E-mail me when oil increases to $200 a barrel, or gets to $10 a gallon without taxes. Also, maybe if the enviro-nuts would let us drill for oil in this country in conjuction with developing alternative energy sources we would be on to something.
You, being a lefty liberal, should be enjoying the high gas prices, since this is what you want anyway.
I'm not complaining about gas prices. Yes over the past fifteen years it would have been nice to have higher gas prices, and higher prices now is a good thing. That includes higher taxes. From my perspective, taxes are a means to control growth and the economy. Having taxes and prices too low sends the economy into hyper-drive leading to non-smart growth. (Boom/bust is a natural phenomenon you'd think we'd be smart enough to avoid; guess not.)
I'm certainly not gloating about anyone's misfortune of having a job highly dependent upon gasoline. The people who feel the worst, of course, are the lower middle class. However, often there is a hard lesson to learn. If there is a responsible party, it is leadership that has made it so easy to finance a home out in the middle of farmland, thirty/forty miles from work.
I've advocated smart, efficient growth for a long time. (How about trying that first before drilling everywhere out of desperation?) Also I've tried living true to those words by staying in an apartment in which I can walk or bicyle to work. (Good for me, right?... Just trying to make a point.)
"let us drill for oil in this country" Well, sometimes it isn't that easy. First, there has to be oil there to drill for, and often that isn't the case. But what, exactly, would we be on to? Take a look at a night-time light map of the U.S. The eastern half of the country is covered with development. Here near Chicago it is a day-long stream of traffic into and out of the city. People want still more of this?
The prospects of $200 a barrel oil is not outrageous. You're neglecting a very large price factor: inflation. The sinking value of the dollar is what is contributing so much. Petroleum is a world-wide commodity, and the fact that the dollar has fallen to about half its value over five years against other currencies competing for that same petroleum is what is reflected in the cost of a barrel of oil. We've a perfect storm, if you will, of inflation and demand at work. Petroleum is already at $118/b. $200 is probably too high a guess (unless more destabilization takes place in the oil-rich nations), but the trend is upward and it is not reversing for the time being.
Liberals get a lot of bashing about taxation (commonly stated as "stealing my money"). But people fail to realize what a non-liberal administration and, over the past five years, congress have done to the value of the dollar. The effect could possibly be worse than that of any taxation. Basically, we are beginning to pay for the cost of war and deficit spending.
The "environmentalist won't let us drill" comments are at best ill informed. How about a critical analysis of how much it will cost to drill for the oil, what type of oil is it, and when will it come on line. Canada has tons of oil sand, but can you extract it profitably for less than $200/barrel? I think the finger pointing at environmentalist is just right wing neo-McCarthyist propaganda. More bilge water propagated by people like Charlie Sykes. A radio entertainer who's research has questionable veracity. Hey right wing nuts, what if the fundamental market forces of increased demand from China and India, combined with a weak dollar (a direct result of your Bush Administration's monetary policy), are the real problem. Not Green Peace. Not environmentalists. Do some research! The off shore oil is not a quick cheap price fix ... http://www.energybulletin.net/20140.html
The oil sands can be profitably developed with $40 - $50 / barrel oil prices.
They actually started up there 30+ years ago with big subsidies from the Alberta and Canadian Federal govenrments.
Much of that oil has been refined in the upper US midwest for many years.
Now that they are looking to do a little more, the enviros have awakened to it and may stop development of this close, secure, plentiful, and vast resource.
The pipelin company (Enbridge) is facing opposition in MN. They are seriosly looking at sending oil sands oil to the Canadian West coast for export to China because we in the US don't want it.
Industry sources are also saying that oil could drop back down to $70-$80 per barrel. Way to emphasis just the negative. Typical of a eco-nut.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous:
ReplyDeleteEmail me when oil drops to $70 a barrel.
E-mail me when oil increases to $200 a barrel, or gets to $10 a gallon without taxes. Also, maybe if the enviro-nuts would let us drill for oil in this country in conjuction with developing alternative energy sources we would be on to something.
ReplyDeleteYou, being a lefty liberal, should be enjoying the high gas prices, since this is what you want anyway.
I'm not complaining about gas prices. Yes over the past fifteen years it would have been nice to have higher gas prices, and higher prices now is a good thing. That includes higher taxes. From my perspective, taxes are a means to control growth and the economy. Having taxes and prices too low sends the economy into hyper-drive leading to non-smart growth. (Boom/bust is a natural phenomenon you'd think we'd be smart enough to avoid; guess not.)
ReplyDeleteI'm certainly not gloating about anyone's misfortune of having a job highly dependent upon gasoline. The people who feel the worst, of course, are the lower middle class. However, often there is a hard lesson to learn. If there is a responsible party, it is leadership that has made it so easy to finance a home out in the middle of farmland, thirty/forty miles from work.
I've advocated smart, efficient growth for a long time. (How about trying that first before drilling everywhere out of desperation?) Also I've tried living true to those words by staying in an apartment in which I can walk or bicyle to work. (Good for me, right?... Just trying to make a point.)
"let us drill for oil in this country" Well, sometimes it isn't that easy. First, there has to be oil there to drill for, and often that isn't the case. But what, exactly, would we be on to? Take a look at a night-time light map of the U.S. The eastern half of the country is covered with development. Here near Chicago it is a day-long stream of traffic into and out of the city. People want still more of this?
The prospects of $200 a barrel oil is not outrageous. You're neglecting a very large price factor: inflation. The sinking value of the dollar is what is contributing so much. Petroleum is a world-wide commodity, and the fact that the dollar has fallen to about half its value over five years against other currencies competing for that same petroleum is what is reflected in the cost of a barrel of oil. We've a perfect storm, if you will, of inflation and demand at work. Petroleum is already at $118/b. $200 is probably too high a guess (unless more destabilization takes place in the oil-rich nations), but the trend is upward and it is not reversing for the time being.
Liberals get a lot of bashing about taxation (commonly stated as "stealing my money"). But people fail to realize what a non-liberal administration and, over the past five years, congress have done to the value of the dollar. The effect could possibly be worse than that of any taxation. Basically, we are beginning to pay for the cost of war and deficit spending.
The "environmentalist won't let us drill" comments are at best ill informed. How about a critical analysis of how much it will cost to drill for the oil, what type of oil is it, and when will it come on line. Canada has tons of oil sand, but can you extract it profitably for less than $200/barrel?
ReplyDeleteI think the finger pointing at environmentalist is just right wing neo-McCarthyist propaganda. More bilge water propagated by people like Charlie Sykes. A radio entertainer who's research has questionable veracity.
Hey right wing nuts, what if the fundamental market forces of increased demand from China and India, combined with a weak dollar (a direct result of your Bush Administration's monetary policy), are the real problem. Not Green Peace. Not environmentalists.
Do some research! The off shore oil is not a quick cheap price fix ... http://www.energybulletin.net/20140.html
Joe ...
ReplyDeleteThe oil sands can be profitably developed with $40 - $50 / barrel oil prices.
They actually started up there 30+ years ago with big subsidies from the Alberta and Canadian Federal govenrments.
Much of that oil has been refined in the upper US midwest for many years.
Now that they are looking to do a little more, the enviros have awakened to it and may stop development of this close, secure, plentiful, and vast resource.
The pipelin company (Enbridge) is facing opposition in MN. They are seriosly looking at sending oil sands oil to the Canadian West coast for export to China because we in the US don't want it.
Makes me sad ..........