Hypocrisy Abounds – Energy Policy And The Elites – with Tom Pyle – [Ep. 194]

Linda J. Hansen:  Welcome. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101® Breakroom Economics Podcast. My name is Linda J. Hansen, your host and the author of Prosperity 101®- Job Security Through Business Prosperity: The Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck, and the creator of the Breakroom Economics Online course, the book, the course and the entire podcast library can be found on Prosperity101.Com. I seek to connect boardroom to break room and policy to paycheck by empowering and encouraging employers to educate employees about the public policy issues that affect their jobs. My goal is to help people understand the foundations of prosperity, the policies of prosperity, and how to protect their prosperity by becoming informed, involved, and impactful. I believe this will lead to greater employee loyalty, engagement and retention, and to an increased awareness of the blessings and responsibilities of living in a free society. Listen each week to hear from exciting guests and be sure to visit Prosperity 101.Com.

Thank you so much for joining with me today and I just appreciate you listening so much. And if you are a regular listener and you enjoy these podcasts, please consider supporting us by becoming a prosperity partner. You can find the Prosperity partner link on the Prosperity 101® Dot website. We appreciate your financial support and thank you to every prosperity partner out there who's helping us keep these podcasts on the air. You'll be glad this one is on the air today. My guest is Tom Pyle. Tom Pyle has been a repeat guest. He is a good friend and he is the president of the Institute for Energy Research and American Energy Alliance. I always love having Tom on to talk about energy issues because he helps bring facts to the chaos of confusion as we see so many things swirling in the news and all around about energy and climate change or perceived climate change and what is truth, what is fiction. So Tom, thank you so much for coming back to be on the podcast and shedding some light on all these subjects for our listeners.

Thomas Pyle:

Oh, it's an absolute pleasure to be back and I hope everyone, all your listeners had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Linda J. Hansen:

Well, same for you, and we're just really glad that you stay in the position you do because you're doing great work. Institute for Energy Research and American Energy alliance are just such great organizations and they provide wonderful research and information for everyone, really, about all the different energy things going on in our nation and around the world. One of your recent newsletters prompted me to ask you to be on this podcast today, but this is just so interesting to me. One of your headlines said Biden uses war powers to manufacture more electric heat pumps. Can you tell us more about that.

Thomas Pyle:

Yeah. So during the, I believe it was the Korean War, the Congress passed a law called the Defense Production act, and it was designed primarily to basically empower the executive, the president of the United States to encourage the manufacturing of something that would help advance the war effort.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right.

Thomas Pyle:

Whether it was steel manufacturing, certain heavy industries, things of that nature. Well, the Biden administration has taken the concept of wartime to a whole new, absurd level. They have invoked this defense production act. This is not the first time in the name of combating climate change as if this was a war. We're at war with our weather. I guess General George S. Patton would be rolling over in his grave right now to see what's going on. But what they have essentially done is they don't want us to use natural gas. They don't want us to use it to heat our homes, they don't want to use it to cook with, and they certainly don't want other uses of natural gas, like the generation of electricity, which is much more reliable when you have a source of energy, electricity production, like natural gas, coal and nuclear, because you can store it, you can generate it in a very large way, and then you can wheel it and send it over those Electricity lines without a lot of error.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right.

Thomas Pyle:

But when you switch over, I'm kind of veering off subject, but it's important for the background. When you shift over to sources of electricity that are what are called intermittent, meaning they only work in certain circumstances, such as when the wind blows or the sun shines, then you have very unreliable, unstable electricity. So going back to heat pumps. Heat pumps are, of course, electric. They want to electrify everything. They want to put everything that you use, your car, your gat, your stove, sorry, your heating system in your home. They want it to all be electric because for some reason, they have this fixation with fossil fuel, which I hate the term, but coal, oil, and natural gas in particular. So this is a way for them to speed up the production of heat pumps and make more of them available and also to get us off of our. Again, we've talked about this in past episodes, reliance on China for heat pumps. Because China makes 40% of the world's heat pumps.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right.

