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  engineer4 months, 3 weeks ago

  This is a real great post. If we didn't get the world so upset, gas would be $1.50 per gallon!!!

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    populist4 months, 3 weeks ago

    a couple of years ago, I gave up driving when gas hit $1.88 a few years ago.... "I'm not paying THAT much!"

    Friends sure did laugh at the idea back then...

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      Charlson4 months, 3 weeks ago

      How'd you accomplish that? Walking, riding a bike or commuting isn't practical for me to get to work.

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        populist4 months, 3 weeks ago

        I'm lucky enough to be in a city where I can get away with biking, walking, taking a train, etc, etc. I'll still get in a car from time to time, but it's rare.

        And it's saving me plenty. I'll consider myself fortunate.

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          dandt16124 months, 3 weeks ago

          You are very fortunate. Good for you!!

          We have decided not to buy a place in the country and stay in town near the job. With everything going up it seems to be the smarter choice now.

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    Locky124 months, 3 weeks ago

    Yeah, great idea Engineer. NOT!

    We should just allow Iran to have nukes, Just let Iraq be flushed down the toilet run by Islamofascist military junta, and just forget about Afghanistan all in the name of keeping the Middle East at peace for cheaper oil.

    It's called APPEASEMENT. It never worked before, what makes you think it'd work now?!?

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      populist4 months, 3 weeks ago

      "we" ???

      you sound like a collectivist to me.

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        AntiNeoCon4 months, 3 weeks ago

        He has more than one personality. :o)

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          populist4 months, 3 weeks ago

          personality = propeller account, right?

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        miklkit4 months, 3 weeks ago

        The Borg. Resistance is futile.

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      Dionys4 months, 3 weeks ago

      "We should just allow Iran to have nukes, Just let Iraq be flushed down the toilet run by Islamofascist military junta, and just forget about Afghanistan all in the name of keeping the Middle East at peace for cheaper oil. "

      Garbage.

      Iran isn't breaking any laws. According to all accounts even if they were to go after nuclear weapons they're more than a decade away.

      Plus the US and Israel have proven themselves to be the most dangerous nations on earth when it comes to invading other nations on a pretense, bombing people into oblivion and planning to occupy a country for an extended period of time.

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        Mutainia4 months, 3 weeks ago

        Boy, that is just SOOOO Jihadist, O "I'm not a Muslim". Actually, IF we really wanted cheaper oil, we'd say, "Hey, lower the oil prices, Abdullah, or, no more Mecca, just for starters." But, that would be mean, so, we don't.

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          Dionys4 months, 3 weeks ago

          "Hey, lower the oil prices, Abdullah, or, no more Mecca, just for starters." But, that would be mean, so, we don't."

          It's not a matter of being mean. It's a matter of destroying the most holy place of a religion by attacking a country that's shown no aggression towards us just to push a political agenda. It's pure stupidity. Which isn't surprising from your mouth.

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            Mutainia4 months, 3 weeks ago

            NO aggression toward us? What was 9/11? What's sending in terrorists into Iraq to blow up oil pipe-lines to keep America dependant on Saudi oil? Raising OPEC prices to bankrupt America is not aggression?

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              Dionys4 months, 3 weeks ago

              9/11 was an attack by extremists hiding behind Islam to push their own ideology. It had nothing to do with Mecca. As to who's keeping America dependent upon Saudi Oil, that would be George Bush and his family, best friends of the House of Saud and the American people who are too lazy to break their oil dependency.

              As for raising OPEC prices, it's sure not Islam. It's the instability and uncertainty in the Middle East which today is purely due to Bush's war in Iraq, a place that had not a thing to do with 9/11 and had no al-Quaeda before the US invasion. It's politics, ideology and in the long run like anything else it's money. Like all the money that goes into the pocket of no-bid contracts for KBR or Haliburton.

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                Mutainia4 months, 3 weeks ago

                I think you might be right on the OPEC thing, but, who do you think these extremists were "hiding behind Islam to push their own ideology? I've noticed that a Muslim is a Muslim until he commits an act of terror, then Muslims say he was either a puppet of the West to make Islam look Satanic, or, he was a freedom fighter protesting the "evil Zionist entity" that traded land for peace and got rockets fired FROM the land in return. So, again, who do YOU think was behind 9/11? WHO were these extremists, you called them?

