In a bit of politically expedient pandering, President Obama recently relaxed certain rules regarding off-shore oil drilling. Any benefits to us in supply or price would be negligible at best, and years down the road. The United States owns 2% of the world's known oil reserves, and we use 25% of the world's oil production. This is bad math -- the numbers just don't work. And we were all reminded again last week that oil exploration can be dangerous and environmentally hazardous.
No easy answers here. As Tower of Power sang in the '70s, "There is only so much oil in the ground. After it's gone, there ain't no more around." That was 35 years ago and not much has changed. Weaning ourselves off petroleum products will not be easy, cheap, or happen anytime real soon, but we've got to get to work in earnest on alternative energy sources. The "Drill, Baby, Drill" crowd is fucking stupid.
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