Thomas Pyle:

So why is this a bad thing? Well, heat pumps are significantly more expensive for us, for business owners, for homeowners, for residential electricity rate payers. Us household using electricity to heat homes are projected to pay $1,000 on average between November and March. Okay, that's electricity. Natural gas. However, users are expected to pay 600 or so dollars in that same time period, that's $400 right there. Now, that doesn't seem like a lot of money. Maybe. But when you're stretched, when you're living paycheck to paycheck, when you're putting stuff on your credit card, that is basically satisfying your basic needs. Yes, that is a significant amount of money. And that's just one example of this. The initial costs are higher also. So everything costs more in this plan, everything costs us more. And I'm sure we'll get into the reliability part. Everything is less reliable. And when we concentrate everything into electricity, what we're, in essence doing is making ourselves vulnerable as well.

Linda J. Hansen:

Absolutely. We don't have a stable grid then. And the stability of the grid is so important to our national security, to our personal health and safety, to being able to care for our families, to run our businesses. When you don't have a stable grid and you have intermittent power supply, there's a whole host of problems that occur. And one of the things that people don't realize, I think, with the electric technology push, is the ability to monitor this. And electric vehicles, we've talked about this in the past, how they are having kill switches so that say you don't post what they like on the Internet, or you've driven farther than your carbon allotment allows, and they can just turn off your car. So it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing or how important your mission might be, they might decide, oh, you've just driven enough, and that's that. And your car is programmed. And the same is true with a lot of these smart thermostats. And I know people who last year, during the winter months, had thermostats that they could not turn up higher than 62 degrees? And that can be very damaging, especially to elderly or ill people. 62 is really cold, actually, for long term winter, especially if it's very cold outside. It's not horrid. It's not like below zero or anything, but it is very cold. And especially if you are elderly or ill, this can be really damaging. And so people have to realize that having a stable grid with stable supply of power, which really comes through gas, coal, and nuclear, is so important to our health and safety and our national security.

Thomas Pyle:

Yeah. Just to kind of touch on a couple of points you made. The first is that, like you said, it's not end of the world kind of stuff, but it is. How in the world can we get to a point where the government can tell us how much we can heat our home or cool our home. Right. The idea that they, the state, federal, any level of government should be that involved in our daily lives is a complete 180 from what the founders envisioned in this country. So you look at it from that perspective, and then you look at it from the perspective of this defense production act. The money's not free. Right. They're spending our tax money that we send to Washington. Then they're giving it to companies who are supposed to survive in the right, are supposed to be responsive to consumers and what consumers want. I don't have anything against heat pumps. They might be great, but I want the ability and the freedom to choose what makes sense for me. Right. So you've got this sort of industry. First of all, you have the total involvement of the federal government in energy decisions, electricity decisions, automobile decisions. Then you have this total transfer of wealth from us who are living paycheck to paycheck to large companies in the form of all these subsidies. And then lastly, that encroachment of our individual freedom to choose to heat our home to 70 if we want.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right?

Thomas Pyle:

I mean, my wife and I fight all the time over the thermostat, but at least we are having that conversation within the family. That decision isn't being made for us. And, oh, by the way, everyone's paying more for this. That's the issue. Electricity prices have jumped over 20% since President Biden has taken office. Average electricity prices.

Linda J. Hansen:

Yeah. And it's really hurting american consumers and it's hurting businesses. And people say, well, the businesses can afford it. Well, really they can't, because who actually pays those bills for the businesses? It's the consumer. It's the same family that you mentioned going paycheck to paycheck that's trying to buy goods and services on a limited income. And they're trying to heat their home. They're trying to cool their home in the summer. They're trying to take care of their family. They're trying to drive to work. All these things play into it. And I'm glad that you mentioned wind and solar before. I mean, I have nothing against wind and solar other than it's intermittent, it's not reliable. It costs more to produce, really, than it does give us return. And we look at how much carbon and slave labor is actually involved in producing the components for wind and solar. And so there's complete hypocrisy. There is complete hypocrisy in those who are making these decisions and putting down these rules and regulations where they don't make sense unless you realize their ultimate goal is control.

