Lest you think vote-buying is illegal in America, Barack Obama wants to give you $1000 for yours.
OK, OK, it's not directly for "vote-buying," it's for an "energy rebate" or some crap like that. Which means that he's not using his own money to buy your vote, but... yours. Of course, a $1000 cash handout to every taxpayer is going to be a little pricey ($2 billion or so, I think), and will have about as much effect on the economy as that stimulus check you've already spent has - which is to say, none. But hey, if the government's going to waste my money, they might as well waste some of it on me.
Of course, it's not like McCain has any better ideas for fixing energy. Opening up more offshore drilling areas aren't the answer - oil companies aren't drilling in the areas that are already open because oil's not expensive enough to make it profitable. Offshore drilling only makes sense if oil becomes pricier... which sort of defeats the cited purpose of the legislation. And it's not like any candidate who values his/her prospective job will be suggesting we do what should actually be done - conserve frickin' energy. (We saw how well that worked out for Carter when he suggested it.) And our wonderful Senate is stubbornly refusing to extend renewable energy tax credits for, well, God only knows what reason.
In sum, I'm resigning myself to listen to a bunch of people who don't know what they're talking about doing something stupid that will waste my tax money while doing nothing to make energy more affordable and cleaner. Whee.
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Question: are the twin goals you mention at the end of your post - "making energy more affordable and cleaner" - compatable goals? Or at they at odds?
In the short term, maybe not. In the long term, almost certainly yes. Of course, since we're Americans, we're probably only thinking in the short term. Which is the only point-of-view from which this "energy rebate" seems like a good idea, and even that's a stretch. Still, nice pander, Obama.
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