OT: Why oil prices are so high?

[Shishnizzle]

I really don't feel like going any further with the political side of this. Like I said I'm a Libertarian not a republican. I do think our govt. as a whole, Democrats and Republicans have done a terrible job with this country. I think both party's are responsible for where we are at.

On a side note if you have been paying attention to anything I have been saying in this thread form earlier. Democrats did close the ernon loophole in the farm bill last week. It looks like a barrel of oil is trading down again. Lets see where this goes.

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commod ... rices.html

and as far as new technology. This EREV is what I am interested in.

http://gm-volt.com/

[orlandomike]

One solution could be simple. As important as oil is to our countries survival, we the people should own the oil we buy or dig up. We need to take the stock market interest out of oil.

We need to drill on our own and convert to other resources to the opoint that we dont trade for oil or sell it.

[orlandomike]

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Here in Brazil it costs R$2.50/liter (something like US$1.50/liter or 6 bucks per gallon).

The Americans complain a lot, i spent 3 months in USA this year and at least the gallon gets cheaper based on barrel quote. Here in Brazil it doesnt happen, when it gets higher we have to pay more, but when the prices get lower it remains the same to the customer.

Ahm, and i forgot about something, here it isnt pure gasoline, it has 20% of alcohol thats cheaper and makes the car less productive.

We dont complain because our gas is higher than it used to be, but still isnt as high as others. We complain because it doesnt need to be this high. People of greed dont give a damn about their own country and will sell it down the river to get richer. That is what gripes us all. If we were at war for our very countries survival, (not the gulf or iraq war, not fighting for someone elses problems, a legit one) and $2 gallon tax was on that $4 to support our troops and our land, noone here would complain. But that isnt what is going on.

There are 2 ways to help this economy, first quit throwing our money away protecting another country, save the trillions and bring most of our troops home. Use them and any civilian who wants employment to develop shale oil. (another poster said we had enough reserves to handle us for the next 400 years) This wouldnt be exxon or shell or anyone else heading this up. This would be a citizen owned venture, non-profit for Americas energy only. Nothing goes out for bids. The savings on the war expense, combined with jobs for citizens begining the shale oil business would strengthen our economy and kill off the arabs and the oil companies and btw, car companies trying to sell us big cars, out of the way. We simply choose to buy smaller cars. Make the non-profit books transparent and public so any accountant can make sure it is on the up and up.

Then we go for the car business . we know there are cars capable of 60 miles per gallon and as a government, get that technology and either the current car companies use it or we give such incentives that upstart car companies will take the incentive and totally take down the big companies who are in bed with the oil conglomerates.


Then as that happens we slowly but aggressively go green as much as we can to reduce the need for shale oil too. Lithium, wind and so on.

[aleZ]

Nothing wrong with your posts O-mike, but that stuff will never work in the real world, it sounds like something out of a "feelgood" Disney movie. Digging our own oil? And you expect gov's and companies to offer their infrastucture and resources for free? Plus there's little money to be made around alternative energy resources (for now) that's the main reason why most car companies just don't give a F about that.

[Shishnizzle]

Oil is down almost 4 dollars a barrel today. If it begins to drop, you could see a huge sell off. There are people who believe it could go as low as 80 dollars a barrel. Thats about 2.20 a gallon.

[CourtsideTV]

just watch the movie 'there will be blood'.

[Optimus_Steel]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business ... 3136.story

Oil just jumped $11 to end at $139. Whooopieeeeeeeeeee................


Something needs to be done with the oil speculation driving prices up. Thousands of people are losing jobs because of them.

[theTHIEF]

if people thought stealing gas was laughable, just wait until murder for gas becomes the new rage...

[Happyfoosball]

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Your joking right? Our policies with out-sourcing to China has a significant effect to China's demand. We send material all the way to China so they can make our widgets and then send them all the way back to be sold at a Wal-mart near you. How much oil does that take? It has a tremendous effect. Plus, we are building a new middle class over there who now are becoming fascinated with the car, just as we have done here. Its our policies with regard to the global market that are having that effect.

