Host Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 69 stations) by suggesting that the biggest stimulus for our economy would be to reduce the $2 trillion that companies pay to conform to an ever growing assortment of government regulations.
“I was hoping that when Obama traveled to Asia that he would try and reduce the regulations that impede U.S. exports. Instead, he signed a non-binding agreement to control climate change. That is not going to help our economy or create jobs,” noted Neal.
Joining Made in America was Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Ebell was incredulous that Obama signed a one-sided agreement with China that would see America reduce its carbon emissions by 2025 while China agreed to “try” and reduce its carbon emissions by 2030.
“You have to understand that this was not a treaty, but an agreement that can still be overturned by Congress. China is not going to do anything on this because so much of its industry is based on coal. They have become the leader in producing solar panels, which ironically depends on coal for 60% of its manufacturing energy,” noted Ebell.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman agreed, proposing that Beijing has agreed to nothing. “Saying they will try to meet carbon emission standards is a joke. There is no way they will jeopardize their economy by reducing their addiction to coal,” said Dr. Roffman.
Ebell suggested that Obama signed the agreement to build momentum for the UN talks to be held in Paris in 2015 in the hopes of concluding an international agreement to reduce carbon emissions. However, Ebell is fairly confident that the House and Senate won’t sign off any agreement reached.
“It’s naïve of Democrats to think that supporting environmental agreements will translate into votes. In fact, it’s hard to find an issue that voters are least concerned about than global warming. There’s a reason that Obama didn’t talk about global warming in 2010 and 2012, and only is returning to it after the midterm elections,”’ concluded Ebell.
Neal and Dr. Roffman segued to a discussion about the Supreme Court’s willingness take up Obamacare again.
“It’s certainly not going to help Obama’s cause after one of the architects of Obamacare, Jonathan Gruber, called the American public ‘stupid’ for embracing Obamacare. He essentially admitted that Obamacare was written so abstractly that no one could understand it, so they couldn’t argue against its passage,” suggested Neal.
Dr. Roffman agreed, noting that Nancy Pelosi, one of Gruber’s cheerleaders in 2009, suddenly has amnesia and doesn’t recall knowing Gruber at all.
“The Democrats rammed Obamacare through the throats of Congress and the American people so quickly that they didn’t bother to clean up the language. Now the subsidy clause is coming back to haunt them, and if states stop receiving subsidies, Obamacare will die as premiums go way up for everyone,” predicted Neal.
Neal noted that as an employer with 250 workers, he has been warned by his insurance provider that next year his company’s health insurance costs will greatly increase. This will hurt his ability to grow his business, as well as that of the thousands entrepreneurs and small businesses who won’t be able to grow or hire.
Ryan Radia, the associate director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, joined the show to discuss the devastating effect that overturning net neutrality will have on the Internet. Net neutrality is based on the belief that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, without discriminating or charging differently for users.
“The FCC is essentially fighting for its existence since its original mandate to control telephone monopolies is a non-issue with today’s competition. So they are trying to increase its scope by reclassifying the Internet as a utility, bringing governance under its control. This is a really bad idea that has been tried unsuccessfully before, but now they are trying a new approach,” noted Radia.
Radia revealed that Comcast, a big Obama supporter, which really doesn’t like the idea of overturning net neutrality, is nevertheless supporting it because they don’t want the FCC to interfere with the merger of Comcast with Time-Warner. It’s all about making more money for shareholders.
The final guest on Made in America was Brad Hawkins, a spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, who is very pleased that the Wright Amendment has expired, which over the past 34 years has limited flights between Dallas Love Field to only airports in Texas and a handful of states. It had kept Southwest Airlines from expanding its services in Texas and other key destinations.
“With the end of the Wright Amendment, Southwest has added 17 new destinations, and with it, reduced airfares and added a boost to the local economies in these new areas. As the largest commercial airline, when we discount flights, our competitors usually follow suit, saving money for all passengers,” noted Hawkins.
Neal and Dr. Roffman moved on to their weekly segment identifying rampant cronyism.
As part of his ongoing segment on the rise in the development of robots to enhance technology, which could become a $1.2 trillion industry in Japan, Dr. Roffman pointed to a new microscopic robot that can be injected into eye fluids to detect disease. Another microscopic robot can be ejected into the bloodstream with a tiny camera to look for blood clots. And a robot is being developed at Carnegie Mellon Hospital that can visit rooms to check on a patient’s needs.
On the cronyism front, Google subsidiary Planetary Ventures plans to work with NASA to use the historic Moffett Field in Silicon Valley for research and development in space exploration, aviation, robotics and other emerging technologies. Google has pledged to pay $1.16 billion to run the entire 1,000-acre facility for 60 years, and to spend $200 million to upgrade it.
“While this appears to be a win-win for everyone, it didn’t hurt that Google was using its own airplane fleet to ferry NASA personnel around the country—qualifying Google for government-level fuel costs. This is really a kind of NASA thank-you gift,” suggested Dr. Roffman.
And finally, Dr. Roffman points to a testament in chutzpah and greed, in which California solar panel maker Ivanpah wants the Federal government, after guaranteeing a loan of $1.6 billion, to provide another $539 million grant in taxpayer money to pay off the loan.
Each week Neal Asbury’ Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com.
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