Americas Future? Blackouts, Gas Lines & Unemployment Lines?

It’s hard to accept that America is once again plunging down the road to shortages in fuel, energy and jobs. In spite of glib comments out of the government, we are nearing levels not seen since the Great Depression or the long gas lines prevalent across the country in the early 1970’s.

As we increase the slide towards socialism and hear the great promises made by the Obama administration, reality sees power outages in California, gasoline shortages coming and of course, the ever growing unemployment figures, bypassing double digits already.

Hardest for me, a Veteran of Viet Nam and the United States Army to accept, is that our decline from a Super Power and from the greatness we saw after leading the world to victory over despots and dictators in World War Two, appears to be by edict of our own government.

Why they would have the country return to those desperate days of the 1930’s and early 1970’s, completely escapes me, but that is what it now looks like.

Competent use of our energy and natural resources is one avenue that propelled us to greatness and gave the American citizen the highest living standard ever seen by man. Somehow, since those long gas lines of the early 1970’s, we have been denied the use of our own resources and in spite of policies and directives handed down by elected officials from both major Political Party’s.

I supposes I shouldn’t have been surprised to read that Obama Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar announced plansto Toughen US Drilling Rules January 6.

In an all too obvious slap both at the former administration and the very industry that brings America our energy and fuel, Salazar also adds, “under the prior administration, the oil and gas industry were essentially the kings of the world. Whatever they wanted to happen essentially happened. This department was essentially a handmaiden of the oil and gas industry.”

At a time our economy is floundering under government regulation and we are being warned of pending “double dip recession,” this administration can only focus on belittling the former administration and denigrating the very industry that not only fuels our economy, but does so with millions of jobs and poised to create hundreds of thousands more!

Jack Gerard of the American Petroleum Institute responds to Salazar’s folly in part with, “In what has become increasingly familiar double-talk from this administration, Sec. Salazar spoke of the importance of domestic oil and natural gas, while making it more difficult to produce this oil and gas, put more Americans back to work and help restore our nation's economy.”

Mr. Gerard continues, “This troubling trend of hobbling companies' ability to develop much-needed domestic energy supplies will not create certainty for investors, as Salazar suggested. Instead it will make America more dependent on foreign energy and continue to constrain government budgets,” and reminding us that over 9 million people depend on the Oil and Natural Gas Industry for their jobs.

While much of the raw petroleum supplied is converted to fuel and energy products, it is also used effectively in other industries, including medical and food industries. The list of other industries dependent upon petroleum and petroleum products is extensive and without petroleum to fuel their industry, our economy suffers by the loss of those jobs and the products produced that make our lives easier.

Over the past few years we continue to hear about how petroleum is ruining the environment and causing global climate change. We repeatedly hear of how our energy consumption is killing the planet and legislation is needed to curb our use of energy.

As my friend Jane Van Ryan points out on her blog, Concern about Jobs Trumps Climate Worries as more Americans see a needed balance that has long gone ignored.

We continue to hear of “Green” energy sources and other alternative energy sources that in reality are years away from being viable alternatives. A main reason they remain unreliable is the very people that deny drilling for petroleum within our own resources are the same people blocking construction of these “alternate energy sources” as evidence in the articles from the last few years linked below.

Senator Feinstein Seeks to Block Solar Panels In Mojave Desert

An Ill Wind Off Cape Cod

Ted Kennedy Blocks Cape Cod Wind Farm

Environmentalists Fight Calico solar farm

Animals Rights Activists Blocking Wind Farms

How hypocritical that that the very people who for years have been clamoring to get America off of our foreign oil dependence, the very people who cry our use of fuels is destroying the planet and the very people who wish to push as of yet unperfected “green energy” sources off on us are also the very people blocking construction of these alternate methods when near their homes!

No doubt one day these “alternate” sources will be better perfected and become viable. In the meantime, petroleum based energy remains our most economical and available source of energy.

If we continue the way the Obama administration is leading us, we can expect to soon see those long gas lines for those who may be lucky enough to still afford a car as unemployment continues to skyrocket.

You may also expect to be sitting in your home shivering as we endure blackouts and there is no fuel for furnaces.

Don’t think your fireplace will keep you warm or your wood stove either. These same people pushing for and blocking construction of “green energy” sources are also complaining about smoke from fireplaces and woodstoves and passing legislation to prevent you from burning wood, as is seen HERE, HERE and HERE.

It seems to me that real “kings of the world” isn’t the oil companies, but the socialists currently destroying our once great country.