Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money (talkingbiznews.com)
A friend recently sent me a copy of a piece written by Jim Cramer on what he calls, the velocity of change in the energy revolution we are experiencing in this country. In it he writes about the oil boom in North Dakota that has made it one of the richest states in the union.
Personally, I am not a fan of Cramer’s, but he makes a number of points that I, too, have made in recent op-eds regarding the lack of a real energy policy. In past commentaries, I have criticized the Obama administration’s rush to renewables, like wind and solar power and the electric car. In addition, I have written about the government’s ill-advised Café standards that have brought about minimal results in miles per gallon since its inception in 1975.
I was particularly disappointed when George W. Bush signed the Energy Independent Security Act in 2007, with a target of increasing mpg to 35 by 2020. Not to be outdone, in 2011 President Obama announced a deal with automakers to have 54.5 mpg vehicles by model year 2025.
Cramer writes about the jobs provided by the industry and mentions the three percent unemployment and the average $90,000 salaries in North Dakota. If the president would approve the Keystone XL pipeline, we would see similar jobs improvement in flyover country.
He correctly explained the dangers posed by shipping oil by rail over movement by pipeline, but the Obama administration answer to that is to hit railroads with costly new rules for shipping shale oil rather than approve the pipeline.
“The energy situation in North Dakota shows you how truly screwed up things are as 79 percent of its power comes from coal,” writes Cramer. And what is our president doing – slapping more regulations on the coal industry. It was Obama who said in 2008, “If someone wants to build a new coal-fired plant they can, but it will bankrupt them because they will be charged a huge sum for all the greenhouse gases that’s being emitted.” In addition, more than 100 coal power generating units will be shutting down in the next few years.
While Cramer wrote of the “hands-off policy” by the administration in North Dakota, he presumes readers know that the government cannot touch discovery on state land. And while President Obama likes to quote how he has increased drilling, he had no control over it. Meanwhile drilling on federal lands, where he could expand drilling, none has been approved.
With the situation in Iraq, fear of gas price increases mount, giving our inexperienced president another problem to dither over.
