Gas Shortage and Soaring Gas Prices to Plague 2009

We are about to elect a "green" president, whether it is Obama or McCain. Both men bought into the idea of not drilling for oil and restricting new refineries in the U.S. We cannot drill on the East Coast, West Coast, Gulf of Mexico or Alaska. We are already the third largest producer in the world after Saudi Arabia and Russia. We have the oil and are going to sit idly by and starve ourselves into a real economic depression that results from employees being unable to afford to drive to work. We are now paying four dollars a gallon and Europe is paying eight and nine dollars a gallon. In 2009 gas prices will rise and the only question is "How much"?

It is said that we need to invest in technology so we will not be dependent on foreign oil. That thought has been expressed for 30 years. The way environmentalists want to approach the problem is to starve the nation of fuel so we will be forced to find an alternative at any price and be willing to pay the price. We are not going to magically invent our way out of this problem; we are foolish to think we will. It certainly did not work with bio-fuels - that experiment has done more harm than good.

The year 2009 can bring an economic boon to this country as Asian countries are developing rapidly and utilizing U. S. technology, or 2009 can be the worst case of fuel depravation the U. S. has ever experienced. We must remember that a dramatic increase in fuel cost means that low income people must consider the need of continuing to work (versus drawing unemployment and welfare), business travel and vacations are dramatically curtailed which means a major cutback in motel usage, planes cutback on flights due to less demand, people can no longer afford a resort or pay to get to one. It is not just the direct impact from our inability to travel that will affect us. All of the companies that derive their income from airlines, low income workers, motels, petroleum industry, restaurants, travel agencies and all the other support companies associated with these industries will be dramatically affected.

We can send the message that we will not be intimidated by foreign oil and we are going to drill for our own oil and build new refineries in this country. Once the foreign oil producers recognize we are serious about this we can return to a sane oil price structure and begin pursuit of a reasonable alternative for fossil fuels. The alternative is to ensure that the year 2009 is a very bleak and expensive year for this country. It will make a Google search of "oil prices" one of the most popular in this country.