Let's hop into the 'way back" machine, well, the "a little way back" machine. It's July, 2008 and gas prices are at about the same prices they are right now. Slightly over $4.00 a gallon. President George Bush is obviously to blame and crude oil prices are hovering around $145 a barrel. Fast forward to today. Crude oil is around $113 a barrel and the prediction by the "experts" is $5.00 a gallon or more for gasoline by Memorial Day. Who is getting the blame? Why, speculators (also called investors, you know - 401K's, mutual funds, retirement plans, etc.), oil companies, unrest in the Middle east, etc. of course. Has anyone heard in the media that Uncle Barack is at fault? No? I haven't either.
What did President Bush do? On July 14, he signed an executive order that reversed one issued by his father, George H.W. Bush, that banned offshore drilling in this country, and this would still require Congressional approval also, which never happened because the Democrats controlled Congress, but, immediately, the price of oil began to fall, and while the impending recession helped in the drop of the price, by February of the following year, the price of crude was at $33 a barrel. It had fallen over $100 a barrel in less than 9 months. Gas was at $1.85 a gallon when Uncle Barack was inaugurated and has been rising ever since. When Bush issued that order the speculators who had been bidding up the price suddenly realized that there might be a lot more oil on the market in the future and they started selling their futures and the price plummeted. The same thing could happen right now if Uncle Barack would lift his moratorium on deep water drilling and open up ANWR to drilling. The Left says we shouldn't bother because it will take years for us to start getting the oil from those new resources. I suppose my grand kids shouldn't go to college because it will be four years before they get their degrees, so why bother. If we had started drilling in those areas 10 years ago, we'd be getting the oil by now. There are more oil reserves in our country than in the Middle East, Russia, and Canada combined. Why do we remain so dependent on foreign oil when we have so much right here? It's simple, Uncle Barack hates fossil fuels and will do everything possible to prevent us from developing our own supplies. His Interior Department has already been threatened with contempt of court for ignoring the Federal judge's ruling ordering them to lift the moratorium on drilling issued after the BP oil spill. Oil production in the Gulf is down from previous levels which means we are importing even more oil from countries who hate us. Crude oil is not just used to fuel our cars and heat our homes, it is also used in fertilizers, plastics, synthetic rubber, dyes, paint, detergents, medicine, synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon), make up, candles, etc. It is used in all areas of our life. Except as fuel, I don't think any of those others uses can be developed from windmills or solar panels.
Since I run a small business, I guess I'll have to make a decision shortly. I'll either have to trade my pick up in on a Chevy Volt and figure out how to attach my ladder rack and tool boxes to it, or keep the pick up and decide if I want to put a windmill or a solar panel on the roof. Decisions, decisions! Wait! If we all go to electric cars, where are we going to get the electricity to charge them. We'll need to build many new power plants. How will they be fueled? Coal - Nope, too dirty. Oil or natural gas - Nope, too many climate change emissions. Nuclear - Nope, not after what happened in Japan. Solar or wind - Nope, too inefficient. What, oh what are we going to do. Not to worry, just sit back and let those leftie elites figure it out for us. I mean just ask them, they are so smart!
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