–Ronald Reagan, talking to students at Moscow State University, May 31st, 1988.
Gas prices are plummeting like the bit of an oil drill, straight and true, through one geological layer after another and then suddenly taking a horizontal turn and affecting all the rest of the economy, not to mention every other aspect of American power, diplomacy and leadership in the world.
Remember the Energy Crisis, the inevitability of Peak Oil, and how the price of a barrel of oil would increase from here to eternity, never receding?
Recall how we would never break free of OPEC’s oligopoly with its ever tighter grip on the world’s oil supply? How doom and gloom were everywhere? In short, remember malaise and the Carter Years?
Now imagine the opposite. You don’t have to imagine it. Just look around and savor the moment–and all the moments, all the years, ahead for America the oil power.
Ronald Reagan, that cockeyed optimist, told us there’d be days like this if only we’d give the economy its head, let American entrepreneurs and innovators compete freely, forget wage-and-price controls, and watch the price of oil drop and American productivity rise. But who believed him?
Headlines like the one on the front page of Saturday’s paper would have been hard to envisage back then: “Utilities in state to lower gas bills/ Well prices drop, pare winter rates.”
If you doubt the steady diet of good news in your daily paper, just take a look at your natural gas bills starting this month. All three of the state’s natural gas companies have just filed lower rates with the state’s Public Service Commission:
Centerpoint’s customers are to pay 19 percent less than they did last year.
Arkansas Oklahoma Gas is to begin charging its customers 21 percent less come this winter.
SourceGas Arkansas, which serves some 160,000 customers across northern and Northwest Arkansas, is expected to start charging them 23 percent less a month in the future.
Everything is coming up savings, which means there’ll be more money for investment, and more jobs as the petroleum industry–and all those it fuels–grows along with the rest of the economy.
How did all this happen? It’s hard to explain without mentioning the name of one George Phydias Mitchell, the Galveston-born son of Greek immigrants. He had a dream that went by the technical name of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing–or fracking for short. And he pursued it even after he was told his idea would never work. Yet he persisted, and so did his dream. Until finally, despite setback after setback, it has revolutionized the oil industry here and around the world.
It seems the only thing George Mitchell could not accept in his search for a better way to produce oil was defeat. First tested out in the Barnett Shale, his innovation would spread throughout the great Permian Basis in a kind of one-two punch that has revived the great oil fields of West Texas–until Midland looks like the old days again, attracting job-seekers from all over the country. There are fortunes to be made again, dreams to pursue again. America, it turns out, is still America, God bless her.
We could get used to this kind of thing–from lower gas bills in Arkansas to boom times in Texas.
Thank you, George P. Mitchell, and all those who believed and invested in your American dream, and made it come true–for all of us.
Who says America is finished?
Despite all the naysayers who would saddle that dream with tighter regulations, and discourage the creation of more pipelines to get that liquid gold to more markets, and a thousand other ways to stifle freedom, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
This is still a young country reaching for the stars. And the ride has just begun.
Davy on Sat, 7th Nov 2015 8:36 pm
See where your winner takes all attitude gets you Mak? Why not try to accept diversity? You don’t know my local yet you make comments ad neasea on how bad life is supposed to be for me. If you would lighten up on my ball bustin I would do the same. In the mean time we waste valuable time that could go towards doom and prep education. Many people are interested in what we both have to say in this regard.
makati1 on Sat, 7th Nov 2015 11:46 pm
But, Davy, the choices we make are the future for each of us. I know the US better than you know the Ps or Asia. You get your info secondhand thru US media propaganda. I get mine from my annual visit and from my friends and family in the various areas of the US.
I live here in Asia. The newspapers are about Asian news. The stores sell mostly Asian stuff. My condo neighbors are Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Filipinos, Malaysians, etc. Even a few Australians and Europeans.
As for wasting time…by my calculations there are many here who see my side clearly and agree with me.
After all, the topic of preparation quickly becomes repetitive as there is not much to say, that has not already been covered over and over again. About like the peak oil topic of this blog. That is why the owners are inserting anything even remotely related to peak oil to keep interest alive here. Until something new comes along.
I’m not here to make friends. I have enough of those here. I’m on Peakoil to share my views of the world and events. If they vary from yours, so be it. Only the future will prove who was more correct.
It is a beautiful Sunday here and the air is so clear that I can see the mountain chain as far away as 40 kilometers (~25 miles). The blue sky and 90F temps are just right for a walk to the mall for a few supplies. Have a great day!
Davy on Sun, 8th Nov 2015 6:28 am
Mak speak – “I know the US better than you know the Ps or Asia. You get your info secondhand thru US media propaganda. I get mine from my annual visit and from my friends and family in the various areas of the US.” This is your problem Mak, you think you know Asia so well but you don’t. I have been discrediting your comments now for 2 years. Your Asia predictions have failed miserably since then. You said Asia was going to crush the west instead Asia has had a decline. You have your little perch in Manila in a little apartment and you think you know Asia. You think you know the US but here again you are not an expert. All you know is your anti-American sites where you regurgitate the worst numbers you can find daily ad nausea. When I talk about Asia it is with broad based number that do not lie. There are numbers related to population, ecosystem, and economy. These numbers are basic numbers anyone can refer to and relate between regions.
Mak speak – “As for wasting time…by my calculations there are many here who see my side clearly and agree with me.” Mak, your popularity is among other anti-Americans that pervade this board who find any bad news on the US and then use it as a blunt club of criticism. US criticism is valid and vital but excessive and one sided views are just more agenda and propaganda that pervades the world now. There are many others who are fed up with your constant unfair, unbalanced, and narrow view of the west and the US. You speak agenda through personal resentment as just another form of propaganda. That is clear enough.
Mak speak – “After all, the topic of preparation quickly becomes repetitive as there is not much to say, that has not already been covered over and over again. About like the peak oil topic of this blog.” – That is a very poor statement that shows your shallow grasp of descent and preparations for descent. Many come and visit here to learn how to prepare for collapse. They contribute only rarely. I am constantly getting new ideas on the subject. You might also look at the repetition of your continuous anti-western and anti-American subjects. You are talking out both ends of your ass again on this point.
Mak speak “I’m not here to make friends. I have enough of those here. I’m on Peakoil to share my views of the world and events. If they vary from yours, so be it. Only the future will prove who was more correct.” – This is exactly my point Mak. You don’t care about others on this board. You are a narcissist who seeks to spread hate and disconnect. You have a hatred and resentment for Americans and the US you satisfy daily with your visits to this board. You have poor manners and do not practice a code of conduct that respects others. You are basically a silly old man who preaches hate, war, and unbalanced blame. You are constantly pointing fingers and blaming others for those things you yourself cannot live up to.