The chaos of Iraq has also seen billions of barrels of oil simply “vanish,” (along with the billions of unaccounted for contractor dollars) a magic trick that would be the envy of Nicola Tesla himself. The “prestige” that third and culminating aspect of any good magic show, was to find a way through the rhetoric about evil madmen, 9/11, our boys, WMDs, freedom fries, and Al Qaeda, to simply get at the oil, preferably off the books if the missing barrels somehow magically find their way into the reserve stocks of major corporations. The NY Times recently reported that between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels go “missing” each day in Iraq. Imagine that! Chaos, it seems, has a silver lining.
So don’t expect your car to be running on water any time soon, and do expect more chaos in the Middle East. Expect those gas prices to top $4.00 by year’s end, and move up another dollar next year. It will make great kindling for election year debates, as the old standby “health care” is getting lame, (though Michael Moore’s “Sicko” may inject some life into that topic.) Otherwise, expect talk about gay marriage, immigration violations, abortion, evolution, or some celebrity trial to dominate the airwaves, while the war goes on another year, and the lives, dollars, and barrels of oil continue to go missing.
And don’t worry about those storm clouds on the horizon. Why not lay in a keg of beer and have a hurricane party? That seems to be the mindset of millions of Americans these days, happily oblivious that they, too, have lived out their lives in the eye of the storm, and the seas are going to get very rough again, much sooner than we think. Better yet, why don’t we do something about this impending crisis that is practical, growth oriented, transformative and economically viable?
John Schettler – June 2007
