Monthly Archives: July 2011

Green Energy Fail: Rolling Blackouts in South East Michigan

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Remember Democrat Jennifer Granholm’s (former governor of Michigan) 2009 State of the State address? Here in an excerpt:

So tonight, I am announcing the next phase of our plan.

The demand for wind and solar power in this country is about to explode. President Obama has announced ambitious plans to double our nation’s use of these renewable energy sources in just three years. As the nation’s demand for renewable energy goes up, so, too, does the demand for the technologies and products that are critical to the new energy industry. We will seize upon this surging demand for renewable energy to increase the supply of good-paying jobs in Michigan.

So here’s our next aggressive goal: By the year 2020, Michigan will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels for generating electricity by 45 percent. We will do it through increased renewable energy, gains in energy efficiency and other new technologies. You heard me right: a 45 percent reduction by 2020.

How will we reach this 45-by-20 goal and get the jobs that come with it? Instead of spending nearly $2 billion a year importing coal or natural gas from other states we’ll be spending our energy dollars on Michigan wind turbines, Michigan solar panels, Michigan energy-efficiency devices, all designed, manufactured and installed by. . .Michigan workers.

Part of Granholm’s plan wasn’t clearly outlined in her 2009 State of the State address. She issued an Executive Order that effectively slowed or prevented additional coal generation capacity in Michigan. Via the industry journal Power:

Granholm, a Democrat, said in her address that Michigan would pursue an “aggressive” goal to increase the availability of green jobs to reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels for generating electricity 45% by 2020.

“How will we reach this 45-by-20 goal and get the jobs that come with it? Instead of spending nearly $2 billion a year importing coal or natural gas from other states we’ll be spending our energy dollars on Michigan wind turbines, Michigan solar panels, Michigan energy-efficiency devices, all designed, manufactured and installed by Michigan workers,” she said.

She instructed the state’s environmental quality department and the PSC to first consider whether the new generation is needed and then to consider technologies that “prevent coal plants from spewing dirty carbon emissions into the air” before approving them—specifically technologies that reduced or sequestered emissions, according to a directive issued soon after her speech. Granholm added, “That breakthrough technology, and others like it, can create jobs [in Michigan], too.”

Michigan is currently home to 19 coal-fired plants, which produce about 60% of the state’s electricity, according to the Energy Information Administration. Most of the coal it uses is shipped in from Wyoming and Montana.

The new coal policy will significantly slow down—but not necessarily halt—construction of coal plants proposed for Bay City, Holland, Midland, and Rogers City. Three other coal plants are also in the works, though they haven’t yet been submitted for state approval.

Today, in South East Michigan, temperatures are hovering around 100 degrees F with plenty of sun. Perfect for that great solar energy Granholm was extolling in 2009. We also have had a steady breeze (15mph), right in the butter zone for wind power generation.

The State Government in Michigan, on governor Granholm’s orders, slowed construction of additional coal powered electrical generating capacity in favor of solar and wind power.

So, how is the plan working?

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Rolling blackouts.

“It assures that one batch of customers isn’t burdened with a power outage for the entire period of time,” he said.

Singer said DTE has notified customers in Ferndale that they will rotate outages, with power out for two hours and then on for two hours for customers in problem areas.

Singer said they are also keeping their eye on electrical demand in Warren to determine if rolling blackouts will be necessary there as well.

There were about 25,000 DTE customers without electricity, Thursday afternoon, as temperatures were set to hit the triple digits in Metro Detroit. The biggest outages right now are in Redford Township, Detroit’s westside, Ferndale and Plymouth Township.

Even with perfect conditions for wind and solar power we are experiencing rolling blackouts.

Local Governments Doing The Jobs Panhandlers Won’t Do

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This strikes me as a bad idea on all fronts. Via Freakonomics:

Turns out the solutions have only gotten more creative in the last few years. The newest innovation are “homeless meters,” repurposed parking meters — painted a different color and set back from the street — that people can deposit coins into rather than give spare change to panhandlers. Cities then donate the collected money to nonprofit groups, which in turn use the funds to buy things like bus tickets. Advocates say this cuts down on the abuse of funds, and ensures that donations are put to the best use.

