Why (tm) aren't we drilling in ANWR?

Last week, I saw that the U.S. Senate passed a bill to stop purchasing oil for the national reserve. It got me thinking -- reducing demand is one thing, but what about increasing the supply of oil?

Why (tm) aren't we drilling for oil in ANWR and off the coasts of America?

As we learn from Ockham's Trilogy (Fame/Fraud Matrix, Page 134), the question "Who benefits?" must be asked first.

Who benefits from the United States of America not drilling in ANWR or off the coast of Florida?

How about OPEC? Yes.

Venezuela? Yes.

Russia? Absolutely.

The Sierra Club? Yes.

Corn Growers, and other farmers growing crops for ethanol conversion? Yes.

The typical shlub sitting in the cubicle next to you, who turns away from the pump as he fills his car with his gas because he doesn't want to see the price he's paying? No.

Pseudoparodox -- The Price Increase Pattern

You can see the pattern everywhere. For example: Real Estate. Home prices have dropped. People owe more than their homes are worth ... so, they want to walk away from their mortgages because rent is cheap.

Well, guess what? Since so many people want to do that, the price of renting has started to creep up again.

How about this biofuel thing? The Corn Growers appeared on C-Span, talking about how cost-effective it is to grow corn and convert it into fuel, and how the waste products can be used to feed farm animals ... and how cheap the process is ... how cheap grain is, this and that.

Well, now that we're actually following their ideas, the demand for the crops went up, b/c now you have biofuel users competing with people who eat ... and the prices have gone up corn, rice, wheat.

And all this b/c we have this pseudoparodox ... this sick pattern. "Oh, Item X cheap! Let's use it!"

"Oh, now everyone wants it! The price has gone up!"

There you go.

Why not dig for shale in Canada, and turn into oil. It's cheap! Once we, as a society, actually commit to that course of action, we'll hear "Oh! It's so expensive."

It's a sick pattern.

***

I heard the golf bag (tm Michael Savage) on the other day, saying that capitalists are realists. They don't believe perfection is possible. Therefore ... caveat emptor. Fend for yourself. Rugged Individualism.

Perhaps he's right. Perhaps all that sci-fi Star Trek utopian stuff is a bunch of crap, and you can't have perfection when people are imperfect.

So ... there's no way to govern things perfectly, or maintain a good thing perfectly. Consumers are irrational. Leaders can be corrupted, can be become greedy, or can make mistakes even if they have the best of intentions. No one can truly predict the future on a consistent basis.

So ... perhaps he's right, and we all need a dose of realism (tm). Keep it real.

It's a pattern, one we have live with. There isn't any better way of running a society at the moment than what we have here.

The answer doesn't seem to be a better system ... the answer s within ourselves, the group, and community ... accepting (tm) what the situation is and holding leaders accountable for their actions.

It's a battle. It's a constant, everyday slog. It's a war on ignorance, greed, corruption. That's the pattern we need to strive for.