Mayor visits China, could increase Rome employment
Monday, July 25, 2011
Do I think Rome will gain jobs because our Mayor Brown visited China? I have no idea. Do I think the visit was a good idea? Decidedly yes. He met with people who are looking for American connections. He was a competent business leader before he became mayor. He knows what business people need. So I’m sure he made a good impression. He must also have come back with a much clearer impression of an important ascendant nation.
The problems China faces as a nation and the problems the United States faces as a nation are dramatically different. They have massive pollution, have allowed a dust bowl to develop in what was some of their most productive farm land (just like we did in the 1930s) and they have demographic problems due to the one-child rule they started 30 years ago. Some pundits think they also have a housing bubble, and serious inflation problems. On balance, I’d much rather have our problems than theirs. But we certainly have a great deal to teach each other. So I’m glad Mayor Brown is trying to initiate dialogue. I think we should seriously consider trying to develop a Chinese sister city.
The Pentagon just admitted that some contractor’s files had been significantly hacked. They admitted we lost information we would much rather have kept secret. They believe the hacker was a foreign nation and are pretty sure they know which one. They are doing their best to keep the details secret. I completely agree, we need to know the fact that it happened. Details can only do our nation harm. But I want to speculate.
First of all, files held by a contractor are almost certainly technical. We know how to do many things foreign nations don’t know and would like to. They give us a competitive edge. We must always keep developing more to keep that competitive edge. I intensely prefer that our military be the best in the world. I’d rather our industry was also leading edge, although I think we need competent competitors. Developing technology is extremely expensive. Once it is developed, copying it is much cheaper. So attempts to hack our files are inevitable. Hacking and defense against hacking is now called cyber warfare. It is critically important.
Rome Lab, the only survival of Griffiss Air Force Base, is now the primary American agency developing cyber warfare capability. Our capability to protect our computer-based files is developed there. They also increase our capability to access the files of others. Both are likely to be critical to actual survival in the twenty-first century. So this attack, serious as it is, is also good news to us. The mission of Rome Lab is reinforced, and probably strengthened.
We now have environmentalists demanding careful regulation of hydrofracking. Of course we need good regulations enforced by impartial technically qualified regulators. But I think these environmentalists really mean don’t do it. I think we should do it. So I want to spell out the facts as I understand them.
Shale gas wells are at least 5,500 feet below the surface. The deep Utica well, currently under evaluation below the Marcellus, would be more than 12,000 feet down. That is far below the water table. In itself, it won’t damage the water table. It won’t turn our land into Swiss cheese either, as some environmentalists claim. Want proof? Go look at the successful gas extraction sites south of us. Want more proof? The US and the Soviet Union tested nuclear weapons underground for decades. The Soviets were notoriously careless. But they never disturbed the surface of the earth.
There are two sources of problems; gas contaminating water as it comes up to the surface and the use of fracking fluid. And once again my first draft was far too technical. Lets leave it that good practices can prevent harm from either. They have already drilled a deep well. It is good practice to line the well with pipe. Good regulators specify the pipe to be used, and how it recovers both gas and fracking fluid. It makes sense that Pennsylvania would already have good regulations. After all, they too value the environment, and oil extraction started there.
Fracking fluids are water plus chemicals. I’m told gas-wells in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Woodford, Oklahoma use a new process that doesn’t include chemicals. Since eliminating chemicals reduces overall operational costs per well, I assume others will do it too. But the water would still be dirty due to impacting rock. The wells need a secure system for returning fluid to the surface and disposing of it. We know how to deal with dirty or contaminated water. Today, flowback fluids are usually put in deep disposal wells after any valuable chemicals are extracted.
I strongly encourage our legislators to copy and when necessary develop sensible regulations and allow the gas to be extracted. We badly need the jobs developing Marcellus gas would bring. There is an active demand for liquid natural gas in foreign nations, and selling lots of it would do wonders for our nation’s balance of payments. I too am determined to protect our environment. But I want us to use common sense and good science in how we do it
Back in 2009, the then Democratic Congress passed and President Obama signed a stimulus bill. One of the more positive measures in the bill was to reduce the depreciation schedule on corporate jets. It protected the jobs of more than 10,000 unionized workers. (I thought when I tried to understand the bill that the writers of the bill remembered the jobs lost when Carter increased tax on yachts.) It would cost the treasury at most $3 billion over ten years, more than offset by the taxes the workers would pay, the unemployment benefits the government would save, and the increased economic activity caused by the money these workers would spend. So the economic impact would be positive. These jobs are some of the jobs President Obama claims the stimulus bill saved. Almost all the jobs are in Ohio, a state devastated by the downturn. Ohio is a classic swing state with 18 electoral votes. The younger Bush carried it both times. Obama carried it in 2008. His many trips there suggest he wants to carry it in 2012.
So why is President Obama now demanding Congress raise taxes on corporate jets? Thus costing at least 10,000 jobs in Ohio! Which translates to at least 20,000 unhappy voters, since most employed individuals have families. And would almost certainly bring in less money than it costs? Can you figure it out? I can’t.
More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan's "lost decade" in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.
