Dependence on Foreign Oil

[Allante715]

Hey Demint. Maybe we should reduce our depedence on foreign made PRODUCTS. Why must it always be about oil. Everywhere we look consumer items are made in countries that are not the USA. I only wish we were actually an independent country that could make its own products with its own natural resources. But, I guess no one gives a damn.

[Jackcar141]

@Allante715 That is a very important point, but oil and other fossil fuels are what is needed to power them. In my opinion, this is the most important thing in our lives as it not only affects our economy, but our troops (oil bought from the Middle East usually from Iran and Saudi Arabia go to terrorist organizations), the environment (climate change), and our health. These are reasons that no political party can possibly deny without committing political suicide.

[Allante715]

@Jackcar141

One could certainly say that for oil but not for coal, we have the worlds largest supply of coal sitting beneath us. Oil comes from many places besides the Middle East (i.e. the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Africa) and there is no proof that all the profits go to terrorist organizations. The entire slogan is nothing but a cliche. We can reduce our dependency a little bit but never entirely. Well until we all drive electric cars with power coming from non-oil producing power plants.

[Jackcar141]

@Allante715 Our coal supply is literally going to last us only 50yrs or less if we continue our rate of usage. I know the deal with oil in the US (most from Canada) but the truth is we only have 10yrs worth in the world at our rate of usage.

[Allante715]

@Jackcar141

Where did you get that information. Last time I hard we had 350 years of Coal supply. Where also did you get 10 years of oil at the world usage rate? Sounds bogus to me.

[Jackcar141]

@Allante715 Federal Department of Energy plus different statistics information from groups both government and independent, check it out. The rate of our usage of fossil fuels, plus the number of limited resources left if we keep using up resources at this rate will promise us at most 50 years of coal and 10-15 years of oil. We are in deep shit if we don't start conserving our fossil fuel supply.

[Allante715]

@Jackcar141

Check out my other post. No sense in debating practically the same thing in two videos.

[roweste]

Lets rip up Alaska! Who lives there but a bunch of Eskimos and Hippies anyway?

I just took out a loan to buy a second Hummer (for my wife) and I can barely afford the gas.

[teepost1]

the video is good, I believe that we must get out of opec, stop the movement toward a one world goverment, lock down (all) our borders, and abolish the IRS. Take care of us first!

[askquestionslater]

All oil comes from the same global market (which is where ours ends up anyway) so it doesnt matter who drills it or where. LOL

You people are soooo gullible.

[bill127234]

The Alaska pipeline is running at less than 50% capacity because Prudhoe Bay is tapped out. They have extracted 15 billion barrels when they thought that they could get 10 billion. They need to drill at a spot in the Alaska coastal wasteland about 74 miles away. The estimate is it will take 2 years to get the trunk pipeline built since it's flat wasteland the pipeline will be built across.

Nancy Pelosi refers to this as 'protected lands' ANWR. Most see her positions as stupid.

[brentwo]

If OPEC and the rest of the world, including the speculators that are helping drive up the cost of crude oil, saw that we in the U.S. were serious about developing our abundant oil, natural gas, and coal energy resources, the cost of crude would come down. That would do more to help our economy and assist the lower income citizens of our country than any economic stimulus package ever could.

[plainjane6476]

We need to forget about what OPEC thinks- take matters into our own hands. Sure, let's drill here, but know also that it will do little to ease this crisis. I think Pickens has a good idea using domestic resources.

[jcwilliams62]

dmathew1024 must have a box full of the 3x5 index cards with all of his stupid answers. sounds like a friggen liberal to me.

[billchot]

$600 Billion is shipped out of the US economy to buy foreign oil every year. This is money that could stay in the US and boost the economy. This is a bigger crisis than the real estate meltdown, and it happens every year with no end in sight. We must drill for oil while we develop alternatives.

[kcjh23]

Drilling domestically can help alleviate the high gas prices in the next couple years until some legitimate alternative energy solution is made.

