Crude Oil $200, the Price for Wasting Financial Crisis Opportunity

Rohm Emanuel's famous quote regarding the current financial crisis, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste...it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before." was ignored last summer when oil prices reached $147 a barrel. The Obama administration has taken advantage of the financial crisis to ram through their socialist agenda which will add trillions to the National Debt. It will stimulate unions, bureaucrats, government employees, and defense contractors. It will do nothing to address the looming energy crisis which will sweep over the country shortly. Again, politicians and pundits will be shocked and astonished when oil soars. They will vilify oil companies, OPEC, and the dreaded speculators. They ignore the old fashioned supply and demand equation that even a dimwitted Congressman should be able to comprehend.

Instead of addressing the crucial issues that have led to the U.S. being dependent on foreign oil to the tune of $500 billion per year, Congress decided to spend your tax dollars on the following vital items (compliments of Casey Research ):

• $200,000 for tattoo removal for gang members in California .
• $98 million for a Coast Guard ice breaker closing an ice-breaking gap. (what about global warming)
• $950,000 for a bikeway in Kentucky .
• $2 million for astronomy awareness in Hawaii .
• $190,000 for a Buffalo Bill Historical Center.
• $650 million for the digital to analog converter box program.
• $1.8 million to study the effect of swine odor on the environment. (rumor has it the study will be conducted in the halls of Congress)

When oil prices collapsed from $147 a barrel in the summer of 2008 to $35 a barrel in January, American drivers, Congress, government bureaucrats, and the mainstream media refocused on other more pressing issues like executive bonuses, Michele Obama's wardrobe, and the tax law knowledge of Obama's cabinet. The attention span of the average American is shorter than a gnat's. As they text and twitter through life, the energy infrastructure continues to rust away, decades old wells are closer to depletion, and alternative energy projects have been scrapped by the thousands. Peak oil likely occurred between 2005 and 2009. The production of oil will now embark on a long slow decline. The world is not prepared.

Read entire article by James Quinn