Thomas Pyle:

Right? Control and power. I mean, if you control energy, you control basically the main engine of our economic system. We live in a world that is powered by hydrocarbons. That has been the fact since the industrial revolution, which was really an energy revolution back when the British started switching to coal. Now, are there trade offs? Sure, there are tradeoffs in every single thing, right? But the good news is that we're doing it better, more efficiently. We've had. Even the EPA numbers bear this out. We've had more people, more cars, more homes, more economic activity, higher GDP, all of that. And at the same time, the criteria, pollutants, as they call them, the knocks, the socks, the things that are actually physically harmful to us, right, have plummeted over the past 30 or 40 years to the point where we've gotten minimal impacts from those types of things. Whereas maybe you and I remember this, maybe not all of your listeners do, but there were some real problems back in the or whatever, but that is not the case today. And that is largely through wealth generation, through technology, through free markets, through all the things that you and I and your listeners, presumably, and hopefully some converts espouse or value because they see it's a win win, right? We get to do more because the energy, the capacity to do work, the things that we used to spend our days laboring over are done now more efficiently. So that gives us more time to spend with our families, our friends, take vacations, get married, whatever, right? There's just no downside to it. The downside to command and control, the downside to government knows best has been proven out in other countries who went down the communist route or the totalitarian route.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right?

Thomas Pyle:

I mean, environmental awareness in China is nothing like it is here, and they don't care. So it's shocking to me that there's a certain segment of the population that seems to be able to tolerate all this, and I suspect it's largely because they can afford to. Right. Wealthy coastal elites generally are the ones who are backing this agenda because it doesn't cost them anything. It's not an impact to.

Linda J. Hansen:

And I was, when we were setting up the interview, I commented to you how Kamala Harris had a Thanksgiving post and she and her husband were in front of their gas stove, which, of course, they're trying to limit our use of gas stoves. And even in some communities, there's regulations that gas hookups cannot be provided to new construction. And so it's really crazy and very hypocritical. But it's a fact. In your newsletter also, you mentioned an article where the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, warned that more than half of the United States and parts of Canada, home to around 180,000,000 people, could fall short of electricity this winter due to a lack of natural gas infrastructure. So here we go. It's just exactly what we're talking about. They're limiting the use of natural gas, and we're looking at energy shortages. And it is really heartbreaking to see. And you mentioned, know, we're limiting our coal output. We've had so many environmentalists limit how we can produce electricity and produce power, yet China is building coal. Plants like are, and they're not clean coal like here in America. We have clean coal.

Thomas Pyle:

Well, let me sharpen that a little bit. Yes, the Chinese are building more coal powered. They're on track to build more coal powered generation on an annual basis, I believe, than we have total left in the fleet. Okay. So that just gives you a perspective. They have a lot of coal. They don't have a lot of oil or natural gas. We have a lot of coal. We have a lot of oil and natural gas. So they're doing what they're needing to do for their future.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right.

Thomas Pyle:

They're building coal because they have it. They're forcing electrification because they don't have oil, and they don't want to be dependent on places like the United States for their oil. But let me say this. To their credit, China is building what they call supercritical coal plants. They are building the next generation coal plants, which are, if we were allowed to do that here, if we were allowed. Because the rules don't even allow us to upgrade our existing coal plants.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right.

Thomas Pyle:

So, yeah, we don't burn as much coal, so therefore we don't have as many emissions as China. But at least China is building the new generation coal plant, right. That we're not even allowed to build here. So what my point is this, we could build more coal plants here and have just as much of an impact, as little of an impact on the environment if we were to replace the ones we have with the more modern technology. But also we could build more with the modern technology. But the way that this administration and the states have set up the game, coal is a non starter in this country, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

Linda J. Hansen:

So thank you for bringing that to light because it was my understanding that at least in the past, the coal production in China was very not emission friendly, not clean energy in any way. Shape or form. So I'm glad that that is improving. But I know under the Trump administration, I mean, we exited the Paris climate treaty and yet our emissions went down. I mean, we had cleaner energy production than anybody else within that. And can you expound on that a little bit?

