Comments on: Keeping Energy’s Golden Goose from Becoming a Golden Noose: Part One

By: dennis hammond

dennis hammond — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:26:09 +0000

Jim,
I didn’t know money from fossil
fuels “bought” passing grades and
literacy. You’re always pushing the
sophistry, the party line.

As I always relate, I
attended a dirt poor Catholic school
we had NOTHING but old text books
blackboards, chalk and nuns who
taught their fannies off. God bless
them. I was an average student and when
I went to PUBLIC school in 9th grade
they moved me ahead a grade. They
were amazed! Pathetic. But keep on
with your propaganda. WE NEED THE
MONEY! ALWAYS MORE! YOU CAN NEVER
THROW ENOUGH MONEY AT PUBLIC EDUCATION!

By: durf786

durf786 — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:10:32 +0000

Jim,

That’s a nice story. Did you have a point?

By: noidea

noidea — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:25:17 +0000

Dennis,

I think that Jim’s point was the boom and bust cycle of a state’s reliance on energy revenues. People squander their futures by foregoing college to make a good living and then have nowhere to go when the cycle (as it inevitably will) ends. Although, I disagree with Jim’s need to always felch more taxes from anything that moves, these columns are very informative.

The “I walked uphill both ways to school with no shoes on my feet in a foot of driven snow”, although may be how you liked it, is not how I want my son and future child to go to school. Not that I like wasteful spending either.

By: LHKMAN

LHKMAN — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:13:45 +0000

How much of Wyoming’s severance tax windfall comes from the fact that Wyoming now is the No. 1 state in the production coal? Wyoming coal is so low in sulfur that it is used in older generating stations in a blend with high sulfur Appalachian and Illinois Basin coal to meet Clean Air Act standards. That makes it very popular with the electric utility industry. Typical of most writings, the word “coal” does not even appear in Jim’s story

By: Wildflower

Wildflower — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:19:43 +0000

It sounds like Wyoming, with the scholarships, is hoping to encourage kids to prepare for the Bust after the Boom is over. But I imagine the educated will leave the state. They could sure have Cheney back though.
They need to attract non-fossil fuel related business for the Bust. Let’s see, they sure are loaded with wind power east of the mountains…
Are those $50,000 plus truck-driving jobs some of those jobs “Americans won’t do?” Unlikely.
I love the idea of no personal income tax. It would make retirement ever so much easier.
But Colorado will never dispense of its personal income tax, so maybe they shouldn’t tear up the state for fossil fuels either.
My gosh, Dennis I knew the schools were bad but I didn’t realzie how bad.

By: kujack

kujack — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:22:33 +0000

Durf,
It’s a two part story, that means you aren’t at the end of the story, you are only in the middle.

By: dennis hammond

dennis hammond — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:49:09 +0000

Noidea,

I just like to dispell the myth perpetuated
by the tax and spenders that money can
somehow buy literacy. California spends
twice as much per K-12 student and they
are fornicating in the hall ways.
Education relies on a basic curriculum,
teachers with authority to keep order (not
attorneys ) and parents who take an active
role in the educational process. Without
those elements and students who are MADE
to do the work, education doesn’t happen
regardless of it’s price. That’s a fact.

As for forgoing college to make money,
the wealthiest classmates I have from
high school never attended college, they
went to TRADE SCHOOL and then started
their own businesses. They can actually
DO SOMETHING as opposed to academics who
polish their degrees but often have no
practical skills or abilities and end up
getting downsized. I know a LOT of them.

I would advise kids
thinking about spending a quarter million
on a fancy university degree to consider
going to trade school. The trades, for the
most part, while less snooty, are recession
proof. When you’re electricity or furnace
goes out you call a tradesman and they
ain’t cheap! The Democrats solution to
EVERYTHING is either throw more money at
it or tax it. How’s it go? If it moves
tax it, if it stalls regulate it, if it
stops subsidize it. Like that. It’s all
about separating us from our money.

By: noidea

noidea — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:37:24 +0000

We have a renewable resource right here on Spencer speaks.. Dennis is long winded enough to keep the Western U.S. energy needs fulfilled for a century.

Just giving you a hard time, Dennis..