The energy crisis is in our consumption that demands we import fuel from foreign sources.
Domestic drilling will never match domestic demand. By the government’s own reckoning, there are some 18 billion barrels of oil to be discovered in the restricted areas—enough to supply all America’s needs for only two-and-a-half years. Domestic drilling is not a policy solution, it is a red herring drawing America away from the cultural and behavioral changes we are all going to have to make to keep this country free.
Windfall profit taxes sound righteous for the here and now but should be an alarm bell to everyone in our free market capitalist society. When and how deep can government cherry pick our earnings? Any measure that reduces oil firms’ margins in America is likely to have the effect of diverting at least some investment to other countries—and so exacerbate the shortage of fuel produced at home.
The whole suspension of the gas tax idea should have been clue enough not to take those saying it seriously. That would encourage drivers to buy more, pushing up prices again while reducing Uncle Sam’s take. Seriously? You want to be the president of the United States but you think $0.18 a gallon will make a dent? P.S. Did you not see the reports on our dilapidated infrastructure? Pulling that tax money coupled with less consumption (the price of gas goes up but the tax stays the same so less consumption directly impact tax revenues) means unfunded highway and maintenance programs.
Selling oil from the strategic reserves? That is a primary indicator of a person not ready for the highest office. There is a reason that it is called a "strategic reserve." The government’s entire stockpile would keep America going for no more than a few weeks, and is supposed to be used only in dire emergencies.
What will we do when prices spike after Israel strikes Iran without a full reserve? What we will do when a hurricane knocks out vessels in the shipping lanes and we are faced with an American supply crunch? What will we do when we have an emergency and cannot run essential programs because we sold our STRATEGIC RESERVES to fat lazy whiners who refuse to change their lifestyle?
Meanwhile petrol has been getting cheaper of late, thanks to the sliding price of oil. It still costs over $3.80 a gallon on average, $1 more than a year ago. But it is some 25 cents below its peak, and falling. Some Republican lawmakers, ludicrously, claim that the drop is a result of their drive for more drilling. Mere talk of opening up America’s coastal waters, the theory runs, has convinced traders of a big future boost to oil supplies and so pushed the price down. In fact, the gyrations on the oil market illustrate the opposite: they show that the price of oil is largely out of America’s politicians’ hands. [Source]
How about a candidate for president that has put some thought into the hard decisions that face the nation? Someone willing to lead? Someone with some character who doesn't float with the latest poll winds?
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