What would it be like if the USA had to live on just domestic oil

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjun08/25gallon-gas.html

If you don't want to read it all just check out what is in bold. This is pretty scary, I hope GM is working on an electric Camaro.

Forget $4 per gallon for gasoline--let's talk about how things will be--or could be--when it's $25/gallon and strictly rationed: 5 gallons per household per month.

I don't mean to trigger a cardiac arrest, but here is a serious, experienced analyst foreseeing $450/barrel oil. At about 28 gallons of distillate (gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, etc.) per barrel, that's $16/gallon without refining, shipping, taxes and retailing expenses. So let's just call it $25 per gallon.

Yamada: Oil Could Pass $450 In a Decade. (http://moneynews.newsmax.com/streettalk/yamada_calls_high_oil/2008/05/29/99877.html)

As you probably know by now, having read Life After the Oil Crash (LATOC) and the Oil Drum (TOD), cheap oil flowing into the U.S. is toast, history, doomed, etc.

Uncommon sense (uncommon because it certainly isn't common) suggests that we should prepare for this eventuality by living within our means, i.e. preparing to live with what oil/fossil fuels are produced domestically.

Currently the U.S. pumps about 5 million barrels of oil a day and imports the other 15-16 million barrels we consume each and every day. Since the U.S. production peaked in 1970, we can expect our production to continue declining, even if we drill the Alaskan reserve and fire up coastal drilling again.

So on a back-of-the-envelope calculation, let's say a semi-sustainable production in the U.S. would be about 2 million barrels a day (e.g. 60 million barrels a month), including shale oil and coal gasification and all those other technologies which turn out to require vast amounts of energy themselves.

(I am leaving the U.S. Military consumption out of the picture for the moment; aircraft carriers and submarines are nuclear-powered, and electric railguns are being tested, so clearly the Military could do with a lot less oil as well. Let's say U.S. production is 2.2 million barrels a day and the U.S. Armed Forces get 200,000 barrels a day, mostly for jet fuel, which is produced when oil is "cracked" anyway. Hint to Pentagon contractors: start designing that battery-powered "stealth" tank soon.)

Since we will need most of that production for things like maintaining a few roads and the railways and manufacturing solar arrays and some petrochemicals--items like superlightweight inflatable electric vehicles and super-efficient refrigerators can largely be manufactured with solar-generated power--let's limit private transportation consumption to, say, 50% of production or 30 million barrels a month. Not a day, a month.

Since there's about 100 million households in the U.S., let's say on average each household is rationed 5 gallons a month (one-person households get less than 4-person households, and so on) which can be purchased at the market price of $25/gallon. (Of course this fluctuates as it is a market price.) If you don't use all of your 5 gallons, you are free to sell the remaining balance to someone who wishes to buy more gasoline at whatever price you agree upon.

That's 500 million gallons per month or roughly 18 million barrels per month. Now we need to allot additional fuel to small businesses and other private transport, so we'll make 12 million barrels a month available for private commerce.

That's our 30 million barrels a month. OK, so what can you do with 5 gallons a month? Actually, quite a lot--if we've manufactured the right sort of transport and the right sort of infrastructure.

First, we need to refurbish the U.S. rail system, of course, because rail remains the most efficient method of transporting people and material. (Ditto public transport within urban zones.)

Nonetheless the desire and need for private transport remains, so what do we have which runs on 5 gallons of liquid fuel a month?

1. Bicycles. A bicycle is a wonderful machine and requires only musclepower to operate. It doesn't require even a single drop of fuel (other than food, which the human operator has to eat just to live). It is light, easy to maintain and though high-tech in many ways it is relatively (compared to an auto) inexpensive to manufacture and very durable. Here is one of mine (we have a number of used bikes and some others which were given to us.)

As long as the terrain is relatively flat, it is a mode of transport which can be used even by children and the elderly. (If balance is an issue, then an elderly person can ride a 3-wheel equivalent which can't tip over.) On flat ground and on a halfway decently maintained bike, it's quite possible to reach 10 miles per hour (16 KPH Kilometers per hour) for extended periods, and on a light bike someone in reasonable shape can do even better (12-15 MPH) as long as they're not fighting a headwind.

Needless to say, transporting yourself on a bicycle is also moderately easy and good exercise. You notice things and hear things in a new way when you're riding. It's easy to park a bike and you never get stuck in traffic, either.

