Skeptic Project

Here's how I see it.

The world uses roughly 86 million barrels of oil a day, of which, the US uses approximately 21 million barrels a day (~25%). We get 15% our 21 million barrels a day from Venezuela, so a little over 3 million barrels a day. If they cut off that 3 million barrels a day, that would be catastrophic to the price of oil. I expect the speculators to start ramping up the price of oil in the next week or so. It's at $79/barrel now, I'm guessing it will hit $90 by mid August and back over $100 by September. Regardless, at the present rate of 86 million barrels per day, as the article above states, Venezuela only has 500 billion in reserves, which is 15 or so years of oil left if it were the sole supplier to the globes oil supply. However, the estimate of proven reserves is a highly political number, mind you. Based on EIA estimates, Venezuela has only 100 billion barrels of reserves. Either way, it's unsustainable both socially and environmentally.

Here is a little further info. Based on the proven reserves (1,200 billion barrels) and the given present consumption rate of 86 million barrels per day, there is roughly 38 years of oil left, total. The thing is, eastern nations and other developing nations are using more and more oil every day. Presently, China consumes roughly 7.5 million barrels per day, and is predicted to consume between 10 and 55 million barrels per day within the next 10 years. India is demanding more and more (estimates are it could triple its demand within the next 10 years from its present 3 million barrels per day), and other developing nations comprise an aggregate demand equivalent to at least China's forecasted demand. The bottom line is, nations will continue to be at conflict more and more for access to these resources. That is why would be presidents can make claims like "[T]his war could go on for 100 years....." They have nothing to do with terrorism and we all know that. I'm just trying to put some figures together for some perspective.

http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=99999&func=view&catid=272&id=278174#278174

I bet him and Hugo would get along famously.

They can hang out in Hugo's palace and stare down at all the slums full of little people.