Over a Barrel: The Costs of U.S. Foreign Oil Dependence
- ISBN-10
- 0804754993
- ISBN-13
- 9780804754996
- Series
- Over a Barrel
- Category
- Political science (General)
- Pages
- 290
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2008
- Publisher
- Stanford Law and Politics
- Author
- John S. Duffield
Description
The United States is highly dependent on foreign oil. Well over half of the oil and petroleum products consumed in America—approximately 12 million barrels per day, or more than 600 gallons for every man, woman, and child each year—now come from abroad. And the U.S. government projects that the level of imports will only continue to rise, reaching between 16 and 21 million barrels per day by 2025.
What precisely are the costs of U.S. foreign oil dependence? Unfortunately, no one has yet offered a satisfactory answer to this vital question. As a result, the costs to the United States of its dependence on oil from abroad have gone largely unrecognized and, in fact, are much greater than most people realize. Some costs, like the annual bill for oil imports—and, by reflection, the price that motorists pay at the pump or the size of homeowners’ heating oil bills—are obvious and quantifiable. A number of others, however, are not so apparent or easy to measure. For example, it is difficult to put a price tag on the costs of coddling oil-rich authoritarian regimes at the expense of promoting representative government, human rights, and other important values.
This book seeks to remedy this oversight by providing the first comprehensive analysis of the costs—both economic and policy-related—of U.S. foreign oil dependence and how they might be reduced. It shows that since the 1970s, the economic costs alone have run into the trillions of dollars. Successive administrations have tended to neglect the opportunities at home to reduce these costs by limiting demand. Instead, they have emphasized foreign and military policies that have proven both highly expensive and largely unsuccessful.
One positive conclusion the author draws is that the opportunities for reducing oil consumption remain largely unexploited and the costs of U.S. foreign oil dependence can still be substantially reduced at relatively little expense. At least as important, however, will be rethinking and revising the expensive foreign, security, and military policies and commitments that have developed around U.S. foreign oil dependence over the past three decades.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2015-02-11
- 272 pages
- Ebook
- State University of New York Press
Similar books
-
Single Parents: A Reference Handbook
By Karen L. KinnearCasey Foundation . 1995. Kids Count Data Book . Baltimore , MD : Annie E. Casey Foundation . Chambers , Diane . 1997. Solo Parenting : Raising Strong and Happy Families . Minneapolis : Fairview Press . Cherlin , Andrew J. , ed . 1988.
-
Women, Politics, Media: Uneasy Relations in Comparative Perspective
By Karen Ross... American studies report that salient differences in approach and priorities do exist which fracture along gendered lines . ( See , for example , Thomas , 1991 ; Boles , 1991 ; Blankenship & Robson , 1995 ; Schumaker & Burns , 1998. ) ...
-
Climbing the Hill: Gender Conflict in Congress
By Karen Foerstel, Herbert N. FoerstelWhen the voters went to the polls in November 1992 , they gave Harman a decisive victory over Flores , but two years later Harman would have a more difficult battle against still another Republican woman , Councilwoman Susan Brooks .
-
西柏坡研究.四
By 西柏坡纪念馆本书是2015年度国家社会科学重大项目“西柏坡时期中国共产党历史文献整理与研究”（15ZDB043）的文字成果。汇编了近年来社会各界研究西柏坡精神、西柏坡历史、两个务必、“赶考 ...
-
西柏坡研究(三)
By 西柏坡纪念馆20世纪90年代初以来，西柏坡精神研究经历了从初步到逐步深入、从河北省到走向全国、从理论研究到成为现代化建设特别是全面建设小康社会的实践指导这样一个不断发展的过程。
-
Feminism and the Legacy of Revolution: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas
By Karen KampwirthBooth, John. 1985. The End and the Beginning: The Nicaraguan Revolution. Boulder: Westview. Booth, John, and Thomas W. Walker. 1989. Understanding Central America. Boulder: Westview Borge, Tomás. 1984. Carlos, the Dawn Ls No Longer ...
-
American Legislative Leaders in the West, 1911-1994
By Nancy Weatherly Sharp, James Roger Sharp... ROBERT MCMASTER 1967 ELDRIDGE DONALD DELOS 1970 COPELAND THOMAS L 1971 SWAYZE THOMAS ALLEN JR 1973 SAWYER LEONARD ALSON ... K 1919 SULLIVAN EUGENE J 1921 EWART LEWIS R STATE NAME 1 ST SPKR ARIZONA 1912 BRADNER SAMUEL B 292 APPENDIX 1.
-
The State of Social Welfare: The Twentieth Century in Cross-national Review
By John C. Dixon, Robert P. ScheurellThis collection of documents analyzes the global rise and fall of the welfare state in the 20th century. It concentrates on Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Zimbabwe.
-
Human Rights and International Political Economy in Third World Nations: Multinational Corporations, Foreign Aid, and Repression
By William MeyerFinally , shortly after the disaster , UC claimed that they believed the leak may have been caused by the deliberate sabotage of a disgruntled employee ( Bogard , 1989 : 3—4 ) . Bogard's investigation of the Bhopal disaster considers ...
-
Experiencing Citizenship: Concepts and Models for Service-learning in Political Science
By William E. Hudson, Richard M. BattistoniThis volume is part of a series of 18 monographs service learning and the academic disciplines. This collection of essays focuses on the use of service learning as an approach to teaching and learning in political science.