2. Electrically powered bicycles, tricycles and "commute cars." There are a wide variety of electrically powered modes of transport--just glance at Electric-Bikes.com for an idea of what's available. Such vehicles could be recharged off household photovoltaic (solar) panels and used for short jaunts--the most common kind of household trip.

Schwinn has 8 electric-assist bike models: Schwinn International bikes. Such bicycles are popular in China and elsewhere, and it doesn't take an engineer to foresee how distributed electrical power generation units (a.k.a. solar panels on 75 million buildings in the U.S.) could be used to recharge such bikes during seasonable weather.

There are also fuel-sipping ICE (internal combustion engine) bikes. For example, longtime correspondent Azvitt recently sent in a link to this site: revopower.com.

3. Extremely high-mileage, small, low-weight autos like the 1-litre car: VW Confirms 1L Concept Will Become Reality in 2010.

Correspondent Michael Goodfellow recently sent in this update on the 1-litre car, which I covered here in September 2006 The Winning Trifecta: Save the U.S. Auto Industry, Provide Healthcare, and Stop Importing Oil (September 13, 2006):

The VW 1L is so named because, in theory, it only consumes one liter of fuel per 100 kilometers traveled. For those of us in the US, this translates into about 235 MPG.

Let's be honest--cars which get 200+ miles per gallon are not large, or comparable in comfort to a 1-ton sedan which gets 30 MPG. They are small, light, cramped and won't go 80 miles per hour.

But if the only other choice is a bike or your own two feet, they will look extremely luxurious. So if our society and economy prepares for the future, and you have purchased a 200-MPG vehicle--or a 120-MPG vehicle which seats four--then between trains, electric-assist bikes and regular human-powered bikes, you should be able to travel up to 1000 miles a month on your 5 gallons of gasoline (or 7 gallons of algae-based biofuel, if algae scales up as some hope.)

OK, so here's my crazy idea: make bicycling from San Francisco to Los Angeles not only do-able but fun. It's about 375 miles (600 kilometers) via I-5 through central California, longer on the scenic Highway 1 coastal route.

Before you scoff, recall that Medieval pilgrims on the Pilgrimage of St Jacques-de-Compostelle (in English, Way of Saint James) routinely walked 30-40 kilometers a day (20-25 miles per day), so the idea of biking--or biking with electrical-assist--100 miles a day (maintaining a speed of 12 MPH for 8 hours) is not all that incredible.

Since gas stations/interchanges are already scattered along the route, the common-sense way to make the roads enjoyable and easy to bike include:

1. Devote two of the four divided lanes on I-5 to bicycles/low-speed vehicles such as electric-assist bikes and tricycles during the day. Close most of Highway 1 to large vehicles/ transport (which would be scarce/rare anyway).

2. Install 20,000 square feet (or so) of solar panels at each waystation (approximately every 40 miles or so) and have solar-recharged batteries available so riders can swap-out drained batteries for "hot" ones for a modest fee. (This assumes standardized batteries.)

3. Low-cost hostels/campsites would be available for overnight stays along the route. Existing motels might even stay in business, too, as "luxury accomodations."

4. Electric-powered trolleys/"open-air wagons" would transport bicyclists and their gear up steep grades (Tejon Pass, etc.)

5. California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers on "souped-up" electric bikes capable of reaching 50 MPH (normal electric-assist bikes go 15 MPH) would patrol the low-speed highways.

Since the frenetic lifestyle of today will probably fade along with "cheap" $5/gallon gasoline, the idea of spending three to four days to reach San Francisco or Los Angeles might not seem as snail-paced as it does today. As hikers and pilgrims already know, there is a wonderful sense of camaraderie and adventure in such intimate voyages/travels, and you usually meet some interesting people along the way.

Of course the route would be less appealing in winter/lousy weather, but then we all like to travel in nice weather even now. It doesn't take much to cover a bike or trike with a lightweight all-weather cowling or flexible "body." Worst case, you hang out for a few hours or a day in a hostel, swapping stories and resting.

Travelers could bike/ride one way and return home on the train, which, if the U.S. invested a modest $100 billion or so, might be a TGV or Shinkansen-type train (common in Europe and Japan) which travels at 200 MPH (320 KPH)--three times as fast, and in much greater safety per passenger mile, than current passenger cars.

