The wrong way to think about oil

In his recent State of the Union address, President George W. Bush declared, "America is addicted to oil." He announced a program of energy research that would reduce American oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent over the next two decades. But even if his program succeeds, it will not do much to increase America's energy security. The United States gets only a fifth of its oil from the Persian Gulf.

Americans are not alone in worrying about oil as a security problem. China and India, the two largest countries in the world, realize that their high rates of economic growth also depend upon foreign oil. While the two countries together consume slightly less than half as much oil as the U.S., their consumption is increasing at a faster rate. When poor countries consume as much per capita as rich countries, will there be enough oil to go around?

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