins and dispersants. I don’t like playing bait and switch.
What concerns me most about the use of “fossil fuels” is the flagrant disregard for thermodynamic constraints by professed peripatetics of energy exploitation. That concerns me a lot.
@Khwarizmi Neither do I. Perhaps you should try reading for meaning and context, rather than strawmen. And if disambiguation is required, which I kindly provided in this thread, a simple “thank-you for clarifying” would do, rather than making accusations of “bait and switch”.
Exxon produces oil and gasoline. It’s the consumers that burn the gasoline to produce the CO2. It seems like the the environmentalists have missed the mark.
Jim asked-
Doug Allen says December 9, 2012 at 7:13 pm
… Outside of socialist goals (wealth redistribution and so forth) what do you see as positives in this present administration?
Jim,
I see many positives. In the presidential primary, I voted for Ron Paul. With both Paul and Obama you know where they stand- unlike Romney. That’s a one positive. Both are less militaristic than Romney. That’s a second positive that can result in substantial spending reductions, a third positive. BTW, Paul’s criticism of our military spending and “empire” was based on Chalmers Johnson’s trilogy, SORRWS OF EMPIRE, BLOWBACK. and NEMISIS which describe how overreach has doomed one empire after another throughout history. Our overbloated militarty (700+ bases all over the world) not only is redundant power and bankrupting, but adds to the ugly American image. It also probably makes us less prepared. Next, wealth distribution isn’t particularly a socialist goal, but a requirement of a stable civilization. The disparity in income between the middle class and the very weathy has grown and continues to grow. Study ancient Greek history or any time period since then, and you’ll find that great disparities in wealth and power bring civil instability and much, much worse. Returning the the tax code to the rates of the Clinton or Reagan period, which Republicans oppose, makes good sense in many ways- a fourth positive. Another threat to national stability is the desire of many Republicans to introduce more religion into government which is resisted by the Obama admisistration- a fifth positive. As Roger Williams taught, when you mix religion and politics, you get politics. As we know here on WUWT, the same thing happens when you mix science and politics. When religion is subject to government preferences or laws, it is always damaging to religion and to government. I just finished reading the book ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE CREATION OF THE AMERICAN SOUL which ought to convince anyone how dagerous it is to mix politics and religion. Good book.
I could easily list another dozen positives, but this is a climate blog, and we are all aware of the politics, the confirmation bias, the mania , irrationality, and, occasionally, ill will, of the alarmists toward the skeptics and lukewarmers like myself. Alec Rawls and some others here seem blind to their own confirmation bias, irrationality and ill will. When policy discussion is thrown overboard for tirades of ad hominem attacks and blame, we’re not in a position to criticize the alarmists, are we?
Jim, there’s a partial answer. The ball is in your court!
Doug Allen says:
“With both Paul and Obama you know where they stand- unlike Romney.”
Well, there’s a giant case of confirmation bias on display.
In the case of Ron Paul, yes. But Obama’s record is largely opaque. At times he professes to be a Christian, at other times, a Muslim. Where does he stand? Forbes interviewed more than 400 college classmates, and not one of them remembered Barry. In most of the Senate votes he attended he voted “Present”, instead of Aye or Nay. Where does he stand? His school records are completely opaque, as is most of his life. I could go on, but I think readers get the picture.
Regarding Romney, his record and his life are an open book. He is The Fixer who saved literally thousands of jobs. He gave away his large inheritance to charity because he wanted to be successful on his own. He gives forty times as much money to charity every year as Obama & Biden. I could go on, but it’s not necessary. He is an entirely good and honest man who was demonized by a $Billion campaign and a complicit media. With that kind of support, Obama should have won by at least twenty points. Instead, he barely squeaked by with the enormous and unexpected help of TS Sandy.
Your bias makes the rest of your screed worthless. You have an agenda. Next time, you would be wise to avoid starting out with easily debunked political opinions.
Doug Allen says:
December 10, 2012 at 11:24
================
A window into the uncensored mind of a liberal thinker. I can see the far side, unobstructed.