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                  Dionys4 months, 3 weeks ago

                  "I've noticed that a Muslim is a Muslim until he commits an act of terror, then Muslims say he was either a puppet of the West to make Islam look Satanic "

                  Apparently you haven't noticed or you'd stop calling all Muslims terrorists. The mere fact that these terrorist acts are decried by the majority of Muslims as being acts AGAINST Islam should help you wake up.

                  Who was behind 9/11? A bunch of ideologues, 18/19 of them with Saudi passports. Spearheaded (probably) by Bin-Laden, whom the US Government decided not to chase when it decided to concentrate on a war in Iraq, turn down the heat in Afghanistan and destroy a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11.

                  A good deal of murderers in Jail proclaim they're Christians, but the Bible tells us (as does the Qur'an) that you can judge one's faith by the fruit of their actions. Every terrorist action is against Islam.

                  Try reading "Who Speaks for Islam" by Esposito & Mogahed.

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                    Mutainia4 months, 3 weeks ago

                    It sounds good, but, thanks to the concept of "dar al harb" where, in Islam, "war is deceit", again, it's hard to tell the peaceful from those who'd be like the 45 British Islamic medical doctors who tried to set off bombs at two Scottish airports. It's NOt the Muslim's fault for not being able to be trusted, it's Quran 3:28 and 16:106's.

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                  Leemck024 months, 3 weeks ago

                  Mutainia, the culture is represented in so many ways by our media; many are not accurate. I don't know much but history shows being Muslim is not connected with acts of terror. There may be Muslims who associate themselves with organizations, movements or what we may think of as a political party who may have an initiation; without a true knowledge, I would say like al Qaeda. To commit an act of terror is repulsive as gangs, the KKK or other organized terror groups. Then we have rituals such as being baptized to be a certain religion. I ask that you, others and I require real information that we don't look foolish or support policy that the propaganda machines use us to allow their greed. I take you want what is best for this nation, hating people without knowing the issues sets us up for being taken advantage of to make war or not make peace where it is actually in our best interest. There are people we need to tackle, but it should be with good info and not a reaction.

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                Codi69344 months, 3 weeks ago

                As to who's keeping America dependent upon Saudi Oil, that would be George Bush and his family,

                If the U.S. could explore its own sources. We would not be in this mess now. Congress, environmentist and some states have only increased our dependency on foreign sources by putting areas off limits. We caused this ourselves. And we had better fix it soon.

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                  Dionys4 months, 3 weeks ago

                  "If the U.S. could explore its own sources. We would not be in this mess now. "

                  More "destroy ANWR" garbage. Even if we tapped (and destroyed) ANWR, it would supply less than 6% of the US's oil needs. Which is how many years of population growth?

                  It's a red herring. Stop trying to find ways to prolong our dependence and start working on ways to break it.

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                    Codi69344 months, 3 weeks ago

                    ANWR isn't the only place we can find oil/natural gas. Tell me how one can destroy 19 million acres by only using 2,000? I am willing to bet we are a little smarter then that.

                    What you don't realize is the time it takes to reduce our crude oil use and move to renewable energy will be no less then 10 years up to 25( and that is my guess) . What do we in the between time? Pay $200 a barrel or more, get sucked into another war in the Middle East, kiss the a*s of Hugo Charez?

                    There isn't enough renewable energy to replace the cost v. reward to replace coal, yet!

                    Gas isn't the only thing made from crude oil. But it gets the most air time. Enthyol(sp?) is causing more harm then good. This won't change over night, it will take time. This economy can't continue to pay high oil prices, not for much longer. Then what?

                    You are right, we do need to break for oil. But we need to do it on our timetable. If we don't explore our own sources it will get worst long before it gets better.

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              unome24 months, 3 weeks ago

              I think the jury is still out on 9-11. Polls have shown that more than 50% of Americans are no longer buying "The Official Story" You know, the one that suggests cavemen from Afganistan did it.

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              Candida4 months, 3 weeks ago

              Mutainia: "Raising OPEC prices to bankrupt America is not aggression?"

              No it isn't. Everyone has a right to sell whatever he/she has at any price he/she wants to. Others have the right not to buy it. It's not the Saudis' fault that the US has put itself in a position of dependency on their oil.

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                Mutainia4 months, 3 weeks ago

                I see what you mean.

