The key point, is government. Yes, that is certainly a big hurdle. I don’t like it anymore than you do.
I just realize how bad it was when we had long lines at gas stations because the Middle-East had us literally over a barrel.
We need to be energy self-sufficient. Selling off our energy around the world is a fools game IMO.
Do you understand that was more caused by government price controls and restriction than a real lack of supply?
Time to Lay the 1973 Oil Embargo to Rest
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/time-lay-1973-oil-embargo-rest
The embargo was a non-event. The production cutbacks were trivial. The wrong lessons were learned. In short, everything we think we know about the events triggered 30 years ago today is wrong.
Let’s start with the embargo. Most people believe that it was directly responsible for long gasoline lines and for service stations running dry. The shortages were, in fact, a byproduct of price controls imposed by President Nixon in August 1971, which prevented oil companies from passing on the full cost of imported crude oil to consumers at the pump (small oil companies, however, were exempted from the price control regime in 1973).