Rant Warning - Oil

I am so sick and tired of hearing the "Drill-baby-Drill" cries that I can't stand it - especially from politicians! They just don't get it. The problem is not about supply - its about demand. Let's say we do succeed in Swiss-cheesing the environment to squeeze out what ever oil/natural gas that we own, what makes us think that it will last indefinitely?

While I agree the foreign debt and economic disparity this country has is very much related to our oil dependency, that is less of an issue than the affects of global climate change and the fact that "Drill-Baby-Drill" will not lower our costs for gasoline, heating oil, or anything else. There are huge demands and a willingness to pay in other countries that any oil that we extract from our natural resources will be on the open market. What makes us think that the multinational corporations that control the flow of oil will not continue to sell to the highest bidder? They would be foolish not to do so!

I've read that the amount of oil available directly from US natural resources, would, in fact not lower the consumer costs, would not address issues of carbon foot printing, would not address global changes, and would not stabilize the US economy. In fact, the grade of the crude and associated extraction costs will most likely continue to move consumer costs even higher than what we currently pay in the US.

The reality is that its about demand. We can create an atomic bomb (thought to be theoretical but not probable), put a man into space, put a man on the moon, cure diseases, and a host of other "unthinkable" tasks, but we can't produce a nonpolluting, non-oil based mode of transportation that is economically feasible? Give me a break. Shifting our oil needs to domestic products will not extend the earth's supply of oil by one second, let alone anything longer.

The problem is not about oil there is or where it is. It's about how much can we process, for how long, to meet our demands. That's the real issue. At some point in time, without curtailing demand, we will reach a point when we've used up all of our domestic fuels, continuing our dependence on oil to keep our nation functioning, and then, where will we be forced to look to meet our desire for oil?

It should not be "Drill-Baby-Drill" but "Conserve-Baby-Conserve" tied to "Develop-Baby-Develop (Alternative fuels and alternative attitudes)"!