Companies may not drill at all if they don't believe there are enough oil and gas deposits to justify the huge upfront costs involved in setting up drill platforms, laying underwater pipelines and other infrastructure, experts say.

That means the economic benefits of drilling - increased supply of oil and natural gas, lower prices at the gas pump, smaller utility bills and potentially thousands of new energy-related jobs - are years away from materializing, if at al

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline"

We know there’s explosive demand growth in the developing world with no easy way to turn this train around. More than a billion consumers are moving up into a higher level of consumption, demanding the comforts the West has enjoyed since the third Industrial Revolution that began in the early 1900s.

For many decades now, 1billion of the earth’s human inhabitants have consumed two-thirds of the earth’s developed resources. The other 6 billion got by on the remaining third. Now, led by China and India, the developing world is eating better and living better. And this requires massive commodity consumption, with oil topping the list.

India is one of the main countries that America "outsources" to. Whenever you have trouble with your Dell laptop computer and you are forced to call that dreaded "help desk," chances are good that you are going to be talking to someone in India.   American companies are off-shoring jobs to India, creating tons of jobs over there and raising the standard of living. As a result, they are more able to afford things like cars and the gas that powers them:    gas prices are  skyrocketing. And Americans are struggling financially as a result. In short, their gain has led to our loss.

And if you pay attention to where most of the stuff you buy at Walmart is made, you'll see a "made in China" label. People over there in China are getting  paid to make the stuff sold in American stores. They are making money off of us. Since we opened our doors to trade with China, their standard of living has gone up, and China is consuming more precious energy resources and driving up demand for them.

One of the arguments favoring the off-shoring of American jobs is that it helps poor people in developing countries. Indeed it does. And true to the concept of socialism, it does so at the expense of others (that's Americans). 

And to make matters worse, the increased emissions in these "developing countries" is raising the specter of international regulatory agencies. In other words, bigger, more intrusive  government. 

If I listen to your lies would you say
Im a man without conviction
Im a man who doesn't know
How to sell a contradiction
You come and go
You come and go

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go

Jindal said he wouldn't veto the pay raise if it gets to his desk, saying he didn't want to give lawmakers a reason to jettison any of his outstanding legislation. He wouldn't say, however, whether lawmakers had threatened to spike any of his bills if he intervened in the pay-raise debate.

Dear Ladies and Gentleman of the Legislature:

Go to hell.

Love and kisses,

Chad E. Rogers
Publisher
THE DEAD PELICAN and ROGERS RANTS

P.S. Legislators not supporting pay raises are excluded from THE DEAD PELICAN'S all expense paid trip to hell.

 

Below is an anonymous email I got yesterday.

Council members griped about how Jindal's administration has dashed Jefferson's legislative wish list of late. They criticized his crew for not initially honoring an agreement with the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad crucial to the Huey P. Long Bridge expansion and for giving the populous parish short shrift when doling out the capital outlay budget to fix roads.

The council's third beef was over a hospital-financing bill that would reimburse public hospitals like West Jefferson Medical Center and East Jefferson General Hospital for treating uninsured patients.