… that President Obama’s policy of raising tax rates on “the rich” won’t balance the federal budget. Writer Rana Foroohar recognizes the need for more economic growth to address the federal government’s fiscal woes.

Those interested in the fracking issue might appreciate the second of Foroohar’s five recommendations for boosting growth: Unleash shale gas and oil.

Back in the 1970s, energy imports were a tax on growth. Today, thanks to the shale oil and gas boom, America is fast becoming OPEC. According to IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, the boom in unconventional oil and gas has already created 1.7 million jobs–and $62 billion in new federal and state tax revenue last year alone. Experts believe there’s much more to come, and the length of the supply chains involved in unconventional energy production means that “all of the 48 lower states are experiencing economic benefits,” says IHS vice chairman Dan Yergin, author of The Quest, which covers the rise of the new energy landscape. How can we get even more growth from shale? Yergin says our logistical systems need to be better adapted to move surging production from the Western U.S. to refineries on the East Coast, which still import oil from West Africa because infrastructure (including pipelines and production facilities) doesn’t exist to transport energy quickly and safely from North Dakota.