{"id":9864,"date":"2013-07-31T18:40:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T16:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/?p=9864"},"modified":"2013-07-31T19:16:05","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T17:16:05","slug":"hervey-priddy-on-us-energy-dependency-or-whats-good-for-exxon-is-not-necessarily-good-for-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/hervey-priddy-on-us-energy-dependency-or-whats-good-for-exxon-is-not-necessarily-good-for-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Hervey Priddy on US Energy Dependency or What’s Good for Exxon Is Not Necessarily Good for the Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an important paper on the history of the financing and politics of energy production in the US, Dr. Priddy casts new light in dark corners of American history. \u00a0The jumping off point for President Jimmy Carter\u2019s famous address often called \u201cThe Malaise Speech,\u201d was a sermon on the problems of our nation.\u00a0 Journalists and historians have often dissected this part of the speech. \u00a0The second half has been ignored. \u00a0Dr. Hervey Priddy, an expert in the energy industry, took it up as the subject of his dissertation. \u00a0Carter suggested solutions focused on US energy independence.\u00a0\u00a0 When Al Gore faced off against George W. Bush in the 2000 campaign, Gore was billed as an energy guru.\u00a0 But not once during the campaign, which some billed as Big Oil against New Energy, was the subject of our captivity to the volatile and dangerous nations of the Middle East mentioned.\u00a0 The then venerable NY Times would not touch the subject.<\/p>\n

Energy independence is still crucial to the US.\u00a0 We are a huge country with a dilapidated infrastructure.\u00a0 You can go anywhere in the EU by train.\u00a0 In the US you risk falling bridges, old equipment and irrelevant schedules: most trains arrive late, whether or not you pay extra for Acela. \u00a0Americans are bound to their cars.\u00a0 The Ford Motor Company, publicly held but fortuitously manned (or womanned) by over thirty members of the Ford family, is creating cars that make sense.\u00a0 They are fuel efficient, but comfortable and convenient.\u00a0 The Wall Street Journal recently ran a piece by a gentleman who had replaced his Mercedes with a Ford.\u00a0 Tesla cars, which are battery driven, have become a hot item.<\/p>\n

But in the meanwhile we need domestic fuel to control costs and to free our foreign policy from the demands of oil. \u00a0\u00a0In Dr. Priddy\u2019s paper you can read how we once had an opportunity to do this and why it was lost.\u00a0In sum, the price of oil dictates our policy.\u00a0 When OPEC cut us off, we had to look elsewhere for supplies.\u00a0 Exxon was a crucial part of the new plan.\u00a0 They backed off when oil again became affordable.\u00a0 The industry is not concerned about the dangerous politics of this matter.\u00a0 Profits are enough to pursue any policy.\u00a0 What\u2019s good for Exxon is not necessarily good for the country.Is there a lesson for entrepreneurs entering the fields of solar batteries and shale oil?\u00a0\u00a0 Dr. Priddy\u2019s paper is a brilliant case study of how business and government both face off and merge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States Synthetic Fuels Corporation was a superb idea. Its objective was a bold step by a president to address America\u2019s addiction to imported crude oil, which had made the nation vulnerable to the vagaries of an unstable region of the world. Unfortunately, a vacuum of presidential leadership, congressional meddling, and embarrassingly poor management cursed the SFC from its very creation.\u201d\u00a0 Dr. Priddy writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce elected, President Carter wasted no time in taking up the energy issue, acknowledging the great importance of establishing \u201climits.\u201d Believing the nation could no longer \u201cbear any burden or pay any price,\u201d the president stated in his inaugural address, \u201c[W]e have learned that \u2018more\u2019 is not necessarily \u2018better\u2019, that even our great nation has recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all questions nor solve all problems. We cannot afford to do everything . . . . So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our best.\u201d19 Carter\u2019s \u201cprimary thought on Inauguration Day was about the potential shortage of energy supplies\u201d affecting the nation.\u201d\u00a0
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Dr. Priddy\u2019s dissertation is available in full on thie site. \u00a0US Synthetic Fuels<\/a><\/p>\n

What follows is an excerpt, in which Exxon commits and backs out of a shale project with impunity.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 The price of oil declined. What’s Good for Exxon?<\/a>
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\"Oil<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an important paper on the history of the financing and politics of energy production in the US, Dr. Priddy casts new light in dark corners of American history. \u00a0The jumping off point for President Jimmy Carter\u2019s famous address often … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,13,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrepreneurs","category-finance","category-financial-literacy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t