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America’s Challenge To Regain Independence

Published 07/27/08 Jeff Bennett - Print Article
E-mail - editor@economyincisis.org

Americans should take pride in our ingenuity and ability to adapt. We have the brightest minds and the best academic institutions in the world. Together they can create new ideas, innovations and implement them into existence. With that said, why do we still rely on foreign energy sources?

The U.S. currently imports 70 percent of its oil. We continue this process because of our politicians, not our inability to find a suitable alternative. Americans have adapted by driving less and great minds have responded by designing plans to harness new technology and resources. Yet, Congress fails to set aside the bi-partisanship and reach an agreement to benefit its citizens. Without change, we will continue to fatten the wallets of Middle Eastern elites.

Our addiction to oil pumps billions of dollars into the sovereign wealth funds of Middle Eastern nations. This practice is slowly dismantling our country. Abu Dhabi for instance, profits $300 billion annually from the sale of crude oil. Their revenues are used to buyout American realty and companies. Abu Dhabi recently purchased the Chrysler and GM Buildings and is working on an agreement to enter into a $40 billion joint venture with General Electric in the Middle East. Our reliance on oil is destroying our nation in many ways.

The future of America is not with oil, but with innovation. America is moving out of the manufacturing/production sector and exporting less, demonstrated by our mounting $268.7 billion trade deficit. The creation and utilization of new technologies to harness renewable resources is the catalyst to create more jobs and stimulate a stagnant economy. America needs a glimpse of hope on the horizon and a future without oil will give Americans that much needed relief.


Source International Herald Tribune:

If necessity really is the mother of invention, gasoline at $4 a gallon will force the United States, the world's most profligate user of energy, into a new era of creativity and innovation - as long as America's leaders stop practicing politics as usual.

…

As far as America's energy habits are concerned - the United States has 4 percent of the world's population and uses almost a quarter of its oil - change is under way. For one, the car culture is changing. Americans drive less and use more public transport (its use is at a 50-year high). Gas-guzzling SUVs are out, hybrids and fuel-efficient cars are in.

…

The problem, as President George W. Bush has repeatedly put it, is that "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world." That dependence has increased sharply over the past three decades: In 1973, the year of the Arab oil embargo against the United States and its Western allies, the United States imported just under a quarter of its oil. By 1991, at the start of the first U.S. war on Iraq, that had climbed to more than 40 percent. Now, it is close to 70 percent.

Front Page Photo by --Nick-- - Flickr © Some rights reserved

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