[dmathew1024]

The Republican party is the oil addiction party. John W. McCain is emulating the foolishness of George W. Bush. Newt Gingrich is a pandering liar. Desperation drilling isn't going to save the SUV.

[jfeeneyUO]

dmathew1024, your comment is a vivid example of how liberal mantras and ideologies do NOTHING to solve the problem and only exasperate it. Your rambling comment adds nothing to the discourse, only detracts from it.

You truly believe that the Republicans are the party of "oil addiction"? Based on what facts? I'm a Republican and a staunch supporter of creating renewable energies and departing from oil with time... I'm also realistic; drilling for more oil is a part of the near-term solution.

[dmathew1024]

George W. Bush and Dick W. Cheney are both former oil men who have demonstrated conclusively that they remain sycophants of the oil industry.

John W. McCain and Newt W. Gingrich are pandering liars who would rather feed America's addiction rather than tell the addicts that their drug has become expensive because it is scarce.

300 million Americans consume 25% of the world's daily oil production.

Care to guess how much oil the Chinese will consume in ten years?

[dudabugsc]

Oil is the lifeblood of the world's economy. Without oil no child is fed, vacinated, housed, or clothed; no hospitals, schools, concert halls, or libraries are built; no NPR, PBS, or MSNBC shows are broadcast; no terrorists, hoodlums, or thugs are thwarted. Drilling might not save the SUV, but it might just save the world.

[dmathew1024]

If oil is the lifeblood of the world's economy that just means that our civilization is dying. A civilization which depletes the resources which make its existence possible is on an inevitable path to nonexistence.

Read Jared Diamond's "Collapse" if you would like to know why our civilization cannot survive.

Peak Oil for America occurred in 1970. Peak Oil for the world occurred in 2006.

Desperation Drilling isn't going to save your civilization. Newt is a liar.

[RyderSpearmann]

Ahhhh, this is stupid. Plenty of oil left... the shortage is artificial, created by liberal environmentalists that have worked hard to make domestic oil illegal to pump, which has made us dependant of foriegn oil because these same liberal environmentalists worked hard for decades to kill clean nuclear, thus ensuring a massive CO2 footprint that has lead to global warming.

Liberal environmentalists have made the exact wrong choices at every turn... a shocking record.

[dmathew1024]

Americans consume 25% of the world's daily oil production and you people *still* feel deprived of oil?

This is pure oil addiction insanity.

You do know that there are 6.7 billion people on the planet? Americans cannot consume all of the oil. Countries like China and India want to consume oil too, and they can afford to pay more money than you.

If the Chinese consumed oil like the Americans, they would consume all of the oil. See the implications?

[RyderSpearmann]

To wonder about feeling of depravity shows that you simply don't understand any of the issues. Feelings of depravity mean NOTHING.

Either we have a need for oil, or we do not. Either the need is growing, or it is not.

We can choke ourselves to death... stop ALL consumption of oil, let the Chinese consume it all... and then you would be happy, right? Wrong. You would be dead. And if not, China would own you. THAT is the point. And China will consume like Americans. wake up.

[dmathew1024]

A nation which is addicted to oil will not survive Peak Oil. Read Jared Diamond's "Collapse" if you want some historical perspective on this principle.

A nation of 300 million whining about China's substantially smaller consumption of oil comes across as greedy-gluttonous-extremely foolish.

Since the United States comprises only 5% of the world's population, the United States should consume only 5% of the world's oil.

China already owns America.

[RyderSpearmann]

No nation is addicted to oil. That is a stupid notion. We use what is availble at the best prices. You simply don't understand how the world and her resources work.

Saying that concsumption of ANYTHING "should" be paired with a head count is both arbitrary and again, stupid. There is no such "should". It is a childish notion. The consumption of energy is a lifestyle choice. Are you going to ***make*** other people consume their share? How will you do that? Infantile.

[dmathew1024]

George W. Bush said that America is addicted to oil. You can verify this easily enough on YouTube.

You say, "We use what is available at the best price." That best price, currently, is $135 a barrel. A year or so from now it will be $250 a barrel. If American continues to consume oil at this rate our nation will go bankrupt.

