Lake Martin Topics: Dollar Value

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	Name:	MartiniMan -
	Subject:	Dollar Value
	Date:	3/18/2008 9:52:00 PM

I guess I am not really disagreeing with Feb so much as pointing out there is a lot more to a weak dollar than just the issue of oil prices. Its kind of funny if you think about it, a weak dollar raises oil prices which increases the cost of imports and the weak dollar makes our products cheaper on the world market which reduces the trade deficit. Sort of the yin and yang of our trade balance.

One point though is in 2006, about 60% of the petroleum consumed in the U.S. was imported from foreign countries (source is the Energy Information Administration). Here are the top five which account for over 60% of our total imports:

Canada (17.5%)
Saudia Arabia (11.9%)
Mexico (11.8%)
Venezuela (11.2%)
Nigeria (9.1%)

Of those I have the most anxiety about Saudia Arabia and Venezuela. I think the bigger issue is that we import so much oil. A part of that is our demand and the rest is a result of our domestic fields being so mature and the moratorium on drilling in places like ANWR, Gulf of Mexico, off California, etc. No easy solution but it seems to me we need to combine conservation with increased domestic production until the free market finds a cost-effective solution.

As for me, I am going to suck it up and burn some gas on Lake Martin this summer. We didn't put our boat back in after the 4th of July week and I really missed the fun!