America. The world’s only superpower, brought to it’s knees by “black gold”

Stand back for a minute. Did you ever think that the mighty United States of America would be crushed by a dozen or so OPEC nations?

As a gallon of regular unleaded gas climbs to $5.00 per gallon, with no ceiling in sight, the domino effect is killing this country (and the rest of the free world). Every industry is impacted as evidenced by truckers lining up to block major roads as they recently did in the UK where diesel (in US dollars) reached $9 per gallon.

“Black gold” is a vital part of our economy. Every US president over the past 30 years has talked about energy independence yet they all failed to deliver on that challenge.

Let me take you back to when life began for me in the late 1930’s. 

Do you know the real reason for Japan’s attack of Pearl Harbor?

As I enjoy studying world history here are a few thoughts that I have been following. These come courtesy of the Internet: “Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because the U.S. enacted an embargo on all oil supplies to Japan.”  Another entry reads: “The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor for a number of reasons, the main being President Roosevelt banning all exports of scrap iron, steel and oil to Japan. Japan had lost more than 90% of its oil supply).” One last opinion reads: “Two principal reasons stand out though; oil and pre-emptive war: 1 Japan needed oil to prosecute its war in Asia. The US had stopped providing oil but, if defeated, could be a good source of this vital resource. 2 At the time of the attack, the US had come under persistent pressure (from the British and from many within political and military circles in the USA) to join the war. US supplies to Britain and its Commonwealth allies had increased steadily and there was no longer any pretext of US independence.”

OK Larry. Where are you going with this story?  This is a tough call. How much longer are we going to sit back and let the “free market” destroy our economy?

Some argue that we need to switch to electric, hybrid or solar vehicles. Get real here. There are 250 million vehicles on the roads of America. Are we to park them all, continue to pay off the leases or loans, and wait for the next fleet/technology to arrive?
And how long with that take? It will create a new industry. Our scrap yards will be overflowing.

While I am not suggesting we send US Marines to take over Saudi Arabia’s vast oil fields but you never know what desperate people may decide to do in desperate times. “According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Saudi Arabia contains about 260 billion barrels of proven oil reserves (including 2.5 billion barrels in the Saudi-Kuwaiti Divided, or “Neutral” Zone), or around one-fifth of proven, conventional world oil reserves.” I would argue that King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and the Saudi Royal family owes this nation some relief. As evidenced by his recent Middle East trip, president George W Bush has no leverage as he concludes his final months in office.
 
Isn’t is ironic that the first Gulf War was to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion. Really? How about stopping Saddam from conquering the rest of the region with Saudi Arabia just south of Kuwait.

As the primary election season comes to a close, and the energy crisis continues to worsen, I thought this post might stimulate some creative proposals.

About Larry Gilbert