The Piercing Truth

This is right from the dictionary and seems to describe Albuquerque, Berry and Schultz. Fascism (f ash ,izem) noun An authoritarian right wing system of government and/or social organization. (in general use) extreme right wing, authoritarian, chauvinistic and/or intolerant views or practices. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one group over another, national, ethnic, especially social strata or monetarily; a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach. Compliments of one of our Eyes

Dec 3, 2009

First You Laugh, Then You Cry

"There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth." Victor Borge

Saturday Night Live has received widespread acclaim for their recent skit called "China Cold Open, China would like their money back." (Google that it if you have not seen it.) NBC's website features page after page of praise for the great skit. One calls it an “instant classic.” Another proclaims that with this skit, SNL has been “reborn.” Surely, they hit the ball out of the park with this one. It has been talked about around water coolers, posted on FaceBook and passed around via e-mail.

It is truly laugh-out-loud funny. However, after you laugh, you cry. Like the Victor Borge quote, it is truth. SNL knows to base humor on truth. The rest of us need to acknowledge China's prominence as truth.

Unfortunately, as the skit highlights, America is in no position to lecture China on their shortcomings. We are borrowing their money, but have no way to pay it back. As the skit makes clear, we cannot pay it back in “clunkers.”

In the current economy, China holds all the cards.

Some important news items relating to China have been buried by all the noise about healthcare.

One is in regard to rare earth minerals— things most people are totally unaware of, but things that are essential to modern life. Rare earths include names that most of us cannot pronounce like neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium. (Perhaps that is why no one talks about them.) But these unfamiliar words represent essential components of things as everyday as computers, cell phones, and television as well as less obvious necessities like magnets, CDs, and infrared equipment. The China connection is that China controls 97% of the world’s rare earth market and is working to take over more—a move that was struck down by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board as they realized the geopolitical danger of China's control. Add to that the fact that China just announced that they will discontinue the export of rare earths as their own needs are exceeding production. This means that all items requiring rare earths will have to be manufactured by China—giving them full market dominance. Unless, America quickly moves forward on accessing our own rare earths that we have in abundance. An important thing to note is that China’s rare earths are essential for the widely touted "green energy."

Next, China is rapidly moving past us when it comes to energy. We hear a lot about how many new coal-fueled power plants China is building and we hear about China's pollution. But we are not reading between the lines of those two news tracks. Yes, China has polluted their skies and waters—much like we did in the early seventies. And, like we did, they are now working to clean them up. However, unlike America, they understand the direct connection between energy, manufacturing, and economic development. So, while they know they need to clean up, they are investing in clean energy that works. They know they need the large-scale power that comes from coal and nuclear and their new power plants are multiplying like rabbits. We all know that nuclear provides clean energy, but what most do not realize is that coal has cleaned up its act. The power plants that are being built in China—and that could be being built here—are now as clean as a natural gas-fueled power plant. The difference is that China is building them and in America we are busy demonizing coal. Professor Michael Economides, author of the new book Energy: China's Choke Point, says “If China and America decided to do something on the same day, two years later America would still be mired in the permitting process and China would have it done.” They now have the “can-do” attitude and America keeps saying we “cannot.”

While China is building the power they need, America is trying to move off of what works and hopes supplemental, intermittent energy can carry the load—when many of the parts needed for wind and solar energy and hybrid cars come from China.

China is loaning us money that we have virtually no hope of paying back. China will also be holding all the cards when it comes to energy. They'll have all they need and we won't have enough. China will be laughing and Americans will be crying. First you laugh, and then you cry.

Marita Noon is the executive director of the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE), a nonprofit organization that operates from the platform of “Energy Makes America Great” and supports all domestic energy development. She can be reached at marita@responsiblenergy.org or www.responsiblenergy.org.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw the skit when it aired and it was boring and unimaginative. And certainly not "laugh-out-loud-funny. SNL was "reborn" when Tina Fey became Sarah Palin in the fall of 2008. Yet now, once again, SNL is dead. The Rock does a better Obama than Fred Armisan.

Anonymous said...

You wanted CHANGE! The Obama socialist environazi is leading this country to its end!

Anonymous said...

All politics is local - in other words "I don't care". Bring back the Eye.

Anonymous said...

Funny! SNL is really funny! SNL skits are a known style. That is the difference between the U.S. and China. The U.S. has creative, imaginative people and can create ways to make money!

Anonymous said...

This is bs. The oil ang gas industry is closing refineries because they want to drive up the cost of gas.

We need to invest in alternative energy so we can stop transferring our money to countries that sponsor terrorism. Bush held the hand of the Saudi king when they went for a stroll and 17 of the 19 hijackers on 911 came from Saudi Arabia.

The wars we are in right now are about oil, and they will cost us trillions of dollars and kill thousands in our military. We went to the moon, invented the internet, and harnest the power of the atom. The US can invent the tech that will replace fossil fuel.

Oil should go the way of the dinosaurs.

Anonymous said...

I was shopping at REI recently when I noticed that all the tags read, "made in Thailand or China or Vietnam." Our City and State could enact laws that help bring back American businesses overseas. For example, the City of Albuquerque could advertise that all manufacturing companies, etc... abroad (American owned) could relocate to New Mexico and not ever have to pay gross receipts to the City of Albuquerque. What this would help to establish is not only more jobs located in New Mexico, but also to creatively compete bringing back American dollars in the U.S.

Anonymous said...

EXCELLENT piece, which should have meaning for New Mexico. We HAVE many of those metals for which China is trying to corner the market ... we should mine them. We are an energy State ... we should create more - with wind, solar, nuclear, COAL, take the shackles off of gas and oil. As for Chinese ... they are the rising world power in all of the ways we were in the early 20th century. As for 'anonymous' who was bored with the SNL skit - better check your pulse ... you might have passed away ...

Anonymous said...

This is local politics. If we can't get electricity, our lifestyle will be dramatically altered. My guess is that the previously-United States will break up into those who intend to survive, and those who think government, both local and national, will "do it" for them. They think that all they will have to do is pay more taxes.

New Mexico is well-equipped to provide its own electricity if it severs external connections. Oil is something else. Where are the nearest refineries?

Anonymous said...

Thats funny stuff right there.

Anonymous said...

Sunday paper read that Intel is building a plant in China! Well, gee....... I just wish the political figures would just try to find a way to keep U.S. companies from going to China to build plants like saying.... no gross receipts or something! That is 2,000 to 3,000 jobs going to China when those jobs could be U.S. jobs!

Intel is moving to China to try to cut costs of production. Well, maybe the U.S. needs to butt into business with some incentives to keep American Corporations from going to China!