From an editorial in Beloit Daily News out of Florida:
SOME READERS may have seen the television ads aired by legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens. Here are the key numbers he points out. In 1970 America imported 24 percent of its oil; today it’s about 70 percent and growing every day. The U.S. sends about $700 billion to foreign suppliers every year, more than four times the annual cost of the Iraq war. Over the next 10 years that’s expected to balloon to $10 trillion total, the largest transfer of wealth in human history.
Pickens puts it bluntly: We can’t drill our way out of this problem.
His Web site – pickensplan.com – urges the nation to embark on a crusade to convert to such things as wind power and cars fueled by natural gas.
“Together we can raise a call for change and set a new course for America’s energy future in the first hundred days of the new presidency – breaking the hammerlock of foreign oil and building a new domestic energy future for America with a focus on sustainability,” Pickens said.
CAN WE? The politicians of both parties have proven, year after year, their contemptible commitment to doing nothing. The incumbents are useless and ought to be thrown out with the trash. Better to toss out a few good ones, by the way, than keep any of the bad ones. Translation: America desperately needs term limits.
And, for heaven’s sake, don’t look to energy businesses for the answer, either. So long as billions in record profit flow in, why change?
Pickens, on the other hand, has shown more leadership overnight than America’s do-nothing politicians have shown in years. Check out his Web site.
Full story here.