Thanks to Big Government, Oil Prices Headed for the Sky

from Moonbattery by Van Helsing


Thanks to Big Government, Oil Prices Headed for the Sky: "

What might an irresponsible, authoritarian, hyper-intrusive government driven by a radical environmentalist agenda and hostile to American interests do to the energy sector? It might prevent the building of nuclear plants and oil refineries, squash drilling in the ANWR wasteland and the Gulf of Mexico, and declare drilling to be out of the question most anywhere else. What might happen then? This:

The former president of Shell oil is predicting that the United States will face 1970s-style energy shortages and rationing by the end of the decade, accusing the federal government of turning its back on the country's domestic oil supply.

The dire prediction comes as energy analysts toss out a string of frightening predictions about the rising price of oil in the short term. Oil has topped $90 a barrel, and JP Morgan Chase & Co. earlier this month predicted oil could hit $120 a barrel by the end of 2012. At the same time, the national average gasoline price is about $3 a gallon for the holiday season.

But former Shell executive John Hofmeister offered a more aggressive estimate, saying Americans could be paying $5 a gallon in two years. And he predicted that sometime between 2018 and 2020, supply and demand will become so out of balance that gas stations in several regions of the country will simply start to run out.

Meanwhile…

The Interior Department announced earlier this month that it would not pursue any new drilling off the East Coast or in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for at least seven years. Planned lease sales would be pushed off until late 2011 or early 2012.

At least we have the advantage that since all our significant problems are created by the government, the government is always right there to fix them.

While clamping down on domestic energy production, the Obama administration has [squandered] billions in renewable energy sources via last year's stimulus bill and has pushed improved energy efficiency for a range of products in a bid to at least keep demand a bit lower in the long term.

If you're out of a job, do you (a) look for work, or (b) try not to spend as much? Government imposes (b), while forbidding (a). As for the "renewable energy sources" — moonbat ideology can make lawyers rich, but it cannot make your car run or lights come on, at least not at a price low enough to be economically feasible.

You can't say Comrade Obama isn't keeping any of his campaign promises. Here he is again assuring us that he would deliberately cause energy prices to 'skyrocket':

Add to the drilling restrictions the latest federal power grab, with Obama imposing Cap & Trade lunacy via the unelected and unaccountable EPA, and you can see that energy costs will be heading for the stratosphere.

As they rise, so will unemployment and inflation. But on the positive side, the New York Times tells us that when we use less energy, it won't be so cold out, because it won't be so warm. I'm sure the sacred polar bears are grateful.

Also thanking us are oil-exporting, terror-supporting Islamic regimes swimming in the last of our money.

On a tip from Wyatt's Torch.

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