A blast from the past…

Does anybody have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the Carter Administration waaay back in 1977?

Anybody?

Anything?

Beuhler? Beuhler??

No?

Didn’t think so!

Bottom line… we’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency, the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember.

Ready?

It was very simple … And at the time everybody thought it very appropriate.

The ‘Department of Energy’ was instituted on 8-04-1977

TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL!

Hey, pretty efficient, huh? We still don’t have any more nuclear power plants, we still can’t drill off Florida, California, Texas or in the Bakkan field in the Northwest…

AND NOW IT’S 2009, 32 YEARS LATER AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS NECESSARY DEPARTMENT IS $24.2 BILLION A YEAR, IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE!

THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOURSELF AND SAY “WHAT WAS I THINKING???”


Ah, yes, bureaucracies. They take our tax dollars in and we get NOTHING in return.

And NOW we are going to turn the Banking System, Health Care & the Auto Industry over to government???

Just my .02, but I “think” we REALLY need to look at that again…


But I’m just a dumb ol’ country boy, so I don’t know anything…

Comments

A blast from the past… — 9 Comments

  1. I agree with the Scalawag. Lots of agencies that should be abolished. DOE, BATF, Education. The list is a long one.

  2. IIRC, this was when they eliminated the old AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) and rolled it into the DoE. The old AEC engineers where pro-nuke. Their new bosses weren’t and were determined to get rid of them. Many of the AEC engineers were promoted to limbo and forgotten.

    I STILL think Carter was the worse President we’ve had to date, but BO is about to beat Carter’s record.

  3. Didn’t remember the start date of it all but Its just another example of brick building think tank by politicians. Build a big wall, hire alot of people to talk about it without end, throw money at it ad nauseum-
    However I do remember its “purpose” as you mentioned. It’s the same ole ruse used forever by politicians, create a problem, provide a solution, and then do nothing except enlarge the agency and talk about what “we need” to do about it. Merry Go Round Politics. and as far as you just being a dumb ol country boy, count me in– I’m as dumb as they come-

  4. The ONLY WAY I can see to start getting rid of these useless entities is to vote OUT the incumbent, not leaving a single one in office, even if he has done SOME good in the past, and electing people with a mandate to DO WHAT THE FRIGGIN’ PEOPLE WANT! If they don’t get it done or at least make a good faith attempt to get it started, out they go and put some one in there that WILL do what is required. The only problem with this scenario is that it will take a concerted effort on the part of the voters to stay focused on what the goals are, and vote accordingly! Letting “JOE’ do it will not work.A large part of our people have quit voting in EVERY election and look at the god awful mess we are in now because of that lethargy TIFN

  5. CS/Paw/WSF- Agreed! And another one is the REA- Last time I looked, all of the US had electricity… sigh…

    Crucis- Good point! I had forgotten about that. And yeah, it looks like he’s gonna beat Carter.

    Jeff- Excellent point.

    Ev- You are absolutely correct- And I’d add do term limits! We ALL have to be involved…