The Real Problem With George W.

Pay Now Vs. Pay Later

The House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday that would generate $18 billion dollars by eliminating certain tax breaks for the five largest oil companies. That $18 billion would then be used to give incentives for wind and solar energy and energy efficiency initiatives.

George W. threatened to veto the bill.

His reason: it will force gas companies to hike gas prices, it will financially discourage further oil exploration and in general, be unfair to an industry. In other words, let’s not single out any one industry and start beating up on them.

Here’s the problem with Bush’s reasoning on this bill, as well as the overall problem with a lot of his policies: He’s short-sighted. He seems to only be able to see 90 days into the future, which is coincidentally the range that most corporations operate in as well.

What he’s not seeing is the long-term benefits to “paying now” with possibly higher prices at the pump, in order to avoid “paying later” with higher costs of oil due to unquenchable demand on resources and depleting worldwide supply.

He doesn’t see how we will all pay later when, after spewing the carbon from the emissions on all that oil, climate change will become virtually irreversible and deadly to most species on the planet, including humans. He doesn’t see how we’ll all pay later when we’ll have to go to war with yet another oil-producing country in order to keep the “crack” flowing into our veins.

If oil prices are kept steady, and most consumers still feel that they can handle the higher prices at the pump and elsewhere, like at grocery stores (due to higher transport and fertilizer costs), which means they won’t do a damn thing to change their lifestyle or vehicle choice.

If you look beyond the next quarter, or even the next year or decade, you can see how an investment in alternative energy initiatives now can actually be a long-term benefit that will reduce our dependency on foreign oil and reduce carbon emissions in the future. So what if we have to pay an extra dollar at the pump for the next year, if in the next 20 years, we’ll enjoy huge savings because our cars will run on less gas, our homes and businesses will be energized by cheaper, renewable energy, and food costs will be kept down as a result?

It’s a question of pay now for a short time, or pay later for a very, very long time.