Thanks Obama for the Tax Credit

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

getting a new roof put on using Energy Star rated shingles which will qualify me for $1500 tax credit.  There was only a $2000 difference in price between the Energy Star rated shingles and non-Energy Star rated shingles...so the Fed is basically paying 75% of the upgrade cost, the insurance picked up the rest of the tab.  

Thanks Obama.

[Pulp Fiction spoof]
If Obama had never proposed such a goofy mix of stimulus in the first place, which he never shoulda done, he'd be alive [politically].  But, enough about the poor unfortunate Mr. Obama, let's talk about the rich and prosperous Mr. jmfcst.  How much more wealth is Obama gonna spread around?
[/Pulp Fiction spoof]

hehe

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

And you'll use less energy and have lower utility bills. Which was the entire point.

but I would have bought the Energy Star shingles even without the energy credit, so it didn't stimulate anything other than my bank account.  It would have made far greater sense for Obama to have included new construction, but limiting it to existing dwellings is really dumb.

Better yet, simply legislate mandatory compliance on all building material in residential dwelling, new or used, and forget the tax credit, because tax credits like this are only used by the knowledgeable, which usually equates to the wealthy.

as I have stated many times - his energy policy lacks imagination

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

You're certainly running to his left on energy. If he mandates anything you have the country all in a tizzy. If you would have bought them anyway, good for you (seriously). Some people need some extra encouragement.

to the contrary, it is Obama's left leaning views about which sources of energy we should be pursuing that keeps him from finding a solution.  As Torie stated, all this alternative energy buzz prevents us from building a viable short-medium term bridge to solve our energy dependence.

as for mandating compliance - not sure the Fed has the authority to mandate Energy Star compliance, but through FHA, they could mandate compliance for any new FHA loans. Proper insulation, double-pane glass, reflective roofing should be mandated, it adds very little to the cost and pays for itself in just a few years.

I'm not buying white shingles, but I would be ok  with having white shingles if every new roof was required to be white.

There is a way to BOTH wean ourselves off of foreign energy sources AND save the consumer money at the same time.  But Obama's renewable energy policies can do neither.  If Obama had used the stimulus to move towards replacing gasoline usage with natural gas, the Dems may have held onto the House and would have won the close PA and IL senate races. Instead, Americans believe the stimulus was simply wasted on pet projects.  Obama is book smart but has no imagination, he can not think outside the box, he has no vision.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

to the contrary, it is Obama's left leaning views about which sources of energy we should be pursuing that keeps him from finding a solution.

I'm a lot further left than Obama, and I think coal and nuclear are the only ways out.

yeah, but you're not part of the tree hugger left, rather you're a hugger of push rods.