Cross of Oil

America is in a quandary. The specter of less oil available to meet American needs is now driving home to the American public. Solutions such as nuclear power plants and more domestic drilling are at least a decade away if started immediately. But even this added resource will only slightly offset the expected increase in demand.

Unless America goes to war and captures all the middle east or South American oil, it is looking at its imminent demise as the preeminent nation in the world. The nation that solves the energy question and gets off the oil standard will be the superpower of this century. Unfortunately America is too wed to an oil economy to ever marshal the will to seriously explore options.

The answer for America is a “Manhattan” type of project to find energy solutions that can be implemented now. Unfortunately a “Manhattan” project would imply fundamental research. The marketplace will not invest billions of dollars in fundamental research for years with no guarantee of returns. Only government can take on this type of project. Tax every American alive $1.00 dollar and you will have $350,000,000 dollars of seed money.