The Middle East is going through the changes that no one expected. Really? We profess to believe in the powerful force we call self determination. If that’s the case why did we not see this coming. The fact is some people did see it coming, although when it would come was unpredictable.
We are faced now with great opportunities and grave peril at the same time. How we manage that peril, or if we even can manage it remains to be seen. On the other hand there are things we can, and for our survival as an economic power, must do. We need an energy policy that is strongly tilted toward sustainability. We once had a president that understood that. You remember that nutty little president Jimmy Carter? In 1977 he outlinened an energy plan to make us energy independent by now. At the same time Brazil drew up plans to be energy independent too. They are, we are not. Why? Because our congress, and every other president since, has been tucked snugly in bed with the oil companies. And to be in bed with the oil companies means to be in bed with every oil producing country in the world. A policy that has cost us dearly in fortunes, and more importantly, in lives.
The major wars that America has fought in the last 30 years had nothing to do with deep abiding principles. That’s what they told us, but isn’t true. Even the first Iraq war was over oil. The rescue of Kuwait was the excuse of the moment, but Saddam Hussein wouldn’t have coveted the oil of Kuwait if no one was buying it. Had we developed the science needed to preclude the use of oil we would be satisfying our own energy consumption and probably would be selling it to others. Saddam would have no desire to steal Kuwaits oil if he couldn’t sell it. The second Iraq war was a trumped up piece of crap that had in the end been nothing more than a war to insure that we keep getting our “drugs” which, of course, is oil.
In times of peace it costs the US government (that would be the US taxpayers) $50 billion to police the oil routes and keep the flow of moving for us, and the rest of the world. During wars it’s a lot more.
The turmoil of the Middle East we see today may not have ever occurred if we were not compliant and supporting “addicts”. Instead of being the beggaring addict we could have been the grown-ups. We could have used that $50 billion to help economically develop the region. Even if we failed in our efforts, how much better off would we be? First of all we would not be wringing our hands right now because the price of oil may rise to the point where it will strangle our economy. That is exactly what we are facing. Oil at $100 per barrel extracts $1 trillion per year from our economy. Since 90% of that money is never repatriated, it is like adding $1 trillion in taxes. How’s that for a brake on the economy. If we were able to produce alternate energy we would be spending that money here at home. Even if it did not save us a dime at least we would be giving it to companies and individuals that would spend most of that money right here. That means that you and I may get a piece of it. Money that goes into the abyss we call the Middle East is lost forever.
