GAS

[MARVIN THOMPSON]

I WATCH BUSH TODAY AND HE SAID GAS PRICE WERE NOT HIS FAULTED. CONGRESS DID IT ALL. WHERE,S HE BEEN FOR 8 YEARS.

[starleen2]

spending billions monthly on a war that was to keep oil prices stable?

[pete.wilson]

Hey

Article in an English newspaper::

The president of Opec has warned that the price of oil could hit $200 (£100) a barrel, spelling more pain for the major crude-consuming economies.

Chakib Khelil said there was nothing that the oil producers' cartel could do to bring down the high price, which he blamed on geopolitical tensions and market speculators.

His comments, coming as oil touched a record $120 a barrel on Nymex at one stage yesterday, are seen as rejecting pleas from America and Europe for Opec to turn on the taps and help rein in the price. Mr Khelil, Algeria's energy minister, said there is no evidence of a shortage of oil on world markets.

He told El Moudjahid, Algeria's state-owned newspaper, that oil stocks in the US were at a five-year high.

The price is being pushed up by the weak dollar, investment funds speculating on a higher price, and fears over supply shortages created by events such as the Grangemouth strike in Scotland and another at ExxonMobil's operations in Nigeria.

In such circumstances, Mr Khelil said he could not rule out oil going to $200 a barrel.


Now the real problem has been with speculation and over supposed fear of having a shortage but like the OPEC President stated the US oil stocks are at a 5 year high, which the liberal media doesn't tell you. So really neither Bush nor Congress is at fault but rather speculators playing with the stock market. They are trying to salvage their jobs because of the housing market and bad bank loan failures and bailout's, they now invest in oil which is going up which in turn sends the economy down. I also bet you didn't know that Kuwait is furnishing the US with 50% of all it's oil and gas used in the Iraq conflict. Nice to see some Muslim countries willing to help, now if we can keep out radicals, the place might actually get a little better.

Pete Wilson

[Claw]

I say face east and flip the bird, that should cover everyone. Then laugh out loud as you pull your tear drop into a great camping spot and wonder who our tax money will go to when the oil bubble bursts.

[starleen2]

I do wish a barrel of oil too reach $200.00. No not that really like paying extra for fuel, but that Americans will finally say enough and move to the alternatives. When it reaches that price, then it is feasible and economical to convert to Hydrogen, electric, hybrids. For a long time we said you can't make bread out of oil to the Middle East - now when the hike in oil prices benefit the suppliers and makes the growing of grain scarce - now they want the US to do something about THEIR food shortages. Well lets see our oil prices go up – their food prices go up as well Hummmmmm. Let them eat all their high priced oil that they can’t get rid of. Just think of it better EV batteries, Fuel cells, and America going green – thank you OPEC – now you are out of business when the bubble breaks

[pete.wilson]

Hey

Well unfortunately I don't think OPEC or anyone will be running out of oil anytime soon; and other than the speculation of investors there is no reason that oil shouldn't be where it was 4-5 years ago. So far the supply has kept up with demand. The bubble will burst when the world economies take a major hit and some may even reach near depression levels before it will. Kind of like in the Clinton years when everyone thought they were so rich with their stocks and that market burst, corrected itself, and evryone found out they didn't have as quite as much as they used to. Same with this. Although I don't think we will see gas at $2 gallon anytime soon but maybe $3. I wish the goverment would take gas and oil off of the futures markets and of course let certain drilling take place where we know it is. Happy trails.

Pete Wilson

[Joseph]

I agree with you, Pete. Exactly what is the President - ANY President - supposed to do about gas prices?

Here's one of the best articles I've read on the subject for some time.

False Statements by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Ten Simple Truths About Oil
By Alan Caruba Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Having written about the energy industry and issues now for a long time, I hope I can be forgiven for being enraged by the comments by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) in response to President Bush’s press conference Tuesday morning. There is simply no way to describe them other than false.

