QuestionerSome people in the energy markets are sort of talking about United States becoming independent in the energy market. Could you share some light on how this might affect the trade deficit?
WarrenWell, yeah, it will be a huge plus, obviously, if our total energy production increases substantially, and what we have to import costs us less. I mean, it is a big factor in the current account deficit. I don't, I mean, we're doing a lot in oil. I don't see us getting self-sufficient in oil, but gas is huge. Our picture has changed a lot in the last three years in terms of energy. Charlie and I might argue that over time, we'd still be better off using somebody else's up and keeping our own for a long time. That's my view.
CharlieYeah. For a long time, I mean, you know, we were an oil exporter in my lifetime, a substantial oil exporter, and it might have been better if we'd been using Saudi oil. It would have been better.
WarrenYeah. You can't get by with Charlie here. It would have been better. Okay. It would have been better if we had been using Saudi Arabia's oil then and just, in effect, treated. all of this huge reserves we had in places like East Texas and such as a strategic petroleum reserve, which we just kept around for another century. It would have been much better.
CharlieYeah. It would have. But we, our picture has changed for the better, and that means our current account deficit picture has changed for the better. We've still got a ways to go, but, but it does look better than three or four years ago, don't you think so, Charlie?
CharlieWell, I think the, the, That's a very complex interaction. My view is that the single most precious resource of the United States are its hydrocarbon reserves, the ones that are right here. And of course, I want to use up, and I'm a Puritan. I always want to suffer now to make the future better, because I think that's the way grown-ups should behave. And so I'm all for using up the other fellow's oil and conserving our own. And I think the idea of energy independence is one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard grown people talk about. Think of what terrible shape we'd been if we'd achieved total energy independence way earlier. We wouldn't have any oil and gas left at all. Wouldn't that be a wonderful condition? We don't want energy independence. We want to conserve this stuff. And thank God other people have some of this precious stuff they're willing to sell. I have the exact opposite idea on this subject. on this subject for most people. And of course, I think I'm right. This is Charlie's version of saving up sex for your old age. You do. No, we're going to use the oil.