There’s oh so much to comment on and I have so little space, but because the issues are topical, I need to share my thoughts with you. I’ll try to be brief.
More Jobs? At What Price
In case you missed it, while President Biden was patting himself on the back for creating some 13 million new jobs; those jobs that were lost during the pandemic, he announced an offer of $12 billion to help auto manufacturers retool their plants to build more electric vehicles. This is in addition to the $393 billion for clean energy projects in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Auto companies can apply for Energy Department grants, but there are strings attached. Preference will be given to companies with union workers.
Ironically, new plants are being built in right-to-work states, Tennessee and Georgia.
Even though the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that EV assembly jobs will grow by 17 percent in the next decade, Biden, the automakers, and unions are fully aware that an EV can be built with 30 percent fewer workers than a gas-powered car. And because EVs use fewer parts, union workers among auto suppliers are also concerned.
Solar and Wind Costs
“Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act,” Biden said on Thursday, “we’re making the most significant investment in clean energy and combatting the existential threat of climate change that’s ever been made anywhere in the world.”
Meanwhile, the headline in the Wall Street Journal this week reads, “Price of Green Power Is on the Rise.”
In recent blog reports I have written about solar and wind project delays, but this Journal story covers the San Juan solar and wind battery farm in the desert of northwest New Mexico. After shutting down a coal power plant, the new project was supposed to come online last year with enough electricity to power 36,000 homes.
Since the project was signed three years ago, however, solar components got harder to procure and costs for everything from panels to financing have soared. With a renegotiated contract, the project is now set to start up next year.
Since they jumped the gun, closing the coal plant, the utility was forced to buy its electricity at higher market rates. And guess what … it will sell electricity at a price nearly 28 percent higher than in the original agreement when it comes online.
In California, officials have realized that while households have adopted solar to save on electricity, they’re not paying their fair share for their reliance on the state’s electric grid.
Then There’s This
Tom Ozimek, writing in The Epoch Times, reports that Gotion High-Tech, the China-based parent company of Gotion Inc. developing an EV battery plant near Big Rapids, Michigan, recently published reports and video footage showing staffers participating in pro-communist activities at an apparent work retreat.
Gotion Inc., based in Fremont, California, secured $1 billion in taxpayer support for its Big Rapids facility. It registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, stating it “wholly owned and controlled by Gotion High-Tech Co. Ltd., based in China. The document states that Gotion Inc. is not “supervised,” “directed,” or “financed” by a foreign government, foreign political party, or other foreign principal.
Obama Quote Remembered
When I saw the photograph of President Biden meeting in the White House with civil rights leaders on the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Washington, I did a double take.
Martin Luther King III and his wife, Andrea Waters King were seated to the president’s left, but it was the Rev. Al Sharpton who was seated to Biden’s immediate left. Why? Money talks.
When we should have all been reminded of MLK’s famous quote: “not by the color of their skin, but by their character,” I couldn’t help but being reminded of the President Obama quote: “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.”
He couldn’t get the seating right and his Washington Post op-ed that day was lacking in paying proper tribute to MLK, as Bidenomics became his solution for the future of black Americans.
“If you don’t vote for me,” Biden told a black radio audience in 2020, “you ain’t black.”
Judging from his rhetoric in this campaign, Biden is concerned about the black vote. Political scientist Ruy Teixeira refers to Biden’s “little talked about” weakness among nonwhite working-class voters, noting it is not limited to blacks.
The Trump Train
A new Wall Street Journal poll shows that GOP primary voters overwhelmingly see former President Trump’s four criminal prosecutions as lacking merit, with about half saying the indictments fuel their support of him.
The new survey finds that Trump has no formidable challenger. He’s the choice of 59 percent of GOP primary voters, up 11 percent points since April, while nearly doubling his lead over Ron DeSantis.
The Case in Georgia
You have most likely heard that former President Trump had placed a January 2021 phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, suggesting he should find the votes necessary for him to win.
Under testimony his week, Raffensperger reportedly contradicted claims that Trump insisted he violate his oath of office by fabricating enough votes to win the state. In fact, Trump said, “I just want to find” the votes, believing he actually won the state of Georgia, and that the votes simply had not been properly counted yet.
Reading the account by George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley, he said that Raffensperger correctly described Trump’s call as “extraordinary” for a president, and acknowledged that it was a “settlement negotiation.”
Interestingly, Turley noted that County District Attorney Fani Willis may have overplayed her hand by including Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, in the indictment, thinking she hoped Meadows would “flip” on his former boss.
The case against Meadows simply does not seem all that compelling, according to Turley.
That’s all for now.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
