what's the real cost?

Americans have been deceived by the cost of gasoline. It has risen to about $3.25 per gallon for the cheaper brands and it is predicted that the price may rise to $5.00 per gallon. Folks, I've got news for you! We have been subsidizing the cost of gasoline and oil at the rate of about $1.2 billion dollars a day and it is coming out of the taxpayer's pockets under the guise of national defense. Our troops abroad have been deployed to insure the flow of oil from the Middle East for several decades. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan costs an extra $1.3 trillion, adding to the overwhelming financial burden with which we are faced. In fairness, let's say half of the deployments may not be attributed to our thirst for oil, but to other factors, such as the paranoid reaction our nation had toward the spread of communism and fascism. So, in round numbers, we are spending about $600,000,000 a day for oil, not reflected at the gas pumps.

I cannot understand why our political candidates are ignoring this important factor. All we hear is lip service about alternative fuels but little is being done about it. A few scattered attempts are being made to build research facilities, nothing like the massive actions that should be taken at all possible speed. We must divorce ourselves from dependency on foreign markets and produce the energy we need in our own country. Even if we produce ethanol at a cost of $5.00 per gallon it would be cheaper and more cost effective than current methods.It would produce thousands of new jobs in America and give a life to our faltering economy.

Best of all, we could thumb our collective noses at the barbarians who are now taking our money at inflated prices and using their obscene profits to wage war against us. There are many other benefits to be derived from ethanol or bio fuels produced in America. We would have a cleaner burning fuel with fewer pollutants going into the air we breath. Let's make America "mean and green" by starving our enemies and cleaning the environment here at home.