THUMBS XLVI: Inflation: No Problem If You Don’t Eat or Drive; AEP Urged to Build IGCC Gasification Power Plant in WV; Iran’s President Openly Says What Other Israel-Haters Think
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
Hinton, WV (HNN) –This is the forty-sixth installment of a column expressing approval or disapproval of recent news events, commentaries, etc. Thumbs Up for approval; Thumbs Down for disapproval. This is your column as much as mine; I welcome contributions, which will be credited in the item. The contributions can come from within the HNN family or from our readers – I welcome them all. Contact me at davidkinchen@hotmail.com or send the contributions/suggestions to stories@huntingtonnews.net.
THUMBS UP – Daniel Gross of slate.com, writing in the Oct. 23, 2005 New York Times under the headline: “If You Don't Eat or Drive, Inflation's No Problem.” Gross’s op-ed piece is what’s called in the journalism trade an “explainer.” It explains something! Economists, bless their dear hearts, have more than one index for inflation, Gross tells us. The one they want us to focus on is the “core” Consumer Price Index (C.P.I) which excludes the “volatile costs of energy and food.”
Gross notes that, on Oct. 14, 2005, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the C.P.I. rose by a “whopping 1.2 percent in September and by 4.7 percent in the last 12 months.” That’s why my Social Security check is increasing by 4.1 percent next year. Gross says economists, who don’t seem to live in the real world, are urging “Americans to remain calm and to focus on the so-called core C.P.I. - the inflation measure that excludes the volatile costs of energy and food. The core rate rose just 0.1 percent in September, and is up only 2 percent in the last 12 months.”
Government economists have been stripping out energy and food costs from the price gauge for more than three decades, Gross tells us. He says: “After the Arab oil embargo of 1973, Arthur Burns, who was then the chairman of the Federal Reserve, correctly reasoned that temporary shifts in the price of oil shouldn't influence monetary policy unduly. So he asked Fed economists to show him a measure of price changes that excluded energy costs. Later, he asked for one that also excluded food costs.”
I do the family shopping and gassing up the cars, so I understand that food and energy prices fluctuate – usually upward. Bananas that sold for 39 cents a pound are up to 69 cents at my local Kroger. Gasoline that sold for $1.89 a gallon this time last year is $2.59 now. (update: on Oct. 26, it dropped to $2.45!) Check out Gross’s writings at the “Moneybox” column at www.Slate.com
THUMBS UP – To U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-WV, and Gov. Joe Manchin for going to bat for a state-of-the-art coal gasification power plant in West Virginia. Byrd correctly says that the Mountain State has the workforce, the coal, and the desire to be home to a new AEP power plant. He said: “AEP has a strong presence in West Virginia. We have proved to be a good partner with AEP in the past, and I believe that our partnership will continue to grow.”
AEP is searching for a site to build a 600 megawatt power plant that relies
on integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology -- a high-tech
term for a plant that can gasify coal and turn it into electricity and other
products at high efficiencies and with low emissions.
Byrd has worked in the Senate to create America’s “brain power” for such technologies, leading the way for research and development funding at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), based in Morgantown, W.Va., and Pittsburgh, Pa. In addition, he has talked with Manchin about the importance of potential new AEP investments in West Virginia.
“A new power plant, utilizing IGCC technologies, would demonstrate that there is a long life ahead for West Virginia coal. It would show what I have believed for a long time, namely, that energy production and environmental protection can work in tandem. We can burn coal more cleanly and efficiently, and we can find new ways to address climate change,” Byrd said.
AEP, headquartered in Columbus, OH, is searching for a site to build a 600-megawatt IGCC plant so that the company can meet expected energy demand in 2010. AEP already has announced plans to construct another IGCC plant in Meigs County, Ohio.
Earlier this year, the West Virginia Legislature passed and Governor Manchin signed a proposal to accelerate the siting and permitting process to facilitate the construction of IGCC plants. Government should facilitate, not complicate. Kudos to Byrd, Manchin and the Legislature for their efforts to bring the latest power plant technology to the Mountain State.
THUMBS DOWN – To Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former mayor of
Tehran, who said on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005 that Israel should be “wiped
off the map,” according to the official IRNA news agency reported by
Reuters. This is the true face of Islamo-Fascism and it makes one wonder
when we’re going to do something about that country before it gets nuclear
arms. I have no doubt that Iran would use them against Israel – and the
United States. The remarks were condemned by White House press secretary
Scott McClellan and the French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy who said that
he had been informed of the reported remarks and had summoned Iran's
ambassador to the Foreign Ministry to explain the comments.
"If these (reported) comments are true, they are unacceptable. I condemn them with the greatest firmness," he said in a statement. This is a sharp turnabout from a country that produced a diplomat who in 2001 characterized Israel as a “shitty little country.” The remarks were attributed to French ambassador to the United Kingdom, Daniel Bernard. He was quickly reassigned to Algeria. He died at the age of 62 in 2004.
"It underscores the concerns we have about Iran's nuclear intentions," McClellan told reporters.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear arms, whereas Tehran says it needs atomic fuel only for power stations. Iran has developed ballistic missiles able to hit Israel.
Under the late Shah of Iran, the nation had friendly relations – though no formal diplomatic ones – with Israel.