Thomas Pyle:

Yeah, a little bit. The hypocrisy you mentioned about Vice President Harris happily cooking on her gas stove while her administration is quietly and not so quietly forcing us to get rid of ours is a systemic, I wouldn't maybe say problem. It's systemic throughout the left's vision for America and quite frankly, the democratic party to a larger extent these days, it is a rules for thee but not for me type of approach. Right? And if you look at the, you brought up the, which, you know, is largely not being followed by anybody at this point, right? Europe is in a really bad situation. I think it was Norway that just elected a leader that wants to get completely out of the EU's grips because of the crippling climate agenda, the net zero agenda that they've imposed on EU countries. Look at what's going on in eastern Europe as a result of Germany being completely dependent on Russia for natural gas. The Paris accord, the President Trump got out of and said, we represent Pittsburgh, not, you know, to all of this scorn and all this finger wagging from Emmanuel Macron, from Paris and everybody else, the fact is, you mentioned it. Our emissions at a carbon intensity level are significantly lower. We have reduced them significantly more than all of the european countries that are in that agreement. And forget, like, countries know, I don't even call them developing countries anymore, but forget countries like China and India who have basically, you know, that stuff is all fine and good, but it's not for us right now. Right? And you have this thing now coming up, I think it starts today or tomorrow, called COP 28, the conference of the parties. This is the 20 eigth party, the 20 eigth climate party that we've had now, where each year they get together in an exotic place and they have a bunch of meetings and chastise everyone for their lifestyle. Meanwhile, they flew there on private jets. Meanwhile, they're partying it up. The carbon footprint of this year's cop is expected to blow the doors off any of the other ones. So the hypocrisy, it knows no bounds with this agenda.

Linda J. Hansen:

True fact. And it's so interesting how the narrative in the media has so twisted what is, you know, we look and people talk about energy usage and national security, all these things. It's like during the Trump administration, we became energy independent. We were leading the way to be energy dominant. And that puts us in a great position of world positioning and being able to have leverage within the world and dealing with our allies and our.

Thomas Pyle:

Delivered. We have saved, in a lot of ways, we've saved Europe's butt during these past couple of years with Russia and Ukraine and all that stuff. Regardless of where you are on that and whether we should give more funding, the fact of the matter is that our natural gas producers stepped up and delivered hundreds of btus of liquefied natural gas to Europe at a time when they needed it the most. And it's a soft power, right? It's a freedom thing. I think former energy Secretary Rick Perry called them freedom molecules. And that's what they are, right. When you have the ability to produce enough at home and then be able to produce more and sell, you reduce your trade deficit, but you're providing a critical and environmentally friendly way to provide energy for the rest of the world. And that's a good thing. We should celebrate that. But this administration has gone the opposite way. We have identified 175 specific actions that this administration or the democratic control Congress have taken to deliberately curtail or restrict the ability for us to produce oil and natural gas at home.

Linda J. Hansen:

That is something that everybody needs to pay attention to because you mentioned freedom molecules. And this is part of really thinking about creating a freedom economy where we are not tied by leftist or overly progressive socialist agendas that limit our freedom, freedom to produce, freedom to expand technology, freedom to produce energy and economic wealth and prosperity. We need to take a stand and be educated about all these. And so those 175 points, I'm sure can be found on your website, correct?

Thomas Pyle:

Yeah, absolutely. You can type institute for Energy research 175 actions. It'll pop up on Google. But I want to go back to the reliability thing for a second, because for years and years and years we've been talking about this. We've been helping the people in the community. Like, the reason we're on this show is because we're trying to educate people about the value of not only free markets in general, but having a free market energy system. Because it has been the main reason, in my opinion, that we are the country that we are today. There's little evidence to point otherwise because we have been able to produce energy, produce the things that we need to make our economy work in an affordable and reliable way. But this organization, NERC, which is a nonpartisan, all they do is analyze what is the status of our electricity grid, where are we, in terms of electricity generation, affordability, reliability, all that good stuff. I have always argued that this agenda has been very expensive for us, us regular folks, the economy on down the line, our freedoms. We've talked about that. We are now at the point where it's also a threat to our lives, and it has borne fruit. We've had weather events already in Texas, for example, with ERCOT, which know, ironically, Texas has a lot of the same challenges as California for different reasons. We've lost lives because of this phenomenon of now having less reliable, less available, low cost electricity. 180,000,000 people is not. That's a pretty big chunk of the population, and it's a pretty big section of the United States that have become increasingly vulnerable because of this lack of infrastructure. The Biden administration has basically almost completely shut down pipeline infrastructure for gas, to the point where it's about 3% of what was total construction under President Trump. So think about that.

