Well now it has come out that oil speculators are the reason that prices are so high. I cannot believe that our government, the people that are supposed to look out for the well being of the American people, have allowed this to happen. This just goes to show that our government, President Bush included, is only interested in lining their pockets.
And forget about offshore drilling. Even if we started right now we would not see any oil for 3-5 years. This is just another political ploy by Bush to help get McCain elected. And think about this, why haven't we taken control of all of the oil in Iraq and started sending it here to the U.S.? After all we invaded that country didn't we? Let's take ownership of it like we should and take the oil for ourselves.
Remember, everything that is going on, soaring prices on everything from gas to toilet paper, wages that are stagnant and dropping, foreign countries that are buying up American companies, utilities that are rising faster than the mississippi, is all leading to the New World Order. But before that you will have the North American Union which will consist of Canada, the United States and Mexico all combined as one happy little family. No wonder Bush is soft on immigration.
divorce in church:Drilling is not a ploy...its common sense.That Bush is lining his pockets is a conspiracy theory like 911 being an inside job
I agree and agree.
A democrat controlled congress has accomplished what exactly?
spare_parts:We'll have proof come January 31st, 2009. If it's really Bush, then gas should drop to pre-Bush levels by then.After all, we'll have a new president, and neither of the candiates are oil men, so regardless who is elected, the will not be oil men.So if all the conspiracy stuff is true, gas should be cheap by the end of January 2009, a couple weeks after the new president is sworn in.I think what we'll see is that it's citizens keeping demand high that keeps prices high.If you don't like the price of gas, take control and use less.
92: spare_parts:We'll have proof come January 31st, 2009. If it's really Bush, then gas should drop to pre-Bush levels by then.After all, we'll have a new president, and neither of the candiates are oil men, so regardless who is elected, the will not be oil men.So if all the conspiracy stuff is true, gas should be cheap by the end of January 2009, a couple weeks after the new president is sworn in.I think what we'll see is that it's citizens keeping demand high that keeps prices high.If you don't like the price of gas, take control and use less.The gas prices are partly the result of Bush's failed energy policy. We should have been developing alternative energy sources. We should have required car companies to reduce gas mileage instead of producing heavy trucks and gas guzzling SUVs. We should have been serious about energy conservation and climate change.Instead, Cheney's Energy Task Force was meeting with the heads of the Big Oil companies to make policy.It wasn't a conspiracy. It was greed and incompetence.We can't do anything about oil consumption by India and China. We can do something about our own oil dependence.
spare_parts:It's more complex than that. After all, there have been both Democrat and Republican presidents since 1973 when we got our first wake up call, and the congress was mostly Democratic, so to put the blame on any one party, while nice and neat, is really out of touch with reality.The fact is, consumers are to blame. Or at least own a large part of the blame.Gas has quadrupled in price in the past decade, so in the short term, it's a high jump.Yet there were years when gas did not keep up with inflation. I don't see consumers rushing to pay back the oil companies for those years when gas was relatively cheap, so why now the complaints that gas has just now caught up with inflation.It's like the story of Job, where Job tells his wife we cannot have the good from God without the bad, and offers praise to God. (I'm not saying we need to praise the oil companies.)There are several things that have happened in the past five years, give or take that have caused gasoline to skyrocket.1. The value of the dollar has plummeted. This is largely due to lower interest rates. Everyone wants that 0% financing for a car, and sub 6% on their mortgage, but the economic growth that comes with that is often inflationary, which makes the dollar worth less on the market. Take a look at any chart comparing the Euro to the Dollar and you can see the dollars plummet. Heck, I think we are below parity with the Canadian dollar if not close.Oil is largely priced in dollars, so as the dollar drops in value, the price of oil rises.2. There is increased world demand for oil. Everyday the population of this planet is growing, and all those dollars we've spent buying things from around the world are in the hands of others. Not to mention, a lot (but not the majority) of US public debt (spelled government debt) is