Trump Spends Your Tax Dollars to Raise Your Electric Bill

[Res Ipsa]

Wind power is a form of solar energy. It is created by differential heating of the atmosphere. The wind form of solar power has been cheaper to convert into electricity than any fossil fuel for some time now. As Bill McKibben says, solar power travels 93 million miles from the sun to the earth and never passes through the strait of Hormuz. No drone can attack and destroy the wind. You would think that a country so sold on being energy self sufficient would be madly building wind turbines and storage batteries to make use of this cheap source of electricity that no other country can mess with.

You would be wrong. Donald Trump, pissed off about offshore wind turbines that are visible from his Scottish golf course, has declared war on wind energy. HIs latest tactic is to bribe power companies with your tax dollars to stop building partially completed or approved wind projects. You, the taxpayer and consumer, get to pay for both ends of this transaction -- the bribe and the higher power costs that will result from killing the projects.

Here is a great article/rant from Bill McKibben about how crazy it is that one crazy man's offended sensibilities is making electricity more expensive for us all.https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/eve ... open=false

Trump is bragging about more tankers coming to the U.S. to buy oil. Who is it good for? Not you. We're talking about oil that would normally be sold to U.S. companies. All those tankers coming to the U.S. are bidding up the cost of your oil. U.S. refineries now have to pay more for the oil they use to make gas and jet fuel. And who pays for that? Car drivers and airline passengers. U.S. oil companies may make record profits, but you pay through the nose.

A fraction of what we are spending on war with Iran could have been used to lower electricity prices by investing in solar and wind power, with an upgraded grid capable of maximizing their use. Instead, Trump is spending billions of your tax dollars to raise your energy costs. American first my ass. It is and has always been Trump first.

[Brack]

And Trump is doing this while gasoline prices remain very high due to the stupid war that he started with Iran.

[Gunnar]

All the more incontrovertible evidence that Trump is the both the stupidest and most corrupt and most self-serving President in United States history! The conservative legislators and appointees who continue to support him comprise either the stupidest, most ill-informed administration ever or the most cowardly and most self-serving.

I am leaning more and more toward the conviction that Trump, like Kim Jong Un, would rather risk the eventual destruction of our civilization by a nuclear conflagration than be unceremoniously and disgracefully ousted from power and wealth, as he unequivocally deserves!

[Res Ipsa]

And Trump is doing this while gasoline prices remain very high due to the stupid war that he started with Iran.

Yep. There is literally no strategic thinking going on other than stuff that's copied from Project 2025. Trump promised not only to reduce the rate of inflation, but to bring prices down. He hasn't brought prices down. And his major policy initiatives are all inflationary: tariffs raise the price of imported goods, tax cuts create more dollars chasing the same amount of goods, deportations increase the cost of labor, killing solar and wind projects reduce the supply of electricity, war increases the deficit and spikes the price of oil. None of it fits together in a coherent plan to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.

[Res Ipsa]

All the more incontrovertible evidence that Trump is the both the stupidest and most corrupt and most self-serving President in United States history! The conservative legislators and appointees who continue to support him comprise either the stupidest, most ill-informed administration ever or the most cowardly and most self-serving.

I am leaning more and more toward the conviction that Trump, like Kim Jong Un, would rather risk the eventual destruction of our civilization by a nuclear conflagration than be unceremoniously ousted from power and wealth.

The scary thing is that, from the standpoint of weapons, we've tried everything we have in Iran and are still losing. The only thing we haven't tried is a nuke. And Trump has grumbled in the past about having weapons we aren't able to use. Not a comfortable combination.

[Gunnar]

The scary thing is that, from the standpoint of weapons, we've tried everything we have in Iran and are still losing. The only thing we haven't tried is a nuke. And Trump has grumbled in the past about having weapons we aren't able to use. Not a comfortable combination.

All of the above scares me too!

In the meantime, China is leading the world in critical technologies that will SHIFT GLOBAL POWER DYNAMICS in years to come. Areas in which our nation was once predominant and are now losing or have already lost. This bodes ill for our continuing predominance and prosperity.

• China currently leads in 37 of 44 critical technologies, including defense, AI, and quantum research.
• The U.S. trails in most areas, holding leads in high-performance computing and vaccines.
• China’s research dominance is bolstered by talent trained in Western democracies.
• Democratic nations must urgently collaborate and invest to close the gap.

China takes stunning lead in research and innovation

In a world increasingly defined by technological innovation, China has emerged as the undisputed leader in critical and emerging technologies, according to a groundbreaking report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). The Critical Technology Tracker, a comprehensive data-driven project, reveals that China dominates 37 of 44 key technology fields, including artificial intelligence (AI), defense, space, and quantum technologies. This dominance, fueled by decades of strategic planning and talent acquisition, has profound implications for the global balance of power. As Western democracies struggle to keep pace, the report serves as a stark warning: without urgent action, the world risks ceding technological and geopolitical influence to an authoritarian state.

