Australia sent the major miners into a tailspin overnight.

The Rudd government announced Sunday night that it will impose a new "resource super profits" tax on mining, oil and gas, geothermal and other resource extraction in the nation.

Under the scheme, resource companies will pay a 40% tax on profits. Implementation is scheduled for July 1, 2012.

The fall-out was immediate.

The Obama Administration is currently pursuing a misguided and dangerous war on the oil and natural gas industry, blaming it for not doing enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Not only does this belligerent policy fail to improve the situation it was designed to address, it will also place U.S. energy security at much greater risk in the long run.

When a solid product concept is ready for market, there is little that can be done to keep it from generating solid returns. The concept is bottled up and ready to burst under the pressure of profit potential. When the concept reaches critical mass, all that one can do is channel the pressurized potential in the right direction.