Today's CNBC Comments Require Critical Thinking

by

Dave Harbour

Have you ever heard smart people being interviewed about Alaska and/or energy issues and wondered how they could be so uninformed/devious (i.e. Could there be any other explanation?)

This morning on CNBC, Jim Cramer spoke with Jason Furman.  The 42 year-old Furman is an alumnus of the Brookings Institute and the President's Council of Economic Advisers Chairman. 

On energy, Cramer suggested that the government help with the labor shortage of energy producing states, addressing the mismatch between states with job shortages and states with employment shortages.  It seemed like he was suggesting a government agency be created to reimburse out of work citizens in some states to fly to other states for energy jobs.  I thought, "It is unbelievable that a brilliant investor like Cramer would suggest that the country compound its government overreach, its spending excesses and its unsustainable debt by unleashing yet another government program to replace the more perfect processes of the free market." 

I tend to credit Cramer more with being uninformed about energy issues than devious.  The old boy has given me and many others good investment advice over the years.  But Cramer could have given a more astute observation regarding job shortages in energy producing states and job losses in energy consuming states.  He could have suggested to the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors that the President chasten the Corps of EngineersEPABLM (1) & (2), USFWS, and other agencies to support "all of the above, including fossil fuel" energy job growth instead of doing everything possible to shut it down.  He could have suggested that the Federal government begin to support the use of fracking technology in the blue, energy consuming states so that their citizens wouldn't have to move to Texas, North Dakota, Colorado and Oklahoma.  He could have urged immediate approval of the President Obama-delayed Keystone XL pipeline.  He could have urged the White House to reopen the Outer Continental Shelf areas for oil and gas exploration and development that it has closed downagainst the will of coastal states' governors.

Then Council Chairman Furman stated with firm conviction that the President "has been right out in front" of energy issues with an "all of the above policy" that has contributed to a "real resurgence" in oil and gas development which now has the country producing more than it exports.  This is blatantly untrue.  Virtually all of the dramatic oil and gas production increases have come from state or private lands–not federal lands, where leasing and production has decreased.

Furman also said that lack of job growth was owing to the "sequester and to brinkmanship".  In short, he says with an accusing finger pointing in another direction, "It's not the President's fault."

One must attribute Furman's view of energy and economic issues more to a devious effort to mislead the public because his Administration has all the facts–were it to be more interested in facts than political outcomes.

The Administration knows full well that its Alaska policies alone have delayed or killed creation of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of jobs throughout the country.  We have documented these efforts over the last five years in www.northerngaspipelines.com.  Applying post-deepwater Gulf oil spill policies to shallow waters in Alaska by fiat (i.e. without due process), creating critical habitat for Steller sea lions and polar bears and beluga whales when those populations are not endangered…are increasing unemployment. The EPA joining with environmental extremists seeking to kill a development project before it files for its first permit on state land, violates the rule of law and due process while killing countless jobs and creating a precedent that will haunt job creators for generations to come.

This doesn't include a long list of Presidential job attacks in the Lower 48Congressional end-runs, usurpation of authority, and misappropriation of funds which I would be delighted to discuss with friends anytime.

We have reached the point in America when ordinary citizens cannot count on the honesty, objectivity or fairness of the Executive Branch or of the mainstream media.

Just as we try to teach our children to be "critical thinkers" (or, do we anymore?), so should we adults analyze what is happening to curtail freedom, to convert private to public employment, to shift income from private employees to public employees, to shift power from the electorate to the unelected.

We will hear a lot of smart people being interviewed.  It is critical for every caring American to understand whether commentators are opining on issues within their realm of expertise and whether they are commenting honestly about issues critical to the future and survival of the country.

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