So the addiction will end whether you like it or not.

[RyderSpearmann]

That is like saying people are addicted to food. It is stupid. And since when are you going to tout GW Bush as the wellspring of truth? Also a stupid notion.

Let me educate you: You say: using energy makes you bankrupt. I say: the country that uses the most energy is ALSO the largest economy on the planet. By far. It is no coincidence.

And like I said... we will use energy at the best price. I don't care if it is oil or not...

[dmathew1024]

I agree with you, George W. Bush is an idiot. He is also a warmonger and a war criminal, too.

You are right: The USA is (presently) the largest economy on the planet. As Peak Oil deprived the American economy of oil our Superpower status will evaporate away and our economy will collapse.

Nothing last forever. Not even the god-bless'd USA.

[RyderSpearmann]

Proving that you can not read simple english, I never said Bush was an idiot. This seems to say that even when you do have material to read, you interpret it incorrectly.

This is why you can not name a single mineable/drillable resource that has run out or when any ever will. I have a report written in the early 70s that predicted with certainty the exhaustion of several common metals... tin, etc. in the 80's and 90's. Of course. That never came to pass. Someday you may understand why.

[dmathew1024]

Saying George W. Bush is an idiot is merely an expression of the nationwide consensus, minus the W. dead-enders.

Mineable resources have run out. Georgia used to mine gold. California had massive gold deposits. Nevada has massive silver deposits.

These mines were exhausted a long time ago. Gold was $1000 an ounce and California didn't produce any gold. Why? The resource is exhausted.

[dmathew1024]

You say, "The consumption of energy is a lifestyle choice", and evidently feel entitled to consume as much oil as you desire.

If the Chinese adopt our lifestyle (and they are) they will consume 100% of the world's oil production and you won't have any oil to consume. It is their lifestyle choice, isn't it?

You ask: How will I make people consume their fair share? I won't. The market will. You are going to be priced out of the oil market.

[RyderSpearmann]

"The market will." Bingo. First intelligent thing you have said.

See, I already *know* that. That is the market doing its job. It is fine. It is right. It is proper. It is exactly the way it should be. It is safe. It is sane. You need to quit moaning, let the market do its job. We will NEVER run out of oil. That is a fact. If you don't understand why... you need to do a search: Find for me any metal, any mineral... that has run out. Clue: research the Julian - Simon bet.

[dmathew1024]

Ryder,

Don't you see that the market has already decided that oil is worth at least $130 a barrel and at some point soon it will also decide that oil is worth more than you can pay.

Then you make an absurd claim: "We will NEVER run out of oil." California once had a gold mining industry. Not so much today. The free market does not create commodities ex nihilo. Once you have exhausted a resource it is gone forever.

[RyderSpearmann]

No. More than I am WILLING to pay. That is the difference. It is also the part you don't get.

Re: Gold. Are you saying we have no gold in California?

If not, then what the HELL ar you saying? SHOW ME A MINABLE/DRILLABLE substance that is now gone. We will NEVER run out of ANY of them. The Earth will be destroyed first.

If you don't get that... then you simply are far too undereducated to have this discussion.

[dmathew1024]

If it is more than you can pay, if more than you are *willing* to pay, the result remains the same.

Drillable resources can become depleted. American oil producted peaked in the 1970's and entered into a terminal decline. The UK's and Mexico's oil production have both peaked in recent years.

This is the reason why oil went from $10 to $139 a barrel. Declining production vs. increasing demand.

[RyderSpearmann]

You have no CLUE about American oil. You don't even know what "production" means.

The reason for $139 oil is emotional speculation. it does not reflect true costs. And again, you don't know what production means.

Production is ALWAYS a choice.

all this means, even if we do decide that production issues are responsible for $139 oil, is that it is a choice... not ACTUALLY RESOUCE LIMITED OR DRIVEN.

[RyderSpearmann]

So, as gold is at record values, and as you note, Californians has a gold industry... which BTW was MASSIVE... there is EVERY REASON to believe that there is NO GOLD LEFT.

