Originally Posted By: BeanCounter
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I don't think you do buy alot of time using up all your domestic oil at the current rate, maybe not enough time to figure out and implement a better energy system? Especially if the US sticks its head in the sand until oil hits $300/barrel? Gets awful expensive to do anything with energy that costly... Even building windmills.
What size oil supply are you assuming is present?
Will oil increase domestically if we produce domestically, decreasing the need to have it shipped in like you project?
I think you likely underestimate the oil we have access too. I, personally, would rather pay less and buy time through our own economy versus allowing OPEC and each arab nation to determine what the output and "supply" is at their convenience.
It would be nice to pay less for oil produced on home soil but its now a global market and I don't think the companies that control the oil market will ever allow this. Canada exports more oil to the US than any other country yet our fuel costs are higher before taxes?
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I don't really see a downside to personal or community energy independence, more sources of power can only help moderate prices by eliminating layers of big business. They will fight againist this of course and try any kind of disinformation campaign they think they can get away with. Having 100's of millions of people dependent on fossil fuel puts alot of money in their pockets every quarter... Having people with a solar panels on their roof and an electric car has got to be stopped and almost at any cost for them.
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No no, you have my position all wrong.
I am against pocket-laden global warming theory apologists trying to force our great nation to burden its people politically.
I think it is great if individuals want to choose an energy alternative because it is better for them. But let the economy promote this, not a government that has already broken the bank. Remember, private dollars are just that, but government dollars are yours and mine. The nice part about a free market economy (ideally...) is that when gas reaches that aforementioned $300...new replacement technologies have already been released. But government intervention in this process rarely aids in timely, efficient, and effective results. This is why we haven't seen everyone jump on the alternative energy boat. We have the White House and Congress trying to ram legislation down our throats when the $2.40 price tag isn't persuasive enough to make us bail out (via "studies" and "projections" that universities and institutions so graciously release to us). Supply and demand are much more punctual, and less costly to us all in the long run.
For some reason these days, all the market does is create bubbles of paper wealth which burst and cost real jobs... Tech, energy/food commodities, and now housing... The market seems only think in the short term, is greedy, and maybe stupid(expecting constant exponential growth on a finite planet comes to mind). So I'm not really confident that somehow we'll have the technology and investment ready to switch over to renewable energy reasonably smoothly when the time comes without some government help.
Originally Posted By: BeanCounter
[The implications of these other energy sources are another issue, but I have little to no problem with them occurring via private enterprise than I do through government-funded myth assertions that are simply making a select group rich and empowering politicians who wish to render us useless while spending our hard-earned dollars.
Well, the US seems to have no problems muddling around in the middle east and the world spending trillions to keep the oil flowing for a select few companies? Why not spend some at home?
