The oil crisis, is it real or is it imagined? This is a topic that I've spoken about before, but can't avoid talking about again, when it's thrust into your face every day in the form of higher and higher prices. The current thinking, as of today, is that oil prices in the US are going to hit over 4 dollars per gallon. That's certainly a tragedy for drivers, but think what it's doing to do to homeowners that heat with oil. The last couple of years heating oil bills have doubled, forcing many people on retirement and others, to either seek help from some charitable source or sell their homes. Don't look for any sympathy with the price of oil, Iran just came out with a statement today, that crude oil prices are far too low. Apparently many investors in oil futures agree with them. This is one area where there seems to be no limit to human and national greed. Iran seems to have figured out a way to really cash in on their oil reserves. They want to become dependent on nuclear energy, so they can sell every drop of oil that they have and thus become one of the richest nations in the world.

Here's the ironic thing about all of that. If they ever do become truly energy independent they will really make us look like fools. We have much more capability to accomplish a task like this than they do, yet we just keep sopping up oil. The truth about this entire matter is that if we really wanted to be independent from oil, we could use a combination of technologies and accomplish this task probably in under 10 years. The problem is that that oil lines the pockets of those that control the great oil interests and the others they keep bidding up the oil futures. When Teddy Roosevelt broke up the great oil monopolies during his term of office, many thought that it could never be done. Today we face even a greater threat from big oil. Oh you will hear that some big oil Companies are into thermal energy and such, but the truth of the matter is that if they run out of oil, they will just charge a fortune for thermal energy, there will be no benefit to us. Their record in this area speaks for itself. We are in about the worst possible position that any country could be in, to try and fight the rising oil prices. The reason for this is that there are too many people from big oil in our government.

Cash

One of the worst things about rising oil prices is the fact that we are told that there is a shortage of oil, when in fact many scientists have stated that we have enough oil for at least another 100 years and in this country we have enough coal for almost 300 years. For the last few years it has become economically viable to change coal into oil, yet you don't see anybody doing it. Canada is loaded with tar sands. The tar sands contain billions of barrels of oil, so much in fact, that it is said that they might possibly equal all the known reserves of oil. There is another not so well kept secret about oil. The secret is that there are many places that are suspected of containing oil reserves that we haven't even explored yet. It just might turn out that the world is really awash in oil. It is one thing to make a profit, but it is a whole other thing to make it on the suffering of others. The effects of the high prices of oil are becoming morally intolerable. Since nothing is being done about this, I have to assume that this means that our government just doesn't care about the suffering of others. In all fairness I have to say that it is not only the US government that has disappointed me, but most of all the other world governments have also done the same on this issue, which is nothing. If you talk to some of the people that are making the big bucks out of oil stocks and futures, they will just say that the poor should have gotten on the bandwagon too. Never mind that they didn't have the assets to purchase any stocks or futures, they consider this their problem and no one else's. Indeed, this is certainly not a very charitable way to look at things, especially in a country that has always been noted for being charitable to its citizens.

I would truly love to know the reason that we can't put generating stations on most of the 35,000 dams we have in this country. We have many states that border on the oceans and it would be very easy to install wave machines to generate electricity in these areas. Then there are those open lands out in the west and northwest that would be perfect for wind generation and solar heating. Nature has supplied us with the means to generate electricity by clean and nonpolluting methods, but do we take advantage of this? Not in any meaningful way. We just let all of these resources go begging. Look at Africa for example, that is an area that is subject to intense direct sunlight. What Better area could there be for electrical generation using solar means? Yet what do we see when we look at Africa? We see a land that has much misery. Not all of Africa is suffering, but certainly a good portion of it is. So why isn't Africa using the Sun to generate electricity? Could it be because the powers that be don't want to show the world that it could work? I mean, how would it look if all of a sudden Africa became energy independent? This is a continent that just doesn't have many resources. How much easier would it be for us to accomplish this task, if they were able to do it? No, I believe that any amount of misery over there will convince any of these companies to take their boot off of the neck of the African continent.

These companies will tell you that they have actually nothing to do with what happens in Africa. What they don't tell you is that huge amounts of money control many important people in the government's of the countries on that continent. The use of oil money to get what they want is nothing new. Look at how much of it flows through the hands of lobbyists in this country. A lot of people don't know this, but in theory there is a great substitute for home heating oil and that is biodiesel. Biodiesel is actually a vegetable oil alternative. It is clean burning and renewable. The reason that it was never popular before, was the fact that it was much more expemsove than heating oil. That seems to be changing now as oil inches ever higher and higher in price. Home heating oil has actually doubled in price since 2001, at least this is what the experts say. Talking from personal experience, my home heating oil bill has gone up 60% in just the last year. If there were distributors where I live for biodiesel oil, I would be more than glad to fill my tank with it, but they really don't exist yet in my area. They still haven't been able to use this type of fuel as a substitute for gasoline, although it works well in diesel engines.

Unfortunately, for the common people of this world, which includes just about most of us, we will never get any relief in this area as long as this corruption is allowed to continue. There is a mentality at work here that states, it is quite all right to keep other people down as long as you are making a buck. What amazes me is the fact that we are supposed to be a religious country with a strong Christian and Judaic tradition, but that does not seem to be a consideration when money is involved. More and more, it seems that religion is fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with making a profit. I know that I like to make money just as much as the next guy, but if you told me that I could make a few dollars by taking the food off someone's table, I certainly wouldn't do it. I think that it is time for an injection of morals into the financial community. We have to take into account the misery of others. Throughout history, people have revolted because they have been downtrodden, yet this lesson in history seems to be lost. There is no two ways about it, time for energy independence has finally come.