Category: Crony Capitalism

Train derailment in Quebec and Keystone XL pipeline. A Limerick.

A train ran away in Quebec,
its crude-oil exploded the wreck.
To ship oil from the source;
Use a pipe-line of course.
The Keystone will thwart the OPEC.
President Obama angrily blasted climate change skeptics during his energy policy speech Tuesday Jun 25 at Georgetown University, saying he lacked “patience for anyone who denies that this problem is real.”
“We don’t have time for a meeting of the flat-Earth society,” Obama said. “Sticking your head in the sand might make you feel safer, but it’s not going to protect you from the coming storm.”
Obama mentioned more than 20 times “Carbon pollution”. In his weekly radio address the following Saturday he mentioned it again, without specifying what he means by “carbon pollution”.
Obama also said the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline should only be approved if the project would not “significantly exacerbate” greenhouse gas pollution.
Right now the crude oil is transported from the Athabasca tar sands to Houston by Warren Buffet’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC railroad. It is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration’s decision to reject TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.
With modest expansion, railroads can handle all new oil produced in western Canada through 2030, according to an analysis of the Keystone proposal by the U.S. State Department.

Warren Buffett profiting from working on the railroad.


The cost of transporting the oil is about #14 dollars per barrel, much of it the cost of energy (CO2). The pipe-line can do the job for about seven dollars per barrel, much of it capital costs.
We can see what happens when transporting crude oil:
railroad-tank-car-explosion-canada

Comparing to this, pipe-lines ate much more environmentally safe, and does the job for less than half the cost of railroad ttansportation.
If you were Obama, what would you do? Would you do the economic and environmentally friendly thing, or would you continue to favor your crony capitalist friends and the powerful OPEC?
Decisions, decisions.

Obama’s database, tool of intimidation.

Barack Obama now holds a database “no one has ever seen before in life” that has “information about everything on every individual.”
This statement comes from U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., named “dishonorable mention” on an online list of most corrupt politicians.

Here is the video interview:
http://


Obama, the spy-chief knows all;
His arrogance shows he will fall.
His “friends” know where you live,
And if blood you can give.
So give them the heave-ho next fall.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/democrat-raves-about-obamas-epic-database/#1mS3ZbvrKTDrUmyV.99

Insider trading, Crony Capitalism alive and well in Congress. A Limerick.

Let it not be said that Congress cannot act fast, if an action is sufficiently urgent or important. Granted the wheels of government usually grind slowly, such as the fact George Washington was promoted to 5 star general in 1976.
This latest action may be close to a record for speed. 4 days from introduction in the Senate to being signed by the President. What could have been so urgent?

S.716
Latest Title: A bill to modify the requirements under the STOCK Act regarding online access to certain financial disclosure statements and related forms.
Sponsor: Sen Reid, Harry [NV] (introduced 4/11/2013) Cosponsors (None)
________________________________________
4/11/2013:
Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S2583-2584; text as passed Senate: CR S2584; text of measure as introduced: CR S2593)
4/11/2013 5:33pm:
Received in the House.
4/11/2013:
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
4/11/2013 6:07pm:
Held at the desk.
4/12/2013 12:52pm:
Mr. Cantor asked unanimous consent to take from the Speaker’s table and consider.
4/12/2013 12:52pm:
Considered by unanimous consent. (consideration: CR H1978-1979)
4/12/2013 12:53pm:
On passage Passed without objection. (text: CR H1979)
4/12/2013 12:53pm:
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
4/12/2013:
Presented to President.
4/15/2013:
Signed by President.
4/15/2013:
Became Public Law No: 113-7.
________________________________________
Insider Trading? No, Never!
Congress must think they are clever.
A bill passed with consent
Meant to hide their intent.
Cronies are Cronies forever.

We need a major cleanup of the corruption and Crony Capitalism in Washington.
May I suggest Governor Sarah Palin to do the cleaning up. She did it before in Alaska, Democrats and Republicans alike and enjoyed a 93% approval rating from the Alaskans at her peak.
Like Margaret Thatcher: “This Lady is not for turning”.

A Limerick on Thanksgiving Day leftovers: A 24 Billion dollar increase in Federal Debt.

