If you haven’t already seen his TV ads, check out www.pickensplan.com. That is the web site of T. Boone Pickens Jr.’s plan to save the USA from its oil addiction. Pickens has used his considerable market and media savy to generate PR in such places as the Wall Street Journal Op-ed page for his big plan to save us from oil. Sadly, it’s based on a few half truths and is largely self serving. There’s only space for one of these today, though, the $700bln half truth.
Pickens calls the purchase of $700bln/yr in foreign oil “the largest wealth transfer of wealth in the history of mankind.” Transfer of wealth? Not hardly. A wealth transfer is when Bob Mugabe confiscates farm land for his cronies. A wealth transfer is when Robin Hood takes from the rich. A wealth transfer is when a parent leaves his property to his children. A wealth transfer is a one-way deal.
$700bln/yr for foreign oil is an open market trade. The Sauds get dollars and the US gets oil. The transactions are voluntary. Is the deal fair? It’s very fair and the US gets the long end of it.
Economically, the US is among the most energy efficient countries in the world (behind Singapore, but they don’t spend much on heat). Wait, doesn’t the US consume 5 times more energy per capita than average? Yes, but the US generates more than 5 times the wealth per capita than average. The US does more with its energy to create wealth, and wealth means longer, happier lives.
The Gores of the world want us (but not themselves) to live in smaller houses with less heat and generally do with less. But they don’t seem to realize that large heated houses and comfortable lives are part of the drive to succeed that generates the innumerable inventions and benefits that are made in the USA. In short, the energy the US consumes is in good hands and works to benefit the world. The US is not an oil addict. The US uses energy very efficiently to drive the strongest economy in the world, so if you are tired of the oil guilt trip, feel free to disembark.
So, sorry Mr. Pickens, it’s not a wealth transfer. Should the US build nuclear plants, drill for domestic oil, and research new technologies? Sure, that’s the future. Just don’t pretend oil imports are bankrupting the US in order to fish for more government subsidies for your wind farms.
T. Boone Pickens is the real addict here – addicted to Uncle Sugar.
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