The USA is a nation of addicts. We use 25% of the world’s oil daily. Despite all the warnings over the years, we just keep on trucking. Our addiction is so bad it will require a serious intervention to kick it. We will have to hit bottom before we realize we have no solutions to our appetites.
I predict this will occur first in California followed shortly by Boston. Coincidently, these are big time blue election areas. California has the worst of everything in this country today. The most people, the most cars, the most illegal aliens, the most hard core environmentalists, the shakiest state economy, and the most delusional population led by Hollywood and San Francisco, which is really not part of the USA. Per yesterday’s entry, it is the center of Dogma. People there really believe oil comes from Washington. Plus, they have the Republican governor who lives with the democrat and has sold out to her family.
Here’s how it goes down. Crude imports get pinched. It doesn’t matter how it happens, it will happen. Crude goes up to $200 a bbl and California gets a smaller percentage and a greater gap vs.. demand. They have just set a CO2 ceiling which also adds to the cost of gasoline. Regular goes to $6 a gallon and there are lines, big lines. Remember the lines?This is on top of the credit crunch, the housing crunch, and the tax increases from the state and local governments. The dollar keep falling. Jobs go away. Unemployment hits 15-20% reducing state revenue. The state declares bankruptcy. Rioting starts. California demands help from Washington. The men from Watts go to Hollywood and siphon gas from the Bentleys. California demands the Federal government do something about increasing crude oil availability.
Suddenly, there are few environmentalists in California. At least any that profess to be militant environmentalists. The CO2 lid is repealed. Offshore drilling is encouraged. Drilling in Alaska is approved. Drilling in the Gulf is pushed by Washington. Nuclear plants are commissioned. New coal powered electrical plants are planned. Rationing isn’t working. Anarchy is common. Global Warming is now enemy number one. All kinds of scientists come forth to disprove the science. The media is now crazed about placing blame for this mess.
The same issues surface in Boston which was just months behind California. People are moving to Alaska in droves since the governor of Alaska says we are taking care of ourselves before we send more oil to the lower 48. There is no rationing in Alaska and jobs are booming in the oil and gas fields. The illegal alien situation is taking care of itself since they are either going home or to Canada which is also booming. The loonie is valued at 3 times the dollar. Canada is the big benefactor and are trying hard to help but they can only do so much.
The nation is in rehab. There is more than enough blame to go around. A goal is set to make us self sufficient in energy by 2020. Maybe this will happen since the economy is in such dire straights that demand is 80% of what it was in 2008. The main two areas that will save the country and get us out of the deep economic depression are electricity and natural gas. The gas pipeline from Alaska gets built in a year. Cars are converted to CGN(compressed natural gas and batteries). Electricity is slower to help since we are taking 10 years to put the first new nuclear plant on stream. Two hundred have been commissioned and we are once again doing our own work and using our own raw materials. Frantic mining for uranium is under way all over the country.
California will never recover. The population is 50% of the peak in 2008. Boston is in the same decline. The entire Northeast corridor is paying dearly for no natural gas pipelines over the years. However, due the the sacrifices made by these geographic areas, the rest of the country may eventually recover.
We are receiving aid from China, the new world power. We have no troops anywhere in the world. We can’t afford to help anyone else. The standard of living is significantly lower than it was in 2008. Food is scarce and expensive. The Dow is at 3,000. The dollar is not the standard currency for the world. Like most addicts we have truly hit rock bottom. And, like most addictions it took enablers. You and I. We saw it coming but chose not to do anything. We kept electing the same fools who ignored our problem. We let 1% of the population convince us that we had to do this for the good of the world. Everything we did to shake our addiction could have been done in the 80’s, 90’s or early years in 2000. No, we just watched. Like the addict we’ve lost most everything. As a nation, we are down and out and few other countries care.