Rick Perry's "Jobs Plan" Little More Than a Sloppy French Kiss on the Lips of Big Oil

[wtmusic]

"Today, Rick Perry finally unveiled his much-anticipated “jobs” plan. The 41-page document, however, is less focused on creating jobs than providing benefits to multi-national oil and gas companies at the expense of taxpayers.

Here are the top 10 giveaways to Big Oil in Perry’s plan:

1. End all efforts at federal regulation of fracking by Big Oil. 'Hydraulic fracturing has proven to be extremely safe for human health and the environment, and is successfully regulated at the state level.'

2. End all regulation of Big Oil’s CO2 emissions. 'Greenhouse gases are naturally occurring gases and carbon dioxide (CO2) (the focus of environmental activists) is exhaled by animals, required to support plant life, and represents less than 0.1% of the world’s atmosphere. … Repeal EPA’s authority over green-house gases (GHG), and eliminate all current and planned EPA programs to restrict carbon dioxide emissions (including taxes or cap and trade schemes).' ...

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/10/14/344339/top-10-giveaways-to-big-oil-in-rick-perrys-jobs-plans/

[notadmblnd]

1. Did ALEC write the plan and submit "sample" legislation?

[wtmusic]

2. More likely, the American Petroleum Institute

"Sure, you know oil and natural gas fuel transportation and comfort,” a blond-haired woman in a black pantsuit says in one API television ad. Behind her, silver trucks and cars glide by, an African American family shares a meal, people pour out of a rush-hour train. Then a crowd appears before giant letters that read: “9.2 million JOBS.”

But many economists say that the API has exaggerated the number of jobs linked to the oil and gas industry by including direct and indirect jobs (such as steel suppliers), and a seldom-used category known as “induced” jobs that API says covers everything from valets to day-care providers, from librarians to rocket scientists.

Moreover, the single biggest category of people working directly for the petroleum industry is cashiers at gasoline stations and stations with convenience stores — 533,830 of them, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet hardly any of those cashiers pump gas, check engines or inflate tires; mostly they ring up sales of snacks, not gasoline. According to the Labor Department, their median hourly wage is a meager $8.68."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/companies-use-fuzzy-math-in-job-claims-candidates-still-buy-in/2011/10/07/gIQAqoYBbL_story_1.html

API is Central Command for the oil lobby.

[kristopher]

3. A question for you...

I've often stated that the least credible source of information on any technology is the industry itself. it is recognized that peer reviewed academic papers are most credible (not infallible by a long shot, but they have the most validity in general) with governmental and NGOs coming in somewhere in between industry and academia.

In your post you've (correctly) identified "API" as "Central Command for the oil lobby."

Do you acknowledge that the Nuclear Energy Institute is every bit as corrupt and profit motivated as the American Petroleum Institute?