The Case for Banning Oil Imports

07/30/06 | self

[tomzz]

The one question I don't seem to be able to come up with any sort of an answer for regarding this "War on Terror" is how Ike and FDR would have managed to fight WWII while buying oil from Adolf Hitler for $75 a barrel and up.

Moreover, if even a third of what I read is true, then even discounting the likelihood of money we spend on oil coming back to us in the form of aircraft crashing into our buildings, the United States should very definitely not be importing oil. If anything we should be exporting it. If a third of what you read is true, then the US has several different potential oil resources, any one of which should suffice for all our needs well beyond any point at which we cease using oil as a fuel.

The question is, how do you get from here to there, and the answer is the same as the answer to "How do I quit smoking?" Basically you just stop.

What I would propose would mess us up about as badly as we were messed up during WWII for somewhere between six months and two years, probably more like a year, but it would put every terrorist regime on Earth totally out of business since oil is 100% fungible and the price of oil would collapse worldwide. It could only be done with a total and permanent ban, so that OPEC could not simply drop prices to ten dollars a barrel for a year until the problem went away.

Such a policy would likely have to include:

• Rapid establishment of neighborhood work sites to try to eliminate as much commuting as possible in metro areas by replacing some of the oil and rubber with electrons.
• Rapid exploitation of resources including oil offshore of Florida and Ca., under the Rockies, in Utah and Colorado, shale oil, ANWR, and every other possible source of oil which we control.
• Rapid development of new tech engines like the MYT, diesels, and lithium-ion battery vehicles where feasible.
• Ride sharing schemes.
• Temporary banning of motor sports and other provably unnecessary use of fuel.

Like I say, I can't picture Ike et. al. trying to fight Hitler while buying oil from him.

[Accygirl]

Since A. the U.S. doesn't have enough domestic oil and B. I like being able to drive my car, I think that that idea is ridiculous.

[American_Centurion]

A very idyllic idea.

However due to the time line required to implement all of the above, we would be far better off just P0wn-ing those causing us the headache.

Of course either one of our solutions would require some American Resolve, we both know that ain't gonna happen.

[flashbunny]

Maybe they should ban selling crack for awhile...

[PhilipFreneau]

Hey, go for it. Kill the head and the dragon dies.

[Coyoteman]

Apply some math to this question.

It would take a lot of wind power to make up the difference (will you help?).

[ExpatGator]

I do not mean to sound flippant, but it would be cheaper to just "Kick Their Ass and Take Their Gas". We are at war. In which case conquering then utilizing the enemy's supplies/commodities is a legitimate part of war.

[conservative in nyc]

The biggest exporters of oil to the United States are Canada and Mexico. We get much less oil from the Middle East than some may have you believe - mainly from Saudi Arabia (3rd largest exporter), Iraq (6th largest) and Kuwait (11th largest).

[Luigi Vasellini]

I know, how about if we all convert to islam

[sinkspur]

Rapid establishment of neighborhood work sites to try to eliminate as much commuting as possible in metro areas by replacing some of the oil and rubber with electrons.

The last figure I saw was cars consume 6% of the oil imported into this country in the form of gasoline.

Since we import 50%, where do you make up the other 44%?

[wizr]

And how do we know we don't have enough domestic oil? Oh, yeah, the mantra we've been hearing from the MSM and ecologists for 30 years.

We have, as I understand it, "heavy crude" oil, as opposed to "light sweet" crude from "you know where". It's still there, where it was shut down during the Clintoon years, because it was "cheaper" to import, and not cause a "shortage".

[Mark]

FIRST- get rid of the Dem party, then the ideas would take off.

[FairOpinion]

"I do not mean to sound flippant, but it would be cheaper to just "Kick Their Ass and Take Their Gas". We are at war. In which case conquering then utilizing the enemy's supplies/commodities is a legitimate part of war."

===

BINGO. This is the right solution.

[isthisnickcool]

Are you referring to the MYT engine by Angel Labs?

[tomzz]

Doesn't matter at all. Like I said, oil is totally fungible. Take the US out of the world market, and the whole game would collapse.

[tomzz]

Yes.

[mysterio]

Ethanol and biodeisel infrastructure would do more for the war on terror than snooping on granny's library habits. I'm tired of funding third world dictators who hate me just so I can drive to work. I'd rather fund American farmers. It seems common sense to me.

[UNGN]

I was half listening until this:

Temporary banning of motor sports and other provably unnecessary use of fuel.

Don't be an idiot. Americans taking vacations to France use more oil in Jet Fuel than ALL motorsports in the US combined.

Let's ban vacations to france, instead.

[tomzz]

Why not do both?

[NonLinear]

Dang! If you're going to post a vanity hypothesis, don't you think you should stick around to defend it?