Monday, April 26, 2010

Why doesn't the US government declare an ';oil import holiday'; to alleviate the ';oil problem';?

FDR, Roosevelt, declared a ';bank holiday'; when the economic system became completly out of whack. Why not impose a similar ';oil import holiday'; to stop the oil madness cycle??Why doesn't the US government declare an ';oil import holiday'; to alleviate the ';oil problem';?
Roosevelt declaired a ';bank hoilday'; to stop the run on the banks. People had paniced and all wanted to withdraw their money. Banks keep money on hand for withdrawals, but most of the money deposited in banks is then loaned to others. That is why banks can pay interest on deposits. When everyone wanted to withdraw money at the same time, there was a real possibility that the banks would fail, and many depositors could lose everything.


The situation with oil is different. The problem is that there is too little oil on the market to allow us to buy all we want at prices we feel willing to pay. That makes prices go up, making oil, and oil products too expensive for some people, thus lowering demand. If we had an ';oil holiday'; and imported less oil, the problem would just get worse. Prices would go higher, and fewer people would be able to afford it. The solution to the oil--the energy problem--new technology that will develop other sources of energy. Some people want prices for oil to continue to go higher. They think this will make other forms of energy ';affordable';--that is, no more expensive than expensive oil. Developments in technology will eventually make it possible for us to have other sources of energy. The real question is whether or not we should use the oil resources in this country--thus lowering prices and reducing our dependance on foreign oil. Some people think we should keep oil prices high thus forcing us to adjust to higher prices which wil make other energy sources ';affordable';. This will be hard on people who already have trouble paying their bills. Other people think we should use the oil resources we have--thereby lowering prices in the near future--while we work to develop other forms of energy that can be produced at lower prices. The people who want to keep prices high seem to think we will not develop other forms of energy unless we are forced to do so. It makes one wonder who forced the Wright brothers to figure out how to make a plane that would fly, who forced Edison to learn how to make electricity useable as an energy source, and who forced Bill Gates to found Microsoft. There is a mountain of money to be make by anyone who can come up with a workable, affordable energy source. Probably that is incentive enough to get people to work on the problem.Why doesn't the US government declare an ';oil import holiday'; to alleviate the ';oil problem';?
I wonder why they don't. Congress and the president are very good at doing stupid things.

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