$100 Billion To Hugo

With Californians paying an average of $2.02 per gallon of gasoline, it seems that the price you pay at the pump might get a bit more expensive courtesy of the Democrat Party and the Organizations of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The twelve countries that make up OPEC ( Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela) voted in November, to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. That meeting was followed up by a December 17, 2008 meeting where OPEC decided to cut production by another 2.2 million barrels, with the stated goal of driving up prices and profits.

In similar fashion, as the legislative leadership of the Democratic Party in California convened in December 2008, they also voted to make the prices per gallon of gas a bit more expensive. The Democrat leadership voted to impose a 39 cent tax on top of the regular price of a gallon of gas to help pay for their government programs. Luckily, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the proposed gas tax.

Just after OPEC decided to cut the next 2.2 million barrel of oil in the new year, the Democrats are back trying to figure out how to take more of your money, at a time when our California families need it the most.

We need a long term energy plan that ensures Californians are not at the whims of foreign countries who don’t have our best interest at heart. Our families shouldn’t be subjected to the continued barrage of higher fees and more taxes when we seem to be getting less and less from government.

Higher gas prices hurt us all. Philip K. Verleger Jr., an expert in oil markets and a professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business recently noted that, “the difference between a year at $30 a barrel and a year at $70 a barrel would be $100 billion or more out of the U.S. economy.”

As of January 6, 2009 the price for a barrel of oil reached $50.47, compared to the $147 from last summer.

We can either send that $100 billion+ to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or we can spend that money on creating jobs, providing food and clothing for those in need, supplying our schools with additional resources here in the United States.

Higher gas prices, whether through OPEC’s oil production cut or through the Democrats price increases, will have a direct negative impact on all of our families.

How much is $100 billion? Here is a quick view on how much $1 billion buys:

A person can spend $1 million a year for the next 1000 years or $8 million a year for the next 125 years.

You can buy the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Seattle Seahawks or one of 15 other national football teams...and still have some cash to spare.

You can buy Youtube.

You can buy Facebook.

You can buy 12 Swedish jet fighters.

You can take the entire state of Massachusetts to Disneyland for three days.

Now Multiply the examples by 100.