Low gas prices endanger economy

As a former employee of Exxon Mobil, I am aware of the massive costs and complexity of their energy projects. Very few of the many thousands of employees who have Exxon in their company savings plans are aware of the tremendous skill and managerial abilities required to drill miles under the ocean to obtain oil.

With respect to their profits, the public should realize that this year the company will pay more taxes to the U.S. Treasury than the bottom 50 percent of all taxpayers.

This year they paid $61.7 billion in taxes. President Carter's windfall profits on the oil companies led to a 6 percent drop in domestic and a 15 percent increase in oil imports.

The American public, who once again have see gasoline prices, is endangering the future energy policies of the United States by failing to comprehend the tremendous costs involved in drilling for fossil fuels and developing investment for alternative sources of energy.

The government, business, the politicians and the environmentalists are embarking on the same course of dysfunctional thinking that led to the housing bust and the present recession.

A mistake in energy policy, led by ignorant politicians, and a society that is only concerned with cheap gasoline may lead to a crisis that is not only financial but adversely affects the productivity of our country with a commensurate reduction in employment.

Even more important, the political emphasis on this problem and appeals for "low" gasoline prices may well have a direct impact on our national security.

Samuel Hess

Mount Prospect