Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Where’s our leader?

I have been reading the oil rig news and have read where everyone involved is pointing the finger at the other guy; that's the 'blame' finger, not that other one. And I couldn't help but think that we really should be blaming the real culprit in this mess…John D. Rockefeller. Not that it does us any good to blame him as he's been dead for 73 years.


 

John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American oil magnate. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry


 

Rockefeller, referred to as JD from now on, created the industry we see today. Nothing has changed except for where we look for oil. JD's heirs still turn it into cheap gasoline as they always have. But not so cheap that they don't make a fortune from selling it. JD wanted to control everything related to oil and he succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations, becoming the richest man in the world. Even now he is regarded as the richest person in history.

We are addicted to oil and JD is the cause. He drove the competing electric vehicle industry out of business early in the 20th century and they have never recovered from that onslaught of cheap competition. Gas was kept artificially cheap for decades and no politician was brave enough to tax it as they should have. Other nations did tax it properly and their auto industry provided them with more energy efficient vehicles.

Sadly, we all went along with it. We believed the hype and lies that the oil supply was unlimited and that America had more than all the rest of the world. We actually believed that at one time. Now we are reaping what JD sowed for us…and we still don't have a leader that will get us off the well trod path to oil and more oil.

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