President Obama’s energy philosophy may eventually move us to green energy, but at what cost? His philosophy is to restrict the development of more fossil fuel so that the shorter supply will make the price escalate, which in turn causes people to be more enthusiastic about green energy. Of course, that may very well happen, but in the mean time, Americans suffer government-imposed inflation for everything since fuel prices are connected to virtually all commodities. Costlier fuel results in fewer jobs, not to mention the jobs lost in fuel development, and by the time we become green, America may be a third class economy. There is a better way.
Organic and health foods give us a wonderful example of a better way. Many, including me, buy various organic and healthy foods. We know this is better for us; therefore, we freely choose to pay higher prices for a healthier diet.
This happens without government mandates or price manipulation of less healthy foods. What promotes the increase in healthy foods? Well, obviously a desire to eat healthier, but that alone is not enough because these foods are considerably more expensive. What permits this choice and thereby the growth of the health food industry is that we have the discretionary cash to spend more on healthier alternatives. To wit, if people or the economy in a household diminishes, expenditures on healthy foods will diminish as well because while food is essential, organic is not.
Applied to the fuel issue, it is freeing up the development of more fossil fuel that causes the price to drop and more gas to be sold, which enables energy companies to develop new technologies and people to have the discretionary income to purchase these new and more expensive technologies.
That is to say, the appropriate mixture of affordability, freedom, ingenuity, creativity, and technology coalescing into profit for some and choice for others is clearly a better way.
