Strattner Financial Group (SCNG)

[Covington]

FedEx CEO Calls for Ending Dependence on Foreign Oil
09/29/2009

According to Bartholomew Sullivan of ScrippsNews, Frederick Smith, FedEx CEO, in a meeting with other CEOs at the Council on Competiveness National Energy Summit last week called for reducing our dependence on foreign petroleum as a matter of both national and economic security. Not only does our ability to sustain economic growth depend on reliable energy, Smith stated that some 50-60 percent of the U.S. defense budget in one way or another goes toward protecting the oil trade. Obviously his company has a huge stake in the issue since FedEx consumes about 1.5 billion gallons of fuel annually.

“If people want to call me a socialist for recognizing these huge costs – externalities – of our national defense, not to mention the 5,000 young men and women who have lost their lives in this thing and the thousands who have been maimed and wounded, we need to solve this problem,” he said. “The failure to do it is not only going to create serious consequences in terms of our economy, but we’re going to make a big mistake and get into a big conflagration over this thing,” he predicted.

Conservation combined with expansion of domestic energy supplies such as through more rapid development of biofuels and other alternative energy sources seem to represent important steps in the direction sought by Mr. Smith.
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