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              Candida4 months, 3 weeks ago

              Sorry, double post. The original disappeared for a long time, and then both of them appeared.

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      HannibalBarca4 months, 3 weeks ago

      Locky:

      Since when are you the worlds policemen;....you did nothing when India, Pakistan, South Africa, N Korea or countless others got nukes, but Iran=oil, and USA runs on oil, but so does China and India and those heathens use as much as you do so in goes the US military to save American oil that was misplaced under Arab lands

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        dissent4 months, 3 weeks ago

        "USA runs on oil, but so does China and India and those heathens use as much as you do so in goes the US military to save American oil that was misplaced under Arab lands"

        ..... to sell to china and india at even higher prices, or so goes the plan.

        "you did nothing when India, Pakistan, South Africa, N Korea or countless others got nukes"

        don't forget israel.

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      vor4 months, 3 weeks ago

      ROFLMAO! All the while the very person who started this entire fiasco apparently lives with relative impunity in the mountains of Waziristan.

      If Iran gets nukes they are subject to the same MAD reasoning that all nuclear nations live under. Use 'em and be vanquished. That hasn't and wont change anytime soon. They use rhetoric as a defensive mechanism because they have little else. We do not have the ability to simultaneously occupy Iran and Iraq. Not even close. That hasn't and wont change anytime soon. Bomb them and watch oil hit 200 plus a barrel.

      As for Afghanistan we watch the opium flow from that country at record rates because we don't want to disturb their economy(sic). Local warlords have and still control much of that nation. We once covertly supported the very people we are now fighting. Not the first time our interference has come back to bite us on the

      -ss.

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        vor4 months, 3 weeks ago

        This entire "appeasement" argument is a canard. Used to distract from what is the very heart of this story. I pity you guys because its all you got and it's pure bullsh-t. There are those that suggest that Bush will be resurrected by history. It appears much more likely that the negative ramifications of his two terms in office will continue to haunt us in the future.

        Hard to believe that the Bush family once had such good relations with the Saudi's. The neocon's clear favoritism of Israel has now driven the Saudi's to really put the screws to us. They laugh at GW. They know a fool when they see one. They never laughed at his father.

        At the same time we have ensured the continued rise of China. All of this borrowed off-budget money will have its consequences. We have significantly weakened our standing in the world. You will see on the day you remove the blinders...they gotta be getting old.

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          anadaji674 months, 3 weeks ago

          I fear China. So much.

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          Locky124 months, 3 weeks ago

          There's no distraction.

          Want cheaper oil? DRILL, DRILL and DRILL some more!

          Let's use coal! You'll see the price of a gallon drop to $1.50.

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        dissent4 months, 3 weeks ago

        "As for Afghanistan we watch the opium flow from that country at record rates because we don't want to disturb their economy"

        yeah, funny that. opium/heroin from afghanistan and cocaine from columbia and we have a finger poking around in both of those two pies

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      Natureboy4 months, 3 weeks ago

      It's called empire. Buy a vowel.

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      MRCOFFEECAKE4 months, 3 weeks ago

      You're still a George Bush parrot?

      First he had you yelling "no child left behind"

      then it was 'either you're with us or against us"

      The he had you yelling "bring it on"

      Then he had you shouting "shock and awe"

      then of course you proudly were repeating "mission accomplished" daily with the "coalition of the willing"

      You really did overuse "cut and run" for almost 3 years,

      but the campaign "flip flopper rants were very effective.

      Recently your claims that "the SURGE is working" was tedious.

      So now it's a constant repetition of "appeasers".

      Did you forget where he promised to get BinLaden??

      You and yours are nothing but pathetic brain dead parrots.

      Shame on all of you for elongated this treachery.

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      Leemck024 months, 3 weeks ago

      Not everyone is a terrorist, don't mistake compromise with appeasement. On the practical side, common sense tells us the war drains our treasury and make the deficit greater, meaning the dollar is weak. If security is your concern, consider Iran or who ever in the future getting a nuke and then trying to deliver it through our systems. Then think about the effects of a collapsed dollar now. If you can see us winning this war in less than a hundred years, then talk the Islamofascist talk. The Generals on the ground are saying winning the war is not a military issue now. Our Generals and the Brits are also saying this is a diplomatic issue now. Playing tough guy may make you feel special, but needing special ed.

