The Green Green Gas of Home

Being a truck driver gives me a front row seat in the train wreck that is our nation's energy policy. It also exposes me to hundreds of varying opinions about it. Between talk radio and the C.B. radio, I have no shortage of theories to consider. And since truckers are arguably the biggest casualties of our energy policy, I feel obliged to clear the air (no pun intended) about our so-called "fuel crises".
First of all, there is no "fuel crises". A crises is when you suffer from something for which there are little or no options, usually something that you could not have predicted or controlled. Cancer is a crises. Your house burning down is a crises. Your plane developing engine problems mid-flight is a crises. The cost of fuel and it's ripple effect throughout the economy is NOT a crises. It is a result. Worse yet, it is a result that anyone with the most basic education in economics probably saw coming. That alone explains why liberals can't figure it out.
Contrary to media-spun belief, we are not paying more at the pump because of greedy oil companies. Do they make an un-Godly amount of money? Maybe. But you have to consider the sheer size of the typical oil company. Think about it. Exxon-Mobil alone employs thousands, if-not millions of people around the entire globe. From the gas station attendant to a corporate V.P. Then consider how many gas stations they have in every country. How many oil wells? How many oil tankers? How many oil trucks? How many pipe lines? How many refineries? Don't forget, we're not just talking gasoline. They also produce specialty fuels and lubricants for trucks, planes, ships, homes, industries, etc. etc. Then you have to consider how many gallons of these fuels are being pumped every day all over the world. The point is, there is no way to escape the massive profits being made at the upper tier of the petroleum world, for no other reason than the massive size of the industry.
So if it's not greed, then what is it that's driving the price of fuel?

The short answer is: gullibility. For some reason, we bought into the idea that animals come before people. So, we supported environmentalist legislators that put the needs of animals ahead of the needs of the nation. The result was that we have not built a new oil refinery in America for over thirty years. Yet the demand for refined oil (fuel) grows every hour.
Then, we bought into the idea that man is creating global warming via his consumption of oil. Even though man had not invented the SUV until well after the melting of two ice ages. So, we supported environmentalist legislators that put the needs of, well...pretty much no one ahead of the needs of the nation. The result was that we are turning our food into fuel, and wondering why the price of food is going up.
You see, ethanol comes from corn. Corn is a crop that used to be grown for food, but is now grown for gasoline. Roughly the same amount of corn is grown, but now is in twice as much demand. Original demand=food, new demand=gasoline and food. Since everyone eats, and most food is related in some way to corn, we are talking a big-honkin' demand being put on corn producers...hence the shortage of corn...hence the price of corn (our food) going up.

As if this weren't enough, we supported all of this, knowing full well that the Middle East and other America-hating and/or third world countries were going to be the ones who sell us our oil. The result was that if they decide to bring the price of crude oil up to 100 dollars a barrel, we get to bend over and take it.

So to watch our country fall apart for sake of the "green movement" is sad to say the least. Especially when the answer to our problems is right under our noses...LITERALLY! It's called O-I-L, and we can pull it out of our own ground whenever we want to. It's like watching someone starve to death in the middle of a grocery store, and blaming it on the grocery store owner. Then, when you ask him why he don't just buy some groceries, he says, "Al Gore told me not to".