Why are we so dependent on OIL?
Most of the modern world runs on oil and its by-products. Most people know that gasoline comes from ëcrackingí oil. And gasolineís primarily use is for fuel for cars. The more cars in the world, the more gasoline is needed, the more is needed and so on.
That leads to why cars run on gasoline instead of some other source of fuel. The quick history is that the earliest cars replaced a different pollution. Since the transportation prior to cars was based on the horse, the pollution was both a foul smell, tons of flies and one huge mess on all the roads. At that time, even the earliest autos with all their problems was a great improvement.
But most cars were build one at a time and expensive. Some of the best cars ran on steam. This had its own pollution and the range was limited by the size of the boiler. Still, models like the Stanley Steamer could travel fast and far, if you could afford one. Another problem faced by early auto drivers was that there were no paved roads ñ only horse trails and foot paths.
The future of the auto at that time looked bleak. Then Henry Ford figured out how to mass produce autos at a price that most people could afford. The engine he used was a gasoline engine. And while the Model T used as much oil as gasoline, they were well received. Soon the days of the horse as the only means of transportation were past. And we became an oil dependent nation and world.
And the world never looked back. Eventually roads wee built and autos became more reliable. Roads were built ñ most with bricks ñ but still an improvement over dirt horse trails, specially in wet weather. Then accessories were added and features that made driving a pleasure. Finally in the 1950ís a national highway system was completed. The car was king.
Even though a diesel engine was developed, it was many years before it came a popular choice in cars.
One factor was that few service stations offered diesel fuel. As improvements to the diesel engine were made, it now stands as the best alternative to gasoline. When you can use strained grease from a restaurant as fuel with little pollution at a greater savings than the cost of gasoline, you would think that most manufacturers would have built more diesel models. But the government helped the car industry expand.
Now, we use ethanol, a by-product of corn, Thatís why the price of bread is now so high. Much of the corn crop is sold to made ethanol. WHY? Because the government made that choice. BUT everyone knows that saw-grass, a weed that grows anywhere, can be used to produce the same ethanol for less money than using corn. But the government insists that we use corn. So itís an even swap ñ oil for corn. A no-gain transaction.
So we now used a 10% ethanol ñ 90% gasoline mixture at the ìpumps.î Itís the 90% that costs us dearly and sends billions of dollars to unfriendly countries that is the driving force behind cutting our dependence on foreign oil. Not oil completely ñ just foreign oil. That amounts to about 17% of the oil we import.
Now, with the unbelievable halting of all oil exploration (and drilling) in the Gulf, we will become more dependent on foreign oil. There is an almost perfect clean record of drilling for oil in shallow waters and on land. So why not drill for USA oil in Alaska. The people of Alaska want it. The United States needs to reduce the importing of foreign oil. But the government says no. One more bad business decision by government
The answer to both questions is poor, unfocused on the goal, management. When politics enters into a business decision, most of the time the business end suffers. Think of the post office. They have way too many employees and are bleeding money at an alarming rate. The governmentís answer? To take more money from the taxpayer to pay for jobs that are unneeded.
Then there is the railroads. And the two most corrupt of all programs: medicare and social security.
Both are bleeding and will continue to bleed until they bankrupt the USA? If medicare was handled in a private manner and people were allowed to invest 10% to 50% of their social security in fixed income treasury bonds, two things would happen. But government wants control of our money.
If private interest managed medicare, the medicare fraud would be squeezed out and those people committing fraud would go to prison. The result, more services and a savings plus a profit which could become taxable income. But the government says no.
Instead of a ëponzieí scheme which is what the social security system is based on, people could invest in both the United States and their retirement at the same time. Best of all, when a person dies, the money set aside would pass on to the family instead of being lost, as the social security system treats recipients now.
My argument here is that whatever the government touches becomes corrupt and a waste of taxpayerís money. The recent health law is an example of the most corrupt passage of a law you may ever see in your lifetime. We will begin taxing people now for services that will not be available for 3 or 4 or 5 years. Talk about cheating the citizens with their own money, this scam has beat all previous scams. And the true BUDGET-BUSTING accounting is just now coming out. When this new health care bill is in full operation, the USA will begin to slide into a time when we are spending more than the total country is earning.
The result will be either huge inflation or a deep depression.
So why oil? Because cars vans, SUVs, trucks, trains, airplanes are important to our way of life. Itís the government with itís terrible sense of doing business that will drive oil prices to skyrocket because of one terrible tragedy in the Gulf which was preventable if government was acting in our best interest from the start. But with the President using this crisis to push for Cap & Trade which will raise prices of gasoline and electricity up by a lot, instead of trying to solve the crisis, you and I can expect a lower standard of living and all things will get more expensive. And more people will be unemployed.
Just having the government throw money at people in the HOPE that they will come up with a new idea to make the USA less dependent on foreign oil or oil completely is absurd and beyond being stupid. Invention happens when it happens. No amount of government interference will speed things up or make something appear magically on schedule.
We need oil. Oil is essential to our way of life. Without oil there would be no plastics, very few medications and the world would be thrown back to a time of great disease, high unemployment reaching 50%, little food besides what you can grow, and so much more. And by limiting coal use for electricity, the cost of electricity will skyrocket while we experience several blackouts every years.
Why OIL? Because we need it.
And that's the way I see it.
Jay Clifford
