The President Elect Doubles Down

Chicago -- Faced with an increasingly severe economic crisis, President-elect Obama made clear Saturday that his immediate economic-stimulus platform -- the first leg in his green energy-economy stool -- will be even larger and more ambitious than previously pledged. This morning Austan Goolsbee, one of his top economic advisors, repeated that Obama would be spending far more than the $175 billion he had previously promised.

This, I think, answers a key question (would Obama listen to the voices saying that he should move more cautiously because of the economy?) with a decisive "no." Because clean energy is a centerpiece of the stimulus package, it also means that Obama is ignoring those who argue that energy reform should wait until there is an economic recovery. Clearly, he is relying on clean energy to help drive the recovery, whatever contrarian voices like The Economist might say.

Last week, in Washington, I had several meetings with officials from the Obama transition -- some old friends, some new. I was struck by the singular clarity they all seemed to have about what they were doing and about what their priorities and limits were -- and by how often those priorities and limits were attributed to directly to Obama. "The President-elect has made clear...." was probably the single most common response to a tough question. This is a huge contrast to the free-form, ad hoc, and often simply confusing atmosphere that characterized the Carter and Clinton transitions  (and, based on descriptions I've read, of Franklin's Roosevelt's launch of the New Deal, for that matter).

The Obama team seems to be bringing to governing the singular discipline that characterized their campaign -- and now it;s becoming clearer that the insistence on clarity and focus comes directly from the top. It's about the only reassuring thing you can find on the landscape right now -- so I'm glad it's there.

Comments

[Dr. James Singmaster]

Let us hope that someone can get the Obama realists to realize the oncoming problems to our health and children's survival from polluted water supplies and contaminated foods that will be arising from the ever-expanding messes of organic wastes and sewage no longer being well controlled to keep germs, toxics and drugs from escaping into the environment. I guess that Carl is too busy with positioning himself to be concerned about drugs in drinking water and probably most other water because he doesn't pay attention to EPA's announcement of an upcoming conference on drugs in drinking water. Maybe he feels water pollution is a concern if it affects wildlife, but hey be tough, we can take it in our drinking water. Dr. J. Singmaster

[Karin Zirk]

We need a Secretary of the USDA like Tim LaSalle

Tim LaSalle is CEO of Rodale Institute, a 60-year-old organization dedicated to researching and educating farmers and consumers about sustainable agriculture. He holds his doctorate in depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, a master’s in populations genetics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a bachelor of science degree from California Polytechnic State University. For 12 years, he was a full professor at Cal Poly, where he taught dairy science classes and served as the president and CEO of California’s Agriculture Education Foundation. While at Cal Poly, LaSalle started and operated a conventional dairy near Templeton, California. More recently, LaSalle served in an executive capacity with various nonprofit organizations, including the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County and the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management.

[sheldon kiroff]

to whom it may concern;

i have developed technology that will allow an internal combustion engine to produce the same horsepower with half the fuel expenditure and obviously half the emmissions. I have emailed every u.s. senator (numerous times) to no avail. Allow me to explain how simple this technology is.

Shape charge technology has been around for a long time. The water blast mining of the past. With the force of simple gravity the miners would flow river water through a series of pipes that became smaller and smaller until the nozzle pressure was so great they could remove entire mountains. So effective in fact it was banned in the early 1900s.

How about an f-18 fighter jet. When it goes to full throttle the exhaust cones extend and narrow to maximize thrust. There are also a lot of shape charge explosives. Simply a v shape charge that directs the energy toward the narrow end generating a greatly enhanced force on a smaller surface area. Allowing for example a charge to punch a small hole in a tank and set off the ordinance inside.

The problem with mankind is this. Everytime we find something of awesome power we use it to destroy things. For this reason I think it ironic im writing you. Finally we can use a power used to destroy and use it for the good of mankind. Oh, i forgot to mention, the fat man atomic bomb also employed shape charge technology. Allow me to introduce you to shape charge technology then I will explain the engine.

First of all it is a therom in physics. That means it holds true in every instance. If you take an explosion that occurs in the same size combustion chamber and you taper the sides of that combustion chamber gradually decreasing the size of the orifice with which it escapes the force with which it escapes will increase directly in proportion to the degree in which you narrow the escaping orifice. It cannot be otherwise. That is all I have done. I have simply v shaped the combustion chamber on an internal combustion engine. The beauty of this design is it works on all fuels including hydrogen. Yes I said hydrogen. Basiclly this just cut the cost of hydrogen in half.

So I chose to write every u.s. senator and ive even sent pictures of the prototype to senator grassley. If you are interested in this earth shattering technology I will send you pictures as well. I just patented this in June of 2008 so you can see it is new. It is also very easy for the auto industry to implement. All you need to do is decrease piston size, v shape the combustion chamber, dome the piston and pick up stroke. The basic fundamentals of the engine truly have not changed we simply implemented shape charge technology to the combustion chamber.

What tickles me about this, and probably you too because you like our planet, is that this technology has been around for a long, long, time. But up until now it has been used exclusively to destroy. I guess there are a few exceptions like our toilet bowl but for the most part this technology has been used to destroy. What a statement for mankind to actually reverse his way of thinking and the manner in which he employs his technology.

[Paul from Potomac]

Carl,
I couldn't find Sheldon's patent, so a patent number would be helpful.

Obama should be proud of his staff for keeping on message. It's frightening to see our country fall into the Stone Age at the rate it's going. There will be only one chance to get it right this time, since we're running out of time and money.

Energy alone won't save us. There must be some means to control the thieves on Wall Street and in the banks. Today's Washington Post recounted the crimes committed by Citigroup over the years, and the fact that it was the cause of both the Crash of '29 and the biggest player in the current catastrophe is grounds for taking a different action against it.

We are quickly sinking. Let's hope that Obama can lead us out of the dark depths of despair.

[Jim G]

The GOP Presidents all seem to have the same strategy -- incur a lot of deficit by buying things from their friends (defense contractors,) so that when the pendulum swings back to the Democrats, the Dems won't be able to "spread the wealth" as they will instead be burdened with paying off the deficit. I am glad Obama is making the greater than $250,000 a year crowd pay for the trillion dollar war, and insisting on investing at the same time in projects that are long term investments in the economy. Since we have a global economy now, how citizens of other countries view us is critically important as well, and it's a good bet that Obama will increase the global goodwill, which should in turn lead to more exports, which will also bolster the economy.

[Paul from Potomac]

Carl,
Another viewpoint on our fate:

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily IZVESTIA published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse."

The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year's events.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: "It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial regulator."

When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia."

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashrur.htm