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        SUBMRNR4 months, 3 weeks ago

        lol...be nice...g

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      fourthtunz4 months, 3 weeks ago

      Locky12, the only thing we have to fear is our own government.

      I see that you read the recent comment by bush about appeasement, which he used in the wrong way by the way.

      He was trying to refer to the appeasement of hitler by chamberlain.

      That war was started by the banking interests the same way this one was.

      OUr cia has worked both sides of the road in this one supporting iraq at one time then Iran. Don't believe me read it for yourself.

      You could also go to the project for a new american century website.

      Members include almost all of the Bush cabinet.

      They had our whole future planned from '97.

      Also talks about needing a "new pearl harbor" to stir us americans into doing something. See we had lost USSR as a reason to keep making weapons so terrorists are the new cold war.

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    DropkickaLib4 months, 3 weeks ago

    Actually, China and India would still be substantially increasing their purchases of oil and food on the world market so the war is not the only, maybe not even the most important factor in prices, since there are other demand factors.

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      populist4 months, 3 weeks ago

      like - the federal reserve and US monetary policy - printing, borrowing, and overspending - driving down the value of the dollar?

      maybe.

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        DropkickaLib4 months, 3 weeks ago

        Spending is part of fiscal, not monetary policy. The Federal Reserve has no part in it. Very little of the money supply actually exists in the form of printed money in any case.

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          populist4 months, 3 weeks ago

          you're right, spending is fiscal policy. So yes, both fiscal and monetary policy are totally off base and need to be reformed.

          By printing, I mean the creation of new money - whether it's done by computer entiries and an artificially low interest rate or by physically printing money (which is rare), doesn't matter. the end result is the same.

          This government has been destroying the value of the US dollar for a long, long time.

          Too large of an M3 money supply, and too much borrowing/spending can only lead to ruin.

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      MRCOFFEECAKE4 months, 3 weeks ago

      Yeah sure.

      and when one oil freighter was grounded the prices increased

      20% worldwide in the early 80's (from .78 to nearly $1.00

      for several months)..One hurricane sent oil prices up 50% (from $2.20n to $3.50 in 3005, but during election months

      (in Oct. 2002, ($1.75 to $1.45) 2004 ($2.00 to $1.65) and 2006 ( $2.65 to $2.00) they can drop 20%?????..You must be an idiot, or a spokesperson for those devils!

      Those poor stressed out oil companies.

      They are more evil than tobacco executives.

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      Leemck024 months, 3 weeks ago

      Drop, I would add that the stability of the dollar is a major factor. Would China and India convert their currency to Euro or the Greenback to make the purchase? That is a double whammy.

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    MRCOFFEECAKE4 months, 3 weeks ago

    Look who voted to sink this story.

    What a list of war mongers who still don't get it.

    So much for supporting American ingenuity or even thinking the horrible thought of mankind becoming more civil.

    More of the same?? How original. How pro-death and destruction. How blind.

    How pro-pollution. How pro-oil company of them!!

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      fourthtunz4 months, 3 weeks ago

      MRcoffeecake, too many people are still living like it's the 50's and believing everything our government and media tell us is true.

      They find it hard to believe that our government was taken over a long time ago by special interests. Eisenhower warned us at the end of his term that we should beware undo influence by the special interests and the Military industrial complex.

      Unfortunately his warning was at least 50 years too late.

      Wilson at the end of his term bemoaned what he had allowed, letting the bankers take ahold of our country through the federal reserve, which is not federal by the way.

      Instead of relying on pundits, it is time for americans to start doing their own critical thinking.

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    mark-stevens4 months, 3 weeks ago

    I saw a retired CIA operative on late night news... 20 years Middle East assignment. Al-queda for 20 years has been working towards $300 a barrel. A bullet to the head of the American economy.

    The oil companies profit is at 7%. Whats your credit card or bank loan interest??

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  walden34 months, 3 weeks ago

  Makes cents to me.

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    Natureboy4 months, 3 weeks ago

    And I must agree with your conclusion, but not with your reasoning.

    The greatest single factors in the skyrocketing petroleum prices are that the value of the dollar has plummeted and some major oil suppliers have switched from the dollar to the euro as a unit of exchange. Some would argue that the latter was the cause of the former.

