US re-emergence as energy superpower shakes up Mideast

As the crisis in Syria continues to unfold, consider this: For the first time in more than 40 years, an American president can confidently conduct US foreig🍸n policy in the Middle East without an outsize fear that strategic actions abroad will cripple the economy at home.

That’s because this month America will produce more oil tha𒈔n it imports, thanks to the unprecedented energy boom of recent years.

And the International Energy Agency estimates that the US is on track t⛦o surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production by the time our next president is sworn into office in 2017.

Indeed, the re-emergence of the US as an energy superpower is beginning to sink in overseas. Reports out of the Middle East last week su🧸ggested that Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan was talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin about forming an energy alliance to counter the North American energy renaissance. Meantime, the most famous Saudi around, investor Prince Al-Waleedbin Talal, tweeted his concern about the oil-shale boom on our continent, noting that Saudi Arabia needs to “diversify sources of revenue.”

But freedom from OPEC’s marketplace tyranny isn’t the only benefit America is enjoying from t𓂃he energy bꦛoom of 2013.

While little ink has been spilled on the subject, the dramatic plunge in oil i💜mports is helping juice economic growth substantially. Last Thursday the government reported that gross domestic product rose 2.5 percent in the second 🉐quarter, way up from earlier estimates of just 1.7 percent. A dramatic 22 percent drop in the nation’s trade deficit in June was a big reason.

On this Labor Day, it’s worth celebrating America’s༒ p🍰rogress toward energy independence.

It will pay dividends for years to come.