What’s the current economic situation in the United States?
- The United States has a huge federal debt, with many states also having crushing debt loads.
- The United States has extremely high unemployment levels, as well as considerable hidden unemployment.
- The United States spends billions of dollars importing oil from countries besides Canada.
These are formidable economic challenges that harm the economy and lower the standard of living of Americans.
The United States also has massive quantities of oil locked up in the outer continental shelf, the deepwater’s of the Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska and under federal lands.
Drilling and producing this oil could contribute mightily to solving the country’s economic problems.
It’s been said that there is enough oil in North America, which includes Canada and Mexico, to supply all our needs for decades.
Recently the man, Howard Hamm, who is given credit for unlocking the oil from the Bakken shale, has said that producing America’s oil could result in royalty payments of $18 trillion to the federal government.
That’s more than the federal debt. Even if he has overstated these payments, royalties could go a long way toward solving our debt problem.
The oil industry alone could employ thousands who are presently unemployed. And it’s not just the drilling companies who will employ people. It’s the supporting industries like pipeline builders, cement producers, steel mills, manufacturers who build the equipment and all the small businesses that support these companies and their employees, such as restaurants, service stations and hotels.
These employees would also pay taxes that also help to reduce debt at both the federal and state levels.
Drilling and producing oil within the United States would be a boon to the economy, and provide jobs to those who are currently unemployed, and this would also help families recover from the recession.
It’s also potentially possible to stop importing oil from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and other countries having governments of questionable quality. All the money spent in foreign payments to these countries for their oil would remain in the United States and improve our balance of payments.
With all the benefits that could accrue to this country, it’s mind boggling to realize that the government is preventing the renaissance that drilling could achieve.
This is an opportunity we shouldn’t miss.
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