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      Leemck024 months, 3 weeks ago

      Natureboy, I have to agree and add that the increases are now being added to the cost of goods, so we have the issue of fighting inflation or dealing with a recession with a lame dollar as well. There are inflationary pressures after the petroleum supply issues in effect compounding trouble. Can't get the dollar working on the spot market or at the pump because debt and mostly because our productivity is down. Do we still have any 'Blue Chip' Companies? What company would you bet on to be around and increasing jobs here for the next 20 years; the greater part of your graduating student career? What is the bedrock of our economy: GM, Ford, IBM, MS or Steel. Anybody scared yet? We can continually concentrate on war at the expense of trade, productivity, and securities regulations that are handled with inappropriate regard and see if national security is possible. The military and war are expensive; if the war stopped today the costs would still be astronomical for decades.

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        dissent4 months, 3 weeks ago

        leemcko2, you are gooood.

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    MRCOFFEECAKE4 months, 3 weeks ago

    Who charges $125/barrel and why is gas only .35/gallon in Saudi Arabia?

    Go back to how you felt in 2003, when gas was $1.80/gallon

    and we were led to believe that we were in Iraq to protect the oil from being sabotaged so prices wouldn't go crazy.

    Is more than DOUBLE part of protecting the fields?

    We ought not to give them any slack over their complete failure to represent OUR interests.

    If nothing else the oil companies are war profiteers.

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      Dionys4 months, 3 weeks ago

      Two years ago (I haven't been in a while) Gas was around 11 cents/gallon in Iran.

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    Leemck024 months, 3 weeks ago

    ML2007, competitiveness is connected as a petrol concern. If more people are buying Chinese stuff than U.S. stuff then the return on investment to China is working in their favor. So, if we get petroleum and burn it going to the mall to by Chinese stuff then effectively that leaves our nation's purchasing power less robust across the board as a competitor; gas goes up. 'Making stuff' and 'the stuff is the stuff of choice in the world market' is something the media and this administration as omitted. We are fooled to think Job creation comes more from 'Capital Gains', therefore tax cuts, and not as a result of productivity; missing the point that good wages is a cure. I would be far more inclined to give tax breaks to large companies or the the rich when they invest in small and medium companies; that is a surer way for jobs and productivity. Large companies use their admin superiority to offshore or sub-contract to small buz anyway, so why reward them for that type profit?

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        Leemck024 months, 3 weeks ago

        ML, what you say makes way more sense than what we have seen. Better and more informed minds than mine should at least start exploring in the direction you have discussed. You can see, extreme organization skills and leadership are greater priorities for change than experience to do the same old failing policy; as it seems experience has us where we are.

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  2FatCMe4 months, 3 weeks ago

  As a country, we need to do two things to end our dependency on foreign oil:

  1) Refuse to purchase any new car that runs on gasoline (the automakers would come up with alternatives in a hurry)

  2) Refuse to purchase any new home that does not utilize solar, wind, hydroelectric, or geothermal power (especially solar in the south and west)

  Just imagine driving your electric car to and from work, then plugging it in each night to be recharged by the energy produced by the sun!

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    nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

    Great goals but are they realistic?

    How many middle class Americans can even afford a hybrid vehicle?

    Have you looked at the price of installing solar, geothermal or even a windmill?

    There is a new development north of us that uses all solar and geothermal in the homes

    The prices of the homes are out of reach of the vast majority of buyers and the homes are not large by any stretch of the imagination

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        nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

        I really don't need solar heat

        I live in TX. The costs of cooling are higher than heating

        We looker at the geothermal systems and they were VERY expensive

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        tdash4 months, 3 weeks ago

        The main reason that solar hasn't been fully developed is because Exxon hasn't discovered a way to sell sunlight (not yet, at least).

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          nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

          "Southern California Edison Co. and Texas Instruments Inc. develop solar cells"

          You don't need oil companies - the electric companies and private industry are the ones who will develop solar

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      Natureboy4 months, 3 weeks ago

      "How many middle class Americans can even afford a hybrid vehicle?"

      OK, I am guessing that by "middle class" you mean either lower class or working class, since middle class americans can easily afford a hybrid car.

      But beyond that, if you can't afford a hybrid, buy an old Benz diesel, preferably a 300D of the 123 series, which gets 30 mpg on diesel, or better, a diesel rabbit, which easily gets 50 mpg, and whichever you get, run 'em on biodiesel. Done!

