Thadius
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Joined: 10/11/2005
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Brain
It was Ronald Reagan who/is was the cause of these problems. Ronald Reagan was the cause of the problems because he reversed all of the good policies Carter started to get the United States off of foreign oil. Unfortunately, Thaddeus has got it backwards.
Carter established a clear goal. "Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 -- never. From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation." By the end of the 1980s, the nation would reduce "our dependence on foreign oil by one-half."
To achieve these goals Carter requested of Congress "the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our nation's history to develop America's own alternative sources of fuel -- from coal, from oil shale, from plant products for gasohol, from unconventional gas, from the sun."
For Carter, fairness was to be an important criterion in shaping energy policy. Since the poor suffer most from rising energy prices, "Our nation must be fair to the poorest among us, so we will increase aid to needy Americans to cope with rising energy prices ... ."
Carter also applied the principle to the other end of the wealth spectrum: the oil companies reaping enormous profits because of OPEC-inspired price hikes.
"Congress must enact the windfall profits tax without delay," Carter insisted. "It will be money well spent. Unlike the billions of dollars that we ship to foreign countries to pay for foreign oil, these funds will be paid by Americans to Americans."
Congress enacted much of what Jimmy Carter proposed. Coupled with the energy-efficiency standards for cars enacted by an earlier Democratic Congress, and the passage in 1978 of five energy bills directed at spurring energy efficiency and renewable energy, the Energy Security Act of 1980 created a comprehensive and coherent energy policy directed toward eliminating our dependence on imported oil.
Why don't we remember this? In part, because Ronald Reagan entered office only a year after Carter's speech and immediately set about dismantling or dramatically cutting back most of the programs enacted in the 1970s. The energy crisis subsided. A severe worldwide economic downturn in 1981 and 1982 cut the price of crude oil by 75 percent. Depending on imported oil didn't seem so important. The nation dropped back into lethargy.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1010-27.htm
Ah, good times. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Insane inflation, gas lines down the block, and that last 300+ days of his presidency definitely put him in my top 5 of best presidents.
_____________________________
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends." ~ Japanese Proverb
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