Hersh's Fear Factors

Seymour Hersh answering questions on --

Oil and War:

Rockville, md: What about the oil?
Isn't it true that 2005 is the tipping year when demand from China, and India, coupled with our unquechable thirst edges past supply?
Aren't we headed for another gas shock that will be the start of another worldwide depression?
Isn't that what Bush was really all about by trying to secure our control of the second largest reserve-Iraq-and put feet on the ground in the center of the region?

Seymour Hersh: dunno re tipping point,but the chinese demand is taxing and will continue to be for another decade, as supply diminishes. we are headed a serious price shock. i widh (sic wish?) bush's main reasons for going into iraq was to keep its oil safe for our autos, but i'm afraid he acted on sheer ideology, perhaps driven by his religous beliefs.

Oil and the Economy:

Hyattsville, MD: I work in an international office in Washington, DC, and would guess that a landslide majority of all Americans who work in the international arena are EXTREMELY fearful of the road Bush is taking our country down.

Setting aside the mess of out middle east policy and the war in Iraq; even the economic and energy policies show this administration to be completely blind to world trends.

How do we sustain theis deficit spending while a rising Euros tempts investors in Europe and Asia to stop buying up dollars? How long can we continue to guzzle foreign oil like we are OPECs one and only customer as booming CHina and INdia are demanding more and more?

Seymour Hersh: this is going to be gut issue over the next year, if not in the press certainly in the corporate offices of america and the world. the economic picture, given the dwindling tax revenues (federal estate tax collection is down from 18 to 12 billion on its way down, given bush's legislation, to nada), is very bleak. if the asians and europeans cash in their dollars, we're in bigger trouble. and don 't expect the russians to bail us out with increased oil production when prices rise (the saudis may be at peak capability now, with limitied ability to go higher). dim future.
goodbye to all and sorry i could not answer more questions.

sy hersh