I know, I know--I-5 is too hot in summer. That's why Highway 1 will be available. That will be too cold and foggy in winter, so then use I-5. And I also know solar panels won't generate much power in Detroit or Albany NY or Boise during winter--but they will during long summer days. That's called "adapting to reality." "Reality" could be overwhelmed and negated with extremely high-energy, low-cost petroleum for a few decades but those days are over (other than during the one final "head-fake" of lower oil prices I have suggested might occur in a sharp global Depression.)

As demand outstrips supply, all-weather travel in high style will be a luxury like air travel which perhaps 4% of the population will still be able to afford.

Pointing out what isn't 100% cheap, easy, comfortable or efficient is not creating a solution or adapting to the realities already visible on the horizon. Naysaying is always fun but you're still standing in the same place when you're done. If you believe there's plenty of oil, coal, methane, etc. and it's only a matter of drilling offshore and digging up a chunk of Wyoming, be my guest; at today's rate of consumption--8.5 billion barrels a year in the U.S. alone--then new wells in Alaska might provide three months more supply, tops. Maybe I'll be wrong and we'll be luxuriating in low-cost, nearly limitless methane, algae-based fuel, plutonium-generated electricity, etc. Maybe a low-manufacturing cost, high-energy-density battery-storage technology will scale-up and electricity will be dirt-cheap everywhere. That certainly would be ideal (or lucky). I'll be as pleased as anyone to change absolutely nothing in our high-energy consumption lifestyle.

But if we screw up and do nothing, and high-energy-density replacements don't materialize, then we enter the "extinction spiral." It works like this: blue-fin tuna (for example) are getting scarce, so the price goes up, which offers ever-larger rewards to those who catch some, which further drives down wild stocks of tuna, and so on.

In a world of wealth, the last 1,000 wild blue-fin tuna will go for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. But they will go, and quickly, and those who caught them will be well-rewarded.

The same "extinction spiral" will play out in oil. If we do nothing, then there is plenty of wealth left to pay $1,000 a barrel. But by then, it will be increasingly difficult to build a replacement energy and transportation infrastructure. If we do nothing and "hope that a technological miracle" will save us from a low-energy consumption lifestyle, then we end up with a World Made by Hand . In this fictional account, author James Howard Kunstler wittily and engagingly brings to life the U.S. that remains after we collectively did nothing as oil entered the extinction spiral.

But a low-energy-consumption future doesn't have be awful. Maybe we'll do nothing except stick our heads in the sand and whine about what a rotten deal life gave us, or blame some distant land for our entirely self-created woes; or maybe we'll wake up and make what seems "impossible" and "horrible" like riding a bike or tricycle 600 kilometers for a vacation damned good fun.

Lagniappe crazy idea:

Since carting another 20 pounds (~10 KG) behind a bike or in rear-wheel saddlebags is no big deal, a web-based "shipping system" would allow entrepreneurs to deliver high-value goods (computer parts, Napa Valley wine, etc.) to depots where willing bicyclists/tricyclists et al. would pick up the goods and transport them for a reasonable fee to the endpoint depot. If it was cheaper than FedEx or UPS (assuming they've long since shifted their fleets to all-electric) or train, this might work very well in providing competitive shipping rates and giving the riders a few dollars for their journey.
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I don't see it happening. The free market will continue to move away from oil the more expensive it gets. Alternatives start becoming far more viable and the demand for oil will continue to lessen. At $450/bbl the skies would be completely empty because an economy plane ticket would have to be about $3000.

Coal, solar thermal, hydro and wind would take over energy production and I am sure battery development and production would skyrocket (like the computer continue to get better and cheaper).

Unless the price jumps to that price overnight I am not too concerned. The free market will adjust to the ever increasing price of crude and new developments will be created concurently.

Also if the price did jump overnight the world economy would crash so fast the the depression of the 1930s would look like a booming economy in comparrison.

If there were better bike path infrastructure more people would probably do it and it would be a great alternative. Right now you'll get killed trying to share the road with cars, people don't pay attention and will swipe you off the raod in a heartbeat. The only bike people I see are the Lance Armstrong wannabe's around here.

Ideally, I'd see the US dependent on imports only from Canada (our biggest exporter), Mexico, and Nigeria. We're never going to see our consumption drop enough to use just our own oil.

I think if we were able to move most of our powerplants off oil to other sources, have housing that can supply at least some of it's own energy via solar, and make a major move to diesel to power high volume cars and move city and state vehicles to natural gas or hydrogen combined with a market that makes the new CAFE standards seem conservative, I think we can actually pull it off.

