A friend a work suggested I check out the Pickens Plan:
So, I visited the website and watched the video:
I was intrigued. A charming old Texan talking to charts; he kind of reminded me of Ross Perot. But, what of his figures? Check this page at the DOE website. The 70% figure might be a bit of an exaggeration, but given the trend lines it’s not far off. Look at the weekly import figures in the Navigator, and do the math. It’s a staggering amount of money we are sending out of this country every year. Money for a consumable that literally goes up in smoke within a couple of months. Money that in turn finances others growth, not ours, and drains our economy and contributes to the weaken of our currency.
Next, I caught an appearance on CNBC on YouTube:
The quality is poor and it’s broken into eight parts, but it is worth your time. This was earlier this year, and there are some rather accurate predictions about where we’re at right now. Toward the end, he recalls a discussion he had with Bob Dole about energy policy when he was running for president. He gave his ten minute pitch. When he finished, Bob told him that he was probably right, but that energy dependence was one of the sleeping dogs of politics. If Clinton wasn’t going to wake the dog, neither was he.
Well, with oil at $130 a barrel, the dogs awake. It’s time to have that discussion, and neither of the current candidates are anywhere close to reality. This isn’t a complete solution, but it’s a place from which to start and evolve.
