Trump drill-happy policy needs exit strategy
DRILL
everywhere! That’s what I suggested years ago in a column that proposed a solution to our reliance on imported oil — and the habit we have of getting into wars in the Middle East.
But — and this is a big but — I also recommended that the US simultaneously vow to end our addiction to carbon fuels.
The easiest way to do that is for Washington to help the automotive and technology industries come up with other ways to propel cars down the road.
Electric cars are fine. But, short of nuclear plants, something has to be burned to make the electricity that goes into the car batteries. Hydrogen fuel cells are too expensive right now, but a little help from governments around the world could make hydrogen into an affordable and clean fuel for automobiles.
I’ve driven a hydrogen car, a prototype built by Ford some years back and — at least in the city — you couldn’t tell the difference between it and a car powered by regular unleaded.
The only difference is that Ford’s car cost $1 million to make. Today, the few hydrogen cars available cost around $60,000. Toyota, for one, is shooting to make hydrogen cars as cheap as electric vehicles.
All of this becomes important because President Trump recently followed the first part of my suggestion by allowing offshore oil drilling everywhere in the US except in his adopted state of Florida.
But he didn’t take the next logical move — declaring that America would wean itself off gasoline in however many years would be reasonable.
Understand that oil and gasoline aren’t going away as fuel. That would be a dream for the conservationists and those who want cheaper fuel as well. And also understand that oil exploration costs a lot of money and wells are expensive to drill.
Fracking — which is drilling for oil and gas trapped in shale rocks — has already greatly increased the amount of oil that America produces on its own. In fact, the US is expected to pass Saudi Arabia in oil production in 2018.
So saying that you are going to make oil obsolete at the same time that you are suggesting that energy companies drill more is a bit contradictory. Nevertheless, if Trump really wanted to expand his base of supporters, this dual strategy would work wonders.
To change the dynamics of the fuel market, all Trump has to do is require 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent or whatever-percent of the cars on the road — sometime in the future — run on something other than gasoline.
Hard-core Republicans love the idea of US independence from oil producers in other countries. Democrats and conservationists might snuggle up a little to Trump if he showed some environmental awareness by going anti-oil.
This move away from gasoline is going to happen with or without us. Eventually, Japan and China will use their technological knowhow to develop new car engines. The only question is whether the US will be part of that movement.
Leave it to “Saturday Night Live” to come up with the most profound analysis yet of the American public — even if the show’s writers were being sarcastic.
This past Saturday, “SNL” had a satirical game-show skit in which guest host Jessica Chastain (who, incidentally, was great in the movie “Molly’s Game”) would tell contestants something that President Trump said or did and they had to answer: “Does it even matter?”
For example: “The president of the US refers to African countries as poo-poo holes. Does it matter?”
The gag is that the contestants in the skits answer, “That’s really bad” and “That has to matter.”
But Chastain dejectedly explains that it doesn’t matter.
The same is true, Chastain went on, for an extramarital affair (did it matter for Bill Clinton?) and nuclear war, and you get the idea.
“SNL” is telling us that America has no morals anymore — nothing shocks us.
But Chastain didn’t get into the things that would actually bother the American people.
The stock market crashes and President Trump says, “Don’t worry.” Does it matter? That would be a yes — resoundingly.
Suddenly, say we find out that the economy really isn’t doing any bet- ter than it was under President Obama. Does it matter? Yes, it does, and the American public will take it out on Trump because he keeps saying that it is. Let me say it again in the words of Bill Clinton: “It’s the economy, stupid.” Many people may not like the things Trump says. And people don’t like many of the things he does in his personal life. But as long as their own finances are looking healthy or are about to be — or they have recently landed jobs after being out of work for a long time — they will look the other way when Trump goes asinine. The media, including “SNL,” still hasn’t figured out that Trump got elected on economic issues and — sadly — nothing else matters right now. Trump, however, should be really careful about tying his political fortunes too tightly to the stock market and the economy. Because if those two things do turn on him, all the other stuff — every careless thing he did or said — will come back to bite.