If you are energy independent then you can screw the international market. If you can server yourself then you do not have to dance by the music of other producers.
Unless of course you want to play some other game altogether.
So you're suggesting the USA should block (or duty) oil imports, so that Americans have to pay a lot more for their oil just so they can prop up the US oil industry?
Would your own answer to this question be different if you had to pay what oil would actually cost with all externalities included, including but not limited to the gargantuan oil-industry subsidy that is the US defense budget?
I don't think Americans would want that either. People generally prefer taxes that are hidden, and Americans seem to like paying for a huge military.
did we pay for that? i thought we got that on loan
I was talking about world politics, but you are bringing up some petty domestic issue.
The discussion is about the USA.
Indeed. Read between the lines, but especially the last sentence.
Sure, but if the people who own the oil can sell it outside the country for more they will. So the price/demand outside still matters. Unless you're planning on making it illegal to export?