The High Price of Price Distortions

Kudos for Dr. Jacobe. Our elected officials need a crash course on globabilization and another on economics. Maybe Sarah Palin is the closest government official with such experience.

I agree with all of Dr. Jacobe's comments. The US economy is by far the most productive economy in the world. At present China and India are consumed by in your face government and rules and corruption. China was subsidizing its oil & gas prices until recently. India is still doing so and so is most of the Middle East. Jordan recently stopped subsidizing.

Europe canot compete with the US, it is so fractured. Japan is limited in resources.

I have been an expat for the past 28 years, and let me tell you, the average poor citizen doesn't know how good he has it compared to other countries. Yes, help a person who has lost a job or is incapacitated or needs re-education. But we cannot provide an existence to those that do nothing for themselves.

I just wish that government officials will pay serious attention to producing a comprehensive energy plan. Please tell me what our Department of Energy is supposed to be doing?

Our capitalistic economy cannot grow with restrictions on any type of energy consumption. All those pundits that say we are addicted to oil are incorrect. And what is their plan that is effective in the short and long term? We need energy to thrive, unless we want to live in a 2nd world economy. Dr. Jacobe states correctly that our economy cannot sustain oil at $100 per barrel for an extended period of time.

Hopefully technology will provide additional types of energy to replace oil. But we cannot ban the production of oil & gas in the US right now. It is just a matter of time before the ban is lifted.

Energy, my friends, is the #1 issue of our time. We'd better treat this as the main issue and nothing less. It is the engine that drives our economy.