Ensures donations are being put to best use… How? If you want to help the homeless, give money directly to the Salvation Army, a local Church outreach program, directly to a Soup Kitchen in your neighborhood or directly to any charity that is in line with your values. Giving money to a highly political (and less efficient than a reputable charity) city government who is going to donate the money to a ‘non profit’ group is a crapshoot at best.

Some homeless advocates who have a better grasp of the economic realities of having city governments involved in charity work point out a flaw in this system:

PJ Charles, executive director of another group that feeds the homeless called Straight Street Orlando, said the program may cost more than it brings in.

PJ Charles sums up the entire effort perfectly.

“It’s just another effort to seem like they’re making an effort,” he said.

Well said PJ.

EV Manufacturer Folds and City Of Salinas Loses $500K Of Tax Payer Money

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Passing out tax payer money to fund all those ‘green collar’ jobs through PPP’s (Public / Private Partnerships)… What could go wrong:

A Salinas car manufacturing company that was expected to build environmentally friendly electric cars and create new jobs folded before almost any vehicles could run off the assembly line.

The city of Salinas had invested more than half a million dollars in Green Vehicles, an electric car start-up company.

All of that money is now gone, according to Green Vehicles President and Co-Founder Mike Ryan.

The city of Salinas, California lost $500,000 and not one green EV rolled off the assembly line. Their mistake was not consulting with Senator Debbie Stabenow (Democrat- MI) who has this whole green collar jobs thing figured out:

The Battery Innovation Act is the first coordinated plan that incorporates all aspects of advanced battery production, from research and development, to the availability of raw materials, to the manufacturing of these high-tech products. The Act will build off of initiatives authored by Senator Stabenow in 2009, which helped A123 Systems ramp up advanced batteries manufacturing and create jobs in Michigan.

Here in Michigan, we don’t have to worry… We have Debbie Stabnow to spend our money.

Getting to know Obama’s nomination for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray

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Obama didn’t stray too far from his standard profile for member of his Cabinet.

Highly credentialed? Check.

  • Graduated from Grove City High School (1977) co-valedictorian
  • Bachelor’s degree, James Madison College – Michigan State University (1981) in legal and political theory
  • Master’s degree with first class honours, University of Oxford (1983) in economics
  • Juris Doctorate degree with honors, University of Chicago Law School (1986)

I’m sure Obama gave bonus points for University of Chicago Law School.

Partisan hack? Check.

Cordray said yesterday that he will not follow the lead of the other attorneys general, all but one of whom are Republicans.

“It would require tearing up decades of precedent, which would require activist judges, which the proponents of this would not be in favor of,” Cordray said. “I do not think it would be an advisable expenditure of taxpayer dollars on the part of the taxpayers of Ohio.”

He said the legal arguments by McCollum and others are dubious. For example, the other attorneys general contend that the federal government can’t compel people to buy health insurance or anything else, but Congress required people to buy guns and accessories in 1792, Cordray said.

Cordray formally responded yesterday to a request to sue from eight Republican members of Congress from Ohio and the majority Republican caucus of the state Senate. In letters to both groups, Cordray said he’s focusing on issues such as preventing home foreclosures and protecting consumers from unscrupulous business practices.

I’m sure supporting ObamaCare over the wishes of his constituents didn’t hurt Cordray’s chances either.

Long time supporter of the cradle to grave concept of the nanny state? Check.

