“No More Solyndras” Act Passes the US House of Representatives
Here’s the main reason I couldn’t get within a million miles of an elected position in the US: I wouldn’t vote for the political grandstanding represented by legislation like the “No More Solyndras” Act. I wouldn’t be a part of obscuring from the American people that energy sector loan guarantees from the federal government have resulted in a huge number of successes, many thousands of jobs, and the development of technology that will have a real and permanent positive effect on the world’s energy picture.
Americans cheer on this type of nonsense, and that doesn’t speak too highly of us. We don’t seem to have our wits wrapped around a few basics, one of which is that the US is clearly and rapidly falling behind in the arena of innovation generally and in energy particularly. In 2009, for the first time ever, the US Patent Office granted a majority of its overall patents to foreign nations/companies. And nowhere is America losing faster and more obviously than energy. This bill, if passed, will seal our fate, relegating us to the world’s scrapheap in terms of technology leadership.
Another tragic failure of Americans is our inability to “follow the money.” As shown here, oil and coal companies represented three of bill co-sponsor Fred Upton’s top five campaign contributors. If you can think of something more shameful than this blatant conflict of interest, I hope you’ll write in and tell me what it is.
I don’t see the failure of the U.S. to keep up with technological advances to have anything to do with government subsidies.
Our baby boomer generation has failed miserably to transmit the joy and necessity of work to the X-generation. The baby boomers did not experience the great depression of the 30’s. Their parents transferred the work ethic but didn’t transfer it to the me-first, immediate gratification bunch of lazy louts that followed.
It is easier to play fantasy computer games than to study math and science.
Without a strong technical education, no amount of federal subsidies will turn this around. We can hire technology mercinaries from Asia to keep us in the game for awhile but eventually we will become the castaways and serfs as China exerts its influence in the world.
Can this be reversed? I doubt that it can on a scale that will change the course of history. Perhaps our smart kids will be able to be local parteners in the global economy that is managed by Asian overlords.
It is raining out side today. Maybe that has something to do with this grim outlook. L
Ha! Well, you’re certainly right about the deteriorating work ethic. I disagree with the first part, however. As far as I can see, all other countries in the developed world are making huge efforts from within the public sector to move this along. The French, as an example, have literally hundreds of extremely powerful public-private partners in this space.
“We don’t seem to have our wits wrapped around a few basics, one of which is that the US is clearly and rapidly falling behind in the arena of innovation generally and in energy particularly.”
I could provide several examples of this in the automobile industry. In general, for the last 40 years or so, the American automobile industry has lagged behind the Europeans and Japanese where technology is concerned.
Right now, we are lagging behind China and other countries where nuclear power is concerned. China and other countries are working hard to develop thorium nuclear technology while we are ignoring it. Although it’s impossible to be certain what the outcome will be, it’s my guess that unless we get on the ball quickly, we will end up buying liquid fluoride thorium reactor technology from China.
Although news articles report the implementation of wind and solar power in China, they ignore the fact that China is rapidly expanding its nuclear power generation capability, using traditional uranium reactors. Unfortunately, it is also rapidly expanding its coal burning power generation capacity.