Commentary

Here are a few topics I selected from my stack of stuff.

A Davos Follow Up

If you read my January 24, 2023 commentary on the humor from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, you will appreciate Gerard Baker’s thoughts from his Wall Street Journal column.

While noting that trying to forecast the state of the world by gauging the mood of its participants is about as valuable an exercise as flipping a coin, Baker referenced a 50-year analysis by Financial Times in which the publication found that the consensus of the elites who gather there each year is as likely to be wrong as right.

“The largest flaw in the thinking of the Davos globalists,” writes Baker, “is that the world belongs to them again.”

Biden “Transparency”

The Biden administration’s idea of transparency is to release something late in the afternoon on a Friday, or in the case of the discovery of the classified documents at Penn Biden Center, two months after the find, to avoid news coverage before the midterms.

While doing a bit of research, I came across a piece in Red State revealing that the Biden administration admitted that the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline was a mistake.

It was news to me, but as I dug deeper, I noted that WFIN in Findlay, Ohio published a story, “Biden admin quietly admits canceling Keystone XL Pipeline cost thousands of jobs, billions of dollars.”

I’ve since learned that the administration published a congressionally mandated report highlighting the positive economic benefits the pipeline would have had if President Biden didn’t revoke its federal permits. 

The report, completed by his Department of Energy in late December, however, was released without any public announcement.

While the report quibbles over the number of jobs lost, from 16,000 to 59,000, the pipeline would have had a positive economic impact of up to $9.6 billion and some 860,000 barrels of crude oil could now be flowing through the pipeline daily.

You may recall that Biden stopped the project on his first day in office with his executive order Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Congress, stating that the project was not in the U.S. national interest as its construction and operation would not be consistent with the U.S. climate goals.   Of course, there was no mention of the impact on our nation’s energy independence.

Speaking of Jobs

President Biden never passes up a chance to boast about those “good-paying union jobs” when he visits an infrastructure site or an electric car plant, but the share of American workers in labor unions continued to fall in 2022 to 10.1 percent from 10.3 percent in 2021.  It was in 2019 that union membership lost a record 170,000 workers.

Getting Rich in Congress

How did they get so rich?  With President Biden’s homes in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in the news, the discussion of how elected officials are able to accumulate their wealth surfaces.

Georgia’s Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock, who received a tax-free $7,417 monthly housing allowance from his church in his last term, just purchased a $1,149,000 townhouse in Washington DC.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom townhouse has a gourmet kitchen with a wine refrigerator and a private backyard patio. The property “provides the rare opportunity to experience a life of leisure and comfort,” according to the realty flyer.

Of course, it’s better to serve the people of Georgia.

Wind and Solar Power Snags

Despite an unprecedented number of planned wind and solar projects, with billions of dollars in federal tax credits available, the pace of work has slowed due to supply chain snags and regulatory challenges.

New wind installations plunged by 77.5 percent in the third quarter of 2022 versus the same period in 2021.  Large utility-scale solar projects fell 40 percent in 2022.

Cities, anxious to move to renewables, are making the mistake of dismantling fossil fuel power plants without secure schedules to switch to wind or solar. An off-shore wind farm is planned to supply 20 percent of New York City’s power after the city’s largest fossil fuel plant is taken down.

In Indiana, the plan to shutter a coal-fired plant near Lake Michigan by 2028, giving Indiana Public Service concern over a possible shortage of power to generate power due to an increase in local resistance to wind and solar.

The zoning appeal board in Rush County effectively ended the prospect of wind power in that county when it limited the turbine height maximum to 200 feet.  They are commonly 300 to 500 feet in height.

 Top 10 Singers of All Time

I rarely waste time reading Rolling Stone because of its progressive agenda, but when I heard they published their top ten singers of all time, I just had to take a look.

The publication expects controversy amongst passionate music followers, and the exclusion of Celine Dion caused a stir with the latest listing.

I liked Aretha Franklin, but I don’t see her as Number 1 on the top ten singers of all time.  And, as I scanned the next nine singers on their list – Whitney Houston, Sam Cooke, Billie Holiday, Mariah Carey, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce’, Otis Redding, and Al Green – I couldn’t help but feel old.  But my age shouldn’t matter. 

How were they selected?  By Rolling Stone’s staff and contributors.

In my mind, Frank Sinatra was the best singer/performer of all time, but he’s listed as Number 19 in the top 20, with Little Richard, Bob Dylan and Prince, unbelievably, ranked above him.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.