Am I missing something, or aren't we in one of most oil producing countries in the world right now? (hint Iraq)

What exactly is/was the point of that, if not for the oil? It sure ain't to help the down trodden.

It was the big oil companies that put GW in to begin with, and now that he is leaving soon, they will get their pound of flesh and then some and he will allow gas to go up to 4 dollars a gallon.
You might say that he does not have any say so in this.
I
say BS, he has much influence. He will be giving them a big thank you kiss before he leaves office for putting him in office to begin with.

 

This has been a really interesting thread, at first I thought it was going to be just a bunch of whining and complaining, but it is very obvious that many of you have put a great deal of thought into your comments. I personally lean more to the conservative side and prefer smaller less intrusive government. If you think about it, other than national defense what does the government do that private business can't do way better? Over the last couple decades our government has gotten so polarized over liberal verses conservative that everyone outside of politics has been lost in the middle. The best thing our government could do is get out of the way and let business do business, that includes letting drilling happen, letting coal gasification happen, and letting nuke energy happen....oversee to make sure things are done safely, but otherwise just get out of the way. The current system of national budgeting has been broken for decades, a line item veto would allow any president, republican or democrat to get rid of so much pork spending that most congressmen and senators would be much less "beholden" to special interests and just maybe they could concentrate more on the business this country really needs done....but when was the last time there was even a discussion on the line-item veto....many states have it, and it works.

As far as oil and gas goes, the government should not be mandating a direction to go in, such as the current push for development of bio-fuels. When it comes to any kind of technology the government is more ignorant than the average citizen, and they are trying to "lead" this country into the technology of the future? If we would move in the direction of smaller government and more free enterprise and fewer government mandated restrictions the problems of the present and those seen coming in the future would be solved by those with the capabilities to solve them, not regulated and mandated to death by government officials that can only see their next election campaign.

There are big problems to solve in many different sectors, but if the problem of the governing elite doesn't get solved none of the others will either.

 

Anyone who thinks one man, like our president, has any impact on what happens to our economy doesn't know much about our political system. Bush has been the fall guy for everything that hasn't gone right. He gets blamed for mistakes made during the war but the Vets in here understand that war never goes as planned. Most civilians don't get that. Also, our congress has the lowest approval rating in history. They have done absolutely nothing to help us. Both sides of the aisle areso busy fighting each other that they have failed to conduct the business of our country.
So, you can blame Bush for all your problems or you can look at what's really going on in this country and realize our government has been hijacked by a group of people (republicans and democrats) who are only interested in getting in power and staying in power. Until we take back our rights as free people, we will continue to see idiotic policies being instituted and our bank accounts drained. The price of gas is only one little piece in this goofy puzzle.

 

I wish gas was free. I have only been buying my own gas for 24 years. In the last 24 years gas has doubled in price. Minimum wage has more than doubled. My personal salary has increased close to 10 times what it was back then. Cost of food, vehicles, utilities, housing and everything else I can think of right now has more than doubled. Gas is still the cheapest thing I buy in proportion to how everything else has increased in price. That may change in the near future, but so far it hasn't.

I have no doubt that government involvement will make the situation worse, not better. Government involvement is destroying our utility companies now. Can anyone explain why any company would re-invest in itself and strive to produce more product to sell if the government has limited the profit it can make without limiting the price of production?

I would also like to point out that bio-fuels have no legitimate reason to increase food prices. When grain is used to produce fuel, the grain is still there with the same nutrional values and ready to be used as food after the fuel is made. ADM calls these bi-products and sells them for added profit after they are finished with the grain or uses them for the same purpose they would've anyway if they hadn't produced fuel with them.

We as a nation have to stop expecting the government to fix our problems and make our life better. We have to demand that the government get out of our lives and let us fix our problems and make our lives better. Socialist government fixes to any problem is short term relief that makes the problem grow in the long haul. Capitalist fixes are short term pain that improves the situation in the long run.

