this same topic was just on AM talk radio a couple of days ago in my town. I think it was the Glen Beck show. And I completely believe this conspiracy theory. If there was some new technology that was developed to get better gas mileage, alternative fuel, etc., don't think for a second that it wouldn't quickly be bought by BIG OIL and locked away in a vault never to benefit society. It's that same reason why they don't make appliances "too good", so you will have to buy a replacement eventually. Or why light bulbs must be replaced; the technology for a light bulb that last a VERY long time exists, but GE would never allow it to the market.
I mean think about it, the automobile has been around for at least 100+ years. And in that time, we've put people on the moon, invented the computer, nuked Japan, cloned sheep, completed Human genome project, almost developed a cure for AIDS, and we can't figure out a way to get more than 30 mpg on automobiles???
The answer/resolution is two fold:
A) short term - drill locally to stop becoming so g'damn dependent on foreign oil. Short and simple. I've heard we've also improved our oil drilling technology so it would not ruin our domestic environmental treasures. This would be the right wing solution. $h!t, if we have to, purchase or invade Mexico, build up there infrastructure so illegals stop coming here, and start drilling there. But there's no incentive for the oil companies to pursue new oil sources, why spend the money on exploring for new sources when they are perfectly happy shafting us at $4+ a gallon and we have no choice but to pay. The little bit of domestic land that has been given to them for drilling exploration isn't even being utilized, so the left would argue why give them more, and there's something to that argument.
B) long term - develop alternative fuel options: hydrogen, more affordable electric hybrid (incentives to the public to purchase such vehicles, i.e. tax rebates). I'm still waiting for my Back to the Future Hoverboard. I read something about "shale" being able to be converted to fuel, and we have an abundance of that. This alterntive fuel would be the left wing solution. From what I remember, Bush has done little to nothing to gear us towards this long term solution. I think the corn ethanol approach is a farce. It's having the negative effect of raising prices in all other fields because corn is being used for fuel, not to feed livestock that we eat (beef) and drink (milk). Farmers are subsidized by the government to sell their corn towards Ethanol. The thing is, ethanol made from corn is not very efficient. Ethanol is a good idea, but it can be made out of more efficent products, like sugar cane, but the US is putting all its eggs in the corn ethanol basket and that basket is about to be dropped as food prices continue to creep up. I could not believe a loaf of bread was $3.19 today in the grocery store, and that was the cheapest option, just plain brand X wheat bread. Milk is $4 a gallon. I remember that being less than half that only a year ago. The financial programs I listen to on the weekend are warning investors about putting anything in domestic Ethanol (corn), but recommend foreign Ethanol investments (sugarcane from South America).
So what do we do? The only way we will find ourselves out of this mess is if the left and the right can come together and meet somewhere in the middle. But Washington is too busy playing their political games and posturing and in my opinion, the government is no longer serving the needs of the people because of "party lines." At the pace that we are going, if gas continues to creep up, causing increase in every product and service we use, and food prices continue to rise, eventually the public will DEMAND a change in the way we are doing things. When it gets to the point where people can no longer feed their family or afford the smallest luxuries, something will happen. I don't know what it is, but something will cause a change.
Think about this, you've heard about the price of diesel fuel, I think it's up to $5 a gallon. What if all the semi-truckers decided to go on strike for a week, maybe a month, because it was no longer profitable for them to drive their rig from point A to point B. As soon as this news broke, it would be all over the media, people would do a mass panic and rush to the nearest grocery store to empty the shelves, others would be without, price gouging would be abundant and unable to be controlled, and we'd break down as a civilized society. That's just one possible scenario that I think would finally get congress and the president to get their m'f'ing heads out of their uptight and crooked ***** and fix this problem.
