"Hold off on domestic production. We're far from crisis mode."
We've been importing oil for years - it is wrong to not drill our own... the crisis is in sending money to Chavez, Qadaffi, and Iranian Mullahs instead of keeping it here at home.
"Better to wait until the rest of the world's oil starts drying up ... THEN sell 'em ours at a suitable supply-and-demand cost." "
Saudi Arabia has 50 years of oil. We will run out before they do. The advice defies economic logic as the price of the commodity will not rise so fast to make up the present value of a commodity in the ground vs. drilling it now.
In other words, you lose a lot of economic value by waiting longer than necessary. In any case, starting now to look means not drilling until 2010 means not producing until 2015, means not using it up until 2035.
I agree with you; I can never understand this logic. At the same time the push gets stronger and stronger for alternative fuels. Should we continue to send money to other governments until what we have is no longer needed?