3 comments

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  nikkym

  11 ヶ月 ago

  Shock doctrine, anyone? Great article! Seems like it's been overdue in the media....The thing that strikes me about the situation, is that no politician wants to be the only realistic adult in the room saying, "Kids, you're going to have to cut back on your car trips to the convenience store." Or "Folks, what about subsidizing public transit? Let's all take the bus, it'll be fun!" I live in a small city that USES its public transportation (some of us), but the govt here is so shortsighted that they want to remove bus routes to save money rather than find the funding to add light rails. These kinds of things have to happen in order to get Americans to use energy smarter--the options have to be there, and I daresay the leadership, too. Bill Maher's book from 2002, "When you ride ALONE you ride with bin Laden: What the Government SHOULD Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism" makes the following point much better than I can: In World War II, the government asked the public to cut back on consumption and to do some pretty disciplined conservation tasks--and Americans did, in the name of patriotism and bringing their sons home. Now, it's the opposite: The American Way is "I can waste as much as I want, and just relax and enjoy myself!" (And it a coincidence that we're not REALLY thinking about the Oil War where lots of people are dying?) Prohibition, slowed consumption, and self-discipline are considered a violation of the American Way. And, back to the beginning of my thought--any politician who introduces the idea of "Guys, you've GOT to cut back" is in danger of being VERY unpopular. On the hopeful side, the Green Movement has a strong momentum, so perhaps a good-looking Democratic president at the beginning of his term could risk asking us to find ways to conserve.
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  me2000

  11 ヶ月 ago

  I understand cutting back...Currently I am car pooling and looking into natural gas conversion for my car. I don't understand the whole lets dip into the Strategic Reserve. That is as dumb as taking a home equity line of credit out to pay for your mortgage...all that you end up is deeper in the hole.
  
  What does letting lose of the reserve oil do (left suggestion)? increase supply...
  What does conserving oil do (article suggestion)? decrease demand...so an increase in supply
  What does asking opec to produce more oil do (Bush did this)? increase supply...
  What does building new refinererys do (right suggestion)? increase gas supply...
  What does opening oil shale for excuvation do (right)? increase oil supply...
  
  So the great question...
  Is the bi-partisan movement to increase supply? or just get votes...maybe special interest money?
  Does opening ANWR and OCS for drilling increase supply?
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  phuyay

  11 ヶ月 ago

  We cannot get out of our energy mess just by conservation. We are driving a lot less, and what has that meant at the pump? Maybe a dime. China and India are using more oil and we have to consider growth in America, unless we want to stop where we are growth wise and suffer economically. So, we have to find other sources. Alternative energy is a long way off so there is no help there. We could import Brazilian ethanol now, but that would upset the corn farmers and their allies in congress of which Obama is one. We could expand shale oil production onto federal lands, but congress put a stop to that in December of 2007. So, those of you on the left, what solutions do you have? The answer is nothing that will work in the short or long term. All we are doing is waiting for your messiah, Obama, to solve all of our problems. Obamians are expecting more from Obama than he or anyone else can realistically deliver. He may be the messiah to you, but I won't believe in him until he can turn water into crude oil.
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