It's not that other non-fossil fuel derived ways of energy are not available it's just that they have been more expensive than oil. That will change as gas goes past $5, 6 or 10 per gallon. Those other forms will get quite a bit more attention and development as gas costs rise and like any economical reason the US then others will change over to the cheapest and most viable sources of energy occupied today by oil.

We didn't peak. we jsut quit drilling for oil because of the pansies that cry about the environment that the oil is in. We can't drill of OUR OWN coasts, yet other countries can. WTF is that. If the US actually did pump is't own oil.. and I mean all the oil we could potentially pump, we would not have a dependence on foreign oil. you have to sacrifice a few things in order to do it is all. I personally thing we could pump a whole lot more, and that overall, the oil companies are holding out, waiting for when the rest of the world peaks out and starts dropping production because they are running out, before they even bother to start pumping our own. Hell it would be just that much more money for them. Sorta like um. beginning of the 80's 300 and some oil refineries, now we have less than half of that. that could effect supply and demand for fuel some, even if there was enough oil. which there is, as stated by jsut about every producing country which can not fathom why the price of oil is up so high, when they themselves do not sell it for that much.

We didn't peak. we jsut quit drilling for oil because of the pansies that cry about the environment that the oil is in. We can't drill of OUR OWN coasts, yet other countries can. WTF is that. If the US actually did pump is't own oil.. and I mean all the oil we could potentially pump, we would not have a dependence on foreign oil. you have to sacrifice a few things in order to do it is all. I personally thing we could pump a whole lot more, and that overall, the oil companies are holding out, waiting for when the rest of the world peaks out and starts dropping production because they are running out, before they even bother to start pumping our own. Hell it would be just that much more money for them. Sorta like um. beginning of the 80's 300 and some oil refineries, now we have less than half of that. that could effect supply and demand for fuel some, even if there was enough oil. which there is, as stated by jsut about every producing country which can not fathom why the price of oil is up so high, when they themselves do not sell it for that much.

1. We stopped pumping our own oil because it was cheaper to get it elsewhere.

2. There is no way in hell if we pumped all of the oil in and around the United States we wouldn't be dependent on foreign oil. Take a moment and look up how much oil we use versus what oil producing nations produce.

3. The oils companies are holding out what? There is no shortage of oil on the market. Yet the prices just keep shooting upward. There's quite a few reasons, but the main gist of it is a falling US economy and general greed.

4. Refineries as of May 2008 are operating at only 85% capacity. 2 reasons for this. a) fuel consumption in the US has dropped quite a bit the past year, and b) it's a move to keep prices up. There's plenty of oil, there's sufficient refinery space to make more gasoline, but it isn't being made.

You take a tour around the subject around here, and you'll come across plenty of people who think more drilling in Alaska is going to drop the price of oil, make us energy independent, restore the sales of huge trucks and SUVs, and bring peace and tranquility to the universe. Yet not a single one of them has taken the time to look up how much oil the United States actually uses, and compare it to how much oil is produced by top oil producing nations or how much is imported by the US from them. It's like saying Ford is better than Chevy while living your entire life in an Amazon tribe and never even seeing an automobile your entire life. It's nothing more than jaw exercizes.

3. The oils companies are holding out what? There is no shortage of oil on the market. Yet the prices just keep shooting upward. There's quite a few reasons, but the main gist of it is a falling US economy and general greed.


I was listening on the news this morning that the oil companies hold leases on a great deal of land in the US that could be drilled for oil but want to hold out to get even more lucritive leases off the coast and in Alaska. They figure the public outcry for cheaper energy will force congress to open up those areas for drilling.
Not sure if this is true, but its what I heard.

You take a tour around the subject around here, and you'll come across plenty of people who think more drilling in Alaska is going to drop the price of oil, make us energy independent, restore the sales of huge trucks and SUVs, and bring peace and tranquility to the universe. Yet not a single one of them has taken the time to look up how much oil the United States actually uses, and compare it to how much oil is produced by top oil producing nations or how much is imported by the US from them. It's like saying Ford is better than Chevy while living your entire life in an Amazon tribe and never even seeing an automobile your entire life. It's nothing more than jaw exercizes.

