I find it incredulous that while Obama offers shopworn–almost laughable– ideas like “appointing an energy czar”, John Podesta has already indicated that one of Barack’s first executive orders will be to reinstate the ban on offshore drilling. True to their liberal ideology, they would rather create another dept/layer of government than adopt an aggressive, pro-growth energy plan which creates jobs. Just let other countries (Canada, Brazil, China, Norway, et al) do the drilling and reap the rewards. The unions wrecked the auto industry; now the enviros will try to kill energy exploration and production. For today’s Democrats, once again ideology trumps common sense.

Saying he plans to end our dependence on foreign oil–while genuflecting at the altar of Queen Pelosi and the greenies–will be the first of many instances where people realize that BHO is, as you say, just another politician.

Fortunately, we can already see that these people are going to bury themselves. With central banks everywhere cutting interest rates, and liquidity flooding the system, increasing commodity and crude prices will be back. Obama and his minions will have a hard time explaining why one of their first actions in office was to ban offhsore drilling. It would really be great fun to hear them babbling that “well, at least we created an energy czar!”

;->

Like, say, a cabinet-level position. With a full department-level agency to carry out those policies.

Perhaps Obama should ask Bill Richardson for some ideas.

From your link:

It is true that the NRC report estimated that DOE generated some $40 billion in economic benefits for the roughly $13 billion it spent on energy conservation and fossil fuel R&D programs. However, as Fri notes, “A mere 0.1 percent of the expenditure accounted for three-quarters of the benefit.” … “Three-quarters of the expenditure—a little over $9 billion—produced no quantifiable economic benefit. Half of this money was applied to synthetic fuel projects that turned out to be at least a couple of decades premature.”

A miracle of Central Planning.

My 30 years in the oil & gas industry coincide with the life span of the DOE. The DOE has had next to zero impact on industry. I don’t know as I sit here who the Secretary is. We have to do some routine reporting once a year, but that’s about it.

HOWEVER, government has effectively spurred R&D in the last 20 years. Starting back in the 1990′s (a time of low wellhead prices, when industry R&D budgets were slashed to the bone), the Feds instituted a Tax Credit for natural gas produced from nonconventional sources: coals, shales and low-permeability sandstones. Today, the tax credit is gone but we are all reaping the benefit: some 40% of natural gas is produced from these nonconventional sources, and it is 100% domestic supply.

That’s how a public/private partnership should work. The profit motive is the most important prime mover in a capitalist society. Somebody needs to explain that to the President-elect.

…but, on condition that the Democrats are swept out of office, I might be able to live with a vote fraud Czar.

with an army of commisars following in their wake.
They will probably have more than a few Nikita Kruschev equivalents in their ranks: men who acted as ‘blocking troops’ during the Battle of Stalingrad, who stood, fully armed, a few to a dozen yards to the rear of the front lines poised to shoot any Russian soldier who dared to retreat from the German front.

Geez, it really is the second Carter term, isn’t it? Can you say “odd and even gas rationing”? On the plus side, I get a second chance to buy that leisure suit I didn’t get when I was in high school.

If the McCain campaign had been smart, they could have sold Barak Obama/Jimmy Carter pet rocks and mood rings to finance the campaign and get out the message.