Don Hooper, Editorial

Oil crises.

June 6^th, is a day to be remembered, not only for the invasion of Normandy, but also for the invasion of your pocketbook. The price of a barrel of oil (32 gals.) jumped a whopping $10.75 in one day for a record $138.00 dollars total. It really amazes me to believe that the U.S. Congress goes home and goes to bed at night, not realizing the magnitude of the financial impact this has on the lower income strata of average Americans. It conveys a shudder of uncertainty regarding the very basic necessities for literally millions of small American families. The fear of the total collapse of all you have worked so long and hard for, would not mean much more than a slight financial inconvenience, if you were a member of the U.S. Congress. Their salary is more than three times that of the average American family and five times more if you are a U. S. Senator. This is why they have such a nonchalant attitude about this price gouging.

Who’s fault is this outrageous over pricing of petroleum products?

–First, the producers of foreign oil have organized a pricing conspiracy designed to bankrupt Americans. As little as five years ago the cost of pumping a barrel of oil was around four dollars a barrel. Lets give them the benefit of the doubt and say inflation has caused that price to double and another four dollars to pipe the crude to the shipping facilities. Now divide $12.00 into $138.00 and you will get a 1,150 percent increase in price at the pump. However this does not mean all of the profiteering goes to the crude wholesalers. There are other handlers along the way.

–Second, as the crude is making it’s way to the refineries and then to the retailers, it is bought and resold multiple times by people in the stock market commodities section of the traders who are referred to as "speculators." They can double or triple the price of oil before it is removed from the ship and piped to the distributors.

–Third, the oil producers, this includes the mega companies that not only produce domestic oil from our own soil, but also buy and refine oil from the foreign producers. They are currently enjoying a ride on the wave of price increases set by the oil cartels. We should not condemn the oil companies for taking advantage of a situation created by foreign interests.

–Fourth, The oil commodity itself is generating it’s own energy in the market because of the frenzy in the stock exchange. I remember this same phenomena occurred with the price of gold back in the late seventies. It went from a little over four hundred dollars an ounce to about eight hundred and forty dollars an ounce before the confidence in the gold commodity collapsed and it quickly returned to the stable $ 400.00 plus range where it remained until about five years ago when it followed the oil pricing model. This collapse of confidence could happen again in the near future for both commodities. (i.e.) Lets hope it does for the sake of financial stability.

No one knows how much each of these factors separately determine the price at the pump, because the cause and effect varies from one to the other on a daily basis.

Let me be very clear about this. I am one of those conservatives that believe the market should function without any interference from the government. Price controlling simply does not work. This has been proven over again.

Having said that, I must also say that on rare occasions, emergencies can develop where strong measures of repair need to be applied to damages that occur from unforseen events. Such as natural disasters, or wars that upset the normal course of events. In these cases temporary action can speed the return to normalcy. This is where clear heads and political courage must step forward and assume leadership roles. Constructive creativity is the gift of patriots that place country before personal benefit.

I clearly remember one such incident where the market place was largely interrupted by converting private business to war products production. It was during the second world war, when the war effort took precedent over everything else. The rationing of every commodity from food to almost every other consumer product became the tool for recovery. America runs on energy and we must not capitulate to a minority of environmental idiots. This attitude is originating from the progressive left wing former socialist communists, that want to bring us to our financial knees. Let us use our tools of recovery by closely questioning, examining and electing people that understand this dilemma for our own protection.

The answers to the energy crises are very simple. All we need is political guts to use the power of the presidency and the congress to implement the action needed to provide our own petro-energy.

Answers,

–The president must declare a national emergency, and then order the dept. of energy to authorize the oil companies to began immediate drilling wherever it is most practical for immediate results

–The congress must replace energy reluctant environmental leaders with energy production leaders who will carry out the initiatives ordered by the president.

–The oil commodity must be temporarily removed from the stock markets to allow the production system to function without profiteering middlemen.

–The construction of at least eight new refineries must be immediately started by executive order on an emergency basis even if it takes limited subsidies and unlimited manpower. We built the Alcan Highway in eight months and we can do the same with refineries.

–By following these simple solutions we would frighten the arrogant Opec Cartel so completely that we would see prices drop dramatically in a few weeks after the emergency edict has been announced.

Lets get real my friends, we have been lulled into a mood of helplessness by a bunch of left wing zealots. These are times when a little radical American spirit is sorely needed.

Don Hooper, Candidate for The U.S. House of Representatives

DonHooper@alldial.net
www.DonHooper.org
906.265.9329