Quote:
Originally Posted by MS Fowler
It would be called " leadership" A cohesive energy policy that meets current demand and provides incentives for alternate energy sources would be a good start. So would an administration that doesn't look like its on a crusade to destroy capitalism.
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That sounds fine in theory, in practice not quite so easy. Over the last couple of decades China and India have come "online". This means literally over a billion new consumers of oil. that didnt' exist before.
Oil reserves are not infinite, though they are probably greater than the doomsdayers would like. However the mere quantity is only part of the story. You have to be able to extract it economically in order for prices to remain low. If the cost of extraction rises so does the price at the pump. So oil sands, deep water deposits, reserves in the arctic are all well and good, but turning that into stuff that folks can afford at the pump is quite a different matter, and that's without factoring China and Indias demand into the equation. The US could attempt a policy of forcing it's oil companies to sell only to US consumers but that will never happen. You will not be able to keep the US companies from selling their product to the highest bidder on the world market as that would prevent them from profiting from the increased prices that the future demand from China and India will bring.
In other words, the price of gas is trended inexorably up over time. Get used to it. Any given president has very little influence over it in any direction.
- Peter.
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