Literally Every Word In Executive Order Title Incorrect (Full Details)
“Ending” - The subsidies are not ending, because the democratically elected representatives of the people would not pass a law that ended the subsidies. You tried, they said no.
“Market Distorting Subsidies” - The subsidies for solar and wind are no more distorting than i) intangible drilling costs full expensing, ii) MLP allowances, iii) Royalty relief of federal lands, iv) “percentage depletion”, v) foreign tax credits, vi) LIFO accounting, vii) amortization of exploration costs, viii) “clean” coal tax credits. If anything, they are less distorting because the market participants utilizing solar and wind subsidies aren’t constantly pretending that they don’t exist.
“Unreliable” - Well, the US solar fleet has a composite uptime of 99.1% nationally, as compared to 57% for the natural gas fleet. Did you nincompoops mean “intermittent”? Your point is that the power produced by wind and solar is intermittent? So, let me get this straight… you’re up for spending billions on pursuing a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, and returning soil samples from Mars, but you don’t think America is capable of folding intermittent energy into our power mix? Even though we already are? You don’t sound American to me, you sound like a quitter who thinks China can do things that America can’t do, that’s what you sound like. Is that what you believe? Something China - who has a pretty shitty electrical grid, if we’re being honest - is doing effectively every day is beyond the reach of America? The same America that defeated the Germans on the beaches of Guadalcanal? The same America that invented the Hamburger….you’re saying that America is worse than China at something? Who’s the communist now, Stalin?
“Foreign Controlled Energy Sources” - Nope. Neither China nor anyone else owns or controls the power plants supported by the ITC and PTC. Are you getting confused because some of the components of the power plants are manufactured in China? Does that mean you think our Barbie dolls are controlled by China? Why haven’t you outlawed them immediately? It’s super weird to allow America’s children to play with dolls that you believe are controlled by China. You’re saying the little red wagon I take my kids around in is controlled by China? Are you saying I’m a bad parent because I shlep my kids around in a commie-wagon? Are you saying China controls my running shoes?…that while I’m running away from the cops just because as I was playing my own game of “Is It Cake?” I got one wrong and repeatedly tried slicing through a fire hydrant with a kitchen knife, it’s actually China controlling the shoes that are running from the cops? Is that what you’re saying?
Maybe what you’re trying to say is that the “means of production” are controlled by foreign governments, and that makes you uncomfortable with regards to our national energy security. You can just say that. That’s a normal, reasonable thing to say. We could have a pretty constructive convo around that, actually. We’d probably end up using a combination of mostly carrots with a few sticks to really incentivize domestic manufacturing of these components while simultaneously creating jobs, improving energy security, and nudging our trade deficit in a better direction. Actually, there was a big law passed in 2023 that did just that, and we’ve been onshoring manufacturing of solar/wind components very successfully ever since. I mean…that is until last week.