Drill, Baby, Drill Us Into Bankruptcy

POINT #1. Energy Independence via Fossil Fuels is Impossible

I can’t believe this needs to be repeated ad nauseum, but here is your periodic reminder that “Drill, Baby, Drill” not only does NOT create “energy independence”, it actually makes achieving the goal of true energy independence more difficult.

Let’s pose a simple question for the confused, accused and unexcused in our society:

Q: “If we are “energy independent”, domestically drilling more oil than ever, and that has not changed since the Iran War started, why are domestic oil and gas prices spiking?”

A: Duh. Oil is a global commodity whose price is subject to world-wide dynamics. This includes supply, demand, regulation, government manipulation, political rationalization, monopolization, transportation and a host of other factors outside the control of the people and government of the United States.

It doesn’t matter if we are pumping enough oil domestically to fit our needs and even export some elsewhere. As long as the price of oil is tied to the rest of the world in ways we don’t and cannot control, we will never be “energy independent”.

One other key point: oil is not extracted, refined, transported and sold by our government. All of that is done by private corporations. These private corporations (many of which are publicly traded) are controlled by mega-wealthy C-Suite managers, with a mission of maximizing profits for shareholders and compensation for themselves. They have literally no - ZERO - fealty to American consumers or public welfare except when they believe it might affect their profits. Therefore, with a few exceptions (the Strategic Petroleum Reserve), “energy independence” is an oxymoron. As long as we - the public - are dependent on fossil fuel companies whose missions are somewhat mutually exclusive from our goal of “energy independence”, that goal WILL NOT be realized.

Of course, we CAN make progress towards true energy independence. It takes two efforts: 1) increasing energy efficiency (links HERE, HERE and HERE) in our buildings, vehicles, manufacturing plants and other appliances, and 2) utilizing and further developing renewables like solar, wind geothermal, waves, etc.

POINT #2. The Incompetence is Stunning

Did the idiots in charge of planning a war with Iran not think through the ramifications to the oil supply (and, by extension, increased prices on almost everything)?

Sorry - that was a rhetorical question. Of course they didn’t.

Now we are reduced to having Brian Kilmeade on Fox just trying to jawbone shippers into sucking it up and just going for it through the Strait of Hormuz. That’s some quality administration policy:

Also, we have Lindsay Graham trying to jawbone Saudi Arabia (and other Arab States) into joining a war they didn’t start. More quality and deeply planned foreign policy:

I’ll have more on this at some point, but while bureaucracy can be infuriating and move slowly, there is a reason our government has evolved with certain departments and specialists and expertise and procedures and processes before taking almost any action, including, entering into a f*^king war.

This Admin has essentially destroyed all of that and is run by people heavily infected with the Dunning-Kruger Effect and governed by the Peter Principle.

This truly is Idiocracy. I am not traditionally religious, but God help us all.