Comments on: How will Barack Obama and Mitt Romney get us off foreign oil?

By: Michael Griggs

Michael Griggs — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:04:42 +0000

NAT GAS Act was fought by the Koch brothers. Why would the Koch brothers want stop fight against natural gas. Which candidates are the supporting?

By: Joseph E. Powell

Joseph E. Powell — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:54:19 +0000

Pardon the spelling error in my 1st comment a little earlier – obviously I was not previously familiar with the term – actually surprised that there is a word for it – “oligopoly” corrected.

By: Joseph E. Powell

Joseph E. Powell — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:09:18 +0000

David E. Bruderly PE is exactly correct.
The “free markets” today are not “free markets” as consumers are not the market drivers – the supply side (the “ogilopoly”) drives availability and prices – not the consumers supply and demand curve.
The sentence about “…… that the role of government is to enact policy that protects “the Commons” from exploitation by the powerful, the weak from exploitation by the rich.” could not be more true – it is as they say “spot on”.
There is nothing to be gained by our population (which is just another name for “our country”) by simply increasing production and abdicating to the whims and greed of the “ogilopoly”.
Increasing production is a great starter but not the complete answer to the energy and economic problems that exist in our country today. We need government friendly to it’s people instead of special interests and foreign flags.

By: Deborah Miller

Deborah Miller — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 08:18:23 +0000

I would like to see more income tax credits for solar and other renewable forms of energy. I have often said that the main reason government won’t support renewable energy sources is that they have not found a way to TAX THE SUNSHINE AND THE WIND yet. We need to insulate homes better and tax credits would help those of us with limited funding. In the 60’s. the government mantra was “We will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.” Well, this decade’s mantra needs to be “We will be off of OPEC oil and be energy independent by the end of the decade.” If we have the God given brains to put a man on the moon, surely we can become energy independent. I think the President is trying his best, but when the other side of the aisle becomes like a school yard bully, nothing gets done. But then a lot of politicians are in bed with the oil companies. And they sure aren’t going to give up their kickbacks and bribes.

By: Hershel Sanders

Hershel Sanders — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 22:53:25 +0000

I feel like we moved in the right direction under the current administrtion. Renewable resources could be the way to true feedom. America spends a trillion bucks a year for gas and oil, isnt this “the hole in the bucket”? If gasoline price went to 2.50 a gallon it woild be like pumping 100 billion dollar stimulus into our economy in a short period of time..It is a total shame to us that we cant get new ways to power America..Every garbage truck,school bus,citybus. In other words start the transition now and we will even be better prepared if gasoline prices hit 8 bucks a gallon, and it will if Israel strikes Iran. WHEN DO WE GET SMART?

By: gary doyel

gary doyel — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 19:01:17 +0000

Candidate Romney has said he would eliminate the wind energy credit. How would this effect the Pickens Plan?

By: David E. Bruderly PE

David E. Bruderly PE — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:59:25 +0000

Boone
It time to reframe this as a demand-side economic opporutnity for consumers rather than a supply-side economic challenge. By this I mean focus the conversation on the fact that, under current policy, OPEC has market power, not consumers. OPEC is a supply-side cartel; an oligopoly. OPEC controls motor fuel markets, not consumers. Adam Smith (1776), the Father of Market Capitalism, wrote that government policy should structure markets in ways that give consumers the power to choose their motor fuel, not suppliers. NGVs empower consumers because NGVs create choice and promote competition among fuel types. Smith also wrote that the role of government is to enact policy that protects “the Commons” from exploitation by the powerful, the weak from exploitation by the rich. The only way to break the OPEC Cartel is to enact government policy that gives American consumers market power; by giving consumers the opportunity to choose to use non-petroleum-based motor fuels; reducing demand through efficiency is also effective and is being done by President Obama. Today the best choices for consumers are natural gas and electric motor fuels. It is time to point out to self-proclaimed advocates for “free-markets” that producing more oil from public lands just to bring more gasoline and diesel fuel to global markets contradicts these fundamental principles of market capitalism. Policy that results in more oil production from North American resources will NOT break the OPEC Cartel; this economic reality is being ignored by too many “conservative” politicians and their economic advisers and political spin-meisters.

By: Gary Tveten

Gary Tveten — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:09:10 +0000

I have no confidence in Obama. He’s had almost 4 years to address this and like jobs, has done nothing.
We’re better off by trying it with Romney

By: Ron Bowes

Ron Bowes — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:43:27 +0000

I’M A SOLAR ENERGY CONTRACTOR/ INSTALLER , IF YOIU REALLY LIKE OFF OIL THEN GO SOLAR AND SAVE..FORM HAWAII

By: Rose Cohlmia

Rose Cohlmia — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:22:16 +0000

You’re right they probably won’t go into detail tonight on energy but thank you for all you’re doing to raise the red flags on how serious this is getting. I don’t know how my friends in California are managing their gas prices with all the driving that they do…