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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (1139)	8/1/2008 8:30:17 AM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

When I see other countries doing all the right things, it just saddens me that here in America we have lost our ability to think straight about how to keep our economy on the right footing. Today's leaders are profligate spenders, ballooning our debt and deficits, and they and many of our citizens simply don't get the connection between high oil prices and the destruction of our economy. We're relegating ourselves to a long slow decline and it is very upsetting because it doesn't have to be this way. Brazil is a great example. They are not dependent on oil, so when oil prices are high, they mostly use sugar ethanol to power their vehicles and they use domestic oil production exports to bring in huge amounts of cash to power their economy. It's a double boost to their economy. Compare that to the US, where we use oil to power our cars and we send huge amounts of cash overseas to fuel our insatiable oil demand. It's a double whammy, a one-two punch to our economy. No wonder we're realing and fear recession. And yet, many people simply don't understand that this oil dependence is destroying this country. What do you need to get it? Does some one need to hit you need to watch your entire retirement disappear along with our economy before you get that oil dependence is a bad thing? Strong Economy Propels Brazil to World Stage nytimes.com ... It has greatly diversified its industrial base, has huge potential to expand a booming agricultural sector into virgin fields and holds a tremendous pool of untapped natural resources. New oil discoveries will thrust Brazil into the ranks of the global oil powers within the next decade. Yet while exports of commodities like oil and agricultural goods have driven much of its recent growth, Brazil is less and less dependent on them, economists say, having the advantage of a huge domestic market — 185 million people — that has grown wealthier with the success of people like Ms. Sousa. ...