One of the reasons that gas prices are going up is that oil is a depleting resource. For decades, we’ve been drilling for oil here in the United States. As a result, we have less of it and more need to rely on foreign oil.

That’s why it’s more important than ever that we look to sources of energy that are here in the US and that are renewable. My favorite example is biomass. Biomass is essentially fueled by burning wood products. And we have plenty of wood products in America. In fact, we will always have plenty of wood products in America.

So why would we import oil from the Middle East when we could generate energy from biomass here in the United States?

So gas prices are heading back up. That’s expected as we approach the summer and the driving months. But it’s also a good time to re-examine why gas prices are so out of whack and why we need to re-focus our efforts on renewable energy.

That’s what we’ll be talking about this week on the blog. Join us each day!

Here is what I think the president should do as he gets ready for the health care summit this week: he should drop this new plan he’s just introduced:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-02-22-health-care-revision_N.htm

Wasn’t the whole purpose of the summit to start over on health care? Then why is the president trying to resurrect bad ideas like raising fees and fining small businesses?

And what does it say about the president’s willingness to work with Republicans that he is already announcing a plan before the meeting is even held?

Today we continue our series on presidential do-overs. And the health care issue provides a perfect opportunity to do something that the American people want to see from their president: they want him to confront his own party.

As we’ve discussed on this blog before, great presidents always take on their own party. This shows the rest of the country that they are more than presidents, they are leaders. After all, anyone can confront an enemy, But confronting a friend is harder. Yet health care gives the president the chance to do just that.

So instead of outsourcing health care to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, he can work with Democrats and Republicans and create a plan that takes some simple steps that will work: like giving individuals tax credits to purchase their own insurance, or reducing (rather than increasing) the number of regulations on health plans. These two steps would help contain health care costs. So if the president is really serious about “bending the cost curve” he can start by bending the ears of his own party.

Today we continue our series on do-overs. What should President Obama do over from last year’s health care debacle?

This time he should try and include Republican ideas. And the early indications are that he is especially interested in one: medical malpractice. http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/09/obama.health.care/

That’s a good place to start. How can we reduce the cost of health care when doctors and insurance companies are getting sued frivolously? Lawsuits only help lawyers. Meanwhile, the rest of us get stuck with the bill. Last year, Obama didn’t seem interested in medical malpractice. This year, he seems open to it. That’s a good do-over.

Today we continue our series on what Obama should do over as he now tries to fix the health care mess.

For starters, he should drop any hint of a government-run health option. I know that this is no longer in the Democratic bill, but it is still in the minds of Democratic legislators. Many of them would love to revive the idea of a government-run plan. But the president should reject this. He spent a great deal of time in 2009 trying to convince people that the same folks that run the post office would do a good job running health care. They can’t and they won’t. Government bureaucrats don’t know better than you and your doctor.

So let’s start this new round of discussions on health care by completely abandoning any talk of a government-run plan.

Last week we ended our series on what Obama should do next. This week we begin a new series on what Obama should go back and re-do. By all accounts, his first year in office created a lot of controversy. How can he fix that?

We’ll start by focusing on a key issue where we know the president has stated he is going to try and move forward: health care. Okay, fine. But what should health care reform look like? We know what it shouldn’t look like: the bill House and Senate Democrats produced last year. It’s time to start over. So this week, I’ll be giving the president some helpful hints about what should and shouldn’t be a part of health care reform.

Check back in each day for more information!

Today we continue our series on what Obama should do next, particularly with the budget.

Of course, a big part of the budget is taxes. Here is an interesting fact: in 2011, the Bush tax cuts from 2001 will expire. That means that marginal tax rates will increase, capital gains tax rates will increase and dividends tax rates will increase. In other words, a huge tax increase is coming.

But Obama could change that. He could call for extending the Bush tax cuts, or better yet, making the tax cuts permanent. At a time of great economic challenge, we need lower taxes now more than ever.

This week, we continue our series on what’s next for President Obama. And the timing couldn’t be better.

President Obama will soon unveil his new budget. I’ve got some ideas on what should and shouldn’t be in there. After all, politics is about money. So the budget is the place to look to see how a president wants to lead and where he wants to go.

Check back in each day this week for more on what President Obama should do next.

Today we conclude our series on what Obama should do next.

And this is maybe the most important step: he needs to return to being the Obama of 2008. On the campaign trail, Candidate Obama promised a new kind of politics, where he would focus on solutions, not ideology. Sadly, as  President, he has not always been well-served by his staff or by his friends in Congress who have pushed him to the left.

It’s time to return to a solutions-based politics. Now that would be change we can believe in!