But in fact there is... and there is NO POSSIBILITY AT ALL THAT IT WILL BE EXHAUSTED.

NONE.

ZERO.

ZIP.

ZILCH.

I happen to OWN a California gold mine. I can get gold out of it when I wish.

If you can't explain why there is gold in california, even though they mined it to death, you will not understand oil.

[dmathew1024]

You own a California gold mine? Hee Hee!

You are a joker, aren't you?

[RyderSpearmann]

It's been in my family for 35 years. I own it with my brother and sister, it is located in the center of the El Dorado national forest near the south fork of the Consumnes river.

[dmathew1024]

In 1852, California gold mines produced 3.9 million troy ounces of gold.

In 2007, California mines produced 9,400 ounces of gold.

That's the sort of terminal decline that I am talking about. What is true for gold is also true for oil.

American oil production peaked in the 1970's. Since then it has declined relentlessly.

[RyderSpearmann]

That is not terminal. That is a decision to NOT mine gold.

Are you saying we are "starving" for gold?

Nope. We're not. And that is the point.

The same it true with oil. It will always be there just like gold.

in 1852, gold cost $490oz (adjusted) and peaked in 1980 at around $2000 per oz... followed by a total collpse in price to $400.

Spikes like that mean nothing. Did gold disappear in 1980? no.

It was JUST A CHOICE.

The price of oil is based on FEAR, not oil.

[dmathew1024]

I am familiar with the claims of Julian Simon. The economists imagine that money generates resources but in the real world (the world of science) all resources are finite simply because we live on a finite planet.

Proof of this principle is contained in one observation:

A nation of 300 million (the USA) consumes 25% of the world's oil production.

Should China follow our example, they will consume all of the world's oil.

[RyderSpearmann]

Then why did the scientist lose the bet, and the economist won? Besides, science does NOT say anything. Scientists do, and they are USUALLY WRONG. Science is a method to arrive at a better answer than the previous one. This is not guaranteed however.

Re: China + oil. So? what is your emotional attachment to oil? Let them use it. whatever. Quit your panic... besides, how can they use American oil reserves? Hello?

[dmathew1024]

The scientists lost the bet because the time frame was too short. Economists shouldn't take any comfort in a temporary victory of that sort ... the Earth does look flat from the surface, doesn't it?

Scientists are sometimes wrong, but they are right a lot more often than the economists. Especially about scientific matters.

[RyderSpearmann]

but since the time frame was known by the scientists... and the terms of the bet accepted... then we now KNOW that the scientists did NOT understand what was going on.

That is the point.

[dmathew1024]

In regards to China and its oil appetite. China's demand for oil cannot help but impact the Americans because the United States consumes 25% of the world's oil production and much of that oil is imported.

The more oil China consumes the less that is available for American consumption. So in the end we will have America, 5% of the world's population, consuming only 5% of the world's oil production.

[RyderSpearmann]

Wait... so if we consume 10B barrels, China increases comsumption by 4B barrels... but PRODUCTION increases by 20B barrels... that is a net increase of production of 6B.

Production is a CHOICE.

You seem to not understand how oil works.

America CHOOSES NOT to drill off shore. America CHOOSES NOT to drill ANWR.

America CHOOSES NOT to take shale oil.

Choice, choice, choice.

Guess what.

People WILL CHOOSE DIFFERENTLY.

You are lost, my friend...

[dmathew1024]

Oil production is not increasing. Oil production has remained at approximately 85 million barrels a day since 2005, regardless of the price of oil.

Oil production in the United States peaked in the 1970's and has declined since then regardless of the price of oil.

Oil production in Mexico peaked in 2006 and has declined since then, without any regard to price.

ANWR and oil shale isn't going to stop the decline.

[RyderSpearmann]

Yet Saudi Arabia said they will simply choose to increase production. Bush is asking the nation to CHOOSE to produce off shore.

Hello?

Do you see how the choice element fits in?