Linda J. Hansen:

Well, and once that has impacted Texas as well, additionally, beyond even their lack of infrastructure, their lack of infrastructure and planning properly for energy use and needs, but they have allowed. The Biden administration has just had an open border. So Texas, Arizona, you know, all those places where it's just an open border, so there's millions upon millions upon millions people coming through the border, and all those people need energy. I mean, there's energy usage soaring, and it just can't keep up.

Thomas Pyle:

Yeah. And then you have governors who are in on the act, too. Right? For example, one of the most vulnerable sections of the country for this is New England area. And you have the state of Pennsylvania, which has been producing a bunch of natural gas through the shell revolution, are prohibited from moving that natural gas to Massachusetts, for example, or Maine, for example, because New York refuses to allow pipelines to run through New York. They have not allowed or approved any new natural gas pipelines. So they've restricted the ability to move cheap natural gas from their neighbor to be able to provide reliable, affordable electricity for seniors, for people on fixed incomes, for poor people. These are the most vulnerable of the groups that are going to be impacted by this, the groups that they claim to be trying to help the most with all their policies, to the point where we have to import lng from, like, Trinidad or up until recently, Russia into Boston, because they won't let us move it from Pennsylvania to the northeast. It's just crazy. It's absolutely crazy.

Linda J. Hansen:

Yeah. There's no common. So I imagine with this, if we dig down, we can follow where the dollar flows, which pockets it flows to and how those decisions are made, they're not typically made with the best intentions on what can serve the most people most efficiently. It's often something behind the scenes, and unfortunately, that's a fact of life. But organizations such as yours can help bring light to what is truly happening, can help educate consumers and people all across the country and around the world about what is fact with energy usage and production and how we can create energy in a very clean, environmentally friendly, efficient, cost effective manner.

Thomas Pyle:

Yeah. So just two quick examples. Some of the leading sort of anti natural gas governors are, we talked about Governor Hoko in New York and Governor Newsom in California. Well, New York City just announced that they were extending the lives of two, I think, four natural gas electricity generating stations that they wanted to close prematurely because of this climate agenda. And they said, well, we're going to leave it open for an extra two years because we're worried that we might not have reliable electricity. Well, this is the stuff that they're closing these down because they want to replace them with the stuff that they're supposedly worried about. Right. So when the rubber meets the road, they just kick the can down the road. Right. It's just a temporary. Oh, it's just temporary. It's just temporary. And then Governor Newsom did the same thing with gas plants in. You know, it's very real. It's not like hypothetical anymore. We're at the point where some of these electricity generators are declaring emergencies because of the reliability challenges that they're faced because of the forced changes in the system that they've been having to deal with through this agenda. The other thing is the Biden administration has basically approved or authorized or have received from Congress well over. If you look at what the estimates are, not what the CBO or some of these other groups said these bills would cost the american taxpayer, they have basically empowered, they've empowered themselves to give out over a trillion dollars of our taxpayer money to this green stuff, to wind companies, to solar companies, to heat pump manufacturers, to automobile companies like General Motors and Ford and Chrysler. Right. Like, why are we giving our taxpayer money to these big corporations? Right. It's like total corporate welfare. But it's like you said, follow the money, because if you look behind it, these groups are all backing this agenda and they're getting rewarded with our taxpayer money, and it's costing us more, not only from the taxpayer side, but from the cost of electricity, the cost of gas, the cost of everything else that we've had to deal with because of it.

