Independence II

I think I'm going to skip the final debate this evening. I don't think I'm going to hear anything different than what's been said already, although, I like the fact that Obama has on multiple occasions referenced the US has 3% of the oil reserves whilst using 25% of the world's production. I like it, but he doesn't ever take it anywhere, and alas, he couldn't. He's not allowed to upset any voter block three weeks from election day.

So armed with this fact (and is true based on everything I know), what could come of it? What conclusions could come from this?

It's suggesting that, eventually, we will be importing 97% of our oil if we don't do something different. We import ~62% today, while we imported ~35% in 1980. The trend is ever upward. He doesn't mention that.

It's saying that 5% of the world's population uses 25% of the oil, but it's never stated like that. That could make Merikans aware of their inequitable appetite for oil, and Obama can't go there...because then he's attacking our "quality of life." When he says 25% of the oil, it's a meaningless number. He could just as easily say "we use 15% of the world's coal." So?

As I see it, U.S. energy independence doesn't make any sense. I keep blogging this point, but I keep hearing this bullshit statement that we will 'get' it by 2018. But why would we?

Why? Unfriendly nations don't account for the bulk of our imported oil. Terrorism flourishes when oil is $15 a barrel or when it's $140 a barrel. Domestic oil is far more expensive to produce than imports...so even if we could go all domestic, it'd be a hell of a lot more expensive. Oil is priced globally, so even if we produced 100% we would still be subjected to price volatility. "Independence" would also likely mean a much larger push into domestic coal, which would only be more environmentally damning.

My point is, the U.S. can reduce its economic vulnerability to oil only by using less oil in total.

This is as true for me as an individual as it is for us as a nation. But this is something that Obama can never, never discuss. To do so would expose our unsustainable economic model, the model that shows increased ad infinitum oil [energy] consumption growth. In our poisonous political climate, who can possibly get up and state this, let alone take any action? Al Gore? Only because he's out of political office, never to return.