Gas Prices rising. It's spring. We know. AKA Where have you been the last 20 years?

[f1anatic]

by PRAEDET

To you f1anatic, you must live in a dismal world since the US can't control other countries, and that is what you want...

 

Ted

 

Yes...I live in US. And I fully agree. It has been a dismal world since November of 2000.

 

Listen man...how much money did we put in Irak ? How much much gas could we have bought for that money ?

 

Let me put it this way...in terms of "safety" the world was a safer place before we went after Sadam. And gas prices were cheaper. Iran and other Arab countries feared Saddam (America didn't - cause we went after him). Now - maybe Saddam was bluffing, but it kept a certain balance of power in the world in check. He also pumped oil for food, and it was a steady supply. Small - maybe - but steady.

 

Now the Iraki oil production is probably even less than before the war and it is affected by the daily suicide bombings and the politics of the other Arab nations. Nowadays however, with the failed "liberation" and the civil war there - "sectarian warfare" whatever the hell it is officially called...US has lost it's world authority by a lot. Iran is acting up, threatening with nukes and shit. Venezuela is acting up. OPEC is acting up - OPEC being the arab countries mostly... and they know the US greed for oil...and since they can control the prices to a certain extent...they just find it that this way they control us.

 

And of course it doesn't help that the people in control of this country are more or less coming from the oil business. And the oil business is getting enormous profits. i didn't report those profits, that money...or whatever. They did. You don't work for them...so I doubt you really have the insight on how much they really made. Neither do i for the matter, but by all the media accounts...the rich are getting richer.

 

So sorry...it may be a simplistic view...but to me, and many like me, serves as a perfectly logical explanation. Failed - global - politics and big corporation greed have forced me to live in a dismal world. I don't want US to control other countries. Or well...maybe I do but it is not possible. But what I certainly expect from our leaders is to make sure other countries do not control us. And certain decisions have been made....that made it possible for others to control us - in certain respects.

[Penguin]

Yes...I live in US. And I fully agree. It has been a dismal world since November of 2000.

 

Listen man...how much money did we put in Irak ? How much much gas could we have bought for that money ?

 

Let me put it this way...in terms of "safety" the world was a safer place before we went after Sadam. And gas prices were cheaper. Iran and other Arab countries feared Saddam (America didn't - cause we went after him). Now - maybe Saddam was bluffing, but it kept a certain balance of power in the world in check. He also pumped oil for food, and it was a steady supply. Small - maybe - but steady.

 

Now the Iraki oil production is probably even less than before the war and it is affected by the daily suicide bombings and the politics of the other Arab nations. Nowadays however, with the failed "liberation" and the civil war there - "sectarian warfare" whatever the hell it is officially called...US has lost it's world authority by a lot. Iran is acting up, threatening with nukes and shit. Venezuela is acting up. OPEC is acting up - OPEC being the arab countries mostly... and they know the US greed for oil...and since they can control the prices to a certain extent...they just find it that this way they control us.

 

And of course it doesn't help that the people in control of this country are more or less coming from the oil business. And the oil business is getting enormous profits. i didn't report those profits, that money...or whatever. They did. You don't work for them...so I doubt you really have the insight on how much they really made. Neither do i for the matter, but by all the media accounts...the rich are getting richer.

 

So sorry...it may be a simplistic view...but to me, and many like me, serves as a perfectly logical explanation. Failed - global - politics and big corporation greed have forced me to live in a dismal world. I don't want US to control other countries. Or well...maybe I do but it is not possible. But what I certainly expect from our leaders is to make sure other countries do not control us. And certain decisions have been made....that made it possible for others to control us - in certain respects.

 

Just becuase you find your explanation to be logical, does not make it correct. In most of your arguments you seem to think that the US could exert some kind of magical influence. I can only surmise from your comments that you think a Democrat in office would be able to wave a magic wand and make things go the right way.

 

First of all your comments about Iraq, not Irak, are a bit off the mark. Saddam Hussien was a dangerous SOB, and Iraq was a rogue state. They may not have been a threat at the time, but given another ten years they would have been. The "Liberation" of Iraq is not yet over, and it will take a great deal of time to get that country on it's feet and stable. That is how unconventional wars go, maybe you should study the Philippene insurection to get an idea of how long something like Iraq can go on. After time the Philippenes became a good ally to this country, in a part of the world where we had very few. Of course you, like most other Americans have no concept of patience or fortitude and become discouraged if you do not see immediate results.

 

The oil for food program you talk about was a fiasco, and US concerns never recieved any of the oil anyway. The only beneficiaries of the oil for food program were Kofi Annan's son (and I am sure him as well) and Iraqi govt. big wigs like Saddam. No food or aid ever made it to the needy in Iraq, but hey who cares as long as we get a little bit of oil right?

 

As far as a comparisson of how much oil we could have purchased with the money spent on the Iraq war; I fail to see what difference that would make. The US government does not buy oil for your consumption, so even if they were to have bought oil; it would have gone into oil reserves and we would have never seen it anyway. In fact that massive a buyout would have driven consumer prices throught the roof. Great plan.

 

Next we should accept the fact that Iran was going to be a problem regardless of what was done in Iraq. They have been pursuing a nuclear program for well over ten years to get where they are now. They have always wanted to be in a position to bully their neighbors and have more influence in the region. They resent their Arab neighbors, and want a big saber to rattle. Iran has been a terrorist playground ever since Jimmy Carter helped to undermine the Shaw of Iran. Since you are a Democrat you can thank one of your own for Iran today.

