The federal government is doing all it can to revive the economy and prevent the United States from dipping into a recession. Most notable is the stimulus package focused on tax rebates which, in effect, won’t actually stimulate the economy.
As Roy Innis, chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, illustrates, every attempt made by politicians to jump start the economy is generally offset by painful energy policies that will drive up prices for years to come. Innis sums it up nicely saying:
Oil, gas, coal and other resources on America’s citizen-owned public lands could meet our energy needs for centuries. Developing these resources — with full regard for ecological values — would generate jobs, economic growth and tax revenues, stabilize energy prices, and reduce our need to buy oil from unfriendly countries.
U.S. energy policy should without a doubt take full regard to the environment, but it should also provide energy. Instead, Washington’s energy bill is calling on renewable fuel mandates, unproven technologies and energy-efficient appliances that generally perform worse than the products they replace. With slow economic growth raising concerns of a recession, the government can provide America with affordable, reliable energy and economic growth by allowing the market to do its job.
