Oh yes, that would really help what manufacturing we have left stay in the country. Can you honestly believe this could help? How about drilling ANWR and OCS and using the royalty payments to fund development of new energy sources, including shale oil.
"What's needed is a tariff on imported oil, to permanently change the economics in favor of domestic production"
"I agree. IMHO we need a $15-20 per barrel oil import fee."
"Oh yes, that would really help what manufacturing we have left stay in the country."
Surely ... As I said, I favor moving taxation from production to consumption, and this is a part of that. Higher oil tariffs matched with lower taxes on manufacturing (payrolls and income taxes) is a net plus.
The manufacturing would and should not be on oil energy but be on electricity generated via nuclear power, renewables or coal. Nuclear power can get down to 4 cents/KWh wholesale, while there is little use of oil in industrial, and what little there is should be shifted.
Oil will hit transportation and consumer. They will and can change behavior to have more fuel efficiency - which is a *goal* of such taxation - so that we have lower fuel imports. The point being - reducing our oil dependency reducing our trade deficit, reduces our political and economic dependencies and helps build us up to a post-oil energy complex, which is needed anyway.
"Can you honestly believe this could help?"
Can you honestly believe that are current payment of $200 billion to unstable oil-owning Governments is a good thing?
Can you honestly say that we should do nothing to stop this drain on our economy, a drain that has political conseqences in building up Chavez, crazy Mullahs, and terrorist-coddline and financing nations?
" How about drilling ANWR and OCS and using the royalty payments to fund development of new energy sources, including shale oil."
I am in favor of all of the above. But of course an oil tariff is the #1 way to encourage and incentivize domestic production.
Shale oil *requires* an oil tariff to be a practical long-term solution because its cost of development will not be incurred up-front unless there is clearly a price point that can sustain it. In other words, shale wont happen until the player know that OPEC wont just flood the market and knock shale back out of the game with $20 /barrel oil.
(Dont be surprised, oil was under $20 7 years ago, it could be there again sometime.)