Bush senior, an ex-president of this country, is a paid lobbyist and business partner for the Saudi royal family. You can't be fooled about George jr's trips to Saudi Arabia asking for them to open the spigot as a serious attempt do you? They have no intention to increase supply, thats why we have been stockpiling SPROL to its maximum capacity even though its already 90% full. Congress had to pass legislation for him to cease and discontinue. We are in bed with the Saudis. The Iraq war has much to do with that issue as well.

Anwar? You do realize that with all the talk about that oil, that its only a six month supply in the ground right? Why risk screwing up that habitat for six months worth of oil? Ask your congressman why they won't allow drilling off the coast of Florida as to why its a problem. And I already mentioned natural disasters, of course Bush has nothing to do with Katrina, other than not responding to it of course. The president has everything to do with the price of oil Mark. I must respectfully disagree with you.

I'll never forget Bush taking three days to get down to NO after Katrina hit. That was a slap in the face to that city.

[sChOlaRlY_Magi]

if people thought stealing gas was laughable, just wait until murder for gas becomes the new rage...

^ It's frightening how true that statement will be proven shortly if something isn't changed.

I'm a financial counselor and the amount of people that cannot afford gas in their budgets is becoming staggering. Some people are quitting jobs, 2nd incomes, and taking the bus to save gas!

It's insane, and looks to only get worse if something is not done...

I personally put a new engine in an old SI Civic I had in my back yard to save some cash. It used to take around 12-15 dollars to fill up, but with the new engine I'm using premium and paying upwards of $30.00... Which is still better than our Scion TC which cost around $50.00 to put in reg unleaded.

So if you see a beat up little Civic with a guy smiling while driving... It's probably me because it leaves me with some money in my pocket still... Barely.
I also pay for my fiancee's gas and the difference is staggering at this point, and she has a small to midsize vehicle as well. If you add to this the fact that we save money because we carpool to the same job and save money this way as well, it leaves one to wonder how anyone else without a good to great income is even able to eat these days.

Once that sets in for people of mid to low income and the unemployment rate sky rockets because people work too far away from where they live, I think Thief's statement will take on very meaningful/scary life of it's own.

Let's hope it never happens...

[UCFJayBird]

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I'll never forget Bush taking three days to get down to NO after Katrina hit. That was a slap in the face to that city.

don't forget the day it happened where was Bush? celebrating John McCain's birthday in Arizona, lol.

[Shishnizzle]

I can't believe this thread is still going.

With regards to New Orleans. I know we must blame everything on George Bush. It's a real intellectual argument. Don't forget they had done studies. They knew for years that the levy system was inadequate. Nobody did anything about it. I would be pretty pissed at my local govt. for making that mistake. I'm no Bush fan but what gets lost in the blame Bush argument, are any real solutions. I'm glad Florida govt can be relied upon in that kind of situation, and the idea that the federal govt should be is asinine.

[aleZ]

Wow, the 20th century oil rush is really paying off now, talk about monopoly tactics

Around here there's a LOL situation with Diesel, until 5 years ago it was dirt cheap so everyone bought big SUVs and cars that only run on Diesel fuel, until they became more common than regular vehicles. So what did oil firms do? Increase the price of Diesel, now on par (sometimes even more pricey) with regular fuel.

I'm glad I didn't give in to the Diesel craze of years ago, I'll prolly get cheaper regular fuel in a couple quarters' time

[drsd]

Wow, the 20th century oil rush is really paying off now, talk about monopoly tactics

Around here there's a LOL situation with Diesel, until 5 years ago it was dirt cheap so everyone bought big SUVs and cars that only run on Diesel fuel, until they became more common than regular vehicles. So what did oil firms do? Increase the price of Diesel, now on par (sometimes even more pricey) with regular fuel.

I'm glad I didn't give in to the Diesel craze of years ago, I'll prolly get cheaper regular fuel in a couple quarters' time

This is also true in Germany. Diesel is about US$10/US gallon here, whereas Gasoline is "only" $9/gallon.