What else should Obama do now?

He should confront his base. Every great political leader has the courage to tell his/her followers when they are wrong. Think of Reagan negotiating with Gorbachev when most conservatives were furious about it. Turns out Reagan was right.

Unfortunately, in the first 12 months of the Obama presidency, we have not seen many examples of this kind of presidential leadership. In fact, we’ve seen the opposite. Perhaps the best example was the stimulus package, where the White House essentially let Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid write the bill.

If President Obama will start being more forceful with his own party, he will start to win back some of the independent voters that he has lost in the past year.

Tonight when President Obama delivers his State of the Union Address, here is something else he should do: challenge Republicans to work with him on cap and trade.

Some sort of carbon legislation is going to happen eventually. So the choice Republicans face is: do we want a cap and trade system or a carbon tax? A carbon tax would most likely come in the form of a dramatic increase in the cost of fuel at the gas pump. Conservatives won’t support that. Instead, a cap and trade system would provide a marketplace where carbon credits are bought and sold.

President Obama should call out Republicans on this issue and encourage them to work with him to create a carbon-trading system that will help our economy and our environment.

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It’s the politics of carbon credits that is complicated, not the economics.

The economics is as simple as trading any commodity. First, greenhouse gas emissions will be capped. Second, markets are used to allocate the emissions among the group of regulated sources. That’s it. The result of this simple trading process is that the free market will help monetize and incentivize carbon so that businesses produce lower carbon emissions.

Pretty simple, right? It is. But even if it’s simple, it’s not easy. It will take political leadership to get the country to pursue a carbon credit plan.

Today we continue our series on carbon credit by discussing how it works economically.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=253242ea-dad8-445e-be8b-22f0b1a7d3ab&k=80479

Essentially, carbon credits create a value that can be bought and sold in a marketplace. As the article notes:

“A ‘carbon market’ works something like this: Governments set tough greenhouse-gas emission caps. Companies that exceed the caps are heavily penalized or taxed. But they can escape some of the pain if they buy ‘carbon credits’ from companies that fall below their own greenhouse gas caps. Eventually, the theory holds, the environment will win because companies will use cleaner technology and clean up their act to avoid having to pay fines or purchase the carbon credits, which could cost in the millions of dollars.’”

The law of supply and demand is at work here. Since there is a demand for a clean environment, the carbon credits are emerging as a new supply to meet that demand.

This makes sense economic sense. And that’s why five U.S. states have already created a carbon trading market. Carbon credits are not just the future, they are the now.

Last week our blog focused on the politics of why carbon credits make sense for conservatives.

This week we’re going to focus on the economics of carbon credits. As a small businessman, I would only support carbon legislation if it made sense economically. I’ve checked into it. And carbon credits do make plenty of economic sense.

We’ll be talking about that each day this week. So check back in each day!

Today we end our series on why conservatives should support carbon credits.  And we do so by talking about one of the most important reasons: the free market.

As a conservative, I believe in the power of the marketplace.  I believe that companies should buy and sell products at competitive rates. And when they do, everyone wins.  Just imagine what would happen in the carbon market once producers began buying and selling carbon credits?  Not only would it be good for the environment, but it would be good for business because it would generate a whole new industry of energy entrepreneurs.

As a conservative, what’s not to like about that?

Here is a practical political reason why conservatives should support carbon legislation: because it’s going to happen one way or the other.

One lesson Republicans should learn from the recent health care debate is that when they are in the minority, they are going to get outvoted. So why not try and engage in the process and make the final product a little better?

The same is true with carbon legislation. Some form of carbon legislation will become law. The question is what will it look like? Will it be a carbon tax? Or a tax credit? As a believer in free markets and incentives, I want the final version of the law to be based on carbon credits. But the only way that will happen is if Republicans stop liberal Democrats from passing a carbon tax.

So to all my Republican friends in Washington, I say–get involved in the debate and push for carbon credits.

As a conservative, I believe in gradual change rather dramatic reform. Evolution instead of revolution, if you will. That’s why I support President Obama on carbon credits. Let me explain.

If there is a broad consensus that something should be done about carbon emission, the question becomes how do we do it. As a conservative, I think it makes sense to reward, rather than punish, private businesses. Plus,by incentivizing the carbon market, the government could set off an explosion of private sector research as companies try and figure out better and cleaner ways of handling emissions.

That’s a much better approach than the other option: carbon taxes. Again, my conservatism tells me this is a bad idea.

Let’s help encourage companies that create a clean environment rather than punish companies for making the environment worse. That’s a conservative way to create gradual change that will work for businesses and the environment.