The Associated Press reports that President Obama has said, "Rising gas prices are not my fault."
Harry Truman said, "The buck stops here!"
But assuming arguendo that President Obama is correct when he says he can't do anything about gasoline prices, why not "buy American"?
According to Der Spiegel, Saudi Arabia pumps about 9 million barrels (378 gallons) of crude oil per day. When oil is priced at $114 per barrel, the Saudi Royal Kingdom earns just over $1 billion a day -- roughly $365B per year! I provide these figures by way of illustration. I realize America gets oil from many countries other than Saudi Arabia. And I realize that others report the Saudis export more.
So how much crude oil did the U.S. import in 2010? According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. imported (a net figure of) about 9.4 million barrels per day of petroleum in 2010.
My point is simple. The United States in 2010 imported a net of 9.4 million barrels of oil per day. Saudi Arabia pumps 9 million barrels a day. If the U.S. imported oil only from Saudi Arabia, and took Saudi Arabia's entire 9 million barrel output (which isn't the case), the U.S. would still need to import additional crude. And that is 9.4 million barrels a day is on top of the crude that the U.S. produces.
The EIA cannot determine exactly the amount of crude oil produced in the U.S. that is consumed, as refined products, in the U.S. However, the majority of the crude oil produced in the U.S. is refined in U.S. refineries.
The U.S. also produces other liquids that are used in the refining process that are added or blended with the refined products. The bottom line in 2010 was this: The U.S. produced about 5.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, and imported about 9.4 million barrels per day.
President Obama says the U.S. can effect gasoline prices only by decreasing demand and usage. He denies, I believe disingenuously, that prices can be decreased by increasing supply. Yet when presidents have tapped the Strategic Reserve -- which increased supply -- prices have dropped. Why? (No, I am not advocating tapping the Strategic Reserve.)
But assuming, for the sake of discussion, the truth of the inane claim that oil prices are somehow unaffected by the "law of supply and demand," why can't the president see that it is bad for the U.S. when $365 billion leave America each year and find their way into the pockets of foreigners-- many of whom hate our guts?
When Saudi oil sells for $114 per barrel, even if part of that goes to the oil companies and the refineries and not the Saudis, it still costs the U.S. $114 per barrel to import each of the 9 million barrels we import per day.
That money goes to the Saudis, Venezuelans, the Mexican or some other foreign country, and to the foreign oil companies and their refineries, etc., That $365 billion per year is sucked out of the American economy and sent overseas.
Why? To help the Arab tyrants who hate our guts? To ensure that a Marxist ally of Iran retains power in Venezuela? To provide employment for foreign workers, and profits for foreign oil companies and refiners? That's nuts!
Why not keep that $365 billion here?
How many high-paying drilling jobs would $365 billion create?
How much money would flow into the pockets of American oil drilling companies?
How many high-paying refining jobs would be created? How much money would flow into the pockets of the refining companies?
How many high paying transportation or pipeline jobs would be created? How much money would flow into the pockets of the trucking companies, or the pipeline companies?
How many billion dollars would the federal and state governments rake in in taxes?
We have a president who says "it's not my fault" if $365 billion U.S. oil dollars leave our country.
When I was a boy, I used to read "Mad Magazine." Their "cover boy" was one Alfred E. Neuman. He was famous for the line, "What, me worry?" I prefer a president who does "worry." One who says, "The Buck Stops Here."
But then, since 1956, Alfred he has periodically offered himself as a candidate for the presidency of the United States with the slogan, "You could do worse... and always have!"
It appears, we indeed have.
Posted Online: April 03, 2012, 2:58 pm - Quad-Cities Online
by John Donald O'Shea
Copyright 2012, John Donald O'Shea
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