Doug writes:
“Study ancient Greek history or any time period since then, and you’ll find that great disparities in wealth and power bring civil instability and much, much worse. Returning the the tax code to the rates of the Clinton or Reagan period, which Republicans oppose, makes good sense in many ways- a fourth positive.”
One can argue this but it does not follow that the federal government has a legitimate role in dealing with income inequality. Even if they did, what makes you so sure that the redistribution would go to the poor and not bureaucrats. Wait a minute, it already does. Never mind.
“Returning the the tax code to the rates of the Clinton or Reagan period, which Republicans oppose, makes good sense in many ways- a fourth positive.”
The Democrats oppose it as well. They only want the top tax brackets to return to the Clinton erra rates, creating an even more progressive tax code.
@Doug Allen says: December 10, 2012 at 11:24 am
Nowhere in the Constitution is our government granted the right to redistribute wealth or reduce income equality.
Religion has always been part of American politics, for better or worse. President Thomas Jefferson regularly attended church services held at the House of Representatives, for instance. Presidents have regularly asked Americans to pray for various outcomes, or pray for strength, etc. Our current president is not against religion in politics, just religion that doesn’t support his political views.
Metamars and Roger Knights
Fusion? Oh, please. The materials problems are so extreme that no amount of wishful thinking can tackle them. Star Trek is more realistic. Fusion would be a bigger black hole for investment than anything the Obama Administration has funded.
A “partial” list of products made from Petroleum (6000 items). One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest (over half) is used to make things like: Although the major use of petroleum is as a fuel, (gasoline, jet fuel, heating oil),and petroleum and natural gas are often used to generate electricity, there are many other uses. Here are some of the ways petroleum is used in our every day lives. All plastic is made from petroleum and plastic is used almost everywhere: in cars,houses, toys, computers and clothing. Asphalt used in road construction is a petroleum product as is the synthetic rubber in the tires. Paraffin wax comes from petroleum, as do fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, detergents, phonograph records, photographic film, furniture, packaging materials, surfboards, paints, and artificial fibres used in clothing, upholstery, and carpet backing Solvents Diesel Motor Oil Bearing Grease Ink Floor Wax Ballpoint Pens Football Cleats Upholstery Sweaters Boats Insecticides Bicycle Tires Sports Car Bodies Nail Polish Fishing lures Dresses Tires Golf Bags Perfumes Cassettes Dishwasher Tool Boxes Shoe Polish Motorcycle Helmet Caulking Petroleum Jelly Transparent Tape CD Player Faucet Washers Antiseptics Clotheslines Curtains Food Preservatives Basketballs Soap Vitamin Capsules Antihistamines Purses Shoes Dashboards Cortisone Deodorant Footballs Putty Dyes Panty Hose Refrigerant Percolators Life Jackets Rubbing Alcohol Linings Skis TV Cabinets Shag Rugs Electrician’s Tape Tool Racks Car Battery Cases Epoxy Paint Mops Slacks Insect Repellent Oil Filters Umbrellas Yarn Fertilizers Hair Coloring Roofing Toilet Seats Fishing Rods Lipstick Denture Adhesive Linoleum Ice Cube Trays Synthetic Rubber Speakers Plastic Wood Electric Blankets Glycerine Tennis Rackets Rubber Cement Fishing Boots Dice Nylon Rope Candles Trash Bags House Paint Water Pipes Hand Lotion Roller Skates Surf Boards Shampoo Wheels Paint Rollers Shower Curtains Guitar Strings Luggage Aspirin Safety Glasses Antifreeze Football Helmets Awnings Eyeglasses Clothes Toothbrushes Ice Chests Footballs Combs CD’s Paint Brushes Detergents Vaporizers Balloons Sun Glasses Tents Heart Valves Crayons Parachutes Telephones Enamel Pillows Dishes Cameras Anaesthetics Artificial Turf Artificial limbs Bandages Dentures Model Cars Folding Doors Hair Curlers Cold cream Movie film Soft Contact lenses Drinking Cups Fan Belts Car Enamel Shaving Cream Ammonia Refrigerators Golf Balls Toothpaste Gasoline Ink Dishwashing liquids Paint brushes Telephones Toys Unbreakable dishes Insecticides Antiseptics Dolls Car sound insulation Fishing lures Deodorant Tires Motorcycle helmets Linoleum Sweaters Tents Refrigerator linings Paint rollers Floor wax Shoes Electrician’s tape Plastic wood Model cars Glue Roller-skate wheels Trash bags Soap dishes Skis Permanent press clothes Hand lotion Clothesline Dyes Soft contact lenses Shampoo Panty hose Cameras Food preservatives Fishing rods Oil filters Combs Transparent tape Anaesthetics Upholstery Dice Disposable diapers TV cabinets Cassettes Mops Sports car bodies Salad bowls House paint Purses Electric blankets Awnings Ammonia Dresses Car battery cases Safety glass Hair curlers Pyjamas Synthetic rubber VCR tapes Eyeglasses Pillows Vitamin capsules Movie film Ice chests.