The Critical Technology Tracker, which analyzes high-impact research papers from 2003 to 2023, shows China’s overwhelming lead in critical technologies. In fields like advanced aircraft engines, including hypersonic missiles, China produces 48.49% of the world’s high-impact research—nearly five times more than the U.S. Seven of the top 10 research institutions in this field are based in China, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences ranking first or second in many of the 44 technologies tracked.

China’s success is no accident. It is the result of deliberate, long-term policy planning under President Xi Jinping and his predecessors. The country has also leveraged global talent, with one-fifth of its high-impact research authored by individuals trained in Five-Eyes countries (the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand). This combination of domestic investment and international expertise has positioned China to excel not only in current technologies but also in future innovations that have yet to be imagined.

Areas Where China Leads:

• Defense and Space: Hypersonic missiles, advanced aircraft engines, and small satellites.
• AI and Robotics: Machine learning, natural language processing, and advanced robotics.
• Energy and Environment: Critical minerals extraction, photovoltaics, and green energy technologies.
• Quantum Technologies: Quantum sensors and communications.

The U.S. and its allies struggle to keep pace

While the U.S. remains a leader in high-performance computing and quantum computing, it trails China in most other areas. The gap between the two superpowers is vast, with other nations like India, the U.K., South Korea, and Germany forming a distant second tier. For example, the U.S. holds the most COVID-19 vaccine patents and has a monopoly on failed medical countermeasures, but these gains are overshadowed by China’s broad dominance in countless other areas.

The report highlights a troubling trend: democratic nations are losing the race for scientific breakthroughs and global talent. This has short- and long-term implications. In the near term, China’s ability to translate research into commercial products could give it control over critical technology supply chains. In the long term, unchecked dominance could shift global power and influence to an authoritarian regime, where technological development lacks transparency and accountability.

A call to action for democratic nations

China’s technological ascendancy is not merely a matter of national pride—it is a seismic shift in the global order. The Critical Technology Tracker is more than a warning—it is a roadmap for action. ASPI outlines 23 policy recommendations for democratic nations to close the gap, including:

• Investment and Talent: Establish sovereign wealth funds for high-risk, high-reward “moonshot” projects and create specialized scholarships for critical technology research.
• Global Partnerships: Strengthen alliances like the Quad (U.S., India, Japan, Australia) and AUKUS to pool resources and expertise.
• Intelligence: Build an open-source intelligence center focused on China’s technological advancements.
• Commercialization: Foster public-private partnerships to accelerate the translation of research into market-ready technologies.

“These findings should be a wake-up call for democratic nations,” the report states. “The costs of catching up will be significant, but the costs of inaction could be far greater.”

I have seen several articles and videos extolling the U.S.'s newest sixth generation F-47 stealth fighter and other new top secret technologies and how they are so incredibly advanced that not even China has a realistic chance overtaking and besting us in the foreseeable future. I can't help suspecting that these claims are foolishly naïve, given what we are now learning about what China is doing, and the fact that the Trump Administration is actually cutting funding for education and basic research in science and technology.

[ajax18]

given what we are now learning about what China is doing,

You mean getting CCP loyal mayors elected in places like Arcadia, California? Granted it was California not Texas. Or how about exporting Chinese students to steal intellectual properties in American universities?

The electric bill is a tax where I live. Anytime the city council needs money they don't go to the voters much less taxpayers with a budget proposal. They just take it out your electric bill money oftentimes charging a penalty for running your air conditioning to low. They say they're saving the planet while lining their own pockets along with those of their welfare collecting constituents, many of whom go their entire lives without doing an honest day's work.

[Philo Sofee]

And Trump is doing this while gasoline prices remain very high due to the stupid war that he started with Iran.

Trump is the most Anti-American person on the planet. His goal is obviously to destroy our country, and all we do is complain and let him.

[Gunnar]

You mean getting CCP loyal mayors elected in places like Arcadia, California? Granted it was California not Texas. Or how about exporting Chinese students to steal intellectual properties in American universities?

The electric bill is a tax where I live. Anytime the city council needs money they don't go to the voters much less taxpayers with a budget proposal. They just take it out your electric bill money oftentimes charging a penalty for running your air conditioning to low. They say they're saving the planet while lining their own pockets along with those of their welfare collecting constituents, many of whom go their entire lives without doing an honest day's work.

The fact still remains, Ajax, that Trump's Iran war and his insane objection to wind turbines and other renewable energy initiatives that are increasingly proving to be less expensive to run than fossil fuel powerplants is unequivocally damaging our economy, environment and making energy (particularly electricity) more expensive than it needs to be for all of us (including you).

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Can you imagine if a Democrat had said that as inflation spirals out of control?

Hey MAGA board members, do you understand now that they never cared about your financial situation? Is it clicking, yet, at the gas pump and register?