Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Tariffing Brazilian Ethanol, all the while Cherishing Saudi OPEC >$100-a-barrel petroleum. Why...?

This is quite possibly one of the most important questions to be addressed for the 21st century. Why are we so hell bent on spending half of our defense budget and hand it over to OPEC when we don't have to? When trillions of dollars are being transferred from the US to a Saudi conglomerate such as OPEC for a natural resource that doesn't operate under a free market, are we then not indirectly supporting totalitarian regimes and transferring absolute power away from the US into the hands of countries such as Saudi Arabia who still practice barbaric acts against their own citizens and denigrate free speech? Are we then indirectly doing everything BUT spreading democracy? When such high volumes of capital exchange takes place, are we talking about money or transfer of absolute power?

Why don't we use most of this OPEC money towards third world agricultural sector ethanol production to fuel our cars? Why don't we have Congress mandate that every car sold in the US be flex fueled cars so they can run on ethanol as well as petroleum, hence creating a world standard and creating a tremendous win for world development? This would also make it much easier to lift international trade barriers, and fund tractors for low income families instead of helping Saudi princes buy stake in American Media.

Dr. Robert Zubrin argues the points above in his new book, and offers quite an intriguing solution.

Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free Of Oil.