held by foreigners. This is boosting the economies of nations like China and India. When you have 2 Billion people, or about 7x the population of the US experience a rise in personal wealth, they are going to spend more money, and many of the purchases are for energy intensive goods.The fastest growing automobile market today is in China. Until recently, the Chinese government had price controls on the prices of fuels, keeping them artificially low. The government run oil companies in China were forced to sell fuels at a loss. China has few of it's own oil resources, so like us, it has to import much of it's oil. Since it was subsidized by the government, there was no incentive for folks to conserve, so their demand grew as well.3. US citizens have not chosen smaller cars at the market place. To blame this on a failed domestic energy policy is like blaming your neighbor because you bought an SUV. We are the government, you, me, everyone. So if you are saying the government failed, then you are saying you failed. The government is not forcing anyone to buy SUV's and drive alone in them.I will agree, some tax credits for businesses for large truck purchases and the categorization of some uber-large SUV's has lead folks to buy such vehicles because of government incentives. But again, why did we-the-people let that get voted in? So if anyone failed, we did.4. There is still no cheaper energy source. The government did not invent the car or gasoline, so to expect them to fix the issue is not realistic. It will only get worse with government interference. High gas prices, while painful, are exactly what is needed to provide incentives to find alternative energy sources. But until those sources are ubiquitous and cheaper than gasoline, we'll be using fossil fuels for years to come.But this is a market issue, not a government issue.We don't have some God given right to cheap energy, and we have no reasonable expectation that the government protect this non-existent right.I can probably thing of some other reasons, such as increased world drama, such as Iran, Africa, Venezualia, etc that keeps energy prices up.There is also the speculation going on the the BRITISH commodities markets. (The ICE, IIRC) I don't think the speculators are using our markets to speculate, but are using foreign markets that trade this commodity. (I looked and it does appear it is believed speculation is taking place on the NYMEX as well,sorry!)But if as you say it's just the Bush administration, and all of these other factors I've mentioned are meaningless, then we should know by January 31 when there will not be an oilman in the oval office. 92: spare_parts:We'll have proof come January 31st, 2009. If it's really Bush, then gas should drop to pre-Bush levels by then.After all, we'll have a new president, and neither of the candiates are oil men, so regardless who is elected, the will not be oil men.So if all the conspiracy stuff is true, gas should be cheap by the end of January 2009, a couple weeks after the new president is sworn in.I think what we'll see is that it's citizens keeping demand high that keeps prices high.If you don't like the price of gas, take control and use less.The gas prices are partly the result of Bush's failed energy policy. We should have been developing alternative energy sources. We should have required car companies to reduce gas mileage instead of producing heavy trucks and gas guzzling SUVs. We should have been serious about energy conservation and climate change.Instead, Cheney's Energy Task Force was meeting with the heads of the Big Oil companies to make policy.It wasn't a conspiracy. It was greed and incompetence.We can't do anything about oil consumption by India and China. We can do something about our own oil dependence.
So explain to me why we haven't taken control of the oil in Iraq and sent it to the United States. Does anyone have an answer? Like I said before, we invaded that country and took control, right? Well, then why are we not taking their oil for our own use?
I'll tell you why. Control. Control of energy. This is just the beginning. Just wait until your electric, natural gas, sewer, water, trash and other bills double or even triple. Here in the St louis area they have a storm water runoff fee. Even if you are not on the city or county sewer you are still required to pay the fee. They also have enacted a recycling fee on your trash bill. They gave everyone recycling bins for paper, glass, aluminum etc. Even if you choose to not recycle you still are required to pay the fee.
And what about the bill in congress to make the incandescent bulb illegal? Have you heard about this? The standard light bulb as we know it will not be for sale anymore in a couple of years if congress has their way. Those fluorescent corkscrew looking' bulbs will be the only ones you can buy. And they are only made in China. Imagine that.
Slowly but surely this country is selling itself.
