What we are witnessing today is no different than what we experienced during the Carter administration of the 70s. The only thing Congress and the administration could do then was blame the American people for consuming and wasting too much energy (gas). At the time America imported less than 1/3 of our oil from foreign countries. Today we import over 1/2 of our oil from foreign countries. Whose really to blame? Congress, our courts and the environmentalist that have steadfastly refused to allow drilling for our own oil to be used by America for America.
The answer for lowering high cost at the pumps is not alternative fuels or consuming less. It is today the same as it was in the 70s, allow for an increase in supply to satisfy the demand. Calls by Congress for an increase in technology and an increase in alternative fuels is the same old rhetoric we heard from the Carter administration. It did nothing then and will do nothing today except cause a drop in American production and lead to a higher unemployment rate.
While Congress wraps itself around the upcoming presidential election, they seem content to continue to do nothing but blame someone else for their failures. Their answer to our problems is simply hold hearings to blame Corporate America, Rural and Suburban Americans that drive SUV s or pickup trucks, President Bush and the American consumer. Being self reliant on our own domestic oil has no place in the minds of this Democratic led Congress, the same way it has been rejected ever since the Carter Administration.
Terrorist and Countries that sponsor terrorist have figured out they cannot beat America on the battlefield and with this President they cannot successfully attack us at home. They have figured out they can brings to our knees by attacking our economy. What is the best way to destroy the American economy? The answer is simple, attack our oil supply. They know America is so divided on the issue of domestic drilling and being free from foreign oil dependence, that we will sit by and watch our country fall into a 30s style Depression before we will risk drilling in our own country or even offshore. They are sitting in their caves and palaces laughing as China drills 60 miles from Miami, Fl. Iran is currently filling tankers and stock piling oil off their coast. Venezuela has reduced it's supply to America. Russia is keeping more of their supplies at home for domestic use. Mexico and Canada cannot keep up with the added burden created by these countries keeping their oil off the world market. Saudi Arabia is so afraid of Iran they will not increase production. The speculators investing in oil on wallstreet are getting rich.
We grew up expecting the 21st century to be a technological world full of new and wondrous inventions that would free us from the combustion engines and an oil based economy. It didn't happen as we entered the 21st century and it will not happen in the near future. There are no batteries capable of sustaining electric cars that will stand up to the type of driving required by the American consumer or commercial industry. Countries and inventors around the world have been trying for 100 years to design a battery that can withstand repeated charging and the natural drain from a change in temperature. If you try to drive an electric car in temperatures less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit you will find the distance you can drive will be cut in half. If you try to operate it in mountainous or rough terrain areas the same will apply.
The great Alternative fuel debate. Ethanol is really nothing more than our grandfathers moonshine. Did it work in his car, yes to some extent. The older cast iron leaded engines could withstand a lot more than aluminum cast lead free engines we use today. The difference with ethanol and our grandfathers moonshine is simply the water content between the two. Moonshine is made and distilled with the very same ingredients as ethanol. Ethanol is simply taken one step further until all the water has been taken out leaving pure ethanol capable of mixing with gas. Because ethanol burns at such a higher temperature and is more flammable than lead free gas, it is unlawful to operate a vehicle in America on 100% ethanol. Filling a vehicle with pure ethanol is like placing a bomb in you car and hoping you don't get into an accident. Adding more than 20% of ethanol to gas will eventually destroy a lead free engine in American cars. Add the cost to our food supply by using corn or sugar and yeast to create ethanol and the only people that gain from it are farmers, not American but foreign producers because America can never produce enough to keep up with the demand.
All the other alternative fuel ideas are 30 years or more into the future before they can become readily available. American industry and the transportation system in America cannot change from oil and petroleum products in less than 30 years. To believe we can overnight completely eliminate the combustion engine and replace it with some futuristic engine that does not rely on a petroleum based fuel is like believing Alice In Wonderland was fact and not fiction. If you want to see the price at the pumps come down, open up America to domestic drilling. If you want to see America continue to slide toward Depression, continue on our current path.
The state of America is at a danger level today, if the price of oil continues to increase we could see the level fall to catastrophic within the next 90 days. Is this what Congress is hoping for just so it will help in the fall election? You tell me.
