I haven't blogged in a long while but a series of articles I have read today or news pieces I have heard have prompted me to write as they are all related to the price of oil.  (Be prepared for math).

As I filled up my Volkswagen TDI Jetta with B20 Bio-Diesel at $4.45 per gallon (for those of you who don't know B20 stands for 20% Bio-Diesel, 80% Dino-Diesel) I thought about the promise of the Democratic Party in 2006 to lower the price of gas.  In November 2006 I was paying somewhere between $2.39 and $2.69 for either regular diesel or Bio-D.  So right now I am paying $1.80 or so more give or take per gallon.

Over the last couple days I have been paying attention to the show trial grilling Congress has been giving to the Oil Execs.  This is the second time this year they have dragged the oil Execs up to Congress to grandstand about the price of oil.  For those of you who do not know, Oil companies like Shell, Chevron, Exxon, etc, make approximately $0.08-0.10/gallon.  Your federal government makes 18 cents per gallon and your state government takes 18-61 cents per gallon depending on the state you live in. 

For years I have been saying in conversations with friends that the reason Oil Prices have risen is not b/c the Oil Companies are evil, but b/c we can't drill, we can't refine, and we can't control the use of oil in other countries like India and China whose consumption is growing astronomically.  In a nutshell the government, in usual fashion, is stuck in a 1930s era tax our American companies and restrict our American companies’ mode with ZERO concept of how economics work in order to appease their constituents and garner uneducated votes.  But with this thought in mind, Maxine Waters (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/571003/congresswoman_maxine_waters_endorses.html) completely blew my mind with her admission of the DNC's policy which until now was only a speculation of conspiracy theorists...

While lashing T. Bone Pickens (yes his real name) and Ken Hofmeister CEO of Shell, she said if ”Liberals like me had our way, we would Socializ....um....Soc....The government would take over all of your companies."(Pardon the slight variation as I was too shocked to type it all out)  YES, that is right....Google the audio. http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/05/23/maxine-waters-socialize-the-oil-companies.  Lets face it, the DNC has for 35 years been limiting the ability to drill oil and refine oil in this country to demonize and try to take over, Nationalize, Socialize a huge cash cow in this country.  Lenin and Stalin did this, Hugo Chavez did this, ever thug running African and Middle Eastern Countries have done this...why not here???

Well lets Socialize and Nationalize our Oil industry...we see doesn't work out so well for other countries like Mexico. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90402097.  NPR ran a story this morning and 2 days ago talking about Mexico's Oil Company Pemex (last I checked NPR, not a Conservative source) and how the Mexican Government has raped its profits to the point they have ZERO profit.  The Government of Mexico's budget is so dependent on Pemex's taxes, that 40% of their budget comes from PEMEX.  40%!!!!.  Their ability to produce oil is dropping as their equipment has been neglected, no new wells have been drilled all b/c Mexico's government has taken all profits so nothing could be re-invested.  Apparently, Maxine Waters want to use this broken model for the US...incidentally she has endorsed Al Gore leaning Barak Obama.  This Al Gore/DNC, OIL is EVIL; mentality is killing my pocketbook and yours.

In 1970, US production of OIL peeked at 10 Million Barrels of Oil per day.  After Government regulation (thanks DNC controlled congress and Jimmy Carter) in 1977 US Oil production has fallen to today’s output of 5 Million Barrels’ per day.  The entire world supply is 85 million barrels per day yet the demand is 86.4 million.  While most Oil Companies in the world are Government run (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, newly Argentina, newly Venezuela, Mexico, etc) they are all in the same situation as Mexico....pillaging of oil profits for Government use while the ability to produce oil is falling.  Rising demand from China and India and falling production equals, pissed off voters with no cash and a propensity to vote DEM when conditions get bad...

Democrats blamed Bush for 6 years on rising gas prices while refusing to pass an energy policy.  Liberals, mostly in the Northeast demand Heating Oil subsidies for their homes in the cold winters while complaining about me driving a truck and not allowing us to drill in ANWAR, off the coasts of Florida, the Gulf Coast and California.  No Oil refinery has been built since 1973 (three years before I was born).  Conspiracy be damned, Maxine Waters has given up the Socialist's playbook in the DNC....THEY WANT TO DRIVE UP THE PRICE OF GAS SO YOU VOTE FOR THEM AND THEY CAN TAKE OVER OUR OIL COMPANIES....  I bet they will drill then to drive the price down to say they did a good job too!!!

