What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
Last week I spent eight days on the road, and then, home at last, devoted a day to getting over my jet lag (I suffered, come to think of it, not only jet lag but, courtesy of United Airlines, which delayed my return flight from Boston this past Sunday by nearly five hours, lagging jets), then dug in to the stuff--stuff! There's always stuff!--that had piled up while I was away, forbidding myself so much as a look at Ricochet, knowing that I'd end up spending two hours on the site, catching up. And? Here I am, wanting, by way of a brief report, to offer you a contrast.
Politics
In Washington last week, nearly everyone to whom I spoke proved gloomy. Pat Buchanan believes the country's fortunes have reached the point of irreversibility--when he titled his book Suicide of a Superpower, he meant it--while Charles Murray, whom, like Pat, I interviewed for Uncommon Knowledge, writes in his own new book, Coming Apart, that "If the analysis I have presented is completely correct, then all is lost." On Capitol Hill, the consensus view now holds that we're unlikely to recapture the Senate and ought to consider ourselves lucky if we only lose a dozen or so seats in the House. Repeal ObamaCare? The GOP would need 60 votes in the Senate for an outright repeal, Republican Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, also a guest on Uncommon Knowledge explained. "But our party hasn't had 60 votes in this body for almost a century, and I don't expect us to win 60 next year."
Business
At a dinner on my last evening in Washington, I found myself chatting with a Texan, a man in oil and natural gas, and with Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, a friend since our college days.
His company, the Texan explained, is one of the major leaseholders of drilling rights in the Marcellus shale deposit, the formation that runs beneath much of Pennsylvania. New techniques, including horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, are making available such vast new quantities of natural gas that he expects the price of natural gas, already at historic lows, to remain at least this low for "at least a decade." Drillers face enormous regulatory burdens, the Texan explained, but even at that capital, technology and labor are all still flowing into Pennsylvania, transforming old coal-mining towns and formerly poor agricultural communities. The natural gas bonanza is pushing down the costs of generating electricity--and leading to a rebirth of American manufacturing. Even at that, supplies of natural gas are so abundant that we may soon begin exporting liquified gas to markets in Asia, including Japan.
The United States, exporting natural gas.
At about this point, Sen. Hoeven spoke up, describing what's taking place in the Bakken field back in North Dakota. Throughout the Bakken field, and in similar fields in Canada, new technologies--again, including horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing--are making available enormous new quantities of oil. North Dakota is already pumping half a million barrels a day--and there's more, much, much more, still to come. In less than a decade, the United States is expected to become the biggest producer of energy in the world--bigger than Saudi Arabia, bigger than Russia. Between the deposits in Canada and all the activity taking place here in our own country, Sen. Hoeven estimated that, if the federal government would only behave sensibly, "North America could become energy self-sufficient in just five years."
Energy self-sufficiency, in just five years.
Yes, I know. Politics represents a high and noble calling--in their own way, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Speaker Boehner, and all the Republicans on Capitol Hill who struggle every day with the Obama administration represent American heroes. But the only people I found in Washington who were really optimistic were discussing not politics but developments made possible by private citizens making use of our capital markets, technological prowess and legal regime--the energy revolution could never have taken place without property rights--to make things happen.
God bless American business.
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Comments:
May '10
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
Hammer home your business observation to the public, and our elected officials will be proved wrong about their political observation.
This thing is HUGELY winnable.
"Never give up. Never never never never give up."
---Winston Churchill
Jan '11
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
Yet we know it cannot and will not, unless by some miracle a great host of brave and stalwart knights suddenly appear to slay this particular dragon.
Edited on March 8, 2012 at 7:19amAnd the chances of that happening seem to grow slimmer by the day…
May '10
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
Keith Preston: Hammer home your business observation to the public, and our elected officials will be proved wrong about their political observation.
This thing is HUGELY winnable.
"Never give up. Never never never never give up."
---Winston Churchill · 18 minutes ago
PS the antidote to the depression of Washington Republicans is here
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
Unlikely to take the Senate? Are you kidding me? After 4 years of Obamacare, and bailouts, and elitism, and high unemployment, and absolutely staggering deficits, and with the Dems having twice as many seats to defend, we can't find a way to pick up a measly 3 or 4 seats? There is something seriously wrong with the Republican Party. If the White House and Senate were held by Republicans under these conditions, everyone would be expecting a blowout in November, and they would be right. This is immensely frustrating and immensely depressing.
I hope all those oil and gas men are enjoying their day in the sun, because they're about to have a very large part of what they're working and investing for taken away from them so that women everywhere can enjoy their God-given right to free birth control, and cowboys everywhere their God-given right to subsidized poetry festivals.
Faugh!
Dec '11
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
Peter Robinson:
God bless American business.
Agreed; so let us now elect an accomplished businessman to lead the Free World.
Dec '10
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
You know why the Republicans in Washington expect to lose?
Because they're losers. That's all the know how to do.
Winning is frightful and alien territory for them, and they reject it as quickly as possible, lest their minds implode (or they *gasp* be held accountable for what happens).