      If conventional solar is beyond your financial grasp, you can hustle some scrap lumber, discarded window frames and some soda cans and build yourself a functioning thermosiphon to help heat your home with solar. You can take a discarded water heater, insulate it in an old chest freezer, top it with plexiglass or similar and make a solar water heater.

      Solutions, like excuses, are abundant.

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        nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

        Actually I'm talking about the middle class that is having a difficult time paying for gas and food

        The middle class who have their credit cards charged to the max

        Personally, I only use one tank of gas every 3-4 weeks so this isn't really having a great impact on me

        My husband drives more but he has a smaller car and often just works from home

        No excuses from me Natureboy. It is the middle class who were struggling before the gas and food prices skyrocketed that I feel sorry for

        How long do you think it will be before this entire economy goes in the tank with these costs

        So far this year ~100 trucking companies per week have gone out of business. Airlines will soon be laying off

        It's not going to be pretty

        Yet Congress held their third hearing in 19 months with the oil executives. 19 months and still no action from Congress except corn/ethanol and a bill to try and apply US antitrust laws to OPEC

        What a bunch of idiots!

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          Natureboy4 months, 3 weeks ago

          Here's the thing, nostalgia - we have been conned into thinking that most of us are middle class - it ain't so. The "middle class," that class of independent small merchants, doctors and lawyers who constitute a separate strata between wage-earners and the ruling class, are few indeed. The rest of us, well, if we've got a car, a house and a boat, that puts us in the upper strata of the lower class. That's all.

          It's the lower class that's hurting, but nobody wants to couch it in those terms because it doesn't feel good to do so. But it is what it is.

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            nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

            So a driver of an 18 wheeler working for UPS or FedEx and making over $100,000/year is "lower class"?

            BUT an attorney or small town doctor making $75,000 are middle class by your definition?

            I also know many engineers who are making well into the 6 figures - where are they in your class structure?

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              Natureboy4 months, 3 weeks ago

              Class status is a product of family status (as in "did daddy go to Yale") plus education plus income.

              Yes, I would rate an engineer making six figures as middle class. I don't know any "small town doctors" making less than six figures.

              I would venture everyone mentioned in your scenario can afford a Prius.

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  quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago

  The price of oil was constant (when adjusted for inflation) for 20 years prior to Bush's Iraq fiasco.

  Since that time the price has increased about 4-fold in terms of dollars (about 2.5 fold in terms of the Euro).

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    nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

    Take a look at these graphs on world oil consumption

    It's fairly obvious why there is a problem and why it isn't going to get better any time soon without a dramatic increase in supply

    http://wolf.readinglitho.co.uk/mainpages/consum...

    Congress just voted again last week against any new drilling

    BUT there is another hearing today in Congress with executives from the oil industry

    Another show hearing and Congress will pretend they are doing something

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        nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

        There is a new refinery being built on the TX Gulf coast

        A refinery in LA is currently being expanded

        Where do you live - do you want a refinery near you

        Refineries have been fought tooth and nail by environmentalists. They are a NIMBY facility

        If you want new refineries, convince the environmental groups and the members of Congress who support them

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          quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago

          FALSE

          According to 2007 congressional testimony, refinery expansion has been minimal because the oil companies expect gas use to decline (increased gas mileage).

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            nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

            Is the Dallas Morning News not a credible source for you??

            Dec 2007: Foreign oil companies building Texas-size refinery in Port Arthur

            Two foreign companies broke ground Monday on construction of the largest oil refinery in the U.S. in the Gulf Coast town of Port Arthur

            Aramco is also building refineries outside of the U.S., but the Port Arthur project is massive.

            http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus...

            Marathon Oil Plans $3.2 Billion Expansion of Garyville, La., Refinery

            Marathon Oil Corporation today said its board of directors has approved an estimated $3.2 billion project that will expand the crude oil refining capacity of the company's Garyville, La., refinery by 180,000 barrels per day

            This isn't enough for you Quackpot?

            Try to keep up and stop spouting old information

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              quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago

              Thanks for the link, nostalgia.

              Perhaps I should have said testamony from AMERICAN oil executives. The new refienry to which you refer is being built by two foreign oil companies.

              The artical that you cite says:

              "Some U.S. refiners are shy about expanding at home, where demand for fuel grows slowly. Instead, they're building overseas, where the appetite for fuel is more ravenous."