92: spare_parts:It's more complex than that. After all, there have been both Democrat and Republican presidents since 1973 when we got our first wake up call, and the congress was mostly Democratic, so to put the blame on any one party, while nice and neat, is really out of touch with reality.The fact is, consumers are to blame. Or at least own a large part of the blame.Gas has quadrupled in price in the past decade, so in the short term, it's a high jump.Yet there were years when gas did not keep up with inflation. I don't see consumers rushing to pay back the oil companies for those years when gas was relatively cheap, so why now the complaints that gas has just now caught up with inflation.It's like the story of Job, where Job tells his wife we cannot have the good from God without the bad, and offers praise to God. (I'm not saying we need to praise the oil companies.)There are several things that have happened in the past five years, give or take that have caused gasoline to skyrocket.1. The value of the dollar has plummeted. This is largely due to lower interest rates. Everyone wants that 0% financing for a car, and sub 6% on their mortgage, but the economic growth that comes with that is often inflationary, which makes the dollar worth less on the market. Take a look at any chart comparing the Euro to the Dollar and you can see the dollars plummet. Heck, I think we are below parity with the Canadian dollar if not close.Oil is largely priced in dollars, so as the dollar drops in value, the price of oil rises.2. There is increased world demand for oil. Everyday the population of this planet is growing, and all those dollars we've spent buying things from around the world are in the hands of others. Not to mention, a lot (but not the majority) of US public debt (spelled government debt) is held by foreigners. This is boosting the economies of nations like China and India. When you have 2 Billion people, or about 7x the population of the US experience a rise in personal wealth, they are going to spend more money, and many of the purchases are for energy intensive goods.The fastest growing automobile market today is in China. Until recently, the Chinese government had price controls on the prices of fuels, keeping them artificially low. The government run oil companies in China were forced to sell fuels at a loss. China has few of it's own oil resources, so like us, it has to import much of it's oil. Since it was subsidized by the government, there was no incentive for folks to conserve, so their demand grew as well.3. US citizens have not chosen smaller cars at the market place. To blame this on a failed domestic energy policy is like blaming your neighbor because you bought an SUV. We are the government, you, me, everyone. So if you are saying the government failed, then you are saying you failed. The government is not forcing anyone to buy SUV's and drive alone in them.I will agree, some tax credits for businesses for large truck purchases and the categorization of some uber-large SUV's has lead folks to buy such vehicles because of government incentives. But again, why did we-the-people let that get voted in? So if anyone failed, we did.4. There is still no cheaper energy source. The government did not invent the car or gasoline, so to expect them to fix the issue is not realistic. It will only get worse with government interference. High gas prices, while painful, are exactly what is needed to provide incentives to find alternative energy sources. But until those sources are ubiquitous and cheaper than gasoline, we'll be using fossil fuels for years to come.But this is a market issue, not a government issue.We don't have some God given right to cheap energy, and we have no reasonable expectation that the government protect this non-existent right.I can probably thing of some other reasons, such as increased world drama, such as Iran, Africa, Venezualia, etc that keeps energy prices up.There is also the speculation going on the the BRITISH commodities markets. (The ICE, IIRC) I don't think the speculators are using our markets to speculate, but are using foreign markets that trade this commodity. (I looked and it does appear it is believed speculation is taking place on the NYMEX as well,sorry!)But if as you say it's just the Bush administration, and all of these other factors I've mentioned are meaningless, then we should know by January 31 when there will not be an oilman in the oval office. 92: spare_parts:We'll have proof come January 31st, 2009. If it's really Bush, then gas should drop to pre-Bush levels by then.After all, we'll have a new president, and neither of the candiates are oil men, so regardless who is elected, the will not be oil men.So if all the conspiracy stuff is true, gas should be cheap by the end of January 2009, a couple weeks after the new president is sworn in.I think what we'll see is that it's citizens keeping demand high that keeps prices high.If you don't like the price of gas, take control and use less.The gas prices are partly the result of Bush's failed energy policy. We should have been developing alternative energy sources. We should have required car companies to reduce gas mileage instead of producing heavy trucks and gas guzzling SUVs. We should have been serious about energy conservation and climate change.Instead, Cheney's Energy Task Force was meeting with the heads of the Big Oil companies to make policy.It wasn't a conspiracy. It was greed and incompetence.We can't do anything about oil consumption by India and China. We can do something about our own oil dependence.I am always amused by people who think the free market is the answer to all of our problems.(It's like a religion with some people)The "free market" (that is fewer government regulations) is what got us into this mess.Remember how well the free market worked during California's energy crisis in the early 90"s? Anyone remember Enron? Car companies in America were out to make an easy buck. So instead of focusing on how to make more fuel efficient cars, they made Hummers and Tahoes.If they had more government regulation, such as tougher gas mileage standards, then they wouldn't be going broke while Toyota and Honda can't keep cars on the lot.No, the government did not force anyone to buy an SUV. But it would have been nice if they had discouraged it (with higher taxes for cars that are not fuel efficient).
92:I drive a fuel efficient car, and I want to scream everytime I see someone driving around in an SUV. I am paying more because of someone else's stupid decision, and it ticks me off.
92:You say "it will only get worse with government interference". Really?
92: The middle class grew and thrived after WW2 until....well let's see...Ronald Reagan.He was the one that was going to scale back government regulation and save us all.Since then we have seen one of the greatest redistributions of wealth in the history of our country. Historians are calling the 2000's the new Guilded Age.
92:Washington listens to K Street, not Main Street.
92:The American government put a man on the moon. If we buckle down, we can come up with alternative energy sources. So far, your "free market" solutions has made the rich richer and poor poorer.The free market true believers have had their chance. They failed.
