that are USA in origin and based drilling on USA land to put the country that made their prosperity the first priority.

And I would ask you would you rather they continue to exploit free trade at the expense of the quality of life of America first and foremost.

The question of the thread had to do with thoughts about why gasoline prices/price of oil are high and forecast to go higher. Yes I would vote for the USA keeping oil from it's wells here at home. The amount not exported will quickly be replaced in the world market by those countries that do not have our welfare as a priority.

All the USA would have to do is to state that it is embarking upon a path that reduces it's dependency on imported oil. Then specify it will begin by not exporting American oil. Then we will begin drilling more....where ever. Followed by aggressive investing in alternative fuels with an objective to reduce imports by 50% in the next ten years. The announcement in and of itself will cause a drop in oil prices...the age old solution that always keeps America hooked.

As was stated in prior responses in this thread we have failed as a country to get the job done for the last 40 years. The oil companies have a strangle hold on the politicians that will not put their cash to their cause at risk.

If we took the same approach to imported oil reduction as we did when Kennedy stated what we were to do to get into the space race...it would get done.

Not to mention all the new manufacturing of equipment to make this all happen along with new jobs....a very simple solution to all our problems...but politically not palitable to Washington's 535 and it's oil based special interest groups.

And of course the main ingredient....we the people just do not care enough to demand getting it done. But eventually we will. When it becomes a crisis of proportions that will dwarf any adversity this country has ever faced. It is, as the saying goes...not if it happens...it is only as matter of when it will happen. We are well on our way.

btk

Originally Posted by BlueHeronFan

Easy enough.

http://moratorium.offshoremarine.org/omsa/

Just the plan to ban causes the prices to go up.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/pos..._will_ban.html

Sixty percent also believe that gas and oil prices will drop if the government allows offshore drilling, opening up an estimate 14 billion barrels of oil and 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/...le-he-s-office

and for a final point for a "little analytical support for my allegations".

This is, after all, a White House that has put at the center of its domestic agenda its goal of a "green economy," which hinges on making fossil fuels too expensive for Americans to purchase. In January 2008, candidate Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle that under his cap-and-trade plan, "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." Steven Chu, now Secretary of Energy, told this newspaper in the same year: "Somehow, we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." That would be, oh, $10 a gallon.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...820953870.html

Hope this helps your appreciation and expectations.

I really admire your research on the subject of what is the real cause of the spike in gas prices. I appreciate your research. But I must differ with the your suggestion that these articles in any way explain the relationship of recent bans on offshore drilling to the price of gas...

• Your first citation was from the Offshore Marine Service Association, an offshore drilling lobby group. In it they don't really analyze the eeconomics of the oil-gas pricing formula, but rather exhort their readers to "...join us in the fight to save domestic offshore drilling in the Gulf."

• Your second citation was a news article from The Washington Post wherein some details of the drilling ban are discussed. Pro and con opinions are also presented in the article, pro-ban by environmental groups and anti-ban by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and conservative members of Congress. Again, no real attempt at analysis of why gas prices have spiked upwards.

• Your third citation is from on online blogger called The Washington Examiner. In it the author says that two thirds of the public thinks that offshore drilling should be resumed and that 60% of them think that gas prices will decline as the result. Not exactly a thorough economic analysis, do you think?

• Your last citation, an article from The Wall Street Journal, describes the efforts of the Obama administration to encourage alternate sources of energy and thier efforts to limit offshore drilling. It's an excellent news piece, but again makes no effort whatsoever to relate the government's activities to the recent increase in the price of gas.

So, Heron, while you provided us all with some citations to read, none of them make any attempt to explain (as I did in my original post) the relationship between reduced offshore drilling and the recent spike in gas prices. Just posting several articles that are related to the question at hand really isn't analytical support for your allegation that it's been the ban on offshore drilling that has caused the price of gas to increase.

Bill: (And I apologize for the snarky-sounding last line I wrote earlier)

You said all we have to do is announce we are not exporting oil. Who's the 'we'?

If I read you right, you're talking about voluntary measures. But it seems to me that a company would be immediately susceptible to shareholder lawsuits if they "did the right thing".

So if an oil company "does the right thing", the shareholders revolt. If they're ORDERED to do it by the government, we get the cries of "Marxism!".

There's got to be a way to break this logjam.

VK,

Fine, your opinion, vs my documented discussions, and articles.
However, your gloss over of the Wall Street Journal article leads me to believe you are only interested in your original beginning post, and not to the challenge that you laid out for me.

I guess then that the discussion is moot.

Originally Posted by BlueHeronFan

VK,I guess then that the discussion is moot.

No, not really. If we got one another to think and consider an opposing view, even if we didn't change our minds, the whole exercise was worhtwhile.

Originally Posted by tony

We get most of our crude oil from Canada.

The second place is Mexico.

Third is Saudi Arabia.

Two thirds of our oil comes from our neighbors.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/p...nt/import.html

Tony, Thanks for injected facts into a discussion that seems sadly to lack them. It's a shame that their appears to be little interest in the facts pertaining to the matter and a great deal of interest in political hyperbole.

It's funny that there's been no political outcry over the fact that the US dollar now trades below parity when it comes to the Canadian dollar, or 'loonie' (so named for the bird on the back of their $1 coin).

I remember getting $1.40CDN for my $1US in vacations past. In Canadian newspapers such as the Montreal Gazette they talk about the dangers of reaching parity with the US Dollar as it makes Canadian exports more expensive but it does their balance of trade good in selling all the oil from the tar sands in Alberta.