Are you drunk or high? How can this possibly be a slam on Bush. It is what it is, or at least was. The comment on Pickens is on the mark. There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of $150 a barrel oil under the US of A. A Lot!! That is the good news. Once we get to that level, the ragheads are out of business.
again, if the resource is finite, and supply dwindles that will increase the price without any clumsy manipulation of price by you whatsoever. and instead of those artificial tax raises going to government, who might give it away to somebody stupid, like ethanol/corn people, or some other politically well-connected group, if the price rises naturally, private citizens will see the opportunity for investment in actually viable alternatives, not just the politically well connected government subsidized ones. at no point will we be like "oops what? hey we ...uh ran out of oil. dang. why didnt we see this coming". as we get closer to running out of oil, the profit motive for an alternative will be absolutely astonishing. unprecedented in the history of potential profit. this is what will drive innovation, not government manipulation. so just relax and let the oil prices rise normally as the supply dwindles, if it actually does.
i hope you are right. but this does not address the ability of many countries that do not like us to cut our oil imports in half. not only would prices double overnight, but it would be hard to find. are we getting oil out of iraq?
opec wants to sell us lots of oil and make lots of profits. they dont want to force us to find oil alternatives. they want to keep the oil flowing such that we stay addicted to it. so we are ok. and if they reverse that policy and starve us, then we will find alternatives because of high oil prices. again, what you need to realize is that the market works. hi prices drive alternatives. things work. you dont need to try to intervene with taxes or price manipulation. that just makes things screwy.
