Black Gold Stranglehold (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Craig R. Smith (Author)
Key Phrases: ice shelf, black gold stranglehold, abiotic theory, United States, Saudi Arabia, Middle East (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Experts estimate that Americans consume more than 25 percent of the world's oil but have control over less than 3 percent of its proven oil supply. This unbalanced pattern of consumption makes it possible for foreign governments, corrupt political leaders, terrorist organizations, and oil conglomerates to hold the economy and the citizens of the United States in a virtual stranglehold. There is no greater proof of this than the direct relationship between skyrocketing gas prices and the explosion of wealth among those who control the world's supply of oil.

In Black Gold Stranglehold, Jerome Corsi and Craig Smith expose the fraudulent science that has made America so vulnerable: the belief that oil is a fossil fuel and that it is a finite resource. This book reveals the conclusions reached by Dr. Thomas Gold, a professor at Cornell University, in his seminal book The Deep Hot Biosphere: The Myth of Fossil Fuels (Copernicus Books, 1998) and accepted by many in the scientific community that oil is not a product of fossils and prehistoric forests but rather the bio-product of a continuing biochemical reaction below the earth's surface that is brought to attainable depths by the centrifugal forces of the earth's rotation.

Jerome Corsi explores the international and domestic politics of oil production and consumption, including the wealth and power of major oil conglomerates, the manipulation of world economies by oil-producing nations and rogue terrorist regimes, and the shortsightedness of those who endorse expensive conservation efforts while rejecting the use of the oil reserves currently controlled by the U.S. government.

As an expert in tangible assets, Craig Smith provides an understanding of the history of America's dangerous dissociation of the dollar with precious—and truly scarce—metals such as gold and the devastation that would be inflicted on the U.S. economy if Middle Eastern countries are able to follow through with current plans to make the euro the standard currency for oil instead of U.S. dollars.

Black Gold Stranglehold is a thoughtful work that is certain to dramatically change the debate on oil consumption, oil dependence, and oil availability.

From the Inside Flap

It is estimated that Americans consume more than 25 percent of the world's oil but have control over less than 3 percent of its proven supply. This extremely unbalanced pattern of consumption makes it possible for foreign governments, corrupt political leaders, terrorist organizations, and oil conglomerates to place the citizens of the United States in a stranglehold of supply and demand. There is no greater proof of this than the direct relationship between skyrocketing gas prices and the exploding wealth of those who control the supply of oil.

In Black Gold Stranglehold, Jerome R. Corsi and Craig R. Smith expose the fraudulent science that has been sold to the American people in order to enslave them: the belief that oil is a fossil fuel and a finite resource. On the contrary, this book presents authoritative research, currently known mostly in the scientific community, that oil is not a product of decaying dinosaurs and prehistoric forests. Rather, it is a natural product of the earth. The scientific evidence cited by Corsi and Smith suggests that oil is constantly being produced by the earth, far below the planet's surface, and that it is brought to attainable depths by the centrifugal forces of the earth's rotation.

In great detail Corsi and Smith explore the international and domestic politics of oil production and consumption. This includes the wealth and power of major oil conglomerates, the manipulation of world economies by oil-producing states and rogue terrorist regimes, and the political agenda of radical environmentalists and conservationists who obstruct the use of oil reserves currently controlled by the U.S. government. The authors offer an understanding of the dangerous situation America faces because its currency is no longer tied to any precious and truly scarce metals such as gold, as it was until 1973. This situation could easily lead to the devastation of the U.S. economy if Middle Eastern countries are able to enact current plans to accept only the Euro or gold-backed currencies such as the Gold Dinar instead of the U.S. dollar as the standard currency for oil.

Black Gold Stranglehold will dramatically change the debate about oil. The significance of its message is sure to cause thoughtful people to reconsider the current dependence of the U.S. economy on imported oil.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 356 pages
• Publisher: WND Books; First Edition edition (October 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581824890
• ISBN-13: 978-1581824896
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #136,043 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The author should take a course in basic math, November 5, 2006

By	Joseph Greenway "Joseph" (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews

I bought this book looking forward to reading evidence that oil came from a geophysical process rather than biological. I still hope that is true, but this author has almost completely convinced me against it.

