Making oil cents.

It's very difficult to find intelligent discussion regarding oil and fossil fuels. The camps have their fingers so deeply in their ears that they are tickling their brains. On the one side you're presented with people calling for the gutting of big oil, and immediate cessation of oil use, while on the other side you have people that say that oil use is GOOD for the planet, we need to use more of it, and that it will not run out anytime soon.

Better is to think about what oil is and why it causes problems. My personal views are that a moderate and assertive move away from oil is a necessity, and that big oil needs to get out of the White House and back into the private sector. In contrast, oil will always be a useful commodity, and it can be a very efficient fuel source if used correctly. If automakers would simply supply the demand for higher-efficiency cars, we'd extend our current supplies, save money, and help offset the CO2 problems that we are beginning to see.

Getting to the point of this blog, I ran across an insightful and very nicely stated article by Texas Representative Ron Paul regarding solutions to the high gas costs we are required to deal with. From the article, entitled What Congress Can Do About High Gas Prices:

If we want to do something about gas prices, Congress should greatly reduce federal spending, balance the budget, and eliminate regulations that interfere with the market development of alternative fuels. All subsidies and special benefits to energy companies should be ended. And in the meantime let’s eliminate federal gas taxes at the pump. Oil prices are at a level where consumers reduce consumption voluntarily. The market will work if we let it. But as great as the market economy is, it cannot overcome a foreign policy that is destined to disrupt oil supplies and threaten the world with an expanded and dangerous conflict in the Middle East.

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