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                nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

                Well there isn't much that can be done right now unless Congress takes some immediate action.

                They have had the oil executives testify 3 times in 19 months and haven't done anything. So immediate action by Congress is highly unlikely

                The only thing they could do would be suspend the gas tax but they won't do that

                Congress has no ideas for even 2010 or 2015 or 2030 EXCEPT corn/ethanol and increase CAFE standards - Neither of which will get us out of this mess

                Good grief JohnQPublic they have heard over and over that world supply is tight, they have been told over and over that demand in China and India is skyrocketing - but what action have they taken??

                Congress won't even vote to allow any new drilling so they can develop long term strategies

                In effect, Congress is telling you to suck it up.

                What exactly do you think should be done that will "help us now"?

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      quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago

      FALSE

      nostalgia's graph shows a steady increase in consumption over the past 20 years. Prices, on the other hand were nearly constant for 20 years followed by a 4-fold increase since 2004.

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        newbie04204 months, 3 weeks ago

        "nostalgia's graph shows a steady increase in consumption over the past 20 years. Prices, on the other hand were nearly constant for 20 years followed by a 4-fold increase since 2004."

        FALSE

        Prices in America, not prices world wide....

        Next....

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          quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago

          Prices worldwide were also constant for 20 years and then showed a sharp increase since 2004. In terms of Euros, there has only been a 2.5-fold increase since 2004 as opposed to the four-fold increase in terms of dollars.

          The difference between a 2.5-fold increase and a four-fold increase is due to the devaluation of the dollar.

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        nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

        And what has happened to demand in Asia the last 4 years??

        You haven't seen anything yet

        Wait until the company in India starts full production of the Tata Nano

        With a price of ~$2,500 the demand for the car in Asia will be unbelievable

        Tata plans to make 250,00 initially and expects to sell 1 million annually

        Even at 50 mpg that is going to create a huge new demand for oil

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          quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago

          HELLOOOOOO......It is YOUR chart that show the increase in demand. China's demand is increasing at the rate of about 7% a year, India less.

          There is no doubt that IN THE FUTURE, America will need to be more wise with our use on energy, but that DOES NOT explain the post 2004 increase in oil price.

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            nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

            Quackpot

            Frankly there is combination of events which has created the perfect storm

            The commidities traders are a large part of the problem

            But this was almost predicted several years ago and no one paid much attention

            Here is one perspective from 2004

            State of the World 2005 Global Security Brief #1: Oil Price Surge Threatens Economic Stability and National Security

            Pne of the central issues facing policy makers in Washington and around the globe in 2005 is the prospect of further instability in world oil markets. This new reality carries economic and security risks. Another oil shock could tip the world economy into a premature recession, while the massive flow of oil revenues into the Persian Gulf and Russia threatens to derail economic reforms and foment political unrest.

            For the first time in more than 2 decades, there is virtually no spare oil production capacity leftâ;;with far-reaching implications for national security, economic stability, and our pocketbooks

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              nostalgia4 months, 3 weeks ago

              Oil production is falling in 33 of the world's 48 largest oil producing countries, including 6 of the 11 members of OPEC

              In the continental United States, oil production peaked at 8 million barrels per day in 1970, and has fallen to just 2.9 million barrels per day in 2004

              A growing number of geologists question whether remaining oil reserves are sufficient to keep production going up much longer. For the past three decades, they argue, oil companies have not been finding as much oil as they have been extractingâ;;a gap that has widened in the past ten years.

              The oil industry is hitting the wall at a bad time for the world economy. Demand is surging in developing countriesâ;;particularly in China and India

              You can find these reports easily

              The problem - no on was paying attention or wrote them off as improbable

              Many of these reports were right on target

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                jimdoze4 months, 3 weeks ago

                People were paying attention. The daily flow of huge amounts of oil out of the ME is essential to maintaining worldwide economic stability... worldwide economic stablility is essential to maintaining world peace... which is THE primary reason we have our boots on the ground in Iraq. Sadly, to far too many in this country that simple logic seems counter-intuitive.

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              quackpot4 months, 3 weeks ago

              Yes, I agree. Economic instability is a big factor in the current oil price. And what major event occurred to destabilize the middle east shortly before 2004 when oil prices started their dramatic increase?

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