I've never read a book with so many mathematical errors. I'll give a few examples of the many that exist. There's a section from page 72-78. Throughout this section, the author uses million, billion and trillion interchangeably as if they were the same number. On page 83 he states that carbon dioxide makes up one tenth of one percent of the atmosphere. On page 85 he states that it makes up a full one percent. He then procedes to do some calculations that are off by a factor of 10. On page 103 he mentions how much carbon various countries are putting into the atmosphere. He says nothing as to time. Do they put this much out every day, year decade...who knows!

The author's main argument against his opposition is 'They're stupid because they don't believe what I believe.' He seems to think if he calls them stupid enough times in enough ways we'll start to realize what a genius he is. One example of this: He says that big oil fields are being found in the ocean below two miles of water. He ridicules the bio-oil people mentioning what idiots they must be to believe that this area must once have been above water for dinosaurs to die on it and become oil. I wonder, did it ever cross his mind that bio-material is continuously falling to the bottom of the ocean by the billions of tons. The material would thicken, come under pressure (even more than the water provides) and over millions of years plate tectonics would move it deep into the mantle.

He unashamedly says we should use all the oil we want. There's an unlimited supply and man is stupid if he thinks he's powerful enough to cause global warming. In one chapter he goes into depth explaining how great it is that we import a large part of our oil. It brings mutual international investment and interdependence. In this chapter he says the U.S. uses 20 million barrels a day getting 1.5M from Canada, 1.5M from Mexico and 1.5M from Saudi Arabia. The rest from other sources. In the next chapter he rails against importing oil. In his words, "We have never before in our history experienced this massive a transfer of our national wealth overseas." etc... In this chapter we use 21M barrels a day. We get 1.72M from Canada, 1.75M from Mexico and 1.4M from the Saudis.

In summary, this is one of the worst books I have ever read. He doesn't have a clue what he's talking about and isn't even consistent in his own words. Don't waste your money buying this book. I wish I had read the other reviews before I did.

26 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breaking the Black Gold Stranglehold Means Confronting Myths, January 16, 2008

By	Ryan Setliff "InternetPundit.com" (VA, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

~Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil~ is a brave challenge to the prevalence of politically-motivated pseudo-science and the crude politics of oil. Jerome R. Corsi and Craig R. Smith expose the fraudulent geologic science behind the myth of oil scarcity: which is a myth that the geologists on the payrolls of oil cartels have no intention of challenging. In the sensational movie dramatization about the politics of oil Syriana, the hard-hitting narrative on the movie trailer proclaimed, "It's running out. And 90% of what's left is in the Middle East. It's going to be a fight to the death." None of that was really true, but many think it to be so. The fossil fuel myth is one of the most egregious scientific myths of our time.

The biogenic hypothesis for the origins of petroleum was first proposed in 1757 by Russian scholar Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765). The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1937) and the French chemist Marcellin Berthelot (1827-1907) later gave credence to the theory, through their research. The Abiogenic theory saw a revival by Russian and Ukrainian scientists in the past century, and following the release in 1999 of The Deep Hot Biosphere by Thomas Gold, its credibility increased among American scientists. Gold's theory is based on the existence of a biosphere composed of thermophile bacteria in the earth's crust, which explains the existence of biomarkers in petroleum. The presence of microscopic biological matter in oil compelled scientists such as Lomonosov to conclude that oil had biological origins. But as scientist Fred Hoyle said in approbation of Gold's thesis: "The suggestion that petroleum might have arisen from soem transformation of squashed fish or biological detritus is surely the silliest notion to have been entertained by substantial numbers of persons over an extended period of time." In 2002, a large section of the Larsen B Ice Shelf broke free of the Antarctic Peninsula. When scientific submersibles probed the icey bottom of of the seafloor measuring twice the size of Texas, they made a startling discovery. The through below the ice shelf had been undisturbed for ages, and it was breeding with life: it was a colony of clams and layers of bacterial mats. The life thrived on methane and was incapable of photosynthesis, as no light was accessible to it. Similarly, microscopic organisms that live in petroleum below the earth's surface live off of the petroleum itself. The discovery in Antarctica confirmed Thomas Gold's hypothesis that a "deep, hot biosphere" would be found where organisms thrived by drawing energy directly from hydrocarbon sources pouring out of the earth's mantle. In reality petroleum is "abiogenic and ubiquitous deep in the earth." Consisting mostly of hydrocarbons, it is produced deep within the earth's core, which subjects it to immense heat and pressure. The centrifugal forces of the earth's rotation act to propel petroleum to the substratum of the earth's crust, thereby making it accessible to man for petroleum exploration. Oil fields can be emptied, but many have an uncanny tendency to replenish themselves.