The Democrat Party has long made “Big Oil” their favorite punching bag, confident that the public has no idea what influences the price and supply of oil. Saying anything favorable to Big Oil is immediately deemed evidence that one is in their pay and whatever facts are offered are therefore invalid.

There are, however, some simple truths about Big Oil that cannot and should not be ignored. To do so leaves everyone at the mercy of energy policies that have created the situation in which the United States finds itself today.

Fact #1. The combined ownership of oil reserves by the independent, investor-owned oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Conoco-Phillips, BP, Chevron and others is barely 4% of the total known oil reserves in the world. By itself, ExxonMobil’s share is 1.08%.

Fact #2. Oil is a global commodity sold on mercantile exchanges for whatever price it can command. Speculation in oil prices is the primary reason they have been driven to utterly insane costs per barrel. It has nothing to do with actual supply and demand.

Fact #3. No nation on Earth is or can be “energy independent.” The geopolitics of oil is complex, but as nations such as China and India have seen their economies grow, their need for oil grows with it and thus they compete with long established industrialized nations for existing oil supplies. This competition has an impact on prices.

Fact #4. The OPEC nations, those in the Middle East and including Venezuela, control 77% of the world’s known oil reserves. Like Russia and Mexico, where the oil industry is controlled by the state, it is generally poorly managed. Several Big Oil companies that were induced to undertake exploration and development in Russia and Venezuela actually had their assets nationalized or stolen at prices well below their investment and value.

Fact #5. Energy is the master resource. All nations with any hope of growing their economies require it, mostly in the form of electricity, but also for oil’s role in transportation. The failure to have a national long-range energy policy that is based in reality can severely impact energy prices.

Fact #6. The United States has, for years, pursued an energy policy based on environmental myths such as “biofuels” in which corn is turned into ethanol to reduce the import of oil, but it costs as much to produce ethanol as to refine oil and it provides less mileage per gallon, thus negating any reason for this additive. Likewise, suggesting that wind or solar energy can generate anything more than its current 1% of the nation’s electricity needs ignores their unreliability and the fact they are heavily subsidized, a form of hidden consumer tax.

Fact #7. It costs billions to explore, discover, extract and transport oil. It takes lots of lead-time as well. The United States Congress has, for decades, refused to permit the extraction of vast oil reserves in ANWR despite the fact it would have little or no impact on the Alaskan wildlife reserve. In addition, Congress has declared 85% percent of the nation’s coastal, offshore areas off-limits to any exploration for oil or natural gas.

Fact #8. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under the mandate of Congress, requires Big Oil to refine oil into some seventeen different formulations in the name of clean air. With three grades of gasoline, that means that refiners must produce some 45 different blends. The quality of air in America is excellent, but the cost of gasoline at the pump continues to rise as the result of these mandates.

Fact #9. America imports two-thirds of the oil it uses. All of its transportation runs on oil. The population continues to grow. Failure to encourage the construction of a single new refinery since the 1970s puts a further strain on the ability of Big Oil to provide the nation’s oil and diesel fuel needs.

Fact #10. Democrats continue to demand that Big Oil’s profits be confiscated in some fashion and some of the inducements offered to explore for more oil be ended. Because the costs of exploration, extraction, refining, and transporting of oil represents billions, the actual profit margin of a company like ExxonMobil is about 10%, well below what industries such as pharmaceuticals and banking enjoy.

For these and many other reasons, Americans are being impoverished at the gas pump because Congress has dithered and failed in one of its most important responsibilities.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com. He blogs at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.

Joseph

[Wimperdink]

I WATCH BUSH TODAY AND HE SAID GAS PRICE WERE NOT HIS FAULTED. CONGRESS DID IT ALL. WHERE,S HE BEEN FOR 8 YEARS.

[wolfiebites]

Thanks, Pete, I was truly afraid we had slipped into the "IT'S ALL BUSH'S
FAULT"...Nice to see, someone hasn't stopped making sense.

