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THE GREAT DISCONNECT

By: Tony Minopoli

As the son of an immigrant, I was born into a family that is immensely patriotic and incredibly thankful for the opportunities that the U.S. has afforded our family. I am also a student of history and I hold the Greatest Generation in the highest esteem for all the sacrifices they made for this great country. I know you might be asking where is he going with all of this? As the title hints, I want to discuss a disconnect, and this particular disconnect for debate today is between consumers and the government. The founders of our country served time in government roles and then went back to their lives. In many cases, the generations who came of age in the first half of the 20th century felt a need to contribute to society through government service and then went to the private sector. Over the ensuing decades, we have spawned the governing class who seeks to only be an elected official (plus all those who hang on to the elected officials). This group most certainly does not represent our best nor our brightest and they tend to seek power for power’s sake and are not listening to their constituents.

Recently, I read how rental car companies are divesting of electric vehicles because the renting public, as well as the car-purchasing public, does not want them. The early adopters have adopted and the remainder of us have shrugged and simply moved on with our lives. I read an article earlier today that the EPA wants to attack fossil fuels by placing a tax on natural gas producers based on methane emissions. Keep in mind, that the ruling class has no clue how we are going to produce enough green power to keep our economy energized. Instead, they want to tax the cleanest source of energy, making everything but renewables more expensive, and tilt an outcome so they achieve their desired goal. Maybe we should clue the government in that the energy used by electric vehicles are largely generated by fossil fuels!

I do believe in American ingenuity and that our best and brightest in the private sector will make quantum advances in renewables. This will need both time and investment to play out. The challenge remains that the public is voting against purely electric vehicles and placing excessive taxes on fossil fuels will only hurt broad swaths of our population. This cost will come in the form of direct price increases for energy as well as indirect costs due to energy inputs into virtually every facet of our economy. Though unlikely, perhaps those that want to express a vote for traditional vehicles through continued purchase actually vote out those policymakers that seem to do so much harm to our economy. I believe that a move to renewable energy will not only be inflationary but will also weaken our economy and our country at a time when the world needs a strong American presenc

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