Pending a newer post from “All Things Conservative,” I am left reading the liberal “Daily Kos” yet again. The post that I read today was titled: “Our Sins Remembered.” It dealt mainly with the issues of “stagflation.”
This term was rather new to me. It refers to a period where economic growth is stagnant combined with rising inflation. The cycle of recession and growth is compensated for in both cases with inflation. When there is a fear of rising inflation, the government cracks down on the supply of money available in the US. Then when the job market is rough and there is not much spending, the economy is stimulated be increased spending. But now, similar to the 1970’s there is little economic growth while inflation still rises. And this time around, it did not take massive action from OPEC to send us into a downward spiral toward “stagflation.” Yet even now, our dependency is greater than it was in the 70’s. The writer blames our lack of oil independence on the Republicans (go figure) but I don’t agree with that particu.lar statement.
What I do agree with is what we need to do now. We must release ourselves from the hold that the “oil countries” have over us. I think that the looming shortage of oil will definitely hurt our economy. But because our country is built on the interstate system (so to say), we will be forced to innovate to keep our country alive.
I’m no expert when it comes to issues like this, but one thing is clear, we should have already had a plan to decrease our dependency by now. We need to take steps now to ensure our superiority in the world market. The oil that flows into our country controls our economy, when the oil “dries up,” we will be left without a leg to stand on. The next administration MUST begin taking steps to ensure this independence.
1 comment:
What is scary is that this fear is a two sided coin. With all the hype that most people give about the problems with the economy, with oil dependence etc., you would think that there would be an equal hype to fix the problem. Though alternatives are on the move, and we are making progress, but I can't help but feel that a lot of times the solution gets thrown into the category of 3rd World Development issues. Every one feels sorry for the hungry kids on those TV commercials, but it turns into just a feeling that is easily forgotten in the next few minutes. The question is if we are in way too deep where no functional total switch to something else can be found fast enough before we hit rock bottom, because not many people care enough in comparison to the seriousness of the problem. Just a thought...
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