Regardless... none of it matters... since all that will happen is that people will choose something else that costs less. No biggie.

Your panic about a normally functioning market is just not sane.

[dmathew1024]

There is evidence that Saudi Arabia has refused to increase production because it cannot. Read Matt Simmons, "Twilight in the Desert".

Should oil become too expensive there is no less expensive alternative available. So Americans will stop flying and driving and our economy will collapse.

[RyderSpearmann]

Tell me, smart guy. How large will the next "big" oil find be? When will it be found?

Nobody is saying ANWR and shale will stop decline. What you can't comprehend it that these are part of endless examples of untapped and unlocated sources of oil... making oil endless and undepletable.

If your life depended on correctly announcing the location and size of the next three large finds... you would be a dead man, not because it will not happen, but because you are ignorant.

[dmathew1024]

Shale oil hasn't happened yet and will never happen. Shale oil requires huge amounts of water ... a resource which is not merely scarce but is also declining throughout the West.

So shale oil is nothing more than a mirage, a delusion, a fairy tale myth to comfort gullible SUV drivers.

ANWR isn't going to happen, either. John McCain is opposed and soon-to-be President Obama won't sacrifice ANWR for the SUV, either.

[RyderSpearmann]

Listen and learn: (about choice)

From today's washington post:

"Saudi Arabia has said it will produce 12.5 million barrels a day by the end of 2009. The Saudis fear that adding more crude to the market could lead to a dive in its value. In the late 1990s, Saudi Arabia's economy suffered when oil fell to $10 per barrel under similar circumstances."

DID YOU HEAR THAT DOPE HEAD? They FEAR PLUMMETING PRICES. AS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.

EARTH TO FREAKING dmathew. WAKE UP.

ALL CHOICE.

[dmathew1024]

Saudi Arabia has promised to produce more oil since 2004 and has always failed to deliver. Saudi Arabia *was* the world's #1 oil producer, but no longer ... Russia is now #1, and it is also in decline.

Mexico's oil production is collapsing. Cantarell, Mexico's supergiant oil field, entered its terminal decline in 2006.

So the outlook for oil is bleak. You won't be driving your car for very much longer. Enjoy these days while they last.

[RyderSpearmann]

From Bloomberg today:

June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia may raise its oil production beyond a planned 200,000 barrel-a-day increase in July if the oil market requires extra supply, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told consumers at a summit in Jeddah.

It's called "dial a price". Since WE won't explore for and refine oil any more, then THEY get to set prices. (their choice). Once we get off our environmentalist hippy asses and decide to go after oil then we take arab control away.

[lgrf4evr]

NO, many of the oil drilling in america are going to communist china and japan.

so even if you allow more drilling on american soil, you will not get the oil but communist china. and no, drilling in america would never stop arabs control because first of all, they are bush and cheney best friend and second major oil industries are already rewarded with iraqis oil.

no self respecting oil companies would give up that big of a treasure even if they were suddenly allow to drill in anwr.

[plainjane6476]

Good point. Why would the oil majors spend all that money in ANWR and the OCS when it cheaply flows from Iraqi wells?

[dmathew1024]

Saudi Arabia (claims) to increase oil production by 200,000 bpd.

Crude oil up to $136.62!

Thanks a lot, Saudi Arabia.

[askquestionslater]

"Saudi Arabia (claims) to increase oil production by 200,000 bpd.

Crude oil up to $136.62!

Thanks a lot, Saudi Arabia."

So you are blaming Saudi Arabia (who AGREES that prices are too high) for doing the same thing this guy is suggesting and just drill more?

If anything, this proves something doesn't add up.  More oil on the market = higher prices?

People are falling for this crap and it's getting creepy.

[zyou8er]

let me guess, you had a glass of coolaid

[tehkao]

WE NEED TO DRILL IN ANWR!!!!

Just off-shore drilling by itself is not enough!!!

[blair9123]

they dont care Jim...as long as they are making the minority (PETA) happy...our dumb democratic senators will continue to kill this country..