Our nation faces a two-pronged economic problem.  We no longer produce the wealth or the jobs that our growing population requires.

That’s mainly because we don’t manufacture like we used to.  The USA has become a service-based economy, and most of our service activity does not create wealth – it merely pushes it around from one pocket to another.  We have abdicated our manufacturing prowess to developing countries, and according to the economic concept of “comparative advantage”, that should be a good thing – but only if we still have a way to make a living.

We have agricultural output that is the envy of the world.  But technology and corporate consolidation of farmland have largely eliminated employment in that sector.

We still are recognized as the world’s top producer of intellectual property – ideas, concepts, programs, designs, inventions.  Some of us are creative, and that generates wealth.  But not enough wealth to carry those of us who aren’t – the ones who used to work in factories and on farms.

So what does that leave us?  How will the US build employment and create wealth in the new world economy?

It always comes back to supply and demand, as I pointed out in a recent post.  Wealth comes from producing what the customer wants and needs.  Scarcity has value.  And in the United States, we have something scarce and valuable that the rest of the world desperately wants and needs:  Energy.

We are reminded every day how rich our homeland is in energy resources.  And we have the technology to extract, convert, and transport energy safely and efficiently.  It would generate much needed wealth and employment.  What’s holding us back?

Intransigence.  Bull-headed stubbornness.  The inability on the part of the liberal half of our nation to admit that they have been wrong.

Those who still oppose developing our traditional energy resources can’t admit that wind and solar are a colossal failure.  They won’t face the fact that nobody wants electric cars because they suck.  They hide the fact that more than half of the solar companies the federal government has subsidized have collapsed.  They pretend that today’s oil, gas, and coal industries still operate with ancient, polluting facilities and methods.

President Obama feigns concern about our energy dependence, the cost of fuel, and the sour economy.  He brags about how oil and natural gas production are up on his watch.   But he won’t admit that he has significantly cut oil leases on federal land.  And at the same time he announces that he has unilaterally (without Congress) decided to further restrict leases in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, which was created 90 years ago specifically for oil production.

The Democrats say they want to create jobs.  They say they want to improve the economy and reduce our debt.

Why don’t they do what they say?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Enjoy some of the best rock of the 80’s

Why don’t they do what they say?
Say what they mean?
One thing leads to another.
You told me something wrong,
I know I listen too long,
But then one thing leads to another.