The EPA is currently debating whether to decrease the amount of ethanol that is required for gasoline blends. They should. Not only does ethanol decrease fuel efficiency in many engines, i.e. older cars and small engines, even damaging this equipment, bio-ethanol is environmentally damaging and consumes food stocks. Consequently, ethanol has its place, but requiring 10 percent or more ethanol in gasoline was always a faulted policy while the failings of the decision to push for increased ethanol consumption are ever more apparent today.
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China has moved to ease restrictions on the number of children couples may have while limiting the reasons people can be sent to labor camps. From a humanitarian standpoint, this is a positive first step in the right direction. Within China, this signals the Communist government feels pressured to adapt to changing times and attitudes. Its Peoples are starting to have a voice. For Westerners, this means China may well be interested in doing more to conform to international norms, thus outside pressure appears to have greater influence on the Beijing. In practice, countries like the US can use an emerging trend of embracing comfortable reforms to push socioeconomic changes that address China’s broader and long-term interests. In other words, Chinese leaders may be more willing to recognize and address American grievances, because they recognize a failure to do so harms them in the long run. Either way, these mild reforms are good for everyone.
Announcing plans to extend the grandfather clause of the Affordable Care Act to include subpar insurance policies issued after the signing of the healthcare reform bill, President Obama also added onto his apology from last week by fully recognizing his Administration’s failure to executive key reforms effectively, most notably the launch of the Healthcare Marketplace website. Humility is rarely rewarded in the heat of the moment. It does, however, make people more sympathetic to your plight and supportive of your efforts to fix your follies. That said, the changes President Obama announced in his news briefing are subject to heightened scrutiny. Those who expected to keep their old insurance coverage at the same rates will likely still not be able to do so. Quite frankly, government sets policies that influence what business decisions can be made; it does not make business decisions. Regrettably, extending the grandfather clause to cancelled and additional subpar health plans seems to be more of an effort to appease anger over a poorly communicate promise rather than a sound, effective policy decision. If individuals facing an insurance cancellation cannot use alternative methods and/or healthcare.gov to purchase a new policy, they might have to go without insurance while cost increases are a major problem for those living on limited budgets. This is the policy concern that must be addressed. Furthermore, the one thing President Obama did well in his press conference was to defend the need for the Affordable Care Act in spite of the rocky start and the shortcomings in the laws that our Legislative Branch is not working to address. Clearly, the Affordable Care Act was never designed to address all of the issues with our healthcare system while lobbyists certainly did their part to make sure Obamacare served their special interests at the cost complicating the bill and limiting its effectiveness. It is important to remember when the Affordable Care Act was voted into law President Obama called for additional reforms to resolve issues that were not addressed by the major legislative effort, but Legislators focused on the struggle to undercut Obamacare. As such, Congress needs to work on new reforms as it should have been doing since March, 2010. Of course, this can only take place once the impending fiscal disaster is averted through the passage of a Budget, tax reforms, spending cuts, and debt ceiling increase. In October, Iran announced it had halted efforts to enrich Uranium up to 20 percent, which is basically one technical step away from weapons grade nuclear material. The US may not need to accept a bad nuclear deal with Iran, but we should delay the implementation of new economic sanctions as part of a good faith effort. Expanding sanctions at this point will thoughtlessly punish Iran instead of incentivizing Iran to pursue a nuclear deal. On the other hand, a limited delay will offer the Iranians an incentive to reach an agreement amicable to Western and regional interests. By imposing a timeline on negotiations through the enactment of a delay, a failure to reach a deal will automatically punish Iran without undercutting America’s promise to negotiate in good faith.
The month of October was the first time since 1995 that America produced more oil than it imported. In terms of price control and energy security, this is a good thing for the United States as oil production is one of the key areas where we have been outsourcing our economic sovereignty. That said, fossil fuel reserves are limited while this precious resource is more valuable as the foundation of biotechnology and polymers; henceforth, domestic oil production cannot be continuously expanded or even maintained into the distant future. As such, the goal is not simply to reduce our dependency on foreign oil; it is to wean our dependency on oil and other fossil fuels. Accordingly, our country must continue to pursue increased efficiency standards and alternative energy sources to replace oil as our major energy source.
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April 2020
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