Our founding fathers gave the federal government three jobs. Coin money, provide for the national defense and promote the general welfare. Some people take the last responsiblity and fit it to anything they want.

Dennis

 

Friggin deisel in the delivery trucks is driving up the price of beer too![:@]

 

It isn't the President, the government, speculators, oil companies, etc that are responsible for the current level of oil prices. It is supply and demand.

Let's look at some numbers: The world produces and consumes about 86 million barrels of oil a day. The US consume about 1/4 of that total but only produces 10%. There is nothing the US government or the big oil companies can do to change that.

There is not enough untapped oil within the boundaries of the US to replace thatoil that must be purchased from foreiners, so that is out.

The governments already help themselves to a big chunk of the gas price through their various taxes in addition to the additional costs of regulations.

The concept that a couple of politicians can somehow profit from artificially boosting oil prices by invading countries is just blather.

Oil companies earm most of their profits outside the US - in the case of Exxon's $40 Bil profit, only $8 Bil of that is earned in the US refining and distributing fuel. Their margins at about 10% of sales are well below many other industries.

So what causes high energy prices?
[ul][*]On the demand side, China and a number of other emerging markets have increased their demand at a substantially higher rate than the 2% increase worldwide. The biggest consumer (the US) exhibits little desire to reduce it's demand.[*]On the supply side, most of the world's producing fields are producing at close to maximum capacity. Saudi production is getting closer to it's current maximum. Many of the major fields in the world are declining. Most of the oil reserves in the world are either in politically unstable countries or owned by corruptgovernments. Remember, oil fields don't produce forever, they decline. I saw somewhere that the world has to find new reservesequivalent to reserves to all of the Gulf of Mexico every five years just to stay even.[/ul]

So, over the short-term, higher prices will eventually force all of us (ie: everyone in the world) to change our energyconsumption habits and consume less and energy prices will moderate. Over the long-term, energy prices will eventually get high enough to stimulate new energy sources - but it won't happen quickly.

By the way, nobody is entitled to cheap energy.

 

RexBuck- that was a good one. What people fail to realize is the U.S. reached peak production in the '70's. The world production peak is supposed to be sometime around 2030. So, we will continue to increase demand for a product that won't be around forever.As we get closer to running out, prices will get out of control and countries like Saudi Arabia will become irrelevent. Someonein another post said something aboutcoal and coal is where our future may be.I'm surely not betting my future on ethanol. As a matter of fact, a lot of Hess stations have started adding ethanol to their gasoline. I made the mistake of fillingup my truck with it and went from a solid 21mpg on the highway down to 16.5mpg. Thegovernment subsidies for ethanol are such that everybody wants in on the action for a product that doesn't work.
If we can hang on to capitalism for a little bit longer, somebody in the private sector will find us an alternative that works.

 

Let's not forget that most of those profits are re-invested to replace the oil sold to make those profits. It's a merry-go-round for oil companies.


[IMG]local://upfiles/36447/CE0682313F0341F187E63724B711CBAB.jpg[/IMG]

 

Gasoline taxes fund road construction so that is probably as close to a consumption based tax as we are going to get. If you do not use the road you will not have to pay the tax. Do you think that someone else should pay for the road that you use?

That .10-.15 a gallon is a bit misleading also, depending upon how far they control the product, obviously if the retain controll from the well to the pump they would make more than if they simply purchased crude on the open market, then refined it, then sold it to an independant retailer like Walmart.

 

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I feel for all of you that have to drive a gas guzzler for work but don't feel sorry for all of the other SUV and pick-up owners that just like(d) having a V-8 or whatever. We have wasted so much fuel compared to other countries it's a shame.

We own 2 bikes and 2 - 4 wheelers and all aregetting over 30mpg, that was a big factor when we bought them and the newest 4 wheeler is a 2001 purchased new and in fact replaced a pig of an SUV that got 18 mpg on a good day downhill.