Letters, Faxes, E-mails

To the Editor:
Since the Russian invasion of Georgia, the average American has had a chance to see modern-day Russia. It appears that oil has created a wealthy economy for Russia. Megan Kelley hosted a one-hour program on Fox News a few days after the Russian invasion of Georgia. Russia has come a long ways since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). Because of oil, Russia has rejuvenated itself in a very short time from broke to prosperity.
Russia has the seventh-biggest oil reserves in the world at 80 billion barrels. Experts say there are 100 billion more barrels to find in Russia. Oil is the life-blood of the nations of this world. Our country has been mismanaged for the last 30 years. The United States has more oil in the shales of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming than Saudi Arabia and Russia put together. Further, we have an estimated 89 billion barrels offshore and another 10 billion barrels in Alaska (ANWR). America owes $53 trillion. It is the highest debt ratio in history. It figures out to $175,154 per man, woman and child. Last year, total debt increased $4.3 trillion, 5.5 times more than GDP. External debt owed to foreign interest increased $2.2 trillion. Forty-two trillion of the total was created since 1990, a period primarily driven by debt instead of productive activity. We are spending about $1.5 billion a day on imported oil.
 In 10 years, (if we could last that long) we will have transferred wealth from the United States to the producing countries of about $5 trillion or $6 trillion. How much longer can we keep giving away money we don’t have? Last year, we gave $21.3 billion in foreign aid. We recently gave $50 billion to Africa to help fight AIDS. Social Security is in deep trouble and cannot be sustained without major changes. Some are even willing to add illegal aliens to the payroll.
We find ourselves in this mess because of a Congress being controlled by special interest (environmental) groups since 1981. Unless we act quickly, it is not going to matter how much CO2 we produce. From the greatest superpower ever, we are becoming a nation in distress. Our enemies are more aware of our situation than most of America’s own citizens. We must drill here, now and keep the oil that we produce. 
Howard W. Hall
Shawnee