As Jonah Goldberg says, "I'll know a feckless crapweasel when I see one."
I see them all the time on TV. They often have a tiny '(R)' appended on to the end of their title. . .
Dec '10
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
This wasn't the thrust of Peter's post, but I have a question for the political strategists. Say we win the presidency but don't have enough votes to get a repeal of Obamacare through Congress. According to some, the president would have the authority to issue partial state waivers, undoing parts of Obamacare while the rest of it stands. Several candidates have promised to issue waivers to all 50 states until a full repeal can be attained. But what if full repeal isn't coming down the pike? Should the president still issue waivers to minimize the impact of Obamacare as it continues to phase in? Depending on how much of the law can be waived, this risks Obamacare becoming acceptable enough to where voters cool on the idea of repeal. We'd be stuck with it until a Democrat president comes along and unwaives his hands, by which time it would be too entrenched to repeal. Might it be better strategically to eschew the waivers and let the law phase in as written. This might allow voter outrage to build and yield a mid-term election that delivers enough votes for a full repeal. What say you?
Dec '11
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
I was thinking about a sports analogy. The government is "the refs" and business is "the players". Liberals seem to think they will get a better game by having more refs. I even get the feeling they want them to be the MVPs. I'm sure they would even like to make a point tax to help even the scores. But the game is made by players. They produce something. They inspire us or should I say bless us. Look around your room and see what these all-star players have provided us.
Good Businesses bless America.
May '10
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
We stand at the brink of the abyss, yet have the tools at hand to not only avoid catastrophe, but launch another era of prosperity - albeit with a period of pain at the outset and reformed in character. Unfortunately, the path to prosperity runs directly against the perceived best interests of too large a number of our political "leaders." Which path will we take? The future of our children and grandchildren hangs in the balance.
While I am by nature an optimist, I'm not sure that I can see a way to a "Joy in Mudville" scenario. The fact that we have not even had a comment (let alone a discussion) on corrupt budget process reform - without which we simply can not take the right fork, does not bode well. The fact that we have representatives in key positions of power who feel/felt it was a wise act of govt. to tell us what light bulbs to buy underlines the complexity. The fact that many/most of our political "leadership" looks at those Tea Partyists, pleading for fiscal sanity, as a fringe element, drives optimism from my carcass.
We have the promise of a bright future. Will we?
Oct '10
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
Really? Really? This seems a low bar for nobility and heroism.
Now, I think our 'leaders' need our prayers ("That thou wouldest be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations to the advancement of thy glory, the good of thy Church, the safety, honour, and welfare of our Sovereign and her Dominions; that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours, upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations."), and I guess playing parliamentary games can really take it out of you, but politicians of all stripes still have way too much power and way too little inclination to cede it back to the people for me to think anything other than suspicion is an appropriate stance.
But, welcome back!
Feb '11
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
A web search reports that there are likely shale gas deposits in Mexico and even Russia. Poland just completed its first shale gas well. Not just the US but the entire world is about to experience a shale gas revolution.
Massive supplies. That and shale oil too.
Edited on March 8, 2012 at 1:08pmOct '10
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
To be a little more constructive, here's my business of the day, making things happen: Dollar Shave Club. (No, really.)
May '10
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
Barack Obama is the luckiest man in all of human history.
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
There is only one problem, Peter. Government regulation and tax policy can make it difficult and even well nigh impossible for businessmen to operate successfully. Take a look at the state in which you live, and you will see what I mean. Or consider what has happened to the city and, in fact, the state of New York. I am old enough to remember when New York City was a major manufacturing hub. Now there is nothing. I remember when upstate New York hummed. Now it is a no man's land. When I was born, Detroit was the wealthiest city per capita and the fourth largest city in the United States. It is now the second largest city in Michigan, and the median price of a house is $10,000. Politics matters.
Edited on March 8, 2012 at 3:34pmApr '11
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
Yeah, I thought that, too. Intrade currently puts the odds at roughly 1/2 Republican majority, 1/6 50/50, and 1/3 continued Dem majority. If you think the consensus view is that we'll be at the bottom third of that spread, you're listening to too many whiners. The Maine betrayal was damaging, but not that damaging.
Likewise, we need 60 for a single bill repeal of all Obamacare, but we can get rid of 90% of it, including defunding the mandate, through reconciliation. The remaining 10% isn't that controversial and can be repealed as part of broader healthcare reform bills.
Mar '12
Re: What I Saw in Washington, Or God Bless American Business
What depresses me is that the political class believes itself superior to the business class. An Oklahoma CEO whose company employs tens of thousands, has rejuvenated an entire downtown, and has made it its business to help reduce our country's dependence on imported oil, was forced to wait for an audience with then-Speaker Pelosi so she could then denigrate him and his business on her time and her schedule. It seems to me we have it exactly backward. She should be honored to get some of his time, as he's the one leading a major company and spending his and his shareholders' money to make the country work.
I don't know how we change the priority, but it would help if we could recruit more businessmen and women into elected office. Missourians have a chance with businessman John Brunner running for Senate against Claire McCaskill. It's a race worth keeping an eye on.