Dear Ms. Whitson:
First, a great article but their is a huge error in it. The U.S. daily demand for oil is not 12,000,000 but nearly 21 MMBOPD. The April 8, 2008 number was 20.114 MMBOPD which you can find on the web. I would recommend correcting this.
Second, another major event that you have left out is the demand coming from India and China. These two countries, with 40% of the world’s population, have now begun to use gasoline in huge volumes. A few years ago, it was 7 MMBOPD, it is now up to 12 MMBOPD and will soon rise to 20 MMBOPD, put increasing price pressure on crude oil. The U.S. uses 45% of the world’s gasline so don’t expect prices to really come down until either supply is increased [which G. Bush had to beg for from the Saudi's] or the dollar’s value is enhanced, as you noted above. Until our Demorcrat congress men and women begin to understand supply and demand fundamentals, we’ll continue to have high prices and price spikes.
Third, we need to get speculators out of the market as well. At least 25% of the price impact has come from pure speculation. Wall Street traders are profiting without creating a single barrel of oil or mcf of natural gas. This has to be managed in a much different fashion. Speculation is Clue 3.
Lastly, Windfall Profits Taxes won’t work since it will not add a single barrel to supply. All it will do is provide our government leaders with another pot of money to waste. They certainly won’t use it to drill for oil and gas. If you don’t believe that, check out the Entitlement Debt [$54-74 Trillion], National Debt [$9 Trillion], Balance of Payments Deficit [$3 Trillion] and Interest on Debt of $490 Billion per year. If you feel our government is going to use your money wisely, send some more in!
P.S. For those that don’t know by now, Corporations do not pay taxes, they collect taxes. The real burden will be on us as individuals. See Fair Tax.org for a clear understanding on this.