I mean really, take that away from the propaganda makers, let them live in a mud hut and burn dung for fuel. Idiots.
Doug Allen
December 10, 2012 at 11:24 am
###
Well you’re understanding of history, government, and everything else is pretty much the direct product of Marxist propaganda. As a Ronulan, you probably have reevaluated some of your beliefs, but you got a long way to go. The Ugly American stereotype is the creation of Marxist propagandists, the Military Causes the Ugly American meme is also a Marxist creation as is the idiocy of the Weak (Focused, Efficient, Targeted, etc) Military is in reality a better Military.
If you knew any real Greek history, you would know that the culture was brought to its knees by a group that would eventually be called tyrants. This group purported an ideology and pushed an agenda that is indistinguishable from the American Democrat. It had nothing to do with adventurism.
Metamars,
Burning coal is not toxic, and neither is burning oil. The EPA’s ruling on the safety levels of mercury from burning coal was based on shoddy science and has been discussed here on WUWT many times. Some basic facts:
1. “US power plants account for only 0.5% of the mercury in US air. Thus, even if EPA’s new rules eventually do eliminate 90% of mercury from power plant emission streams, that’s still only 90% of 0.5% – ie, almost zero benefit.”
2. “EPA fails to recognize that mercury is abundant in the earth’s crust. It is absorbed by trees through their roots – and released into the atmosphere when the trees are burned in forest fires, fireplaces and wood-burning stoves. In fact, US forest fires annually emit as much mercury as all US coal-burning electrical power plants. Mercury and other “pollutants” are also released by geysers, volcanoes and subsea vents, which tap directly into subsurface rock formations containing these substances.”
refs:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/26/shutting-down-power-plants-imaginary-benefits-extensive-harm/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/06/04/was-good-science-really-applied-in-the-recent-mercury-report-issued-by-the-florida-department-of-environmental-protection/
So environmental policies mandating burning “biomass,” and mandating the use of CFLs, which contain volitized mercury, while claiming that coal is “toxic,” is yet another logical and scientific pretzel that does not stand up to scrutiny. The way forward is to develop intelligent electrical manipulation of atomic configurations without outlawing or harming current cheap and abundant energy sources. There is no either/or decision that has to be made. Fusion is a both/and option, to be developed while maintaining current levels of hydrocarbon power generation.
“And if we already had fusion energy, what would be the point of shipping tar sands goo across the country?”
I can assure you very few readers here are impressed or convinced by radical environmentalists calling our natural resources “goo” or “dirty” or “toxic.” This is nonsense language used by unscrupulous scientists and politicians to frighten children. And no one here is in a hell-fire hurry to use the Precautionary Principle to freeze (or reverse) technology in sneaky back door legislation supposedly “for the public good.” Cold fusion, focus fusion, blacklight power, and George Miley’s recent work are not murder weapons to kill coal and oil.
Besides, a pipeline is much quieter, more efficient, and cleaner than hundreds of miles of worthless 400′ wind turbines.