I couldn't help but respond again to this subject. I too read the Senator's letter and his solution does nothing to fix the problem. His two main points:
- Reduce the incentives for speculation in the oil market, and;
- Strengthen the dollar by showing some commitment to getting our own fiscal house in order.
WILL NOT PRODUCE ONE MORE OUNCE OF OIL TO OUR SUPPLY.
If he really wants to effect commodity market speculation to bring down the price of oil all he has to do is to have a majority in congress in both houses to immediately agree to eliminate all barriers to allow new refineries to be built and agree to drill in ANWR. The oil on the commodities market would see the prices drop off a cliff. As long as the markets really believed our government was serious about getting out the way.
However, this does not immediately produce one more ounce of oil but it will send an appropriate signal to the market right now that our government will institute changes that will affect the price of oil.
On the dollar: The only way to strengthen the dollar is to eliminate the Federal Reserve and tie our currency something other than thin air. BTW, if you don't know it, the Federal Reserve is a privately owned bank that our government borrows from. The Feds creates money from thin air and you and are paying taxes that enable our government to pay the interest on the that debt created from thin air. But it would help if all of our government entities would only spend what they take in.
This gentleman has a series of articles pertaining to the Federal Reserve system:
The Money Changers, Part I: The US Federal Reserve
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I found this article very interesting from a different oil company viewpoint:
In Defense of 'Big Oil'
A couple snipits from it:
"Peter Robertson, vice chairman of Chevron, told me it’s a myth that oil companies are not investing in new energy sources. He says last year alone, Chevron spent $20 billion exploring new sources of energy. "
"The last refinery built in America was in 1976. Tighter government regulations are the main reason."
"Robertson said there would be plenty of oil available to the United States if the oil companies were allowed to get it: “Eighty-five percent of offshore oil is off-limits.” "
"The technology has become so good, he said, that during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, “one thousand offshore wells were destroyed (in the Gulf of Mexico), but not one leaked.” Australia, he said, has allowed offshore drilling for 40 years without any environmental damage."
"In addition to the sinking value of the dollar, here is the main problem: According to the Department of Energy, U.S. oil production has fallen approximately 40 percent since 1985, while the consumption of oil has grown by more than 30 percent."
"According to government estimates, there is enough oil in areas accessible to America — 112 billion barrels — to power more than 60 million cars for 60 years."
Here's another article on our oil trouble:
OVER A BARREL
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And then a couple of recent cartoons that hit the nail on the head.
Quick Links
) I take that with a grain of salt (and pepper) But I could do that. Just food for thought...
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