Who 's responsible for the high U.S. gas and oil prices?
Alright, I have been very lax in updating my journals. I'm off the night shift now and have some energy back. Ok, I've been watching the oil prices rise and rise over the last two years. Today I read about the Republican party blocking a bill that would block a tax on what was considered a windfall tax on profits.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_go_co/congress_oil_profits;_ylt=AnFRM5mz7wF36qu6mCdtiLGs0NUE
Now this bugs me on two levels.
1. This is government interfering with business. It's a big business you say. It's the oil companies you say. They have been gouging us you say. Well, if they interfere with these businesses, what says they will not interfere with a business that you run, whether small or large? If you become successful, do you want the government saying 'You've become too successful, so we are going to tax you more than a regular business.'?
2. The second reason this bugs me, is that instead of fixing the issue, the Senate tries to pass the buck. In late 2006 the national average for gasoline was ~$2.25 per gallon. When I passed my local gas station today, it was $4.13 per gallon. (I won't mention the fact that in late 2006 the Democrats took over Congress) Why has the price increased so? We have enough oil in the grounds of the United States to last at least 60 years. And it stays in the ground because our Congress will not pass the laws needed to allow companies to drill in our own country and provide us the energy needed to create a stable economy and reduce our independence on foreign oil. Why? Because environmentalists have pestered and pandered for so long that our Congress won't make the changes.
It is claimed that it will cause all sorts of environmental damage. Around the Alaskan pipelines that they are so worried about causing problems for the Anwar area. However, all sorts of animals are thriving near the pipelines. Did you know that during Hurricane Katrina that not a drop of oil from the oil rigs near Louisiana's coast was spilled due to the natural disaster? It seems that the environmentalits are a bit two-faced as they don't mind if another country screws up their environment for the oil we need, just don't do it to our own. I'm not saying that we need to ignore the environmental impact of this work, but that the science involved with preventing an environmental disaster and/or fixing one afterwards has been immensely improved. Talk to the various other oil drilling countries and find out what they are taking for precautions.
I applaud the research and development of alternate energy sources, but let's face it folks, oil is here to stay for quite a while, get used to it. Converting to an alternate energy source for the entire economy will take quite a bit of time. We can't afford to cripple our economy in the mean time.
Go to: http://www.senate.gov/ & http://www.house.gov/ and tell your representatives to let us access our OWN energy if they want to help us with the prices of gas and fuel oil.