Stefanik does not understand how economy works
Local authors standing up against banning of books in Saratoga Springs
By Ken Tingley
Since retirement, I don’t drive a lot. But this week I noticed gas prices had increased ab out 50 cents since my last fill up.
Listening to National Public Radio a little later, it addressed the issue of oil prices.
They explained that crude oil - one of the major indicators of future gas prices - was over $90 a barrel and might approach $100 a barrel soon. Then they explained why crude oil prices were going up:
- Saudi Arabia and Russia both cut production of oil earlier this month to push prices higher.
- The deadly flooding in Libya also affected production.
- The threat of hurricanes and tropical storms affect production in the United States throughout the summer.
- China has imported oil at higher rates than usual to sustain its manufacturing and transportation industries.
- Record-high temperatures in the U.S. has reduced production at oil refineries.
It was a good piece. It was straight forward and explained how the world economy works. I felt smarter. I knew the “why.”
Most importantly, it was a reminder that neither presidents nor Congress can magically control the price of any goods in a world market. When voters vote their pocketbook, it is just wishful thinking.
That night I read a somewhat different explanation from Rep. Elise Stefanik:
“Gas prices continue to surge in #NY21 and across America. This is a direct result of Joe Biden's war on American energy.”
Well, that wasn’t true.
Either Rep. Stefanik was lying or she does not understand how the economy works in the world.
This type of rhetoric has become commonplace in our political conversation.
Voters should not tolerate it anymore.
When Bill Clinton was president, he was not responsible for the tech boom.
When George W. Bush was president, he was not responsible for the tech collapse.
Neither Bush nor Barack Obama were responsible when the housing market collapsed. That was Wall Street’s fault.
You could go on and on, but if presidents really knew how to magically fix the markets to benefit voters, they would never lose an election.
Later on Wednesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik posted this sentiment with a picture of a local veteran celebrating his 100th birthday:
“In Upstate New York and the North Country, we love our veterans.”
The question I want to know is what part of the country doesn’t support our veterans?
Who are these people?
Has there been protests attacking veterans somewhere?
Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office issued a report that reviewed the care that veterans get from the Veterans Administration.
It reported:
“Over the last decade, GAO has identified significant challenges in VA's leadership and operations, including health care, acquisitions, disability programs, and cybersecurity. These longstanding challenges can affect VA's current efforts to provide timely access to high quality care and benefits. They can also impede its capacity to take on new responsibilities for the recent expansion of benefits for those exposed to toxins.”
If she loved our veterans, she might want to draw attention to that problem and what is being done in Washington to fix it.
That would be something to tweet about.
If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Banned books week
“Banned Books Week (Oct. 1-7) will again be recognized at the Saratoga Springs Public Library on Thursday, Oct. 5 with the latest edition of “Let Freedom Read.”
Seven local authors will headline the reading of passages from previously banned books from each of the past seven decades.
“Banned Books Week” was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores and schools. Unfortunately, we are seeing another surge in that activity. The annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.
I’m honored to be hosting this year’s event.
This year’s event will include readings from local writers Stephen Williams, Dr. Gerald Stulc, Dr. Minita Sanghvi, Patricia A. Nugent, James Preller and Carol Graser.
There will also be a video message from bestselling author Salmon Rushdie.
“When we ban books, we’re closing readers off to people, places, and perspectives,” The American Library Association reports. “But when we stand up for stories, we unleash the power that lies inside every book. We liberate the array of voices that need to be heard and the scenes that need to be seen. Let Freedom Read!”
Saratoga Book Festival
You might want to mark your calendar for the Saratoga Book Festival.
I was fortunate enough to do a presentation last year on the importance of community journalism with former colleagues Mark Mahoney and Will Doolittle while also promoting my book “The Last American Newspaper.”
The book festival is scheduled Oct. 12-15 throughout downtown Saratoga Springs and most of the events are free and open to the public.
Check out the lineup today. There is something for everyone. You don’t have to be a big reader to enjoy one of these programs.
I question how many people, especially those who continue to vote for Stefanik, have a real clue how the economy works. Your summary of the NPR report should be blasted all over social media for those people.
It’s true presidents have little ability to improve the economy in the short term especially when it comes to commodities - tho they can make a mess of the economy with things like tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum which I have some direct insight on and I’d be happy to address separately - but they can, with the help of Congress encourage policies that strengthen our economy such as the CAFE standards President Carter put in place to decrease our use of oil and our reliance on foreign oil. George W Bush singed legislation that phased out incandescent lightbulbs which spurred the switch to LED lighting. In practical terms when we switched a 60w incandescent bulb to an equivalent LED we saved about 85% on electric usage. In the US we use about 213 billion kWh of electricity for lighting each year and a typical coal fired power plant generates about 3.5 billion kWh, so the 85% savings was really significant. When you consider the necessity to stabilize the power grid the switch to LED - *conservation* - the value of the legislation became obvious. But when it happened lots of talking heads on conservative media decried having their god-given incandescent lightbulbs taken away. Who did they blame? Obama, of course.
Conservatives also rail against CAFE a standards and efforts to conserve oil. The person at the gas pump complaining about high gas prices is likely to be driving a monster pickup that cost $70,000 and gets maybe 18-20 mpg. Stefanik and her ilk are not going to tell that person they made a huge mistake in buying a big truck. Her objective is to feed the anger, to fuel division. But you already knew that. She does it because it’s easy, it works, and she benefits. The country doesn’t but she’s not going to say that either.