Posted on 03/03/2009 5:53:52 PM PST by Winged Hussar
Banking problems and “toxic assets” are major contributors to the ongoing decline in the stock market, but it is quite likely that investors took them into account last year. The 800 pound gorilla in the living room that nobody seems to want to talk about consists of Barack Obama’s agenda (per his State of the Union Address) to impose taxes on all fossil fuels, or require users of fossil fuels to buy carbon offset credits from the modern counterparts of medieval indulgence peddlers.
As long as this agenda continues to menace the United States, investors are rightly reluctant to invest in American manufacturing, transportation, and other energy-intensive sectors. If, however, enough Senators (including Democrats from coal-producing and manufacturing states) pledged to vote against and filibuster Obama’s cap-and-trade agenda, it would restore investor confidence, break the downward momentum of the stock market, and set the stage for an economic recovery.
The stock market’s decline is obviously being driven by the fact that most Americans recognize that their new President (B.A. in political science, graduate degree in law, career as a “community organizer”) is totally incompetent in the fields of economics, business, and manufacturing. It is well known that it is far better to be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt, which Obama’s State of the Union speech did quite effectively. The stock market took a nose dive the next day because investors realized that this individual is totally clueless as to how the economy really works. Obama’s previous pledge to create five million “green” jobs reinforces this observation because most people know that economically viable jobs tend to create themselves.
...Obama’s infatuation with “renewable” and “green” energy therefore underscores his total lack of competence, and Wall Street knows it.
(Excerpt) Read more at israpundit.com ...
Why? It is part of the Communist takeover from within.
That’s nailing it absolutely solid.
I have saying this to my relatives since the SoU. Obama might as well have anounced he was going to tax oxygen or blood. America is good at a few big things, one of which is producing fossil fuel energy. It is one of the few strong industries left driving the US economy. If the US economy were a V-8 engine, the energy/power generation industry would be one of the few pistons still firing, still tuggint the car forward. And Obama, rather than show concern that he car limp across the finish line, wants to hold an exhaust sniffer to the tail pipe and shut even those cylinders down if they do not pass some mythical purity test to prevent an environmental problem that does not exist (global warming).
Investors are smart enough to realize that taxing energy will depress every aspect of American productivity, impose economic hardship on the middle class and businesses, and divert dollars that might otherwise be invested by private citizens in the pursuit of wealth - ie, in searching out and supporting companies that do things well, turn a profit, and hire people.
In an economy rife with unsecured debt, Obama needs to nurture those industries that create things of real value and have a dependable market. The energy industry is just such a thing. Instead he would kill the golden goose so he can give a few of its eggs to his green buddies. America cannot afford a Don Quixote tilting at windmills in this economy. Obama is a fool if he could not foresee that taxing the energy would drive the economy into depression and inflate the cost of every last good and service in America.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
