Cramming For Midterms

Temperatures may be cooling, but the heat is on in the political arena as we quickly approach the time for US midterm elections. While those following the election have likely heard many promises to create new jobs and much about candidates’ respective dirty laundry, discussion of future energy policy has been largely absent from this year’s political debate. In the 2008 race, consumers felt the pinch of record high gasoline and fuel prices, confounding energy and environmental issues with taxpayers’ concern for their bottom line. The absence of these topics in this year’s race is surprising given the apparent anger of many Americans over the Deepwater Horizon incident. However over the course of a few months, it is the economy that has once again come to the forefront of the American public’s concerns. Although few candidates have explicitly offered their respective positions on the subject, existing misperceptions of the energy industry perpetuated by Washington and the media alike are likely to yield far-reaching implications for the health of the American economy. Download here