Growers and Grocers

With the election coming to an end, it’s time for President-Elect Obama to get to work putting action behind his plans for change.  One area of change that is important, but may not have gotten as much publicity as the economy has taken its downward spiral, was how to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and looking for new sources of energy.  With the election results in and the people speaking loud and clear, many people will be watching closely to see how our new president will put action behind his plans for change.

Let’s begin by taking a look at the short term plans for easing the energy costs and dependence on foreign oil. 

1. Begin by holding the oil companies accountable for their windfall profits.  How?  By assessing a Windfall Tax that will be used to give rebate checks to each household in the United States ($500 for individual, $1000 for married couples). 
2. Enact legislation to close loopholes in the Commodities Trading Market that have enabled speculators to cause the cost of oil to increase exponentially over the past few years.  The legislation would make the market more transparent and help keep the price of oil down.
3. To assist in bringing down the cost of oil in the short term, Obama would like to release a portion of the light crude oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).  Later the oil that was released would be replaced with a heavier grade of crude that would better suit our needs in the long term.

These are only the short term plans that our newly elected President would like to put in place to ease the burden that has hit so many people in our country.  Next time, we will take a look at the next phase of Obama’s energy plan. 

Photo courtesy of www.barackobama.com

Source:  www.barackobama.com