[QUOTE=Cuervo;2371839]Increasing interest rate is usually put in place to slow the economy and slow down inflation.

Were the US oil companies selling it cheaper, or did they cash in to make record profits?
Pity the oil companies don't run the military industrial complex as well, instead of spending the profits on pay rises, bonuses, share dividends etc. all round.
Capitalism has its drawbacks.

Energy independence is a myth. We buy foreign oil because the oil we produce is not appropriate for some uses. Some refineries can’t operate on the light sweet oil we produce in the US, thus we import oil. We also export oil.

The thing is we are producing more oil today than ever before and there will be a slow progression to get away from fossil fuels. That will not be at the expense of being subservient to foreign oil, the target is to replace the fuel we consume with clean replenishable.

As far as these people who say we have to replace gas vehicles to save the planet are fools, what they should be saying is that we have an undeniable history of humans polluting our air, water and soil and we have to stop before this earth is uninhabitable.

As George Carlin pointed out when the earth is tired of us it will just shake us off like flees and the planet will be here long after we're gone.

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“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
-Sir Winston Churchill

He also said in 1947 “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those others that have been tried.”

You remember him, no? He's one of yours.

The problem is that the US is not capitalist anymore. It is now corporatist. Big difference, but still better than the alternative.

Energy is the primary input cost to everything that is produced. There is nothing more important than cheap energy to the well-being of humanity. JD Rockefeller and Enrico Fermi should be worshipped (as well as Fritz Haber).

The USA buys heavy sour from Venezuela and Russia to mix with the light sweet shale oil in refineries that have not been modified for light sweet shale oil.

I saw Sir Winston when I was young, he was the MP for the area where my aunt lived.

And I remember Maggie Thatcher saying "Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money."

(often quoted as ‘the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money’)

All systems have their Achilles Heel.

Capitalism has its warts but no other financial system is better

With central banking you never run out of other peoples money....A money counterfeiter never goes broke.
Socialism fails when there is nothing left to steal. This is the lesson of the USSR/Weimar Germany...Hyperinflation.

Common sense would say use your own resources, produce and sell your own "stuff" including energy, grow your own economy, make your own economy healthy, and have strong education that teaches basic economics and love of country for future successful adults. Seems like independence, love of and investment in your own country with strong borders and a healthy economy based not on borrowing and printing fake $$ would be basic competence to build a successful country.

Don't have to wonder how we lost that competence and are a rapidly failing country - pride & greed. Heads so big a country thinks it's the world's savior and greed so powerful it squashes the human spirit. Everything once believed in freely handed over as a debt to the world. How about a strong country minding and tending to its own business, one that lifts up its own.

Pride comes before a fall and LOVE of $$ the root of all evil. How about the think tank says enough is enough. Let's go back to commen sense.

That is a VERY OLD point of view!!!! Look up the top happiest countries in the world. Socialist countries are at the top, USA is #23.

strong country minding and tending to its own business, one that lifts up its own!!! AMEN!

I don’t think they are happy in Cuba right now. Would be nice to just have some clean running water.
Many news articles about the Chinese people very unhappy. Venezuela same thing.
I guess you mean what we are being told here. You will own nothing and be happy.
I for one will stick with Capitalism over Socialism, any day of the week. After actually having visited many socialist countries over the years, socialist countries are pretty depressing.
Not to mention, in socialist countries, the 1% ruling class lives in splendor, while the 99% live in squalor. No thanks! I’d rather live & die a poor free man.

The Keystone Pipeline was built to EXPORT Oil...