Youdaman. :yes:

I've preached for a year now about the rookery that is being allowed at the highest levels. Americans (and the rest of the world too, but especially Americans) are being fleeced like sheep, and we are so damned concerned about our precious luxuries that we cower and beg for it to stop - as opposed to actually doing something about it. It saddens me actually, that we ave become so complacent and so "easily trained and conditioned". We roll over and accept a war that is unfounded. We roll over and accept foreign trade policy with unethical and even murderous nations. We roll over and let a few big players in the energy indusrty dictate our lives and our national economic policy. Americans have become a bunch of lazy, unmotivated, uneducated sorry @sses that are too worried about their own precious dollar to actually take a risk, do something, and stand up to fight for justice anymore. Truckers used to strike when fuel costs spiked because they REFUSED TO PASS THE COST TO THEIR VALUED CUSTOMERS. Today they roll over and tack-on a "fuel surcharge". Farmers used to drive tractors to the Capital to protest farm policy, trade policy on grains, or subsidization issues. Today they roll over and sell out to ADM or other conglomerates and walk away from family farming because it's a fruitless effort. Activists used to march and picket about unfair practices, unjustified warfare, etc. Today, they write blogs on the internet while sitting by their pool or relaxing in the LaZBoy.

I could go on all day with stuff like this. I don't mean to single any party, person, field, or career - it's meant to span all of them.
I think we as a nation are losing our desire to fight for a just cause.

Here's my parting salvo....
* Get our @ss out of the middle east pronto. We should never have gone in there like we did to start with.
* Funnel $80-BILLION a year back into paying off the unimaginable debt that we have to China and Japan. Imagine what the dollar would do if we went back to financial stability here at home instead of being in hock to Asia.
* Slide $1 or $2-BILLION of that savings into education while we are at it. No friggin way we are going to win a war of intellect when workers get a 1-2% raise but education costs go up 15-20% annually. That SH1+ MUST STOP. Asia is setting the benchmark for educating their people at little or no cost. I saw China training and educating our employees at no charge before they were brought to our facility for employment - 16-20 year old kids.
* Implement the windfall tax on energy companies with a conditional clause... If they reinvest 25% of their NET PROFITS into development of alternative fuel sources, improved refining methods, infrastructure for electrics and/or bio fuels, etc then they are exempt from the windfall tax. In other words, if you won't invest in our nations future on your own, "we'll help you do it". That still leaves them a sickening 75% of $40-Billion/year to wallow in and I think that's PLENTY. If/when their profits come back to parity with other large industries, the windfall tax becomes unapplicable and lies dormant. No profits, no taxes - fair?
* If they resist or start jumping through loopholes to get around doing what is fair and right, slide the noose shut on them and regulate ALL fuel pricing in the USA - just like electricity. I personally would like to see that happen anyways, but I'll give the greedy bastards a chance to show me that they can do what is right if given a chance (why we should need to explain it to them in the first place demonstrates their mentality though... so I digress).
* STOP subsidizing farmers to NOT grow grains. Flood the market with the crap and drive prices down. Feed people and fuel people... dammit. If anything, subsidize them TO plant grains so they can maybe make a decent living while making a sellable good. (This item is not aimed at farmers, but government. I know farmers are struggling to make a profit as it is, but that (IMO) is due to governmental policy and the growth of huge ag-companies that rum farms like a production line and have shifted the profit from the man growing the product to the company packing it and retailing it - which I think is unfair. I would advocate pushing the profits back to the grower to a point of equality with the distributor.)
* START leveraging our ability to produce grain and food for the world like the world is leveraging our dependence on their oil. Hey Russia/China... You want grain? We want cheap oil, steel, and concrete. Let's talk. ;)
* STOP allowing our manufacturing to flee the country like rats from a sinking ship. Manufacturing is the conversion of raw materials and resources into something of elevated value and use, i.e. "wealth". If you are not "making something", you are not "creating wealth". All services are simply a relocation or minor adjustment to the wealth created by someone else. As a service provider, you will NEVER see the same level of wealth created by producer. Example... a new TV costs me $600... it goes "pop" one day and doesn't work... a repairman says it will be $100 for the service call and $400 to fix it... do I repair or replace... economics standard says if the repair cost is more than 40% of a depreciated value - you replace. So what does the repair man get out of it compared to the TV manufacturer? They sell 2 sets, the repair man wasted his time and effort quoting the repair.

OK - I'll get off the soap box. I've gone on too far.
These types of discussion simply burn my arse to the bone.
I want us Americans to start being a proud and responsible nation again, and stop cowering at every challenge. This whole fuel thing is a problem of our own making, and we are cowering right now instead of solving the problem and moving on.

