Frailty: Thy Name is Addict
Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. - Pres. Bush, State of the Union -2006
Yes, America is addicted to oil, and now is the time to take seriously President Bush's call to "move beyond a petroleum-based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past." Unless the American people demand that their government officials, power companies and auto industry join the President in this agenda, then we, as a society, are nothing more than 300 hundred million enablers! If we fail to act we can consider ourselves to be no better than the corner thug pushing drugs at the neighborhood crack house.
Are Americans ready for a serious energy policy? You bet. Today we import 10 million barrels of oil per day. Of this, 2.2 million barrels day of this comes directly from the Middle East. At today's prices that's more than 140 million dollars every day leaving our economy. Over the course of the year that's nearly $5 billion. Imagine the effects of taking $140 million a day and putting it back into American's pockets. Mind you, this is just Middle East oil and not including monies going into the Venezuelan, Mexican and Canadian economies.
How to get started. The Democrats were quick to criticize President Bush because he failed to include conservationism as a means to lower our dependence on foreign fuels. Well, this country has been obsessed with conservation for over 30 years now. In fact, the use of reusable fuels have increase more than 10% each year since 1999 and has had no effect on reducing the amount of foreign fuel we consume on a daily basis. Conservation efforts, though they mean well, has not work, nor will they ever work. The only way to get the public to reduce foriegn fuel consumption is to get it to accept alternative fuels. To help in this effort Gov. George Pataki of New York has proposed the elimination of state taxes on homegrown alternative fuels such as ethanol and biomast. In addition, he wants to initiate a grant program to make it easier for owners of gas stations to install ethanol pumps. Great steps! Make alternative energies cheaper and make it available. Trust me this will play well in Iowa, how does President Pataki sound to you?
If there is a positive in the failing of the American automobile industry is the fact that Ford, General Motors and Dalhmer-Chrysler all admit radical changes are needed to be more competitive. Now is the time that to convince the car makers to change their focus from being competitive to changing the entire industry. Trying to be competitive results in $5 billion in loses per year! Look what happens in the Information Technology industry, sure Asians can make the silicon chip cheaper, but who cares? "We'll make a better chip that will make that one obsolete." The lesson - Don't compete with them, make them have to change to meet your new standards. Detroit needs to adopt this philosophy. What better standard would there be than creating alternative powered vehicles.
Perhaps the most important factor is for President Bush to get the heart and soul of the American people to follow his lead. The economic value of new policies are obvious and the "Buy American" slogan always has high mpg, but think what could happen if the President links the new policies as another tool to win the War on Terror. You may call it a shameless use of propaganda, but what would be a better way to put pressure on the Arab run OPEC cartel. The longer these countries protect terrorists, like Bin-Laden and Al-Zawahari, the more we will be resolved to develop alternative fuels. The Mullahs in Iran wants the western world to leave them alone, lets create an environment where we can help them out.
Yes, America is addicted to oil, and now is the time to take seriously President Bush's call to "move beyond a petroleum-based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past." Unless the American people demand that their government officials, power companies and auto industry join the President in this agenda, then we, as a society, are nothing more than 300 hundred million enablers! If we fail to act we can consider ourselves to be no better than the corner thug pushing drugs at the neighborhood crack house.
Are Americans ready for a serious energy policy? You bet. Today we import 10 million barrels of oil per day. Of this, 2.2 million barrels day of this comes directly from the Middle East. At today's prices that's more than 140 million dollars every day leaving our economy. Over the course of the year that's nearly $5 billion. Imagine the effects of taking $140 million a day and putting it back into American's pockets. Mind you, this is just Middle East oil and not including monies going into the Venezuelan, Mexican and Canadian economies.
How to get started. The Democrats were quick to criticize President Bush because he failed to include conservationism as a means to lower our dependence on foreign fuels. Well, this country has been obsessed with conservation for over 30 years now. In fact, the use of reusable fuels have increase more than 10% each year since 1999 and has had no effect on reducing the amount of foreign fuel we consume on a daily basis. Conservation efforts, though they mean well, has not work, nor will they ever work. The only way to get the public to reduce foriegn fuel consumption is to get it to accept alternative fuels. To help in this effort Gov. George Pataki of New York has proposed the elimination of state taxes on homegrown alternative fuels such as ethanol and biomast. In addition, he wants to initiate a grant program to make it easier for owners of gas stations to install ethanol pumps. Great steps! Make alternative energies cheaper and make it available. Trust me this will play well in Iowa, how does President Pataki sound to you?
If there is a positive in the failing of the American automobile industry is the fact that Ford, General Motors and Dalhmer-Chrysler all admit radical changes are needed to be more competitive. Now is the time that to convince the car makers to change their focus from being competitive to changing the entire industry. Trying to be competitive results in $5 billion in loses per year! Look what happens in the Information Technology industry, sure Asians can make the silicon chip cheaper, but who cares? "We'll make a better chip that will make that one obsolete." The lesson - Don't compete with them, make them have to change to meet your new standards. Detroit needs to adopt this philosophy. What better standard would there be than creating alternative powered vehicles.
Perhaps the most important factor is for President Bush to get the heart and soul of the American people to follow his lead. The economic value of new policies are obvious and the "Buy American" slogan always has high mpg, but think what could happen if the President links the new policies as another tool to win the War on Terror. You may call it a shameless use of propaganda, but what would be a better way to put pressure on the Arab run OPEC cartel. The longer these countries protect terrorists, like Bin-Laden and Al-Zawahari, the more we will be resolved to develop alternative fuels. The Mullahs in Iran wants the western world to leave them alone, lets create an environment where we can help them out.
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