[cs_whypt2]

I never knew what it was like to drive my truck around for $25 a tank. i kind of find myself lucky that I never had cheap gas prices, because I don't think I have been hit as hard then. I mean, I have to pay the same amount of money as everyone else, but the lowest I ever paid was mid $2 range.
If I would have been driving when the gas prices were $1.19 a gallon, I would be screwed now, because I would have bought some full size, redneck truck and put a lift kit on it with big wheels and...
Gas for that truck would cost me the same as what it costs me for my current truck now.
Oh well...

Dianne

[pete.wilson]

Hey

The biggest problem with dealing with these oil prices is trying to keep your emotions out of it and trying to rationalize what is driving them up so quickly. It has nothing to do with who is in the white house. Most of the people who have large 401K's are partially to blame since it's their portfolio people who speculate on what should be bought in order to make you more money. They are just putting the cart before the horse this time; and we will all pay more in the long run for it. So much for Sunday afternoon cruises with the family or going out for a drive in the country, just because I can!

Pete Wilson

[madjack]

I never knew what it was like to drive my truck around for $25 a tank. i kind of find myself lucky that I never had cheap gas prices, because I don't think I have been hit as hard then. I mean, I have to pay the same amount of money as everyone else, but the lowest I ever paid was mid $2 range.
If I would have been driving when the gas prices were $1.19 a gallon, I would be screwed now, because I would have bought some full size, redneck truck and put a lift kit on it with big wheels and...
Gas for that truck would cost me the same as what it costs me for my current truck now.
Oh well...

Dianne

Dianne, we had gas wars around here in the late 60's and early 70's....I can remember paying 15 cents per gallon
madjack

[starleen2]

In 1998 gas was .89 gallon - wasn’t that long ago? Remembered well when Gas went over a $1.00 and some stations had to change their pumps because they wouldn’t accept a price change of more than $1.00 - oops I guess China was growing then too.. Three years ago gas was $ 1.19 in Texas. You can give what ever reason you want, but why would you buy something that has quadrupled in price in just a scant three years? – if this happened in any other sector we would be screaming and protesting by now

[cs_whypt2]

I never knew what it was like to drive my truck around for $25 a tank. i kind of find myself lucky that I never had cheap gas prices, because I don't think I have been hit as hard then. I mean, I have to pay the same amount of money as everyone else, but the lowest I ever paid was mid $2 range.
If I would have been driving when the gas prices were $1.19 a gallon, I would be screwed now, because I would have bought some full size, redneck truck and put a lift kit on it with big wheels and...
Gas for that truck would cost me the same as what it costs me for my current truck now.
Oh well...

Dianne

Dianne, we had gas wars around here in the late 60's and early 70's....I can remember paying 15 cents per gallon
madjack

Yeah. Every time I say. "You know it would be great if gas went back to normal. Hey, I'd take it at $2.30. $2.60 even." My dad wants it back for a quater! He starts yelling something about give me five bucks and the tank would be filled............
Yeah...
15 cents would be great......
Hell, if they dropped the gas prices. Just out of no where dropped them, I bet we would get this counrty out of recession real fast. People would be driving all over spending money and buying things, seeing things.

Dianne

[ARKPAT]

madjack
Site Admin


Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 10338
Location: Central Louisiana
Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:07 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

cs_whypt2 wrote:
I never knew what it was like to drive my truck around for $25 a tank. i kind of find myself lucky that I never had cheap gas prices, because I don't think I have been hit as hard then. I mean, I have to pay the same amount of money as everyone else, but the lowest I ever paid was mid $2 range.
If I would have been driving when the gas prices were $1.19 a gallon, I would be screwed now, because I would have bought some full size, redneck truck and put a lift kit on it with big wheels and...
Gas for that truck would cost me the same as what it costs me for my current truck now.
Oh well...

Dianne


Dianne, we had gas wars around here in the late 60's and early 70's....I can remember paying 15 cents per gallon
madjack

Yep the same here Jack.
The least I have payed was 17 cents a gallon in Tulsa in '70.
Wow I'm getting OLD



Pat