“Because, as we all know, elections matter. And when folks vote, they order what they want. And in this case, they got what they asked for.”
– VPOTUS Kamala Harris
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
– H. L. Mencken
Twelve seconds:
March 15, 2020 – Debate with Bernie Sanders
The Biden campaign was quick to say that Biden’s statement was misinformation. Haha, they actually didn’t say that. They did explain “what information he really meant to convey.”
That’s just Joe, he said the quiet part out loud.
The approved meaning was there will be no more drilling on Federal land. A plausible explanation for what he meant to say. Not so plausible for his real meaning.
If fossil fuel extraction in your own country is an existential threat, why would you – POTUS – stop with Federal land? You can wield the full weight of the regulatory state against all US producers everywhere.
Joe’s error does not rise to Kinsley gaffe level (a slip of the tongue revealing some truth that a politician did not intend to admit), because a real Kinsley gaffe has a minimum bar: A history of public speech hinting that bewildered incognizance is not your standard method of dealing with reality.
If you have to decimate domestic oil production to finesse a campaign promise… If that implies pretending oil from Iran and/or Venezuela is preferable to United States production… If you refuse to accept oil from an ally by keeping Keystone XL closed when shutting down Russian oil…
Then it is not a gaffe. It’s a plan.
When any POTUS declares his intent to destroy an industry it has a tendency to affect capital markets.
U.S. oil drillers ‘dying on the vine’ as private equity flight prompts funding drought
…and to encourage overreach from Federal agencies predisposed to assist in the destruction. The Feds, with subsidies to investors like Warren Buffet, makers like Elon Musk, and scams like Solyndra have encouraged activist investors to lobby for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) purity. That’s probably more accurately described as DIE (diversity, inclusion, equity) investment.
ESG Watch: Heat turned up under banks for role in financing fossil fuels
The SEC is getting ready to make ESG reporting mandatory.
What will SEC’s climate disclosure rules mean for U.S. companies?
And do not forget legal obstructionism. Here’s an example – an arbitrary guesstimate made by biased bureaucrats called the “social cost of carbon.”
Biden Administration Halts New Drilling in Legal Fight Over Climate Costs