Integrated Man

SOTU: The speech I wish Obama had given

President Obama's State of the Union Speech had many promising elements, but ultimately failed when it desperately needed to succeed. It's primary failure was in obsessing on a future too vague. Its corollary failure was in presenting energy investment as a virtue rather than an existential necessity. He could have done better, because no doubt he knows better.  And in the context of SOTU, Carol Browner's departure seems hardly a surprise.

What follows is the speech I wish he had given:

Got Energy? The State of the Union

Today's Politico carries a piece by Darren Samuelsohn and Darren Goode entitled "President Obama Pressured to keep energy focus in State of the Union Address". I applaud the basic thrust of the recommendation, except that the premises for its propagation grossly understate the urgency of the issue. At the risk of repeating themes of previous blogs, it is worth yet again belaboring a few points.

Specifically, it's not just about creating jobs through a 'clean energy' economy. And it's not just about assuring our energy security against the whims of OPEC. It's about the fact that the very basis of our economy runs on energy resources which, from whatever sources, are depleting faster than our capacity to replace them. Unless we come together on that fundamental understanding, we will all hit the wall together in an energy crisis worse than the one we now face in the collapse of Capitalism's economic calculus.

Got Energy?

This has been an interesting week on the energy front.

The price of energy has jumped due to a confluence of temporary events including:

- unusually cold weather including the week's major storm across the US which left only one state untouched by snow;

- record flooding in Australia which has crimped its coal production and jeopardized its major customer, China;

- a leak and temporary shut-down of the Alaska Pipeline;

- an unseasonal persistent increase in the price of gasoline, and the impact of energy costs in general on the consumer price index.

These were the 'tactical' issues on the energy front.  Some of the subtler ones are more strategic, and of greater long term concern.

Capitalist Papers 10: The future of Capitalism

Greater minds than mine have addressed the issue of Capitalism, its flaws and future, with greater insight and sophistication than I presume to bring to the subject in these 10 posts. But at the end of the day, or millenium, or whatever, the fate of Capitalism will be determined, not by elegant postulations, but by the simple conclusion of whether it has done more good for society than damage.  It don't make no nevermind how much chrome is on the car if the engine don't run.  At this time, I submit that there is no reason to believe that Capitalism is immune to the fate of Communism. 

But that is not destiny. If Capitalism is to survive in anything approaching its current form, it must evolve to a higher form of consciousness.

 

Capitalist Papers 9: Asymmetric Class Warfare

"Admit nothing. Deny everything. Make counter accusations."

That's the slogan on a t-shirt featured in certain military surplus/survivalist catalogs.  It also could serve as the war cry of the Economic Elite and its Republican shills as they battle the challenges of the Economically Depleted for a more equitable distribution of the economic pie. 

The counter-accusation is, of course, socialist wealth redistribution.  The word 'socialist' is intended to scare off any red-blooded American who might harbor any inkling that the current economic order is in fact 'in-equitable'.