“Weakness is Provocative” – Dan Sullivan

Today was another special day here as we had the pleasure of visiting with Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska. We first met Senator Sullivan when he was Alaska's Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources. He is now in his second Senate term and is especially focused on helping the people of his State, promoting global security, advancing coherent US energy policy, and as you will hear, developing a cohesive "American Energy, Jobs & Climate Plan."

Senator Sullivan graduated from Harvard and then joined the Marine Corps. He is a rare breed! He is still a Colonel in the Marine Corps (reserves) today and also serves on the Senate Armed Forces Committee. In preparing for today's session with the Senator, we focused on a few key areas: (i) what's happening in Alaska as a result of twenty-one recent Executive Orders that target the State, (ii) the national security implications of US energy policy and how those factors have collided with foreign policy stresses from Afghanistan to China to Ukraine, and (iii) the Senator's push with fellow Senators for an "all of the above" and balanced approach to solving our interlocking economic, energy, and environmental challenges. You can find a fascinating speech the Senator recently gave regarding the Executive Orders targeting Alaska.

Senator Sullivan spoke today as someone who believes in the innovative power of America's industries, including but not limited oil and gas. One of the other great quotes he had (and there were many) was "there is nothing more important than energy literacy." At Veriten, we could not agree more. The better we all understand our choices and the various tradeoffs, the better policies we will make!

Mike Bradley kicked us off by sharing his observations on earnings, interest rates, and oil prices. Colin Fenton chimed in with empirical evidence on how much Mr. Putin's "hand" has grown stronger since the Senator last appeared on COBT during the Spring of 2020. Senator Sullivan updates a point he made in his first appearance, "Putin plays a weak hand well, and we too often play a good hand poorly." As you will see in Colin's dashboard, Putin today has a much better hand as a result of many of the world's policy choices in the last few years.