Hey, newbie, be careful who you call a DU plant. I think I predate you by a long time.
Needing oil and wanting ANWR and everything else is fine but ignoring alternatives is silly. I WANT off oil dependence, now. If we have to hold it together for 10 years, ok, so be it. High oil prices spur innovation. I didn't ask for high oil prices or a depressed dollar but it is what I have to work with. I celebrate because we have a chance to finally kill the domination of oil.
> I celebrate because we have a chance to finally kill the domination of oil.
Killing the domination of oil has one additional, excellent benefit: if we weren’t dependent on oil, there’s a whole bunch of nut-job enemy countries in this world who would suddenly and painfully find themselves without income to fund terrorism, industry, warfare or jihad.
Where would Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela be without oil revenues? They would be poked. They would be rooted. They would be relegated to the Third World stone age societies that they deserve to be in.
That in itself is an excellent reason to find ways to ditch oil as practically and as permanently as is practicable. Ten years would be a nice timeframe.
I like alternatives too, but so far none are perfect. For example, a car that has to be plugged in every 100 miles, is not a good alternative. I know folks that have to drive that far, and more, to the grocery store. I am definitely not in favor of ignoring alternatives, but we are going to need some time to perfect our “alternatives”.
And as for “newbies”, since when does that have anything to do with the veracity of what one has to say?
Oil? Or foreign oil? Or Islamic foreign oil?
You are going to be really hard pressed to come up with a vehicle fuel which will be able to replace oil in the next 20 years. Most oil consumed as fuel is used that way, the rest goes into everything from plastics to pharmaceuticals.
Sure, some of that consumption (mainly in the NE) is for home heat, but by far and away the majority is to transport people and freight.
If there was something better within our current technology, we'd be using it.
High oil prices will do nothing but double YOUR taxes. You will get to pay $10 a gal and your extra taxes will go the the 30% of the population that pay none, so they can buy $2 gas!
Food stamps, gas stamps? Good luck with your plan!
Ten years? LOL. We are not ignoring alternatives. We don't need the USG picking winners and losers. Look at the ethanol debacle and its unintended consequences. Let the marketplace decide, not government.
We are not going to wean ourselves off of oil and gasoline anytime soon. There is a vast infrastructure out there that supports the use of oil and gasoline to fuel our economy, including the internal combusion engine. Millions of cars, planes, trucks, buses, etc. will be around longer than 10 years.
And then there is the matter of population growth. We have added 100 million people since 1970 and will add another 167 million by 2060, most of it due to immigration, legal and illegal. So, in a space of 90 years we will have added 267 million people going from a nation of 200 million to one of 467 million. If we have an amnesty, those figures will go much higher, i.e., by at least 100 million more. We will have to run to stand still.
High oil prices spur innovation. I didn't ask for high oil prices or a depressed dollar but it is what I have to work with. I celebrate because we have a chance to finally kill the domination of oil.
Cheap energy is the lifeblood of an economy. An economy in the doldrums will hurt inovation. The high energy costs is really a regressive tax hurting those at the bottom far more. It also consumes discretionary income, which has a ripple effect throughout the economy hurting almost all businesses. Less consumption will send the economy into a downward spiral that will be hard to recover from, especially with an aging population that will place our faltering entitlement systems into bankruptcy. The entitlement programs represent an unfunded liability of more than $60 trillion. The perfect storm is coming. Rising energy costs are just part of it.
Dominion Power of VA just announced that its rates will be going up 18% in July and more increases will follow next year and the year after. Those increases will affect businesses and the consumer. You may celebrate it, but the reality is that this economy is going into a steep, downward spiral.
Substitue "till November" with "ten years" and "Pelosi-Reid Congress" with "McCain presidency".
Innovation should not be forced. It should come as a natural replacement. While we are in the death throes of innovating a new way to provide energy China will bury us by using the "old" ways.