Richard Cordray Answers Questions

Candidate for United States Senate (2000 election)

Questions & Answers

1. Should the United States pay all its dues to the United Nations as was originally agreed upon in its charter?

Yes, If we want to exercise leadership in the world, as we should, we should begin by carrying out our own international obligations. We should build upon that basic responsibility by setting a positive example for other nations in terms of critical issues such as nuclear proliferation; for that reason, I strongly oppose the recent vote in the Senate not to ratify the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. This vote means turning our back on decades of work to make the world safer and promote the peaceful solution of international disputes

2. What specific measures, if any, would you support to reform health care?

Fist, I support the Patient’s Bill of Rights, which the Senate Republican have blocked. The legislation would grant patients the right to appeal a denial of treatment, more access to specialist, and coverage of emergency room treatment. It also would hold HMO’s accountable by providing legal recourse when they deny treatment recommended by the doctor. Second, I favor expanding health care coverage by ensuring that all children have access to quality health care, get the immunizations they need and receive primary pediatric care. Third, I would use any surpluses to protect Medicare and cover prescription drugs for senior citizens.

3. What measures, if any, would you support to reform our campaign finance system?

I strongly support the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation, both in its current form (banning soft money) and in its previous, stronger form (including broader and more comprehensive reforms). I also would support and work toward public financing of congressional campaigns, to level the playing field between incumbents and challengers. Finally, I support measures ( both at the federal and state level) to provide a fairer, nonpolitical apportionment of legislative districts to encourage competition that benefits the voters by giving them more of a choice.

Standard lib boilerplate answers.

And finally, lot of people on the left are making a big deal out of the fact that Richard Cordray is an excellent Jeopardy! player. And I’m sure Obama couldn’t wait to use this joke in the press conference announcing Cordray’s nomination.

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I guess we are supposed to laugh at the thought of ANOTHER layer of federal regulation of our economy and ANOTHER expansion of our bloated government.

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to run an economy

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Saw this subject line in my e-mail from the Michigan GOP:

Maxed out, broke, and short-sighted is no way to grow jobs

It’s a pretty good article describing the failures of Obama and his fellow leftists in Washington. However, reading the subject line of the e-mail, all I could think of was this:

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Pretty clever.

Interesting Chart: CBO Report On Tax Receipts vs. Expenditures

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2010 CBO Report:

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For FY 2010, the CBO estimated that the Federal Government would take $2.143 trillion and spend $3.485 trillion, leaving a $1.342 trillion deficit. Our government overspent by more than 50%.

Looking at the chart a little more you notice that, in 2010, the CBO estimated our government stat to get a grip on the spending problem and our annual deficit will begin to start trending downward (and decrease the rate of growth of our national debt- since they are still running a deficit).

In 2010 the CBO projected that in FY 2011 the deficit to be $1.066 trillion. The CBO missed this projection. Significantly.

Looking at the latest (June 2011) monthly CBO projection we are on track to blow past the 2010 yearly projection shortly:

The federal budget deficit is $929 billion for the first eight months of fiscal year 2011, CBO estimates in its latest Monthly Budget Review—$6 billion less than the shortfall recorded over the same period last year.

Not only is spending out of control, the rate of increase in the national debt is growing at a frightening pace as well. And, of course, Obama and his leftist cohorts are not interested in cutting spending. They are only interested in raising taxes. I have one question. How, exactly, is raising taxes going to help close this gap? Any serious economist understands that by raising taxes on the private sector (certainly at the punitive level of a 50% increase needed to close the budget gap) is going to destroy the private sector and shrink our economy further. Obama will probably fall back on the old Democrat saw and recommend raising taxes on corporate America, where during his brief tenure at a consulting company, Obama felt he was “behind enemy lines.”

Of course this will not work.

Unlike Obama and his fellow leftists, most people understand that corporations and small businesses alike, don’t actually pay taxes. They roll their taxes into the price of goods and services they sell. It is the consumer of those goods and services that ultimately pay the taxes. If the Federal government raises taxes on business they will either raise prices to cover the increase taxes, cut costs (i.e. layoffs) or most likely do a combination of both. These actions will reduce economic activity thereby increasing the deficit.

The only obvious answer is to cut spending (significantly) and adopt a pro economic growth policy that includes tax cuts. This is the only way out of this mess.

