No Shortage of Oil and ANWAR Will Solve the Shortage (That Doesn’t Exist), Anyway

A conservative caller to the Howie Carr show yesterday explained his misgivings about McCain: McCain is opposed to drilling in ANWAR and supports alternative energy.
The caller described solar, wind, ethanol and other energy sources as, “Bunk.”
Let’s say he’s right.

We drill ANWAR. Does he know how much oil is in ANWAR? Estimates vary, but four billion barrels seems a reasonable estimate. That’s about a six month supply.

Ooh, that helped.

I’m not opposed to drilling in ANWAR. We won’t save it for a REAL emergency, anyway. This is the USA and we don’t save anything, including our paychecks. That’s why huge numbers of us are filing for bankruptcy. This is why we have a massive national deficit, which as we speak is contributing to the dollar’s general worthlessness.

I’ll admit that maybe ethanol, solar and wind aren’t the answer, or not the whole answer. Hydrogen, geothermal, and nuclear power (maybe Republicans can stomach that one) are out there, too.

The point is we need to do something to wean ourselves from oil. Even the president has said so.

Do Republicans live in a fairy world where oil is never going to run out and we’re going to magically find new oil on Mars or something? Or do most of them figure they’ll be off the planet through natural causes before we run out anyway…and seriously, fuck the next generation.
Or, perhaps they want us to become a third world country, with a handful of elites who can still afford cars, while the rest of us have to bicycle to work (not by choice) and join food co-ops.
Maybe they missed school the day we were taught that oil is a NON-RENEWABLE resource. It will run out, it’s only a question of when.

If you think we don’t now and won’t ever need another source of energy, then let me float some other fictional ideas by you:

1) Cavemen hunted dinosaurs.
2) The world was created in seven days (back off bible thumpers, I attend church, and consider myself a Christian…I just don’t deny reality, and the reality is the Bible, while an excellent set of rules to live by, is a parable)
3) If it wasn’t for NAFTA, GM and Ford wouldn’t have cut US jobs in the last two decades (while Toyota and Nissan were adding US jobs)
4) Hillary Clinton will repeal NAFTA

At best, those in oil shortage denial mode remind me of the ROTC student in Animal House, shouting, “Remain calm! All is well,” while rioters ran amok around him.

Meanwhile, I have some financial advice, and it’s as good as anything you’d get on MAD MONEY…if oil has some kind of a minor correction in the next few months, if it ever drops below $100 a barrel again, BUY IT! Sink every cent you have, and every cent you’ve borrowed into it. It will go back up…and up, and up, and up, and up.

At least I’m not the only awake to reality: Clusterfuck Nation by Jim Kunstler : After ANWAR