This page was last updated on May 15, 2011.
Energy policy long overdue; Philip S. Dedig; Beaver County Times; May 15, 2011.
Mr. Dedig has written at least 17 letters since February 2008. Among those letters, Mr. Dedig supported the proposed federal gasoline tax holiday, Hillary Clinton for President, complained about “business as usual” (“Business as usual in D.C.,” 6/17/08) in Washington, DC, regarding energy, opposed offshore drilling, said Democrat voters deserve better candidates (“Local Democratic voters merit better,” 8/22/08), supported “bailing out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae” (“Fed, Treasury had to move”, 9/30/08), told us we had “No choice but to help auto makers,” told us “College costs must be made affordable,” supported the $787 billion “stimulus” package (here and here), told us “U.S. can afford health care for all,” and claimed “U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire is a Republican in sheep’s clothing.” Mr. Dedig’s most recent previous letter is here. If it’s a leftist position, Mr. Dedig supports it.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Sixty-five percent of those in a recent survey think our country should resume offshore drilling in order to reduce prices of crude oil and gasoline.
“The price of crude oil is determined by oil futures contracts traded on commodity exchanges.
“The world, including the U.S., has a glut of crude oil and the price of crude and gasoline does not reflect the situation.
“Large amounts of leveraged dollars are being traded for these oil contracts, driving up the price.
“Position limits should be reinstated and larger margin requirements should be enacted to reduce speculation and drive down prices.”
[RWC] Mr. Dedig doesn’t explain why anyone in their right mind would bid up the price of crude oil - or any commodity - if they believe there is “a glut.” For the sake of argument, let’s assume a glut exists in the conventional supply/demand sense. What Mr. Dedig appears to ignore is supply counts only when it can be depended upon, and what’s going on in the Middle East and with Obama administration policies means people don’t see those supplies as secure. That’s one factor that increases price. Another factor is the dropping value of the U.S. dollar. The more dollars the Fed prints (aka, “quantitative easing”) to purchase U.S. debt the more expensive oil and all other commodities become.
“The U.S. has 2 percent of proven world reserves, and it does not make sense to deplete all of our reserves by more drilling. We will still need oil and its byproducts even after we develop alternative energies.
“One problem with energy in America is the lack of a comprehensive energy policy. A strong energy plan would go a long way to help reduce unemployment and reindustrialize our economy.”
[RWC] In case you’re not aware, “comprehensive energy policy” is leftyspeak for policies that discourage production/use of conventional economically and technically viable energy sources (coal, hydro, natural gas, nuclear, oil) but subsidize energy sources (usually called “green”) not yet economically and/or technically viable. How would using energy more expensive than used by the rest of the world “go a long way to help reduce unemployment and reindustrialize our economy?”
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