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To: Texasforever
When 2/3 of the worlds population is dependent on the other third for just their every day existence
. OTOH, 4% of the world is dependent on resources from the other 96%. I'm not sure the U.S. (and the other richest nations) would be dominant if they lost access to those resources, or had to compete with the rest of the planet for them on a (hypothetical) even playing field.
13 posted on 01/01/2005 12:19:22 AM PST by rpgdfmx
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To: rpgdfmx

Limiting our oil imports could be a good thing in the long term. Can you remember the days when small town America was supported by it's own residents and small town America flourished because most of the jobs were locally produced.
People stayed at home and shopped the local markets for the items they could not grow in their own gardens and farm plots. When an item was out of season it was not available. Vast amounts of energy were not spent in pursuit of fruits and vegetables from out of the area. Same for milk. Every community had a local dairy and the milk was good. Now milk is trucked perhaps hundreds of miles from farm to dairy to consumer, wasting more energy.

It was unheard of to purchase California sweet corn in Missouri. But now since it is available perhaps Missouri has slacked off on it's own sweet corn production. This creates more dependence on another region, and siphons money out of the local economy.

Granted, these examples of self sufficiency may seem distant and lost in the fast paced progress we now participate in. But sometimes unchecked progress does create undesirable side effects. With better localized planning, energy expenditures cauld be reduced considerably.

We do not have to be such a mobile society and could certainly exist without the foreign oil. For some urban dwellers, life could become more difficult because their ability to survive has become dependent on too many factors out of their control. But for anyone who grew up in small town America, they know how to make do with what they have.


63 posted on 01/01/2005 3:33:26 PM PST by o_zarkman44
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