US Energy Obesity

Washington, DC, Jun. 23rd, 2008 -- The simple fact is the United States has either to trim it's addiction to Oil by reducing consumption and waste, or pay the market price for Energy Obesity. The politicians are screaming that OPEC should increase production to feed their Gluttony, and that the Oil companies should be allowed to drill anywhere in the hope of striking it rich. It does not matter if every acre of the US, and the continental shelf contained an oil well, the consumption would rise to take advantage of the supply. We waste more energy than most countries consume.

The waste of energy to feed the vanity and greed of the average American is legendary around the world, and now the world is laughing at us because after fifty years of dreaming we expect everyone else to come and bail us out, reduce their consumption, increase their production so that we can continue the squandering of resources to feed our delusions. Hard words but their meaning will become more and more obvious over the next decade.

For thousands of years people have congregated together, for safety and sharing resources. It was called a Village. The village had craftsmen, farmers, shops and every support trade to make life tolerable. As centuries passed these villages grew and became Towns, even mighty Cities. The Blacksmith put down his hammer, walked over the road and joined the Carpenter and Shopkeeper in the Inn for a Beer. He then walked home to join his family in their evening meal. That was not to be the American Dream unveiled by the slick property developers for returning Victors of World War II. No they would live in sprawling grass covered sub divisions, with curving streets as far as the eye can see, each with between a quarter to half an acre of sterile grass which needed cutting to conform with the Dream. The shops were all moved to their own development, anchored by a "Big Box" which manipulated prices to put the other local shops out of business. The Blacksmith was forced to move to an Industrial Park, on the outskirts and the Carpenter was put out of business because the Nationwide Chain Big Box imported prefabricated furniture at a fraction of the price.

The smelly glue that pulled this dream together was the Mighty Automobile, with each family having two, three, even four. Young kids were given their driving licenses and a car long before they needed them, another status symbol to reinforce the dream. The die was cast when Charles E. Wilson, president of General Motors was being confirmed as Eisenhower's Secretary of Defense with the famous phrase, " What's good for General Motors is good for the USA" This typified the manipulation by the mega corporations, to create their Dream Markets, using the public as Pawns in a giant marketing Chess game. The rest of the world went their traditional way and continued with public transportation, and villages, town and integrated cities. GM knew better!

Today the manufacture of goods has almost disappeared from the United States. Without the mighty steel works, factories and production shops you would expect the need for energy to reduce. On the contrary it has increased. There are lawns to mow, edge and blow clear of grass clippings, millions of gas guzzling SUV's to be driven by one person, maybe to the supermarket to buy an environmentally friendly product, or Organic vegetables brought from thousands of miles away in refrigerated trucks.

The average American uses 25 barrels of Oil a year. To produce all the products consumed and used by this American the average Chinese uses 2 barrels of oil a year, and the average Indian manning the call centers, 1 barrel of Oil a year. Since those days of Eisenhower the excuse has always been that the consumption of oil be based on GNP, not population, especially as the United States led the world in producing the goods and services that created GDP. Today that argument is no longer valid as the USA has sub-contracted the production, and most of the services around the world. The wealth is still seen as coming from the USA, but being created elsewhere.

Reality will hit the USA hard over the next decade, and the brainwashed will not want to give up their unrealistic and extravagant lifestyle. The forces of Capitalism will continue to accumulate wealth for the few, drawing it from the many, whilst blasting them with endless media propaganda that it's everyone else's fault, and our way of life is being undermined by those who want our superior life style. They will also be concerned by the realization that as the wealthy strut along the Red Carpet they have no healthcare, medicines, homes or food they can afford since losing their jobs.

Fortunately as the United States is probably one of the most resilient countries in the world there will be a massive painful correction, and the strong will come out of the economic ashes and continue to prosper. The chances of the Energy Obese being amongst the strong is very small.

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