Linda J. Hansen:

Well, and I would encourage know contact your elected representatives. The power of the purse rests with Congress, and so contact your representative, because we shouldn't be funding these things. And our national deficit is just increasing, increasing, increasing exponentially as we speak. The debt clock is churning constantly, and we are just getting to a point where we can't even pay the interest on our debt, and we have to make bold decisions. And so, listeners, pay attention to energy policy. Educate yourself. I want you to make sure you go to the websites for Institute for Energy Research, American Energy alliance. You can learn more there. You can listen to the other podcasts that I've done with Tom and other people on energy and educate yourself, and then make an educated call to your elected representative, because it's in the power of the purse. And these regulatory demands and regulations that are so harmful to energy production and to cost effectiveness really begin and end in Congress. And the funding of these administrative state agencies that just are bloated bureaucracies where we're paying the salaries for these people who make these regulations. And there's just no common sense involved, and it's just gotten out of hand. So it's time for citizens to stand up. Stand up for freedom, stand up for common sense. Stand up for efficient energy, reliable energy. And I'll put another plug in for nuclear as well. We've just touched on it. But talk about clean energy. Nuclear is amazing. And you've got the small modular reactors. I'm a big proponent of molten salt reactors and using a variety of fuel sources like thorium and others, that we are just not exploring this enough as a nation. We're not utilizing this enough as a nation because of the regulatory environment. And that's why I've done so much in the regulatory reform world, in a sense, because I just know that you have to have a square peg in a square hole, not a square peg in a round hole. So we have to have regulations that fit the technology, and we can't be looking at regulations that are from 50 years ago that match modern technology. And so we just have to use common sense, and we need to pressure our legislators and our bureaucrats to do so efficiently. Work like a business would work.

Thomas Pyle:

Yeah, that would be ideal. And unfortunately, it's the unelected bureaucrats who give me the biggest pause or area of concern, because for years and years and years now, Congress has sort of deferred responsibility away from the legislative branch to the executive branch and have empowered these regulators, these unelected officials, to make these massive decisions about changes in our economy, changes in our energy system that it's hard to vote them out. Right. And it's sort of a chick, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. These elected officials get to complain about stuff, but then they can say, well, I didn't do it, but I'm just as mad as you.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right.

Thomas Pyle:

But yeah, in fact, you did it because you haven't reined it in. Right. Like you said, we need to update and upgrade our regulatory process so that it reflects today, not 19 50, 19 60, 19 70. The technologies that we are not utilizing are largely due to the fact that we are simply unable because our regulatory system prohibits that from happening. You mentioned these advances in nuclear power. So there's a lot to do. It's really disheartening sometimes. But american people, families, business, small business, we're all smart. We get this, we understand it, and there's a certain level of tolerance that we have. But they're coming now to the point where they're making decisions that restrict our freedom, that diminish our purchasing power, that force choices on us that we may not want. And I think that this is the time where the pushback is going to and needs to happen. We all need to say enough.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right.

Thomas Pyle:

It's fine and good that you want to do all the things you say you want to do, but when you start telling me what cars I can drive, how much I can heat or cool my home, all that stuff, or when you start creating a system where it's my taxpayers dollars going to these big businesses, then we've got to reverse this. We've got to sort of begin the pushback now. Because at some point companies say, you know what? I don't even care. I'll just do whatever you say, just keep giving me the money. And we're no longer in their interest. The consumer is no longer king, right? At that point, the king is the king, right? The president or the Congress or whatever. So anyway, sorry, I went on a little tangent there, but this is not about energy per se. It's about freedom.

Linda J. Hansen:

It is about freedom. Energy is freedom. So to know, like Tom said, enough is enough. They're beginning to tell us how we can cook our food, whether on gas or electric. I know they've also talked about regulations for dishwashers, for air conditioners. We've talked a lot about cars, and it just goes on and on. Pretty soon it'll be hairdryers, curling irons, electric razors. It'll just be one thing after another. And that may sound facetious, but who knows? I mean, who would have thought we'd be where we are. So we just know that control is the desire, and they'll do anything they can to have control and money and power. And so there's a lot of bad actors. Not everybody on opposite sides of the fence are bad actors, but we know that there are those. And we are really in a battle not between republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative. We are in a battle for the lifeblood of this nation and freedom versus tyranny. And we have really come to that point. And so energy is one of the major things we need to keep in the freedom category and have a freedom economy that incorporates free use and production of efficient, reliable energy so that we can continue to create wealth and take care of our people and have national security.

Thomas Pyle:

Couldn't have said it better. Absolutely. That's it.