Among the myths busted in this fascinating book are the Hubbert peak theory, which perpetuates a myth of extreme oil scarcity, when it reality it is a renewable resource. In reality, today, we have more oil reserves than ever before, and more oil continues to be found. The United States which is dependent largely upon foreign oil has enough oil offshore and in Alaska to supply itself for decades to come. After the publication of this book in 2006, Chevron reports having found an oil field under the Gulf of Mexico that could boost US reserves by more than 50%. However, stringent environmental regulations and the threat of constant environmental litigation has impeded oil exploration, and restricted the efficiency of exploration and refining in the United States.

You don't seriously believe that all the trillions of tons of oil reserves below the earth's crust are merely the compound of primordial ooze from dead dinosaurs and plant matter do you? Neither do I.

The money Americans spend on imported oil and gas indirectly contributes to the support of radical Islamism, and its dependency that America must break. Instead, we should turn to increasing domestic and continental production in North America, by easing red tape, restraints, and breaking the shackles of the regulatory state which impedes exploration and refining within the United States.

Global warming too, is a scientific hoax. Meteorology as as science is still largely in its infancy, as tools for analyzing climate changes have only recently been developed in the past century. There is credible evidence which suggests the earth is just as likely to cool as it is to warm; moreover, there is also evidence for 100-year cycles, and mild temperature fluctuations from time-to-time.

Americans need a common-sense market-oriented solution to its oil problem, and the increasing prices of oil on the international market. Interventionist foreign policy is demanded by oil cartels to further their interests, and its not necessarily in our best interests to pursue. Dependency upon the Middle East and Venezuela is not in our vital national security interests, and acts to prop up regimes hostile to the United States. Even Iran is a beneficiary of U.S. funds in spite of the supposed embargo, because its oil is merely exported through intermediary states to the U.S. and our government knows where it comes from. We must toss aside the myths of global warming and oil scarcity, and loosen regulatory handicaps which bar the U.S. from taking advantage of its abundant natural resources. Alternative energy sources have proven themselves wasteful. Windmills don't suffice, and kill endangered raptors. Government-subsidized synthetic ethanol fuel is a joke, as it's not economically viable and requires more BTUs to produce than results from the actual output of production. Investment in technology, such as improved refining techniques and better-quality engines, which burn fuel in a cleaner manner, are wiser alternatives than abandoning the use of oil. Getting away from the oil economy is a pipe dream. Only the advent of the long-hypothesized, revolutionary cold fusion technology could began to render oil production superfluous.

All things considered, Jerome Corsi and Craig Smith have put together a compelling and provocative thesis. American policymakers need to take it into serious consideration, and start unraveling the intrigue of crude politics.

45 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, November 2, 2005

By	Peter Campt "Peter Campt" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

After reading the claims that this book would turn the world on it's ear, I was expecting a whole bunch more. There's been more than 50 years of scientific research into fossil fuels, I find it difficult to believe that all of a sudden everything we know about oil is wrong. A few quoted technicians versus 1000's of teams of geologists and research specialists doesn't seem like a fair match.

This book didn't prove it to me, oil is fairly obviously becoming harder and harder to drill for, and more expensive to bring up. The Canadian Shale takes almost as much energy in natural gas to produce the oil as it's worth, and they can only generate a million barrels a day. Hardly enough to make a difference in a world that uses 89 million barrels of oil per day.

For another book in this category I highly recommend Michael Ruppert's "Crossing the Rubicon". THAT book makes sense, and scares me as a see the effects of our diminishing cheap oil supply.