"$5 per gallon?? Are you freakin' kidding me, man?"
These words were uttered today by my soon-to-be 16-year-old daughter as she contemplated the price that her driver's license will cost her later this summer.
She is appalled yet she has never filled up a car in her life. She is astounded yet it won't even be her money that fills up that birthday car each week.
President Bush has called on Congress to lift a 27-year old moratorium on drilling off the U.S. coasts and Alaska to reduce dependence on foreign imports and to try and offset sky-high energy prices.
Senator McCain has joined in and is now being called a "flip-flopper" as a result.
Let's move the politics aside. Let's also move the environment aside as well.
For the moment, let's not worry about the birds, the fish and other wildlife. Let's assume, as far fetched as it is, that there will not be a single human error made during this production and not one bird, or fish, or other wildlife will be killed.
Let's also assume, only for the sake of this post, that Al Gore is a nut and that not one thing bad will happen to affect our planet as a result of this drilling.
Let's be selfish for the sake of this post. Let's only worry about ourselves. Gas prices are killing your real estate business and hurting you and me financially.
Off-shore drilling is an interesting debate that too few are paying attention to. It directly hits you where it counts most. The good old, worn-out pocket book.
Some will argue that we won't see the effects for three to five years. Let's assume they are wrong. Gas prices may drop immediately. Competition the size of the U.S. will put fear into the foreigners.
Everyone agrees we won't start seeing this oil hit the pumps for around three years but the competition will shudder the day we announce it. Prices will drop much sooner. Maybe immediately. Let's just make that assumption for this post.
Bush says the oil we will get from lifting this ban matches 10 years of U.S. consumption. If we lift the moratorium in Alaska we can get another 5 years or so. McCain is opposed to including Alaska.
So, we can get another 10-15 years if we do this. Sounds awesome, right??
At what expense? Let's say we do announce it tomorrow. We are drilling away.
Let's make the far-fetched assumption that gas prices go all the way down to $2 per gallon by next Thursday. What happens then? America starts buying SUVs again and stops worrying about consumption. Yee-haw!! We are back!
RING, RING, RING. "Cadillac Barry? You know that Escalade I cancelled last week? Get me the bigger size, baby!!! Third-row seats AND room for my golf bag.....on a rush!"
GM then renounces the shutting of those SUV and truck factories. Others do the same. The mass production now planned for hybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered cars, which are now very possible, become not as important or urgent.
Who the heck wants a Hydro when you can get Hummer??
Most Americans, like we have proven for the last 20 years or so, don't worry too much about consumption. We have ignored the warnings.
We all read the boring articles in the last 20 years. Foreign dependence. Too much demand, too little supply. Artificially low pricing. Blah, blah, blah. Who cares? That doesn't affect me today.
"Cadillac Barry?? OK, I'll hold. I know how busy you are. (Muzak version of "Stairway to Heaven" inserted here..............................................)"
"Barry, my man! I want it in that great off-white color, Champagne something or in black. No red!!! Red is not a great Escalade color. Make sure it has the big tires and the bad-azz shiny rims I see when my kids are watching MTV! Those are sweet."
So we remove the moratorium and when these 30 billion or so barrels between Alaska and the continental shelf run out in the next 10-15 years we will be back where we are today, only worse. We won't have as many options. We played our last card.
I drive an SUV. It currently costs me $120 per week in gas. I wish I could sell it tomorrow. I would be lucky if someone gave me 10 cents on the dollar for it. If this keeps up I may just donate it to charity, if they will have it.
I would love to save this weekly gas money and not see my car depreciate faster than a condo in Miami. My initial reaction to this news was drill it!! It's there. We aren't using it. We need it today. It can save us. Drill away!!!
However, then I look at my daughter. I am buying my first born her first car next month for her 16th birthday and to reward her for getting straight A's as a freshman. It was a challenge I made her on her 15th birthday and she did it.
When I look at her and her younger 10-year-old sister, I am concerned for their future and the possibility of $10 a gallon or $20.
We need to bite the bullet now and change our ways. Like Tiger Woods' year-ending knee surgery, it will hurt now but we will be much better off in the end.
I don't know anything about energy production or its future. I just know what I read and I know a little about history.
In 1942, with far less technology than today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for 185,000 planes and 120,000 tanks to be built in 2 years so we could hurry into a war that Americans did not want to enter but were forced to. We met his demand and eventually became the world's superpower.
There are around 16 million new cars sold in the U.S. each year.
If President Bush had Roosevelt's vision, and less loyalty to the oil business, in my opinion, he would demand that the auto industry build 16 million new hybrids, electric or hydrogen-based cars in the next two years and he would ask Congress to subsidize this production.
He would then demand that gas stations and other businesses equip themselves to meet the challenges of these new energy platforms as well.
As Governor Schwarzenegger said today, ""California's coastline is an international treasure. I do not support lifting this moratorium on new oil drilling off our coast. We are in this situation because of our dependence on traditional petroleum-based oil. The direction our nation needs to go in is toward greater innovation in new technologies and new fuel choices for consumers."
I agree with The Terminator. How a man from Thal, Austria can have more vision for American than a man from Crawford, Texas is beyond me. I hate being political but be it McCain or Obama, let's all be thankful this period of history is nearly behind us.
"Cadillac Barry?? Let's cancel again. What do you have in a hybrid? Nothing. OK, call me when GM gets their act together........ What's that? No, we aren't hiring at my bank."
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