:shame:

OK - I'll get off the soap box. I've gone on too far.


Preach on, brother - preach on! If you want to run for office, you'd get my vote. Better yet, let's get you on the board of directors of some large corporations.

Preach on, brother - preach on! If you want to run for office, you'd get my vote. Better yet, let's get you on the board of directors of some large corporations.

I say ProudPony for president (if he even wants the job). Someone worth voting for.

Better yet, let's get you on the board of directors of some large corporations.

Unfortunately, Proud is not a member of the Billionaires' Kids Who Went To Harvard club.

But yeah--preach it!!

China is ending fuel subsidies, the just announced it today. This along with India doing the same earlier might be enough to deflate the bubble. If congress ever goes back to the regulations of trading that existed 8 years ago the entire market will collapse.

China is ending fuel subsidies, the just announced it today. This along with India doing the same earlier might be enough to deflate the bubble. If congress ever goes back to the regulations of trading that existed 8 years ago the entire market will collapse.

The price of crude is still up a quarter or so today at around $137/bbl. The market seems to have shrugged that news off.

Ideally, I'd see the US dependent on imports only from Canada (our biggest exporter), Mexico, and Nigeria. We're never going to see our consumption drop enough to use just our own oil.

Mexico peaked in 2005 and is expected to become a net importer by 2018 so in less than 10 years we will not be getting oil from them.

The biggest risk we run is the dollar collapsing and not being able to afford to import oil. China alone has the power to crush the dollar by dumping their $1.5 Tillion+ on the market. That will cause a stampede out of the dollar globally.

China is ending fuel subsidies, the just announced it today. This along with India doing the same earlier might be enough to deflate the bubble. If congress ever goes back to the regulations of trading that existed 8 years ago the entire market will collapse.

Well, they didnt' end fuel subsidies. They simply increased the prices some 18%.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061901613.html

I've been waiting for them to increase prices though, it was no secret they couldn't afford to do it forever.

Well, they didnt' end fuel subsidies. They simply increased the prices some 18%.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061901613.html

I've been waiting for them to increase prices though, it was no secret they couldn't afford to do it forever.


The early headline said "ended". I guess that is what you get by scooping everyone else. Any news is good news and oil $4.75 on the day as I type this.

The biggest risk we run is the dollar collapsing and not being able to afford to import oil. China alone has the power to crush the dollar by dumping their $1.5 Tillion+ on the market. That will cause a stampede out of the dollar globally.

The reason that will never happen is #1 their currency is pegged on the dollar and #2 we are their biggest importer. It is good for talk, but since it would wreck their economy as well it is not good for much else.

Proud- very well put. I have to ask though- have you personally stopped helping to set manufacturing in China?

It's working already! Oil down $4.57 today!:lol:

Proud- very well put. I have to ask though- have you personally stopped helping to set manufacturing in China?

YES. I left PPG Industries last year for that very reason. :yes:

After building 2 plants on the soil of mainland China and starting the third, it was obvious that my services were going to be used for such ventures extensively for the next 20 years or more as they went through China, into Russia, Malaysia, and eventually into Africa. Nice career, well-paid, and never dull, but also not the best morally, and never home.

I stay in touch with my colleagues all over the world, and the place I am working now has operations in several countries in Europe, but nothing in Asia (not yet anyways). Funny thing is the Taiwanese and Chinese operations still want me to come to work for them directly an an Ex-Pat even today. I dealt with them fairly and honorably and they respect me and my abilities. It's nice to know that if I were laid off or in a head-count reduction, I could make a phone call and have some very lucrative work with a very good salary and not fear for providing for my family. The down-side would be the extensive travel involved and my conscience.

I still travel but it's mostly domestic now. In fact, I was just in Manchester NH and upstate Vermont a week ago on business, and was in Ohio and Michigan a month earlier.

