To Drill or not to Drill – That is the Question

After months of record oil prices that caused a lot of pain at the pump, we are finally seeing some relief, but don’t be fooled, we still have a problem.

According to the DoE, the top 5 oil producing countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, China, and the United States. Twenty-five percent of the U.S. crude comes from offshore wells, but over 58% of our crude oil used in the U.S. comes from other countries.

Moreover, crude oil isn’t used only for gasoline. It’s used for fuel oil, jet fuel, diesel, liquid petroleum gases, lubricants, asphalt, and many other products.

While I fully agree we need to be more environmentally friendly and reduce our dependency on oil, our first goal must be to reduce our dependency on foreign oil (the 58% previously mentioned). It’s is just not logical to think that we will be able to wave a magic wand and reduce our >20 million barrel/day appetite.

Thus, the choice comes down whether we continue to get our oil from foreign countries and allowing it to impact our national security – or – we find/get more oil domestically.

Some will try to convince us that the oil offshore would take 10 years to hit the market and wouldn’t even make a difference. I bet Brazil said the same thing and now they are looking at 8 billion barrels offshore that will put them in the top 10 for oil producers!

I say let’s get crackin’. We have put this on the back burner for far too long and had we seriously looked at this problem over 10 years ago, we would have never had the problem we had.

Two things will happen if we allow offshore drilling: first, the markets will respond and realize that we are seriously going to attack this and prices will continue to fall. OPEC won’t even be able to control it at that point. Second, we will find ways to extract the oil much faster and safer and we will have the oil out in a few years not 10 years as opponents profess.

Drill here. Drill now. Don’t put off decisions until we go back up to over $100/barrell!

Don’t Raise Taxes!

All this talk about taxes is beginning to get on my nerves. Along with many other folks, I paid a nauseating amount in Federal and State taxes last year. I am not rich nor am I wealthy. I live in one of the most expensive states that not only gets me for sales tax, gas tax, etc., but also a state income tax of almost 6%!

My opinion of rich or wealthy is anyone who has $1M in liquid assets and if you want to raise the taxes on them, I’m sure it would be just fine. To say that everyone who makes over $250K (or 200K or 150K) is rich is beyond naive.

We keep talking about jobs and all the jobs lost overseas. Well, here’s a newsflash…for the same reasons jobs are moving out of Massachusetts, jobs are leaving the U.S. – our taxes are too high! If you raise taxes on companies, they are going to build it into their operating plans and have to make up for it somewhere else and that is likely by reducing headcount. Or, they are going to outsource jobs where they can get cheaper labor and it’s not in the U.S. We have the best workers in the world, but we have to pay them well. We can do this if we don’t have a large tax burden to deal with. Study this closely before you buy the spin.

Here’s another news flash…more jobs are going to go away if taxes are raised on the people who spend all the money. There are many people like me who frequent Lowes, Target, Best Buy, and many other stores and walk out with things we never intended to buy. We also go out to eat more often than we need to. I can tell you that if my taxes go up anymore, I will buckle down and stop spending money. Who cares? Well, if I do that, so will many like me and ultimately, that will impact the local economies. When that happens, jobs get lost.

One final complaint and I will attempt to keep this blog positive – why should I pay higher taxes so someone who doesn’t pay taxes (40% of the 95% allegedly getting tax breaks) will get a check?! Yes folks – that IS welfare and we took far too long to figure out that didn’t work before. Let’s not go there again!

By the way, for those in Massachusetts, please vote in favor of repealing the state income tax (yes on Question 1). Look at your pay stub and that amount under state tax will be your extra money in every paycheck. That is a 6% raise in everyone’s (who pays taxes) paycheck TAX FREE! Don’t be fooled about all the services that will be lost. This will force the state to balance their checkbook and manage their money better like all of us have to do.

Life after 1/2009 – Forward or Backward in Homeland Security?

Despite the relentless and often shameful bashing of the Bush administration, one fact remains – we have not had another attack on the homeland since that terrible day in September, 2001. In fact, we have had over 19 plots disrupted since that time! This is not an accident or luck, it is because of the hard work and commitment of the great Americans in the DHS, FBI, CIA, and many other agencies. It’s also because of something called the PATRIOT Act, but that will be addressed in a future blog.

We are now a couple of months away from the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States. What happens after 20 January 2009 is anyone’s guess, but we must all commit to ensuring that we don’t weaken our defenses or hinder our law enforcement agencies. We must allow them to prevent and deter terrorists and their plots against the United States.

As Secretary Chertoff, Chief Paulison, Secretary Gates and others transition to their future and new leaders take the helm at DHS, FEMA, and DoD, we must push for continued forward momentum and not allow our country to be surprised again.

I’ll take this opportunity to thank those mentioned above and all the other Patriots who have helped us be better prepared and kept us safe for the past 7 years – THANK YOU – we appreciate your service and sacrifice!