Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal said Sunday that he wants oil prices to drop so that the United States and Europe don't accelerate efforts to wean themselves off his country's supply. ... "We don't want the West to go and find alternatives, because, clearly, the higher the price of oil goes, the more they have incentives to go and find alternatives," said Talal, who is listed by Forbes as the 26th richest man in the world.That is pretty blinding obvious. Does anyone not understand that if it wasn't for the oil under its sands, that Saudi Arabia would be one of the poorest countries on the planet, if it even was a country? The only other revenue generator they would have would be the annual hajj.
If we had any sense in this country, we'd make it a nearly Apollo Lunar landing style push to develop alternative sources of energy that don't involve yanking dead dinosaur materials from the Earth. But good luck with that. The Democrats are spineless and the Republicans are in the thrall of the oil companies.
(H/T)
Amen. May I link this?
ReplyDelete-- This is hope. I haven't done the research yet but Japan is supposedly forsaking nuclear power and going with solar and wind. That just might supply the R&D and the economy of scale needed to make it all work.
ReplyDeleteAnd Saudi's can go back to hosting the Haj.
Don Brown
Suz, feel fee to link anything at any time.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I will!
ReplyDeleteWhen you consider how much energy is used for convenience rather than Manufacturing, propulsion, heating and cooling a different picture emerges.
ReplyDeleteWe waste a lot on junk.
Eck!
Also consider that the Saudis are a major owner of Fox News, which is one of the major voices in denying climate change, because that's another reason to stop using oil.
ReplyDeleteBut even if you don't believe in climate change, it only makes sense to stop sending boatloads of cash to people who are our enemies but who we depend on to keep our nation moving. It's bad defense strategy, it's bad for our economy. Any real patriot is for alternative energy, the faster the better. A "Manhattan Project" is in order.