Truth is - I've never been happier (personal life). I've chased the career path for 17 years and done whatever was asked of me at the sacrifice of my personal life - hobbies, time with family, etc. As my folks are getting into their 70s and my kid is becoming a teenager, my absence from their daily lives was getting too tough to bear. My mom went through unexpected 5-bypass surgery 2 years ago and has suffered 2 significant strokes so far this year - she is in rehab for left-side numbness and mobility problems as I write this.
My daughter has been a soccer nut since she was 3. She is 10 now and has played in a league for 7 years. I have coached her 1:1 from the beginning and she's pretty darn good if I say so myself, being the top scorer for the last 2-1/2 years. But my crazy schedule never permitted me to coach her officially and I was missing practices and games all the time... until the job change. I actually coached the team last season and we finished 5-2-1... 2nd in our league (due to the dang tie! :mad:). She tried out for an invitation-only "challenge" soccer league 2 weeks ago and she was accepted on the team almost instantly. We just did a soccer camp this week and we are going to Wake Forest University Soccer Camp in July.
In addition, I have a huge garden this year for the first time in a long time,
I am working on a stripped-bare resto of a 78 King Cobra right now,
finally get to do some fishing and hunting with my daughter and father again,
I'm getting back into the road-course racing again, and enjoying life a little.
In short - I have a life again besides "Mr. Machine Maker" who travels the world.

FWIW, I am now working for another tier-1, designing and building machines and tooling to make parts for the US auto industry directly. We supply to the big 2.5 and several foreign labels that assemble here in the US. Nothing we make here goes outside the US except to Canada or Mexico. Any products we make for European use is made in our European plants. We are not players in China or Japan at this time and management shows no interest in it so far since most of them are sourcing assembly plants on our soil.
Last year, I built and installed about $7-million of new production capital for new lines here in NC, creating several new jobs for our local economy. I'm proud of that. This year looks a little slower (obviously) but I'm still working on new capital for the 2010-2012 model releases, so I'm busy as heck despite the slowdown.

Sorry for the long answer, but you strike a very sensitive chord with me (in a good way) with your question. I have indeed changed jobs and I am no longer contributing directly to capital relocation or construction in China. I took a pretty good pay cut to change too, but it's what I felt I needed to do for myself and for my family.

Again, I try to lead by example and practice what I preach.
That's why I am so verbal about wanting us Americans to stop cowering and rolling over when hit with these challenges, and start actually doing something about it besides griping. I am doing something about it.

After writing my essay on morality and the call for action yesterday, I read this this morning...
400 charged in US mortgage fraud (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080619/pl_afp/useconomyfinancepropertycrimearrests;_ylt=An..43N1 hNSN2CXbSKwpw14DW7oF)
"According to the indictment, the two executives "marketed the two funds as a low-risk strategy, backed by a pool of debt securities such as mortgages" and "made misrepresentations to stave off investor withdrawal" as the funds neared collapse."

"Meanwhile the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said they had charged 406 people from March 1 to June 18 in a national probe called "Operation Malicious Mortgage" of a variety of schemes related to housing fraud.
Some 60 arrests were made in mortgage fraud-related cases on Wednesday, in 144 separate cases. The FBI estimates that the cases resulted in one billion dollars in losses."

It saddens me. :shame:
I love my fellow man... I just don't understand why the human animal continues to behave this way. Greed is so powerful.

NOW - back to reality... I say that if these people are found guilty, they have to choose their own punishment... die by hanging, or have all their wealth stripped completely and donated to charities for use or auction, and they must live and/or work in state/government-run facilities that provide services to the elderly, handicapped, the needy, emergency response type operations, or some other benefit to society-at-large - for no salary. If they choose to do any voluntary (and supervised) work outside their required state job, they will be allowed a modest salary for their "indulgences". If they ever fail to do their job in these institutions, they are immediately sentenced to solitary confinement for 90 days and offered a chance to return. After three strikes in solitary, their @ss is hanged anyways.

Personally, I'd hang them from the closest streetlamp to the courthouse for 24 hours for the public to see and feel. These people have RUINED the lives of numerous hard-working, honest people like you and I - STOLEN their retirements, their inheritances, etc., and they have undermined our national economy and sanctity. I have NO PITY for them.
Stealing is stealing, I don't care if you do it with a pencil or a gun.
If we would set some examples, this kind of sh1+ would begin to stop. :yes:
Try getting caught stealing in Turkey or Qatar and see what happens to you.

Sorry for the graphic rant, but this (IMO) is why our nation is going down the poop-tube, and I'm ready to start fighting to stop it. I'm just sick of this behavior. Despite the Enrons and Tycos, the big execs and players are still after the money because the gains outweight the risk of getting caught. The same thing is going on in big oil and energy too if you ask me, but there is no push from the current administration to investigate or curtail it. MAYBE we'll know the truth 50 years from now. :rolleyes: