OIL IS ONLY THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

In the early 60’s we studied a policy called “beggar thy neighbor” as part of our Economics class. Beggar thy neighbor is a policy where a foreign country subsidizes their products to make them cheaper for us to purchase until our domestic manufacturers or suppliers are forced to downsize or go out of business. Then what happens?

In 1965 the Toyota Corona and Corolla were two of the cheapest cars you could buy. It was much cheaper than any domestic. What did they do? They kept moving up…now the Lexus! This happened to our Auto manufacturers, Electronics manufacturers, Textile manufacturers, various widget manufacturers, and Now…our Oil Producers. We had cheap Mid East Oil for so long that we got dependent on it. I have said since the 70’s oil embargo; I would not mind $5.00 a gallon gasoline if it all came out of our ground because the money would stay in our economy.

Why are we not having a web site talking about our whole TRADE DEFICIT? We are talking about OIL because it is something that affects everything every American does every day. What about all the other import products we buy and use everyday that started out being cheaper than domestic products. Oil is our wake up call; it is just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG.

As I have said on another post, I will not pay my neighbor’s kid to mow my yard (even if he does it cheaper) unless my neighbor pays my daughter to baby sit (or something)

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Comment by Mary Gibson on August 22, 2008 at 2:53pm: I see this as a patriotic issue. It is our duty to reduce our dependence on a product sold to us by people who don't even like us. Fine, if we don't have to have it but not fine when it is a necissity! Way past time to do something about this. Conservation needed to start yesterday. I have a clothes line to dry my clothes, I drive an economy car and keep my thermostat set at 78 summer and 68 winter, use plastics as sparingly as possible and any other avenues that I can find.

Comment by Wayne Alderman on July 30, 2008 at 6:57pm: Hi John,

You are right! Keeping people focused on energy is enough. However this is something Americans need to think about and it does also include our oil dependence.

Comment by John Blanchard on July 30, 2008 at 6:29pm: Wayne: I agree with you wholeheartedly about the trade deficit. As far as having a Boone website addressing the website, we need to focus Boone's efforts on energy. If we add other issues (even important ones) it will be difficult to get people focused on the energy issue. If you are talking about starting a separate initiative to address the trade deficit, go for it, and count me in!!