Linda J. Hansen:

Do you have any closing comments for employers who need to help their employees?

Thomas Pyle:

Yes, I do. I just want to say that employers, I'm sure you probably touched on this, would be surprised at how much their employees are looking to them for advice on these kinds of things. It's always been like, oh, we don't want to impose our, what's good for the business is good for the employee.

Linda J. Hansen:

Right.

Thomas Pyle:

If the business is having to spend more on electricity, if the business is having trouble sourcing something or is suffering from these bad policies, that could be a reduction. You may have to force layoffs or things like that. Right. So I think that education and pointing out, if you don't want to sort of feel like you're strong arming your employees, give them some resources, give them Prosperity 101®, Linda's book, give them the tools that they can educate themselves or at least get the other perspective. Right. Because the perspective they're going to get in the media, in the mainstream media, is this agenda, right. It's clear that the media is sort of bought into this whole thing. At least say, hey, there are other voices and other opinions about that. So that's one thing. And the other is employees. Employers are people, too, so they should be engaging. If they have relationships with politicians, state, federal, local, explain how this is affecting them. Explain how it's impacting them. And that I think people listen to them on both ends, both the employee end and their peers and the people that they interact with who have the ability to do something about this madness.

Linda J. Hansen:

Well, good points. And we, the people are still in charge of our government, so we need to take on that responsibility and use it wisely. And that means we need to educate ourselves and ask for wisdom from above so that we can discern what's truth and what's fallacy, and we can begin to make better decisions and encourage our elected officials to make better decisions for the future of our country so we can really provide freedom for future generations. So, Tom, how could people reach out to you?

Thomas Pyle:

Yeah. So Institute for energyresearch.org and americanenergyalliance.org. And then you'll get an annoying little thing that said, do you want to subscribe to all our stuff? But apparently it works because you got our newsletter and we're here talking. So once you get into the system, you're going to get all this great information, including, on the American Energy alliance side, a legislator accountability scorecard. So you can see, type in your zip code, you can see how your elected officials are voting with respect to energy, freedom and prosperity. So I think we've got some good resources for you. At a minimum, it'll give you stuff to think about. And I think that's important.

Linda J. Hansen:

That's really important. And that's why I like to have you on often, because both organizations provide great information. And so, listeners, please do go to view that scorecard. You can also contact Tom if you want to through those websites. And you can always reach out to me at Prosperity 101. Com. So again, we hope you'll become a prosperity partner. Please help us keep these podcasts on the air. Go to the prosperity partner link on the website and support us with any amount you care to give. But we appreciate everyone who helps keep these podcasts going. And if you would like a Christmas gift for your employees, Tom mentioned how important it would be to provide my books to your employees. Please consider purchasing the Prosperity 101® job security through business prosperity books for your employees. I'd be happy to give you a bulk discount. Contact me and we can make it happen. And you can give some really great information. It's no secret that we're coming up on elections in 2024. I mean, we always have elections, but there's a really big one in 2024. And we have to decide, do we want freedom or do we want tyranny? And I just want to encourage people. There is no perfect candidate. This election is not so much about who, it's about what we have to look at policies, not personalities, and we have to look at what will truly be the best for the future of this nation. So please consider that as you think about energy again. You know, I'd love to provide my books for your employees, so contact me on that. And Tom, thank you. I hope the listeners will contact you as well.

Thomas Pyle:

Yes, and I hope you and all your listeners have a wonderful and merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Linda J. Hansen:

Well, same to you. Thank you, Tom.

Thomas Pyle:

All right.

Linda J. Hansen: Thank you again for listening to the Prosperity 101® Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, and leave a great review. Don't forget to visit Prosperity101.com to access the entire podcast library to order my newest book, Job Security Through Business Prosperity: The Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck or to enroll you or your employees in the Breakroom Economics online course. You can also receive the free e-book, 10 Tips for Helping Employees Understand How Public Policy Affects Their Paychecks. Freedom is never free. Understanding the foundations of prosperity and the policies of prosperity will help you to protect prosperity as you become informed, involved, and impactful. Please contact us today at Prosperity101.com to let us know how we can serve you. Thank you.