The Coming Cape Cod Recession : And the men who caused it

Their names are Kennedy, Delahunt, and O'Leary

By Walter Brooks, Editor, cc2day, March 10, 2006

I was sitting in a large, very popular Hyannis restaurant one night this week, and there were only two tables occupied besides mine.

The four Cape Cod Democrats most responsible for the coming recession are below: Kennedy, Delahunt, O'Leary and Reilly who is thankfully gone.

I have started to notice this phenomenon in other places where we all spend our discretionary income, like movies, specialty shops and stores. This lack of customer activity is so pervasive, I started asking myself when it started.

Start with Cape Cod's $10 billion a year economy

It began shortly after the first of the year when 184,000 Cape Light Compact member/clients started receiving electric bills which were 81% higher than the previous one. Cape businesses weren't so lucky - their electric bills went up 88%. Then local folks who heat their homes with natural gas and oil began opening up envelopes with huge increases for fuel, and everyone who drives a car is paying 33 cents more a gallon at the gas pump than they were a year ago.

Add these up and it spells recession.

On Wednesday, March 8, 2006, our local daily newspaper ran these two stories juxtaposed on the front page:

• Offshore Wind Farms
  Bid to limit wind farms opposed
  Lawmakers show 'broad opposition' to Rep. Young's 1.5-mile prohibition of wind farms near shipping lanes.
• Power Plant
  Energy plan would hike rates
  New England consumers would face $5 billion in rate increases under a plan to pump more electricity into the region's power grid.

The writers of the two stories did not see any connection between the two stories. We see these:

1. The newspaper and its four favorites pols on the right are responsible for stopping Cape Wind farm on Nantucket Sound
2. The newspaper's readers are being clobbered by draconian energy cost increases.

If the Cape Cod Times, Senator Kennedy, Congressman Delahunt, State Senator O'Leary and Attorney General Tom Reilly had led the fight FOR a renewable energy project for Cape Cod, Cape Wind Farm would already be generating most of the electricity needed for Cape Cod at bargain prices guaranteed by the project for ten years.

We would have been spared at least some of the recession which these increased energy costs will eventually force on the American economy.

Let's look at the numbers

Residential Electricity: Forgetting about the rest of the state and nation, what exactly is the immediate effect of the 81% increase to the 184,000 Cape Light Compact clients? How about $80 per client times 184,000 clients? That's nearly $15 million dollars each month out of Cape Codder's pockets, money we would have spent with local businesses of every stripe from restaurants, beauty shops, shops, home repairs, etc.

Commercial Electricity: There are over 10,000 businesses on Cape Cod. Most are now paying 88% more than last year. My business is typical. With under 2,000 square feet my electric bill is up $184 a month. That times 10,000 Cape Cod businesses is about $2 million dollars per month out of business men and women's pockets at a time when their customers (see above) have $15 million less a month than last year to spend.

Home Heating: There are 200,000 homes and businesses on Cape Cod. Each is paying somewhere around $100 a month more for fuel on average. That's $20 million more each month gone from Cape Cod's discretionary spending.

Gasoline: How many cars are there here? With over 200,000 population, and everyone over the age of twenty owning a car, is 150,000 Cape Cod cars a fair guess? It's probably very low, but figure 20 miles a day or 7,300 miles a year at 20 miles per gallon times a 33 cent a gallon more  than a year ago, and you come to a staggering additional $15 million each month.

Over HALF a BILLION out of the Cape Cod's economy annually

If you are a Cape Cod worker or business person, ask yourself "where will that half billion come from?" But you workers and business folks are the lucky ones. You're just not going to have as much fun from now on. How about the 29% of Cape Codders over 65 and on fixed income?

While there are other increase as well (like everything made of oil and everything using electricity in the manufacture), add these four up, and it comes to $52 million each month times 12 months equals $624 million a year.

Last year somewhere around 10% of that $10 billion Cape Codders earn each year was spent on energy. This year we will spend a half a billion more, or 15% of the total.

If you are a Cape Cod worker or business person, ask yourself "where will that half billion come from?" But you workers and business folks are the lucky ones. You're just not going to have as much fun from now on.

How about the 29% of Cape Codders who are over 65 and probably on a fixed income. Image being a widow with a $1,500 a month Social Security income like my recently deceased 96 year-old mother-in-law.

What would she have to do without besides dinners out and movies? Medicine?

Now get mad, but you don't have much time

Do you really care whether Ted Kennedy is annoyed at having 130 tiny masts six and a half miles in front of his waterfront home? Do you care whether Phelps Dodge's retired C.E.O. Doug Yearly or billionaire Bill Koch or any of the wealthy Osterville Egans are equally annoyed that they might have their ocean views impeded?

You may have a couple months to save Cape Cod from the next recession, but you'll have to hurry.

Let Delahunt and O'Leary know how you feel. They actually believe that Cape Codders care more about Ted's ocean view than their new energy bills. Polls across the state show a voters 6 to 1 in favor of the wind farm, and Deval Patrick walked away with the local caucuses last month because of his endorsement of it.

Remind Delahunt that hundreds of jobs building turbines is going to Rhode Island instead of Quincy because of his obedience to Mr. Kennedy.

Remind O'Leary that his students at Mass. Maritime want those maritime jobs connected with Cape Wind.

Get Delahunt and O'Leary's attention today. The job you save may be theirs.