Pres. Obama's State of the Union Address

It has been a while since Pres. Obama gave his "State of the Union" speech to Congress and the general public. I have been silent on the subject, because I really did not know what to say. The fact is that I am a sucker for great rhetoric in a speech. Pres. Obama had such wonderful rhetoric that it left me speechless.

Fortunately, others have better ability to keep their eye on the ball and listen to what he really said. It is also fortunate that Chemical and Engineering News Reporters have this ability, and I have access to their writings through the weekly magazine editions. The track record shows that C&E News reporters generally slant their articles in a socialistic manner consistent with the ideology of Rudy Baum, the Editor-In-Chief. However, I have never found the stated facts to be incorrect.

In the January 30 edition of C&E News, the major "News of the Week" was Pres. Obama's speech, as reported by Jeff Johnson and Glenn Hess. The subtitle of the C&E News article was "A Focus on Manufacturing".

"Creating US manufacturing jobs is the goal of an array of federal initiatives Pres. Barack Obama laid out on January 24 in the annual State of the Union address". The President has apparently finally seized on the idea that employment can be stimulated by increased investment in manufacturing. To that end, he plans to penalize corporations for moving jobs overseas and grant credits for keeping them in the US. Other tax credits are planned for renewable energy manufacturing, educational support, worker training, and government research. This is at least a partial about-face from Pres. Obama's previous position, which was fundamentally antibusiness, including manufacturing, other than dumping some billions of dollars into General Motors and renewable energy. Notice also that he retains the aspect of big government control through tax incentives and penalties, and he has not given up the idea of promoting renewable energy and continuing nebulous government basic research. However, the apparent improved recognition of unemployment and the intended action to create jobs was well received by the general public, which in the last week has shown, through polls, a generally improved acceptance of his job performance.

The President has also done an about face on domestic oil and gas production. For at least the past year, he has withheld drilling permits. He now says he will open more federal territory to offshore oil and gas exploration. Calvin Dooley, head of the American Chemistry Council says, "it's a game-changer for the chemical industry and other manufacturers, who can use more affordable and stable supplies to expand exports and create jobs". The Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates had a contrary opinion, saying the administration's regulatory, tax, and trade policies will make it difficult to renew US manufacturing capability. Even looking at it from the most favorable aspect, the question is whether the President will follow through. He doesn't have a good record of actually doing what he says he will do. Also, does "exploration" mean just that or will there be follow up with actual production? One worry for me is his stated concern about the ecological dangers of gas production through the fracking process. The fact is that fracking has been found to be ecologically viable, because it is used at depths well below the locale of aquifers. Is he hedging on the frackng topic, with intention of using it as an excuse to counteract his stated good intentions?

One sad aspect is the President's continued intention to push renewable energy. Fox News recently pointed out that our present use of renewable energy is 3% of the total, in spite of the fact that we have spent many billions of taxpayer dollars on renewable energy development. I liken this to an analogy where fishing fleets are able to bring in many tons of mackerel to feed the populace, but the government will allow only fishing for barracuda, which constitute a very small segment of fish availability.

The last sad aspect is Pres. Obama's urging that Congress continue federal funding for basic research in US laboratories and universities. In this connection, he is using a play on words with the implication that all basic research is meritorious and that there is international competition in this respect. The fact is that through the grant system involving federal agencies and particularly the National Science Foundation, the taxpayers have dispersed billions of dollars to ridiculous pet projects of university professors. This must stop. Any significant basic research needs will be recognized by private industry, which also without government restriction has the ability to perform the necessary tasks of obtaining information for practical development into usable products and systems.

Once again, there was apparent good news in the President's speech, but will it be realistic and implementation? How many new drilling permits have been issued in the past week?