Gainesville Times and Troy R. Millikan

This is the first blog entry for me at the Gainesville Times. It is a response to a letter to the Editor which I'm reprinting here.

TV personality Lou Dobbs says it best: "Don't we deserve a government that works?"

We do, but we will not have one as long as we elect people who continue to favor a short-term fix instead of a long-range solution. Our oil policy, water policy and foreign policy have failed because when the problem surfaces, we apply a cheap Band-Aid to absorb the bleeding rather than a surgery to prevent future problems.

Supply and demand is an absolute correct principle which is easy to apply to the oil and water disasters. The correct way to fix gas prices is to supply more oil by drilling for more crude oil and increasing the number of refineries to produce gas.

Instead of giving taxpayers a tax rebate, we should have used the $120 billion to produce the largest oil drilling program in the history of the world. We could have used low-interest loans to be repaid by the oil companies, or charge them a fee to lease offshore and Alaska sites for drilling and producing more oil.

Not many know that only a small part of Alaska, comparable to the one half the size of Lake Lanier, could be used to produce oil. There are 2.3 trillion barrels of untapped oil reserves in the U.S., enough to replace all foreign oil imports for 22 years. Quit talking and drill, drill, drill.

As for the water, bills have been passed, but you have not and will not see photos of groundbreaking for reservoir construction. Instead, politicians now only decide how to split the meager supply we have. Quit talking and build, build, build.

As for our foreign policy, we have spread our troops too thin. We must choose to win in Afghanistan or Iraq, one or the other, or we will lose both. Unfortunately, while we are treading water in both those countries, Iran is enjoying being left alone and observing the toll both wars are having on our resources and the people's support for the wars.

It's supply and demand again; too many demands and too few troops. Quit talking and chose the proper battleground where we can win. Choose, don't lose.

Troy R. Millikan
Gainesville

In my more public blog, I was very careful to pick on Mr. Millikan's ignorance of economics. Here, at my home blog, I don't have to be so kind.

So, Mr. Millikan, you want more government! What do you want from this working government? First you want the government to force oil companies to drill for oil and build new oil refineries.

Cool! How are you going to pay for the government and how will your government force oil companies to drill in the Artic Circle and in the deep waters of the gulf?

I'm willing to wait until Hell Freezes Over to hear you say, INCREASE MY TAXES!!!!!!!!!!!

While we all wait for Mr. Millikan to face his inner child, what about drilling in the Gulf?

Well, it seems each new drilling platform will cost a billion dollars. Ho ... hum ....

Ops! I was wrong. A billion would be cheap according to this quote .... from the AP.

Three-dimensional mapping of the ocean floor, which must happen before any drilling, could take up to two years, Strive said. If a promising site is found, engineers must drill up to three milesbelow the ocean surface to extract the oil or natural gas.

And it will take years before the company begins producing anything at the site — andthere is no guarantee of success. A company can have as much as $4 billion invested and a wait of up to five years before seeing any return on the investment, Strive said.

Who is this Strive fellow and why does he think it costs for much to make money pumping oil?

Well, Stuart Strive is Vice President of Exploration for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and he is in charge of ... finding and producing oil from ... the deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

This little petroleum company sees 5 million shares of its stock trade hands on the NYSE every day at a price around $70. Mr. Millikan wants to force this company to drill for oil. Or, rather, Mr. Millikan wants to pay more taxes so his government will force this company to drill for oil.

At $4 billion dollars per well.

That ought to drop the cost of gasoline back to 29.9 cents per gallon Dayum Quick!

So if Millikan got his wish, how many oil wells would he buy with your new taxes? Hmmmmm?

And, don't get me started on his hair brained idea to invade Iran ... if that is what he suggests. I can't really tell. He says our troops are spread too thin but he also thinks we are leaving Iran alone?

Well, does he want us to leave Iraq and Afghanistan to invade Iran? Or, does this man know what he really wants?

Maybe he should follow his own advice, "It's supply and demand again; too many demands ... Quit talking and chose the proper battleground where we can win. Choose, don't lose."

So, Mr. Millikan, choose.

Spend your tax dollars in the Gulf of Mexico or in a Persian Gulf country?

Just tell me how much more to tax you, how to get more troops, tanks, Hummers, and battle armor, and exactly which of your pet projects you really want done...

Please?