If a CEO at a publicly traded company overspent his revenues by 50% one time, he would not only be fired, he would probably wind up in jail for fraud.

Addendum:

If Obama were to raise taxes to cut the Federal deficit of $1.4 trillion this year by raising income taxes, the bill for taxpayers would be staggering.

Consider that there were 141,536,000 tax return’s filed in 2010 and that nearly 50% of filers didn’t pay any income taxes in 2009 the income tax bill would be huge. If everyone who files a return (the 141, 356,000) had to pick up the bill, they would see their federal income tax increase by $9, 891.48. If only the rich (i.e. the 50% of us who actually pay federal income tax) got the bill, it would cost us an additional $19 782.95 on or federal income taxes.

Video: World’s only actual turbine powered Batmobile

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Via YouTube:

This is the only Batmobile created that makes fiction reality. It is powered by a military spec Boeing turboshaft engine driving the rear wheels through a semi automatic gearbox. It features a custom tube frame/monocoque chassis with fully independant suspension, disc brakes, and a sequential shifter. It runs on kerosene, diesel, or Jet fuel and has a power to weight ratio comparable to a Dodge Viper.

This is too cool.

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Guess who is funding Russia’s next generation manned spacecraft…

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The American taxpayer. Via MIT Technology Review:

With the U.S. manned space program grounded following the last mission of the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft is the only avenue into space for NASA astronauts. And, in an unprecedented arrangement for NASA, U.S. taxpayers will now provide the Russian government with the extra cash it needs to build a new-generation manned vehicle to replace the 40-year-old Soyuz.

Just as in 1993, when the Russian space agency suddenly found itself in the driver’s seat of the stalled U.S.-led space station program by providing crucial elements of the outpost from their own stillborn Mir-2 project, Moscow space officials can again hardly believe their luck. The retirement of the U.S. space shuttle before its replacement is ready means a lucrative deal for Russia to transport all crews to the International Space Station in the next several years.

However, as the Russian space agency’s officials are celebrating this windfall, the leaders of the Russian space industry are far from resting on their laurels—they are pushing ahead with plans for a new spacecraft and launcher.

One more example of the government spending money with nothing to show for it.

Candidates who govern well will not get us out of the hole we are in today

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One of my daily stops on the internet is the great conservative web site, The Michigan View (they have a great blogroll as well). As I perused the page, I saw this headline:

Michele Bachmann, underachiever

The article was written by Dan Calabrese, a writer I normally agree with. However, his latest article bothers me. Not because of Dan lack of support Michele Bachmann. It’s the reason why he doesn’t support her that bothers me.

People in the political world forever confuse advocacy with achievement, and their supporters often buy into the conflation. Just because you bravely take a stand doesn’t mean you accomplished anything. I realize a member of Congress is just one of 535, and especially when you’re in the minority, there’s not much you can do. But real achievement means you actually made something happen, as opposed to just “fighting” for it.

Achievements in the real world are great. In sports, business and in your personal life, achievements are a positive thing and should be celebrated. However, in the political world, specifically in Washington, legislative achievements are usually a negative for “we the people.” Legislative achievements usually involve eroding personal freedom or adding another layer of regulation to our economy.

If you want to nominate the Republican candidate with the greatest legislative achievement, Mitt Romney (with his signature achievement, RomneyCare) is you candidate.

We have had way too many legislative ‘achievements’ come out of Washington for way too long and we are now paying dearly for them.

Much like conservatives jumping on the governance by intellects bandwagon, the idea of supporting candidates who govern well, rather than candidates who will govern least will not get us out of the hole we are in today. As conservatives, we need to focus on a candidates core beliefs, principles and their adherence to the ideals of limited government and not worry about how many significant pieces of legislation a particular candidate has signed their name on.

I’m sure Dan Calabrese and I agree that the 2012 election is way too important to get the nomination wrong, so lets focus on what is important in selecting our candidate.