because paul krugman finally said what needs to be said...

i rarely blog on politics. i find that no matter how sound my logical arguments may be, or how grounded in common sense my position is, someone walks away pissed off. so in order to avoid those uncomfortable passive-aggressive exchanges in my "comment" box, i write mostly about my mundane life. besides, i think most people who tune into this blog station on a regular basis already know my political positions on most things.

but this latest focus on offshore drilling has gotten me really revved up. to be honest, it has very little to do with the drilling itself, but the fact that i feel like the entire nation is being misled by inaccurate (but persuasive) statements. take whatever position you want on it, really. but get the FACTS out for people to consider.

i think the common belief in this country is that whatever oil we do produce, we'll keep for our country's exclusive use. uhhh... where did you get THAT idea? don't people realize that any oil being pumped out is going straight out into the global market? and in the grand scheme of things, our contribution to the "pool" won't be significant enough to alter market prices dramatically. let's face it. we're just not in a oil-rich region to compete with the middle east's production rates.

but for the sake of argument, let's just say we DO reserve all that oil for our country's exclusive use. all the oil we'll pump from this effort will last this country... what... a decade? and then what? it's unrealistic to think that there will be an alternate energy source/infrastructure in place in only a decade's time. and by then, we would have sufficiently angered OPEC, isolated ourselves off yet again, and god knows what we'll end up paying for oil. don't people ever think about the FUTURE anymore?

so, please. stop saying that off-shore drilling is going to alleviate high gas prices. because if you crunch the numbers... heck, ANY numbers and actually look at the facts, that simply isn't true. and please... don't flame me because i actually decided to write something more substantial than what color lipstick i'm going to wear this weekend.

anyway, paul krugman put this SO MUCH BETTER than i ever could. here is his opinion piece in the new york times: krugman op-ed