It seems to me that the new Aptera (300 mpg!) automobile is to American capitalism as Barack Obama is to representative government. Both are breathtakingly refreshing in their approach to solving pressing problems.
The Aptera is a light-weight, high tech, vehicle that, according to the website of the manufacturer, will be available to residents of California only (darn it) in about a year as an electric car or a plug-in hybrid.
This is not an ad for the car. It is a message for all the Nellie Naysayers out there who believe America’s best days are behind her. Don’t you believe it! Since 1973, we have known there was a finite amount of oil left in the world and, as demand increased and supplies shrank, the price was bound to go up. It did. And while market forces will make the price fluctuate, even pushing it down from time to time, the long term view calls for higher and higher gas prices.
Enter American ingenuity…again. While our elected leadership has mostly slept, American entrepreneurs have been hard at work, and we are beginning to see the fruits of their labors. To paraphrase Captain John Paul Jones, we have not yet begun to invent!
The thought of the Aptera and similar new technology should bring a smile to your face. It must surely be Saudi Arabia’s worst nightmare. It must give Iran's President Ahmadinejad and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez very bad heartburn. Soon…very soon, we may not need so much of their black gold.
Yes, I know China is ready to buy what we don’t…but that is just a temporary salve for the oil producing nations. Their time, as dictators of price for the one of the world’s most valued commodities, is almost up.
And isn't it nice to see the price of oil back to below $60 a barrel again!
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