 

OPEC isn't acting up anymore than usual, but world demand for oil is rising exponentialy. Believe it or not there are a bunch of other people in the world that also use oil, there are more and more every day. Higher worldwide demand, means OPEC can charge more for their oil, if we don't like it we should buy less oil, prices will fall at that point. Or we as a nation could make a commitment to reduce our dependence on oil so that it did not matter what OPEC wanted to sell it for because we don't buy from them. Eliminating the need to do business with oil producers in the Middle East would destroy those nations economically, and eliminate them as a threat.

 

Venezuela has been a US relations problem child, along with Argentina, for well over 70 years off and on. The fact that either of the two is "acting up" should come as no surprise to anyone that knows anything about the history of North American and South American realtions.

 

Your last comments about the oil companies were amusing to read. I do believe that oil companies and refiners did get to record profits by raising their prices. I say good for them, they pushed the limit of the price demand curve and it paid off. If you do not like the price of gas then use less, if you still have to use it to get around and your current vehcile burns too much; buy a new one. The increased gas prices resulted in some very good months in my business, when people driving big SUV's saw the light and bailed out of them into more efficient vehicles. They did themselves a big favor in the long run, and did me a favor for that pay check.

[megan]

(Topping $3 gal probably)

 

hahahaha...i WISH it was topping $3 a gallon here. fricken $3.15 last week

[KTM 525]

Yup just went today up another 8 cents since Friday from 2.99 to now 3.07. Keep the vasoline handy.

[f1anatic]

I can only surmise from your comments that you think a Democrat in office would be able to wave a magic wand and make things go the right way.

 

Since you are a Democrat you can thank one of your own...

 

Your entire post summarized. It stands to reason that you are not a Democrat. That in fact you are a Republican, and that you overtly brought in political divide in this conversation. As for some of your comments, they are way out there...from my own perspective...just as my comments are in your view. So there you have it.

 

I just hope I find the inner strangth to give up driving...and after I acquire these "magical powers" the gas prices go so high up...for you to finally reconsider.

 

Bought it $2.93 this morning. It is $3.02 tonight. Same gas station. It must be Hugo Chavez threatening to expel the US Ambassador in Caracas

[Penguin]

Your entire post summarized. It stands to reason that you are not a Democrat. That in fact you are a Republican, and that you overtly brought in political divide in this conversation. As for some of your comments, they are way out there...from my own perspective...just as my comments are in your view. So there you have it.

 

I just hope I find the inner strangth to give up driving...and after I acquire these "magical powers" the gas prices go so high up...for you to finally reconsider.

 

Bought it $2.93 this morning. It is $3.02 tonight. Same gas station. It must be Hugo Chavez threatening to expel the US Ambassador in Caracas

 

You are in fact correct that I am not a Democrat, but I would not go so far as to call myself a Republican either. I introduced "political divide" into the conversation only after you did in your comments about everything being dismal after November of 2000. You introduced the political divide into the mix not me.

 

So you do not care for the study of economics or the study of history, I do not hold that against you. I was perhaps a bit harsh. I think you will find that the main underlying reason for higher gas prices are very complicated.

 

The first factor is the higher world wide demand for crude oil, this drives prices up; and demand will only go higher even if we reduce our demand. We can thank emerging nations like China and India for that. We have no control over how much oil they will want to use, or how much they will be willing to pay for it.

 

Second we have large amounts of speculation on oil prices, undisciplined investors that get skitish when a diplomatic disagreement comes up between oil producing nations and anyone else. For the most part this is foolish, as the oil producer would in most cases rather sell their oil and make money. Well everyone except Hogo Chavez, but everyone outside of Venezuela knows he is crazier than a shit house rat. Look for his government to be overthrown by his frustrated citizens in a few years.

 

Third is OPEC, modern day inventors of price gouging. If these were US companies they would be in violation of just about every anti-trust law on the books. However they are not US companies, but instead a bunch of greedy oil producing nations that regulate the price and supply of oil world wide. The only way to truely be rid of these ass clowns is to get ourselves into a position where we do not need to buy their products. For instance what if we powered all of our cars with methanol and bio-diesel, and all of our homes with electricity produced by nuclear power and solar/wind. I think it's do-able, I would even pay higher taxes to see it happen.

 

Next up in a huge list of reasons we have the internal production problem of making something like 27 different blends of gasoline in each fuel grade, for different parts of the country to meet their emissions laws. This is a logistical nightmare for the refiners, and it adds lot's of cost to all the fuel. Add to this the need to have summer gas and winter gas, in all these different blends; and oh yeah in 87, 89, and 91 octane. Then we get to add the different ethanol blends, well you get the point. We would all be better off if the federal government put their foot down and said emissions standards are going to be the same all across the country. Instead we get the dumb ass California Air Resources Board, and other state agencies that make their own rules; and then make refiners jump throught their asses to make fuel for that market.

 

Next we can add taxes on fuel for road improvements..... well the list is huge so I won't even try to think of every aspect of why fuel prices are high. The best most simple answer is that the price is high because that is what the market will bear. When demand drops significantly prices will fall, until then the price of fuel will remain high. Unfortunately, cheap plentiful fuel is something we have come to take for granted in this country. Well as much as I hate to admit it, I don't have any god given right to cheap gas. As long as I am still willing to pay for gas I will have little right to begrudge an oil company their profits. In the mean time I would like to think we can find a better solution to what we use for fuel and where we get it from.