Here is a plan by T. Bone Pickens while being interviewed on CNN.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/22/gb.01.html

While that is great and good, most of you would say it’s an OIL guy giving a plan...but that oil guy is building a $10 BILLION (yes with a B) Wind Farm....

So here is my plan when I run in 2024, or maybe 2016 as there is not time like the present:

My plan has 3 parts (temporary, short-term, and long-term)

1. Tomorrow start planting crops which can be turned into Bio-Fuel in all highway and expressway medians.  This is land which is not used today and takes resources to mow.  Lease out the space in each State so they can grow Soybeans, Wheat, Sugarcane, Corn...whatever to make Bio-Fuels.  States could gain a revenue source from leasing, and new plants would pop up all over the country to process the fuel.

2. Stop emphasizing Ethanol.  Ethanol sucks!  Ethanol gets 30% less fuel power than gas and it takes as more power to produce than it creates.  So it is only viable if gas is 30% more and they make it for free...  Bio-Diesel is the way to go.  Diesel gets 40% more fuel power than gas...and yes Bush put EPA rules in place so our diesel fuel and engines are cleaner than Europe’s and release less NO2 than gas now (that is acid rain material).

3. Build Clean Coal plants, and Fischer Trospch Diesel plants.  For those of you who don't know (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0418_060418_coal_energy.html) Diesel can be made from coal and be made a lot more cleanly than from oil.  Minnesota’s Democrat Governor (apparently the only smart DEM on fuel) promotes it too http://governor.mt.gov/hottopics/faqsynthetic.asp (hey not all DEMS are morons).  We have the coal, its cheap and available, us it cleanly!

4. Temporarily stop allowing public works to build out any more capacity.  This means, no more public water and no more public sewer to any developments.  Why Dave that is not a capitalist view and quite Liberal you might say.....NOPE, government entities and their tax payers are subsidizing developers to build on "cheap land" away from the city core.  This in-turn drives up the cost of land in rural areas, hence driving up the costs of taxes on land.  Farmers who wouldn't sell out to these developers will and do when their land is assessed higher and they have to PAY FOR WATER AND SEWER THEY DID WITHOUT FOR GENERATIONS.  By putting a moratorium on Public works you will allow farmers to have bigger profits or hopefully allow lowering the price of food stock and keeping us growing our own food and GROWING OUR FUEL.  This will not only keep the farmers happy, but will drive more people into Browns fields and driving shorter distances (also will be a boon for existing house prices and remodel work).

5. Follow FRANCE and Germany!  (Pick yourself off the floor, I'll explain).  France produces over 80% of its power from Nuclear Power.  Germany imports no Fuel as they generate power from Fischer Trospch plants and Wind Farms.  We can have complete independents on Foreign Oil if we put up wind farms for Texas to Canada, on the Great Lakes and on each coast (if Ted Kennedy doesn't stop it http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/27/kennedy_faces_fight_on_cape_wind/) and if we use the coal to make our own GAS and Diesel fuel.

6. REALLY LONG TERM - HYDROGEN.  We spend $750 Billion Dollars a year on FOREIGN OIL!!! That is $2,000 for every man, woman and child in the US.  Spend the money here and work on long-term with the savings.  We have spent almost $1 Trillion on the IRAQ WAR. 

For those of you who are against the war in Iraq, which we have taken no Oil from, and those of you who believe the only reason we have a troop presence in the Middle East is to protect our Oil Companies....WAKE UP!  The only people our Oil Companies need protection from are morons in Congress.  The exact opposite of PROGRESS is CONGRESS!  Enact a sane Energy Policy!

Just simply do the 6 steps above and we would be energy independent in 3 years and everyone would stop complaining about the then $0.88 per gallon we would spend.  But what do I know?  I am only a Computer Guy...