• Energy bill : Terrorist attacks in London Energy bill : Terrorist attacks in London Chicago Tribune — July 9, 2005 Last week the U.S. Senate passed a 1,250-page energy bill, two months after the House approved its own version.
• Energy bill : Terrorist attacks in London
Energy bill : Terrorist attacks in London
Chicago Tribune — July 9, 2005
Last week the U.S. Senate passed a 1,250-page energy bill, two months after the House approved its own version. Though differing in details, both bills are laden with federal subsidies certain to worsen the federal deficit, while doing little or nothing to increase the nation’s energy supply or lower fuel prices.
Ranging from a measure with a price tag of $6 million to promote bicycling to an unspecified amount of tax funds to study the oil needs of Hawaii, these two bills are among the largest pots of pork ever cooked up by Congress. It is a legislative giveaway beyond boiling down to size. …
There is little Congress can do to lower gas prices, except to cut fuel taxes. What is driving the world oil prices to record highs—around $60 a barrel—is increasing demand by the U.S. and by huge developing countries like India and China. … Yet the House bill includes $2 billion for “oil drilling research.” With such fat earnings, shouldn’t the industry pay for its own exploration? …
Neither bill offers a comprehensive conservation strategy. The Senate version has a few provisions to promote energy efficiency—such as greater use of renewable sources—but the House bill ignores the topic.
The Senate and House versions now go to a conference committee to work out the differences between them. But no amount of cookery will produce an appetizing meal.
The only solution is to start again.
Chicago Tribune — July 10, 2005
By now, the initial shock over the terrorist attacks in London has largely faded on this side of the Atlantic. That’s not to diminish the pain and suffering of those who were killed or injured in the bombings of subway trains and a double-decker bus early Thursday.
But for many Americans the shock of such an event fades faster now than it would have before Sept. 11, 2001. …Analysts speculated that investors have come to accept terror attacks as inevitable—but of limited economic impact. “The psychology is kind of scary,” said Phil Flynn, an energy analyst for Chicago-based Alaron Trading Corp. “We are learning to take terror incidents in stride.”
That’s not scary, that’s human nature. …
The rest of the world now takes a lesson from Londoners on how to bounce back. The oldest among them endured the Nazi Blitz, many of them eventually acclimating to the relentless aerial bombing. As if to say to their tormentors: You cannot reduce us to despair.
- Provided by the Associated Press.
