Posted on 05/13/2010 12:40:19 PM PDT by Faketan
The foundation of the American lifestyle and economy is cheap oil. Remove that prop and every aspect of that lifestyle becomes questionable.
Not to sound too cinematic, but everywhere I look, I see cheap oil. The results, of cheap oil, actually; or more precisely, a complete and total dependence on cheap, abundant oil.
When I see expansive, well-manicured lawns, I see cheap oil. When I see busy airports and taxiing aircraft, I see cheap oil. When I see news about the latest "surge" in Afghanistan, I see cheap oil. When I see goods from China on sale for less than a dollar, I see cheap oil. When I see branded water in plastic bottles, I see cheap oil. When I see inexpensive meat in supermarket coolers, I see cheap oil. When I walk through aisles of frozen food, I see cheap oil. Virtually all of the things which characterize the "American way of life" are utterly and completely dependent on cheap oil, cheap coal, cheap natural gas and cheap uranium (as long as the waste products of which can be "cheaply" stored).
Once liquid petroleum is no longer abundant and cheap, the "American way of life" will change in ways that few seem to anticipate.
It is in the political interests of all nations to overstate their "proven reserves"--oil and gas still underground. As a result, these estimates are often wildly inflated. Full article at: Cheap Oil
I read another work that claimed the opposite. That it is in the political interest of a country to understate reserves so that pricing power can be maintained.
I’m addicted to it. Are you?
A lot of things in the US are cheap, come to think of it. It comes from prosperity and reward for ingenuity and hard work. The bottom line is not that the US is propped up by cheap oil, but rather that the US has always been propped up by ingenuity and hard work.
It’s why the marxists won’t let us drill here where oil is abundant. They seek to forever alter America. Kill the engine, kill the Country.
When you see high priced oil and coal you see high unemployment like today.
Pray for America
It isn’t just cheap oil, abundant and inexpensive coal has been running most of our electrical grid, too. Barry promised to make coal fired electrical generating plants a ‘through the roof’ cost in his future.
3 to 4 BILLION barrels of oil in OUR NORTH DAKOTA.
http://bakkenshale.net/bakkenshalemap.html
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911
3 to 4 BILLION barrels of oil in OUR NORTH DAKOTA.
During the Carter years, we were told the world’s oil reserves would be depleted in 50 years. So what did he do?
We have plenty of natural gas, and it doesn’t take much to switch over in a country that’s eager to do so. Cars can run on it just fine and polute less.
Just get rid of the librobots first.
While we talk of high priced oil, it truly isn’t true. When oil prices reach the tipping point that makes oil shale, liquified coal profitable then we will have high oil prices. But notice, when that occurs we have the world’s largest know reserve of coal. Oil is suitable for transportation fuels. Reordering our mix of fuels would bring down our consumption of oil and raise our coal, natural gas and nuclear. We really should think about running our entire electric grid on nuclear and hydro. Natural gas should heat our homes and oil should be limited to transportation fuels until such time that coal can profitably replace it. A reasonable energy strategy could be instituted if we could just get the nuts out of the way (e.g., ALGORE).
“Once liquid petroleum is no longer abundant and cheap...”
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Why do you make that distinction between abundant and cheap? Oil is abundant in this world — we’re discovering new fields every year. That it is not cheap is because of taxation and the enforcing by environmentalists to get away from oil usage altogether.
The Bakken has been under production and growing for years. It is the reason North Dakota has already become the 4th largest oil producing state in the US.
Great post; I’m in complete agreement. The way to true energy independence and economic prosperity is simple; convert the vast majority of electric generation to nuclear. Convert coal production from electric generation to synthetic petroleum. Will there be some economic dislocation? In the short term, yes, but only to the extent necessary for the capital costs of converting the energy sources.
From then on it’s smooth sailing.
“The foundation of the American lifestyle and economy is cheap oil....”
America is THE most heterogenous country in the world. In the DC Metro region are at least 30 distinct ethnic, cultural and racial enclaves.
the glue holding this all together...are Constitutional Freedoms...coupled with cheap energy relative to the rest of the world. Unleashed, this is a powerhouse combo....
Failure of either Constitutional Freedom...or the availability of cheap energy...ugly will be beyond comprehension of even the worst of the 20th century.
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