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High Gas Prices: 'The Truth Can Set Us Free'

Posted by: Michael Dudley

24 May 2006 - 9:00am

We can do a lot of things to move to a future powered by alternative energy sources. One of the most important, writes K.C. Golden, is to elect leaders who are willing to tell us the truth -- that fossil fuels are expensive.

"We can start by squaring up to a simple truth, fossil fuels are very costly. We pay some of the tab at the pump and in our utility bills. But we pay much more in the form of chronic national insecurity due to dependence on oil. We pay in the form of climate disruption—more intense storms, water shortages, ocean sterilization. We pay through the nose, through our lungs and through our declining standing in the world.

The price of oil may cycle down again—after all, suppliers don't want to price us out of our addiction. 'Peak oil' may be more like a long ridge, with lots of price volatility to keep us guessing. The people who have the most control of oil prices also have the greatest incentive to discourage investment in alternatives—so don’t expect a smooth ride up the price curve. But when the price drops, it's lying.

No matter how energy prices spike or plunge, fossil fuels are exorbitantly expensive. Their impact on our climate alone is an epic heist of the planet's wealth—a hocking of our worldly treasure for a few decades' fix. The geopolitical costs of fossil fuel addiction are literally bleeding us. Whatever is driving oil prices—greed, economics, supply disruption, all of the above—the rising price at the pump is finally communicating some fraction of the truth: fossil fuels are a colossal rip-off."

Full Story: Energy Futures
Source: Tom Paine, May 22, 2006
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K.C. shows that the Dems and Bush are both to blame

Submitted by Irvin Dawid on Wed, 05/24/2006 - 08:42.

He writes:
"President Bush flirted with the truth when he said we’re addicted to oil. But now he proposes to treat our addiction by expanding supply! Democrats have suggested price controls and suspending fuel taxes. Political consultants in both parties feed our leaders the same advice: people don’t want to hear the truth of costly fossil fuels. Tell them anything, but not the truth."

Note also that this column is based on his May 11 column in the Seattle Times, http://www.planetizen.com/node/19775
Irvin Dawid, Palo Alto, CA

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