The Alternative

By: 
Fritz Groszkruger

Windmills make us poor
    For years, alternative energy development was stifled by petroleum subsidies; among them military protection rackets and depletion allowances. The subsidies were touted as a way to prop up national security and help low income people get around. But if the cost of oil was realized at the pump instead of hidden in tax breaks and subsidies, investment in other forms of energy would have been more attractive.
    Any government-forced transfer of wealth results in misdirected economic decisions. The only way to know which form of energy is best is to let millions of consumers decide without interference.
    The market is already full of products that we've shown we want through purchase. So in order to cash in on a way to compete with proven goods and services, a crisis is used.
    In the history of Earth, we are now in the lower one-quarter of the range of Earth's temperature, yet there is some serious money to be made. In spite of the fact that nature has provided us with the ultimate storage vehicle for solar energy, fossil fuels, we are to believe that these tiny objects (relative to Earth's surface) such as power plants and cars can drastically change the climate.
    In the early 1980's when we started farming, I dug tunnels to the hog water tanks through drifts of snow the pigs would walk over as if there was no fence at all. We hung a curtain to cordon off the kitchen because the wood cook-stove was the only way to keep us warm. Now I only use insulated coveralls for ringing the Salvation Army bell at Fareway. The climate is warmer.
    The climate science debate is focused on whether the climate is warming and laws to fix the problem, while ignoring the consequences of those laws and the benefits they will bring.
    Susan Solomon (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), one of the world's top climate scientists, and her colleagues issued a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It states that eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from human activity would be offset by natural processes and not slow the trend toward a warmer climate.
    On the other end of the scale is the most optimistic estimate of the results of a world totalitarian dictatorship (Invade China?). If we are all controlled to such an extent, the temperature of the earth would be reduced by less than one tenth of one percent of a degree F in a hundred years. We are presently spending $1.5 trillion per year on the global warming industry and according to the alarmists that is still not enough. Imagine how lifestyles would change if we were doing “enough.” This cloudy, windless day would have me huddled by a window with pencil and paper, not at this keyboard and search engine. (Google, by the way, is a joke, controlled by climate change industry tax feeders.)
    The bottom line is that we should tell the bio-fuel and windmill scam artists to take a hike. We should be skeptical when a crisis is touted as a way to fight a market that is truly our friend. The market makes us wealthy. Government control makes us poor.
    Those of us who are concerned about income inequality, the cost of medical care, and the cost of living in general should reject the idea of punishing the productive class to reward opportunistic snake oil salesmen.
    I can't imagine self-described constitutional conservative, Representative Steve King, and the taxpayers' watchdog, Senator Charles Grassley actually believe the windmill subsidies are constitutional or a moral alternative to freedom. Bringing home the bacon to Iowa costs someone else, somewhere.
    On this Thanksgiving Day I am thankful we have none of these monuments to stupidity within sight of our farm.
    Editor’s Note: A note on The Alternative from two weeks back – Brett Pharo wrote about the election, not me.
     Any discussion or suggestions are welcome at 4selfgovernment@gmail.comor a frequently updated blog focused on alternative ideas is www.alternativebyfritz.com.

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