Obama's Big-Government Energy Policy
Corrected on 6/26/08: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported the size of the prize in John McCain's Clean Car Challenge. It is $300 million.
So Barack Obama doesn't think much of John McCain's $300 million Clean Car Challenge, treating it as if it's some new reality show on the Discovery Channel masquerading as energy policy:
When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the moon, he didn't put a bounty out for some rocket scientist to win—he put the full resources of the United States government behind the project and called on the ingenuity and innovation of the American people—not just in the private sector but also in the public sector.
My take: Actually, this idea is exactly the sort of thing Mr. Change should have proposed himself. (BTW, Hillary Clinton was in favor of such prizes when she was still running.) Innovation prizes are a very 21st-century, open-source method of solving problems. The Ansari X-Prize has accelerated the space tourism industry, and Google has created a similar prize for a private moon mission. (I bet an innovation prize in the 1960s would have put more than 12 men on the moon for way less than the $100 billion than that effort cost.)
The government's own top thinkers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are using innovation prizes to create smarter robots. Private companies are using them internally to generate new approaches and ideas. It is a way for government to actively try to solve a big problem without creating a massive bureaucracy or favoring companies with good lobbying efforts. Instead, Obama is having a '70s flashback by offering a windfall profits tax to help fund a command-and-control research effort by government.
Obama's knee-jerk opposition to the McCain plan really reflects what an old-fashioned agenda he's been proposing. I can't find anything in it that either goes against decades of Democratic orthodoxy (fix Social Security? Raise taxes!) or reflects any of the novel policy ideas put out by liberal think tanks, much less conservative ones.
It's like a warmed-over version of Bill Clinton's "putting people first" agenda (Obama even resurrects Clinton's high-speed rail idea) infused with a healthy dose of Carternomics. (Since he's been hiring economists lately, Obama might want to give Hillary's top guy, Gene Sperling, a call.) Obama must believe those polls that show him up by double digits over McCain because that's how he's running his campaign right now, like a guy with a big lead trying to run out the clock and not make any mistakes.
Tags: energy policy | Barack Obama | corporate taxes | energy
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Reader Comments
Barack Obama better rethink his argument for government led innovation. After we put a man on the moon, we haven't been back for almost 40 years. On top of that, hardly any of the innovations that result from the space missions ever make there way into normal, everyday life.
The fact that Obama is saying "no" to everything and not making his own proposals will be his downfall, whether it is during the election or during his term in office. He should probably stop trying to run out that clock and start playing some offense. After all, losers can get lucky in the final minutes of the game (just ask Boston in Game 3 against the Lakers).
let's have an energy race
We need real support and some kind of oversight of the energy sector. First off, an energy x-prize alone won't be any help if we do develop viable alternative energy technology and the industry refuses to adopt it. The oil and car lobbies are very strong and there's a lot of questionable tactics they can use to block the adoption of technologies which threaten their current model. Example: California used to have a public transit trolley system, GM bought it, scrapped it, and now Cali public transit sucks and the traffic is horrible.
Secondly, related, the x-prize isn't necessarily a good comparison. there aren't giant entrenched industries in the space field that actively prevent new technology adoption or new companies. (previously that had been nasa, who said hey space is our thing, and opposed private space companies etc. but now nasa is on board with privatization of space)
lastly (most importantly) it is so obvious and I think other people who've been students at engineering universities recently would agree, technology is not the issue. We should have a clean car now, or could have it in less than a year, if we dedicated the resources short-term (it wouldn't take that long) and had an "energy race" like the space race and addressed the economic issues. Did anyone see who killed the electric car? The EV was from like 10 years ago, a fully electric car that people who drove it loved, but GM pulled it for no reason other than not wanting to give up the status quo. Yes the EV wasn't perfect, it was a 2-seater and the battery was very large- but that was 10+(?) years ago and there's a company in boston A123 that makes new efficient, very safe batteries that would be much smaller. And the company that made the batteries for the EV, they were also on their way to developing smaller, more efficient batteries.....until they were bought by GM and shut down. Seriously it won't help if we have an energy-x-prize and then the startups get bought by GM and shut down....
Barrack needs to get out in the Real World
All of his policies conveniently assume that the US does not have to compete with the rest of the world...he is alienating all of our strategic oil suppliers, his greenhouse credit scheme, his 150% increase in the Social Security tax and his creation of a massive new entitlement program will serve to quickly make us non-competitive in world markets.
As someone posted on another board, his energy policy and greenhouse credits policy will serve to enable us to swap our cars and air conditioners with China and India for thier bicyles, horses and carts.
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