U.S. oil production sets new record, setting stage for what Trump calls 'global dominance'

So much winning

, --January 16, 2018

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U.S. oil production sets new record, setting stage for what Trump calls 'global dominance' Funny thing about our president and the whole "so much winning" thing. We may very well be doing all the winning he promised, but it won't seem like it to you because all you hear about is shitholes and Russia and whatever other trivia is dominating the headlines that day. Supposedly CNN had nearly 200 mentions of the shithole thing yesterday. Meanwhile, our global energy dominance is developing in such stunning fashion they can't deny it even in Reuterville:
The economic and political impacts of soaring U.S. output are breathtaking, cutting the nation’s oil imports by a fifth over a decade, providing high-paying jobs in rural communities and lowering consumer prices for domestic gasoline by 37 percent from a 2008 peak. Fears of dire energy shortages that gripped the country in the 1970s have been replaced by a presidential policy of global “energy dominance.” “It has had incredibly positive impacts for the U.S. economy, for the workforce and even our reduced carbon footprint” as shale natural gas has displaced coal at power plants, said John England, head of consultancy Deloitte’s U.S. energy and resources practice. U.S. energy exports now compete with Middle East oil for buyers in Asia. Daily trading volumes of U.S. oil futures contracts have more doubled in the past decade, averaging more than 1.2 billion barrels per day in 2017, according to exchange operator CME Group. The U.S. oil price benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude, is now watched closely worldwide by foreign customers of U.S. gasoline, diesel and crude.
It's astonishing to realize that as recently as 2015, Congress still banned the export of U.S.-produced crude oil. The ban was imposed in a panic during the 1973 oil crisis, when the OPEC embargo caused shortages and gas lines. The fact that it took 42 years to repeal it shows how little facts and reality have anything to do with the making of public policy in Washington D.C. The export of oil is a gigantic economic opportunity, and that's proven by the impact it's already having. We're now exporting 1.7 billion barrels a day, and that means a cash influsion into the U.S. economy unlike anything we've seen in recent years. What Trump understands that other politicians seem not to is that nothing grows the economy more than the ability to produce a product and sell it overseas. That's when you're not only creating wealth but getting an immediate cash conversion from what you created, without requiring any sort of cash outlay by someone in this country. We're not yet to the point where we're a net exporter, but the way we're ramping up shale development - not to mention removing the shackles on offshore drilling - that's coming. And besides the economic advantages, imagine the geopolitical advantages of the Saudi shiekhs needing to rely on us for oil instead of the other way around. Remember all those laments about depending for oil on people who don't like us? Yeah. Let's see how they like it. Global dominance. I like having a president who thinks like that. It's sure a hell of a lot better than "leading from behind."

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Dan Calabrese——

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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