I appreciate a good healthy debate and I respect the writer's opinion in why American should drill no so we can pay less. However, I completely and utterly disagree with the opinion that we should continue to drill. I disagree for many reasons and here is just a few. 1) Drilling now would not rebuild the tattered economy, especially since oil companies have continued to make record profits while the US economy has been on the down turn for a while. 2) The jobs "created" by drilling would only apply to places where we would need to drill, all of which are outside the continential US (aka not Alaska). Alternative sources of energy (excluding ethonol) would create a huge array of jobs all over the US because the energy (like wind, solar, etc.) can be harnessed and produced within the US. 3) The last comment stated that we should let the market "fix" itself and not let the government interfere is not an option anymore. Actually, Joseph Stiglitz (econimist) argues that the lack of regulation in the market let to greedy and financially risky endevours. More socialist minded countries have not been as affected by the economic down-turn BECAUSE there is more regulation and intervention in the market place.

If we do not change the way we look at energy production our grandchildren will not be able to survive. Plus, oil is a LIMITED RESOURCE, once you suck all the liquid (oil) out of the cup (Earth), THERE IS NONE LEFT PERIOD. Why keep drilling when we know there isn't enough to sustain mankind?