A Limerick  on Thanksgiving Day leftovers: A 24 Billion dollar increase in Federal Debt.

The U.S. Treasury increased the net debt of the United States $24,327,048,384.38 on the day after Thanksgiving, which equals $211.69 for each of the nation’s 114,916,000 households. (CNSNEWS)

In August 2011, the debt ceiling — the amount of money the federal government is allowed to borrow — was raised by $2.4 trillion, to $16.394 trillion. According to the National Debt Clock, as of Nov. 23, the total debt was nearing the limit, at $16.3 trillion. You also could think of it as about $51,000 per person in the US.

A decadent town on Potomac,

where cronyism fills up its stomach.

It is borrow and spend,

print more money to lend.

Our government has run amok.

The Keystone XL pipeline decision. Crony Capitalism at work.

 

The President has decided to delay the permission to build the Keystone XL pipeline until after the 2012 election, thus satisfying the environmentalists that want to wean us off our dependency on carbon based products, such as fuel and fertilizer. The arguments for delaying the decision are nearly exclusively political, while the arguments to build the pipeline are concerns for our national security and economy.

Here is the deal:

Canada has the tar-sands and is extracting the oil. This was not our decision. If we don’t buy the oil, China will.

We are importing crude oil from the Middle East, Nigeria, Venezuela and other volatile places, leaving us exposed to supply and price disruptions.

We export refined products to the Caribbean islands, which by the way have a larger carbon footprint per person than the U.S. This is good business, since the islands are too small for a refinery.

It takes more energy to run a refinery up north in a cold climate than in hot, humid Baytown, Texas.

The last time a major oil refinery was built in the U.S was 1976. A small refinery was built in 1993, in Valdez, Alaska. The  US. regulatory climate is hostile to refineries. Colombia, O.K, US. No.

It costs about $5 per barrel to ship oil through a pipeline from Canada to Texas, nearly all of it capital costs. It costs about $15 per barrel to ship it via railway; much of it is energy cost.

Warren Buffet’s bought Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad in February 2010 and paid 44 Billion dollars for it. The railroad paid Berkshire Hathaway 2.25 Billion in dividends during the first 13 months. Warren Buffet bought the railroad after Obama took office.

This railroad can handle all the oil shipped from Canada to Huston during the next decade, even longer with expansion. It is therefore in Buffet’s interest not to build the pipeline.

Warren Buffet is a major player in the Obama Administration; he has frequent access to the White House and is a major contributor to Obama’s campaign.

Sarah Palin succinctly coined the phrase: “This is Crony Capitalism.”

Job Czar Jeffrey Immelt: Crony Capitalism 101: A Limerick.

Corruption shows a familiar ring:

Immelt has friends in the White House wing

Re: Power consumption.

He got his exemption.

It  helps to be friend of the King.

Obama issues global warming rules in January, gives GE an exemption in February

By: Timothey P.Carney, Washington Examiner 02/02/11 4:50 PM

Jan 2011, the Obama EPA began enforcing new rules regulating the greenhouse gas emissions from any new or expanded power plants.

A week later the EPA issued its first exemption, Environment & Energy News reports:

The Obama administration will spare a stalled power plant project in California from the newest federal limits on greenhouse gases and conventional air pollution, U.S. EPA says in a new court filing that marks a policy shift in the face of industry groups and Republicans accusing the agency of holding up construction of large industrial facilities. According to a declaration by air chief Gina McCarthy, officials reviewed EPA policies and decided it was appropriate to “grandfather” projects such as the Avenal Power Center, a proposed 600-megawatt power plant in the San Joaquin Valley, so they are exempted from rules such as new air quality standards for smog-forming nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

There’s something interesting about the Avenal Power Center The proposed Avenal Energy project will be a combined-cycle generating plant consisting of two natural gas-fired General Electric 7FA Gas Turbines with Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) and one General Electric Steam Turbine.

Maybe GE CEO Jeff Immelt’s closeness to President Obama, and his broad support for Obama’s agenda, had nothing to do with this exemption. But we have no way of knowing that, and given the administration’s record of regularly misleading Americans regarding lobbyists, frankly, I wouldn’t trust the White House if they told me there was no connection. On the upside, at least Job Czar Immelt is creating jobs!