Billionaire hedge fund manager T. Boone Pickens is not known for being fond of the current president of the United States. This time, he called President Barack Obama a “complete loser for energy.”
In an interview with Yahoo! Finance, the billionaire investor said that Obama “has never promoted energy and never pays attention to it that I can see.” (Source: “Boone Pickens: Obama has been ‘a complete loser for energy,’” Yahoo! Finance, September 22, 2016.)
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According to Pickens, America’s dependence on foreign oil is the “greatest threat” to the nation. In particular, he said that relying on Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)-imported oil threatens America’s economy, environment, and national security.
Still, he pointed out that the U.S. is importing about 1.5 million barrels per day from the Middle East, much less than the 8.0 million barrels per day it used to. “We’re a lot better off today than we were five years ago, 10 years ago,” he said.
But that’s not enough. Pickens said that the U.S. doesn’t need OPEC oil. He is a proponent for forming a North American Energy Alliance among the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.
When it comes the next president of the United States, Pickens is pretty clear on who he supports: Donald Trump. One of the reasons is that he is worried about Hillary Clinton’s view on fracking. Pickens thinks that when it comes to fracking, Clinton has the same view as Senator Bernie Sanders, that fracking should be banned.
“That can’t happen. Let me tell you what would happen to us, for instance. The world uses 95 million barrels of oil a day. Seventy percent of that goes to transportation fuel. … They’ve both said they’d like to shut down fossil fuels. I’m not here stomping for fossil fuels,” he said.
“I’m here to tell you that’s the only thing you have. If you don’t have oil for transportation fuel or natural gas, what will happen to you? Your transportation will stop. And that can’t happen.” (Source: Ibid.)
