HHO BLASTER
05-15-2009, 11:21 PM
http://www.reason.com/news/show/133227.html
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Democratic candidate Barack Obama declared almost daily that developing new
energy sources and breaking our addiction to foreign oil would “take nothing less than a complete transformation of our
economy.” He explicitly compared his plan to putting a man on the moon and building the Interstate Highway System.
President Obama has not forgotten candidate Obama’s promises. In a February address to a joint session of Congress, the
president boasted: “Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three
years. We have also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history.” Obama promises to create 5
million new jobs by investing $150 billion in clean energy technologies during the next 10 years. He also aims to put 1 million
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on America’s roads by 2015, promising buyers a $7,500 tax credit. Even more ambitiously, 25
percent of our electricity supposedly will come from renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass by
2025. To tie a ribbon on the alternative energy package, the president asked Congress to impose a cap-andauction scheme
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Will such policies produce the promised results? They didn’t three decades ago
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Democratic candidate Barack Obama declared almost daily that developing new
energy sources and breaking our addiction to foreign oil would “take nothing less than a complete transformation of our
economy.” He explicitly compared his plan to putting a man on the moon and building the Interstate Highway System.
President Obama has not forgotten candidate Obama’s promises. In a February address to a joint session of Congress, the
president boasted: “Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three
years. We have also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history.” Obama promises to create 5
million new jobs by investing $150 billion in clean energy technologies during the next 10 years. He also aims to put 1 million
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on America’s roads by 2015, promising buyers a $7,500 tax credit. Even more ambitiously, 25
percent of our electricity supposedly will come from renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass by
2025. To tie a ribbon on the alternative energy package, the president asked Congress to impose a cap-andauction scheme
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Will such policies produce the promised results? They didn’t three decades ago