[spinedoc]

I can't believe this thread is still going.

With regards to New Orleans. I know we must blame everything on George Bush. It's a real intellectual argument. Don't forget they had done studies. They knew for years that the levy system was inadequate. Nobody did anything about it. I would be pretty pissed at my local govt. for making that mistake. I'm no Bush fan but what gets lost in the blame Bush argument, are any real solutions. I'm glad Florida govt can be relied upon in that kind of situation, and the idea that the federal govt should be is asinine.

Nobody is blaming Bush for the flawed levy system, just not responding adequately to the natural disaster. This administration didn't put qualified people in charge in any department of government including FEMA. He put Brownie in charge when his previous employment was with dealing in Arabian horses, and he buried the department at the bottom of homeland security. If the Levy's were blown up by terrorists, then we might have been able to respond with some sense of urgency. It used to be run by professionals and a separate autonomous branch of the government. Thats why the only department that deserves a good grade of that response is the coast guard. They aren't under the same umbrella.

Also, representatives for LA have been trying for years to get funding for the wetlands in that state, but were unable to secure any funds or get the government to treat it as a priority. No, not all of this falls on Bush's shoulders, there is enough blame to go around, but Bush was lost in a constant campaign mode of government. His solution was that of Karl Rove, and that was to take a photo of him looking out the window from Air Force 1 trying to look concerned. It was pathetic to say the least.

[spinedoc]

Wow, the 20th century oil rush is really paying off now, talk about monopoly tactics

Around here there's a LOL situation with Diesel, until 5 years ago it was dirt cheap so everyone bought big SUVs and cars that only run on Diesel fuel, until they became more common than regular vehicles. So what did oil firms do? Increase the price of Diesel, now on par (sometimes even more pricey) with regular fuel.

I'm glad I didn't give in to the Diesel craze of years ago, I'll prolly get cheaper regular fuel in a couple quarters' time

Yep, diesel was always cheaper here and now its more expensive. Its putting a huge disadvantage on our trucking industry, which is how we move the vast majority of our goods here. We don't have the rail system to handle the load like Europe does, another lost investment on the future of this country. Also, they did the same thing awhile back with regular and unleaded gas. They used to charge us more to take the lead out, then it switched around and they charged us more money to put the lead back in it. Of course, we don't have regular leaded gas anymore, but just another way that the oil and gas industry has manipulated us in the past.

[aleZ]

Sorry Spine, I don't know if you're talking about the US or Europe, cuz my previous post was about Italy/Europe, not America.

Like you said, the good thing about Europe are short distances and public transportation, but moving goods around still costs a lot due to worse streets, mountains and a territory that's a nightmare to navigate on rubber and tarmac. This is why goods are getting pricey by the minute, even normal food and stuff ppl need to "just" live.

[spinedoc]

Sorry Spine, I don't know if you're talking about the US or Europe, cuz my previous post was about Italy/Europe, not America.

Like you said, the good thing about Europe are short distances and public transportation, but moving goods around still costs a lot due to worse streets, mountains and a territory that's a nightmare to navigate on rubber and tarmac. This is why goods are getting pricey by the minute, even normal food and stuff ppl need to "just" live.

I was talking about the U.S. diesel prices, but I would think that our economy is what would drive the price of diesel though, not Europe.

[drsd]

Sorry Spine, I don't know if you're talking about the US or Europe, cuz my previous post was about Italy/Europe, not America.

Like you said, the good thing about Europe are short distances and public transportation, but moving goods around still costs a lot due to worse streets, mountains and a territory that's a nightmare to navigate on rubber and tarmac. This is why goods are getting pricey by the minute, even normal food and stuff ppl need to "just" live.

Nope. THe rail network is used for goods movement. The costs per kilometer is A LOT LESS than a truck-based system as the Americans have now,.

Food is much, much cheaper in Europe than America.

[aleZ]

Food is much, much cheaper in Europe than America.

I disagree, as do most ppl who've stayed in both countries for long periods of time. And it's not just about food either.