Oil shock threatens lasting changes to U.S. economy »
Posted by: engineer 3 months, 2 weeks agoOil's relentless price rise has pushed U.S. drivers off the road, curbed consumers' appetite for expensive goods, forced airlines into their deepest cuts in years and threatened car makers with a flood of red ink.
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hyperbola3 months, 2 weeks ago
It is more than just housing and oil. We have a corrupt banking and finance system (that caused the housing bust amongst other things) as a result of GOP "deregulation" and failure of enforcement.
We also have a vastly increased debt as a result of bushies wars. Just remember that every time Congress spends more money on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and Iran?), every penny they commit is borrowed from foreigners. The world sees how hollow our economy is - that is why the dollar has devaluated by 70% against the Euro since Bush took office.
On top of that, we no longer produce much of anything that the world wants to buy.
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donald513 months, 2 weeks ago
... and Dumya does nothing other than blame the Dems when it was him and his former Repug Congress that did this and much more to us! Yes, the true terrorist party of America has terrorized the USA!
It will take decades to recover, if recover at all... while the rich just got richer. Dumya's FEC droppng requirements in 2004 for collateral to back up wall street transactions. Dumya's DOJ stonewalling on any cases of reported contractor fraud and abuse. Dumya's signing statements further eroding federal regulations and enforcement. The Repug Congress passing an energy bill that threw out regulations instituted after the last Great Depression. So many more ways the unscrupulous repugs have screwed other hard working Americans....
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JohnQPublicComment removed: User banned.24 Replies
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jimdoze3 months, 2 weeks ago
This does not bode well for bricks and mortar retailers. A way to financially participate in the shift would be
1. Public transportation: FirstGroup plc (LSE: FGP) owns Greyhound. Even though the cost of fuel is rising, cost per passenger mile will remain a small fraction for bus transportation vs auto travel. People will still travel.
2. Delivery services: Driving to the mall has become prohibitive. Think online retailing and delivery services... specifically FedEx (FDX: NYSE) and UPS (UPS: NYSE)
3. As the movement online continues to grow far faster than the overall economy now pushed by the cost of energy, one company that stands to benefit is Cisco Systems Inc. (NasdaqGS: CSCO), the maker of most of the routers that are essential to making the internet work.
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TheRealizer3 months, 2 weeks ago
The wrong things are being worried about, FOOD is the item that may well get in short supply. This country has been legislating against its own food suppy for years. Water is diverted from farming to golf courses and subdivisions. We are now in the process of converting food to fuel. Between the increased cost of fuel for raising the crop and the cost of transportation, food may get either scarce or so expensive that it will not be affordable for lower income families.....
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jaxguy3 months, 2 weeks ago
Food shortages and rising prices are going to be a huge issue pretty soon. I've read a number of reports showing a steady increase in the price of nutritionallly dense foods (vegetables, grains) and actually a small decrease in price for foods that are caloric dense with low nutritional value.
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nostalgia3 months, 2 weeks ago
Do you know why gas is cheaper in China?
"The greatest demand increase is coming from China. But the Chinese government's efforts to control prices (Chinese motorists are paying about $2.40 a gallon) are resulting in gasoline and diesel shortages across the country.
Raising fuel prices might ease the shortages but would also add to China's inflation woes. Prices are up an average of 8.5 percent this year, well above government targets."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus...
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Amazing13 months, 2 weeks ago
The price of gas will also force people to choose to live closer to their place of employment or choose employment closer to their homes. And the annual Cost of Living raises that come to a lot of those working for large corporations will be nothing more than a joke. The Cost of Living is getting higher by the minute. Food and energy cost more every day.
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Obaku3 months, 2 weeks ago
Sorry, but coal, oil sands, and oil shale are NOT oil - most importantly, in their net energy return.
Not that they can't play a part in a larger response, but no one thing can, or will, ever replace oil. The question is IF anything, even exploiting ALL the alternatives, including conservation, has any possibility of maintaining the global economy.
Consider a mild scenario, in which world oil production declines by 1%/year over the next 50 years, and energy demand increases by 1%/year - which in combination with efficiency increases, provides for a global growth rate of 4%.
Will population growth be limited to 4%? If so, global income per capita could remain constant. That might be survivable, assuming that the current trend of wealth transfer to the top 1% stopped, or reversed.
What effect will energy play in the supply/demand equation for food, water and other commodities? (See platinum v. energy shortages in South Africa, for instance.)
O-I-L spells TROUBLE!
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jmopinion3 months, 2 weeks ago
Interesting article by Ben Stein:
BUT most of all, we treat this as a true crisis. As my pal Glenn Beck, the conservative commentator, says, we need a new moon-shot mentality here. We need to turn coal into oil into gasoline, to use nuclear power wherever we can, and to brush aside the concerns of the beautiful people who live on coastal pastures (like me). And we need to drill on the continental shelf, even near where movie stars live. This must be done, on an emergency basis. If we keep acting as if the landscape were more important than human life, we will make ourselves the serfs of the oil producers and eventually reduce our country to poverty and anarchy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/business/25ev...
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hyperbola3 months, 2 weeks ago
That is the kind of thing that conservatives who want instant gratification and refuse to take responsibility for their actions say. Fact is we need much more drastic solutions that cut our energy use in half every decade for the next 3-4 decades. The first halving is easy - all we have to do is copy things the Europeans and Japanese have already implemented (while maintining more or less our standard of living).
Wake Up, America. We're Driving Toward Disaster.
Politics â;; No combination of solar, wind and nuclear power, ethanol, biodiesel, tar sands and used French-fry oil will allow us to power Wal-Mart, Disney World and the interstate highway system -- or even a fraction of these things -- in the future. We have to make other arrangements. So what are intelligent responses to our predicament?
http://politics.propeller.com/story/2008/05/24/...
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hyperbola3 months, 2 weeks ago
Stranded in suburbia
I have seen the future, and it works.
O.K., I know that these days you're supposed to see the future in China or India, not in the heart of "old Europe."
But we're living in a world in which oil prices keep setting records, in which the idea that global oil production will soon peak is rapidly moving from fringe belief to mainstream assumption. And Europeans who have achieved a high standard of living in spite of very high energy prices â;; gas in Germany costs more than $8 a gallon â;; have a lot to teach us about how to deal with that world....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/opinion/19kru...
I would only add to this that European cities are a hell of a lot more pleasant to live in than American cities.
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hefaa13 months, 2 weeks ago
Changes:
Start backyard/local gardens to grow your own vegetables. No need to waste fuel having "truck crops" trucked. Live closer to your place of employment. 30-40 years down the road: Soylent Green, Hey! where'd Grampa go.
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JohnQPublicComment removed: User banned.
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engineer
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