The hydrogen economy does not have these issues as hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and will allow every sovereign nation on this planet to eventually be 100% energy independent without crude oil and produce energy from water and/or from garbage. Without crude oil, we can have a sustainable and redundant electrical grid and transportation sector powered by hydrogen fuel cells as internal combustion engines, conventional power plants, and crude oil are phased out.
There exists a link between crude oil and the jihad on America, its allies, and its values. This is a complicated subject that continues to make itself evident when US treasure makes its way to countries with ISIS strongholds. 21% of the US budget is allocated toward military defense spending. The costs of getting refined crude to our troops alone in order to operate in hostile countries is in the billions of US dollars. The cost of infrastructure built in hostile countries with US tax dollars is also in the billions. The US has also used billions of tax dollars to contract private for-profit military service companies to protect crude oil infrastructure in countries like Iraq. Our military protects this oil infrastructure to make sure America has the crude we need to keep our cars & trucks and economy going. Many of these hostile countries where US tax dollars are spent act as subsidies for private companies operating where ISIS enjoys stronghold positions. Trillions of US tax dollars have also been spent protecting ports and shipping lanes like the Strait of Hormuz in order for supertankers to make safe passage through strategic maritime choke points. Those same tax dollars could be spent at home creating jobs or go toward other military needs around the world while improving relationships with more people in the Middle East than just princes, kings, and royals.
Many of the companies that have financial interests in hostile countries where ISIS operates have a dilemma. They’re forced to spend millions of dollars on financing the campaigns of politicians who effectively sponsor legislation related to maintaining the status quo of the crude oil monopoly on our transportation sector. Some politicians accept donations from oil companies for campaign financing and have financial conflicts of interest related to the legislation they sponsor. Their hope is that if we keep repeating the script on Brooke’s TV commercials, it will become true through the repetition of hearing it; even though it is profoundly misleading. This unfortunately just delays the inevitable truth that the time is now to start the responsible migration away from crude oil as an energy source before we lose our competitive edge in world energy markets.
Energy is a tax. Military spending is a tax. When politicians advocate for legislation that asks for capital spending to expand and perpetuate crude oil energy or stifle alternatives, they’re putting our soldiers in harm’s way unnecessarily, perpetuating terrorism, increasing taxes, and creating unsustainable jobs whether they understand the economic consequences of their actions or not. President Eisenhower, one of only a handful of 5 star generals in US military history, warned us as he was leaving office, and no longer had a horse in the race of US politics, to beware of the military industrial complex. We can responsibly start the migration away from crude oil as an energy source by displacing internal combustion engines with fuel cell electric vehicles while improving our national security and reducing taxes.
The internal combustion engine has served us well. It was an amazing advance that changed history and the economy of world. My dad worked as a mechanical engineer designing internal combustion engines from 1964 to to 1999 for General Motors. He was on the team that designed an advanced small block V8 engine that debuted in the 1992 Corvette called the LT1. This was a fun time for me as I was in high school and got my driver’s license in 1987 when the LT1 engine was under development. My dad would often bring home developmental Corvettes from work and I would get a chance to drive them. I got to feel the power of these amazing Corvettes as a young man as I laid down rubber throughout Farmington Hills, Michigan. I remember well the half upset and half amused look on my dad’s face when I pulled into the garage and the smell of burnt rubber started to permeate the air. The car and its internal combustion engine that my dad and his colleagues brought to life was amazingly fun to drive.
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