Posted on 04/06/2014 5:21:53 AM PDT by rktman
Recently the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) sent out a “2014 Priority Issues Survey.” In addition to the obligatory Tea Party bashing: “help the Democrats protect the progreSS we have made from Tea Party radicals, deliver the positive changes America needs and help Democrats win a Majority in the U.S. House of Representatives!” and the fundraising requests to “help protect House Democrats against Republican attacks”—there is a section on energy.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.townhall.com ...
People (even on the Right) who talk about “energy independence” miss the point. We can always supply all our energy without the Middle East - just the prices might cause a Depression.
In a “free” American market, the OPEC cartel will always be in play because they will always set their prices low enough for US companies to buy.
The issue is freeing up suppliers to find and process the supply easily (including by shutting down the EPA), and enable lower and lower prices. And if the Middle East explodes, prices will still go up and shock markets, but not so badly.
LOL! You left out “necessarily”.
Have you considered that we will soon be able to produce all the energy we need and have enough of a surplus to ruin OPEC? There’s already an analysis pointing to oil prices in the $20/bbl range. I don’t agree with that. But I do see a sharp break from the current price.
What I’m reading from different sources is that the average man or woman on the street has no idea of the magnitude of the oil and gas surplus we have the potential to generate and the fact we are well on the way to do so.
The one single factor that people who oppose our using energy as an economic weapon seem to have missed is the panic that’s gripped the Saudis. They can see the writing on the wall while naysayers seem to have missed it.
If the Saudis are against it, we need to be for it. The Saudis enslaved us back in the 70’s. We need to take our freedom back.
We can either sit on our hands and worry about inconsequential issues or we can use it to restrict cash flow to terrorists and eliminate the potential for extortion in the energy markets.
How does increasing the supply cause energy prices to double?
But, the progressives are trying to save the country; from the horrors of capitalism and liberty and opportunity, or is it personal responsibility...
The goal is maximizing profits.
Complete energy independence might not be the best course if profits are lowered.
It is expensive to get energy out of the ground and to market. It is cheaper to buy Saudi oil. If we increase our supply with local expensive fuel and limit or halt imports of cheaper Saudi oil, it causes inflation.
If we, however, develop methods and supplies domestically that become more economically feasible, we can halt imports without causing such inflation.
Actually, it is the most frequently used communist tactic. It was used extensively by the commies against Whitaker Chambers after he exposed the penetration of communists into the federal government in the 30s. It was the main reason he wrote "Witness" -- to get the truth out before the communist smear machine could do its dastardly work. Alger Hiss worked hard to smear Chambers, but in the end Chambers' opus became the self-evident truth.
It is precisely what Alinsky directed all true radicals to do in his Rule #12:
Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
It is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works. Look at the election of 2012 where an honorable gentleman ran against the communist machine.
Oddly enough, with a little national will, the US could slash our energy consumption to a huge degree, yet live better, less expensive, more comfortable lives for it.
The technology exists as flexible, thin sheet aerogel, a magnificent insulator. It insulates remarkably well against either heat or cold. Here is a tile of aerogel protecting a Hershey’s Kiss chocolate from a blowtorch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sw1tNeJ0Rw
Insulating home ovens, they would use just a fraction of the electricity they do now. And the same with refrigerators and freezers. Already there have been efforts to insulate homes with it, which can radically reduce heating and cooling costs.
The demand for thin sheet aerogel is enormous. NASA wants to line its satellites with it. Industrial demands for it are gigantic. Military demands for it are also very large.
Production, however, is lagging, and it shouldn’t be. As a major industrial priority, aerogel should be all over the place right now.
And the bottom line is that by using it, America would have such a tremendous energy surplus that we would be exporting vast amounts, our gasoline and jet fuel prices would be slashed, and home heating oil would decline as more and more people insulated their homes.
The priorities should be:
1) encouragement of natural gas as a power generation and house warming fuel to replace heating oil
2) development of coal to liquid fuels and transportation systems
3) algae based bio-fuels including bio-diesel and bio-butanol
4) nuclear power for grid power using safer nuke technologies such as thorium based reactors
5) segmentation of the grid into state boundaries
You can assist in finding the answer by defining what it is not.
It is not taking taxpayer money to fund idiocy like wind turbines, ethanol and the like.
It is not subsidizing political cronies’ schemes to get rich off the back of taxpayers.
“It is expensive to get energy out of the ground and to market. It is cheaper to buy Saudi oil. If we increase our supply with local expensive fuel and limit or halt imports of cheaper Saudi oil, it causes inflation.
If we, however, develop methods and supplies domestically that become more economically feasible, we can halt imports without causing such inflation.”
That is blantantly false and is symptomatic of a philosophy of 4 decades ago.
Yes, it takes more capital to obtain oil in America than in the Middle East. But, and this is a big BUT, it does not cost more. 4 decades ago, the majors knew it was cheaper in capital to drill overseas and bring the oil here. That all changes with host countries demanding and getting the lion’s share of revenue.
Because of the heavy hand(like hiring nationals and using local services which were rarely suitable) and onerous shares of production, the costs are high.
This is all reflected in the amount of WTI pricing on the world market.
The applecart has been upset with technology that has opened vast, and it really is vast, amounts of hydrocarbon exploitation here in the country.
“It is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works. Look at the election of 2012 where an honorable gentleman ran against the communist machine.”
Look at what is happening to the Koch brothers today. There is a very clear message to billionaires and millionaires about the implications of funding conservative causes.
Meanwhile the GOP is silent on George Soros, Brian Roberts (CEO Comcast) and other billionaire leftist donors.
With all the problems the country has, spending, employment, energy, terrorism, constitutional issues, mental health, healthcare, political corruption on both sides, immigration, I find it hard to believe LGBT issues seem to dominate the news and blogs, I’m so sick of it all.
Those things have SOOOOOOOO much more importance than stupid things like jobs and energy etc.
Exactly right. GOP always plays by Marquess of Queensberry Rules while the Dem / Communist slime machine is no-holds-barred, brass-knuckle street fighting.
Check out what they did to Frank VanderSloot in 2012.
“The applecart has been upset with technology that has opened vast, and it really is vast, amounts of hydrocarbon exploitation here in the country.”
I agree the current technology is what you say. I was not aware that the curve had advanced as far as you say, and I’ll take your word for it as my plate is full. It was my belief that we are on the verge of putting OPEC out of business selling oil to the US markets, or forcing them to sell it to us at pennies on the dollar compared to what they charge now, and that it will be a world wide trend.
Oh, sorry here’s what I meant: If the domestic supply stays constant, and the Mideast suplly is cut off, yes of course the prices would go way up to Depression levels.
My point was that “energy independence” is not a quantifiable goal to reach by some date in the future. The goal is to mitigate the risk of OPEC causing a Depression.
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