CATO Institute; in full page 2009 ad opposing the stimulus plan.
Do I think Rome will gain jobs because our Mayor Brown visited China? I have no idea. Do I think the visit was a good idea? Decidedly yes. He met with people who are looking for American connections. He was a competent business leader before he became mayor. He knows what business people need. So I’m sure he made a good impression. He must also have come back with a much clearer impression of an important ascendant nation.
The problems China faces as a nation and the problems the United States faces as a nation are dramatically different. They have massive pollution, have allowed a dust bowl to develop in what was some of their most productive farm land (just like we did in the 1930s) and they have demographic problems due to the one-child rule they started 30 years ago. Some pundits think they also have a housing bubble, and serious inflation problems. On balance, I’d much rather have our problems than theirs. But we certainly have a great deal to teach each other. So I’m glad Mayor Brown is trying to initiate dialogue. I think we should seriously consider trying to develop a Chinese sister city.
The Pentagon just admitted that some contractor’s files had been significantly hacked. They admitted we lost information we would much rather have kept secret. They believe the hacker was a foreign nation and are pretty sure they know which one. They are doing their best to keep the details secret. I completely agree, we need to know the fact that it happened. Details can only do our nation harm. But I want to speculate.
First of all, files held by a contractor are almost certainly technical. We know how to do many things foreign nations don’t know and would like to. They give us a competitive edge. We must always keep developing more to keep that competitive edge. I intensely prefer that our military be the best in the world. I’d rather our industry was also leading edge, although I think we need competent competitors. Developing technology is extremely expensive. Once it is developed, copying it is much cheaper. So attempts to hack our files are inevitable. Hacking and defense against hacking is now called cyber warfare. It is critically important.
Rome Lab, the only survival of Griffiss Air Force Base, is now the primary American agency developing cyber warfare capability. Our capability to protect our computer-based files is developed there. They also increase our capability to access the files of others. Both are likely to be critical to actual survival in the twenty-first century. So this attack, serious as it is, is also good news to us. The mission of Rome Lab is reinforced, and probably strengthened.
We now have environmentalists demanding careful regulation of hydrofracking. Of course we need good regulations enforced by impartial technically qualified regulators. But I think these environmentalists really mean don’t do it. I think we should do it. So I want to spell out the facts as I understand them.
Shale gas wells are at least 5,500 feet below the surface. The deep Utica well, currently under evaluation below the Marcellus, would be more than 12,000 feet down. That is far below the water table. In itself, it won’t damage the water table. It won’t turn our land into Swiss cheese either, as some environmentalists claim. Want proof? Go look at the successful gas extraction sites south of us. Want more proof? The US and the Soviet Union tested nuclear weapons underground for decades. The Soviets were notoriously careless. But they never disturbed the surface of the earth.
There are two sources of problems; gas contaminating water as it comes up to the surface and the use of fracking fluid. And once again my first draft was far too technical. Lets leave it that good practices can prevent harm from either. They have already drilled a deep well. It is good practice to line the well with pipe. Good regulators specify the pipe to be used, and how it recovers both gas and fracking fluid. It makes sense that Pennsylvania would already have good regulations. After all, they too value the environment, and oil extraction started there.
Fracking fluids are water plus chemicals. I’m told gas-wells in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Woodford, Oklahoma use a new process that doesn’t include chemicals. Since eliminating chemicals reduces overall operational costs per well, I assume others will do it too. But the water would still be dirty due to impacting rock. The wells need a secure system for returning fluid to the surface and disposing of it. We know how to deal with dirty or contaminated water. Today, flowback fluids are usually put in deep disposal wells after any valuable chemicals are extracted.
I strongly encourage our legislators to copy and when necessary develop sensible regulations and allow the gas to be extracted. We badly need the jobs developing Marcellus gas would bring. There is an active demand for liquid natural gas in foreign nations, and selling lots of it would do wonders for our nation’s balance of payments. I too am determined to protect our environment. But I want us to use common sense and good science in how we do it
Back in 2009, the then Democratic Congress passed and President Obama signed a stimulus bill. One of the more positive measures in the bill was to reduce the depreciation schedule on corporate jets. It protected the jobs of more than 10,000 unionized workers. (I thought when I tried to understand the bill that the writers of the bill remembered the jobs lost when Carter increased tax on yachts.) It would cost the treasury at most $3 billion over ten years, more than offset by the taxes the workers would pay, the unemployment benefits the government would save, and the increased economic activity caused by the money these workers would spend. So the economic impact would be positive. These jobs are some of the jobs President Obama claims the stimulus bill saved. Almost all the jobs are in Ohio, a state devastated by the downturn. Ohio is a classic swing state with 18 electoral votes. The younger Bush carried it both times. Obama carried it in 2008. His many trips there suggest he wants to carry it in 2012.
So why is President Obama now demanding Congress raise taxes on corporate jets? Thus costing at least 10,000 jobs in Ohio! Which translates to at least 20,000 unhappy voters, since most employed individuals have families. And would almost certainly bring in less money than it costs? Can you figure it out? I can’t.
More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan's "lost decade" in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.
CATO Institute; in full page 2009 ad opposing the stimulus plan.
