Oil Prices
jlzimmerman
Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 282
Oil is trading above $121/barrel this morning with no end in sight. Like everything else, this is having an impact on the price of our cigars. Fuel to get these delicious imports to us can't be cheap. Add to that the stagnant/falling dollar and we'll be looking to be pay up to $.75 (maybe higher?) more per stick over the summer.
Rough times are ahead, my friends.
Rough times are ahead, my friends.
Comments
im sorry if it seems a bit out of context. here it is:
We can get off the oil thing (mostly), and not use a ton of mass transit. We have to find a fuel that is PROFITABLE. People have thrown the hydrogen gas card on the table. It could work in theory, I mean, the Hindenburg (sp?) was full of it and it burned goooooood. The problem is, it still isn’t as efficient as oil products are... yet. The cost would be higher, now, in fact. ...not to mention the switchover for filling stations. This lack of efficiency will change though. And necessity breeds innovation. We are gunna need it soon, one way or another.
In the meantime we do need to use oil. We need to drill for it, and we (the US) need to be a player on the world oil market, not just a buyer. (keep some money here and bring jobs state-side)
I am keeping faith that the (sorta) free market will apply its forces and MAKE it get better. It may suck for the next few years but a solution will come out of all of this. It may be a different fuel, or a more effective way of using oil, or more reserves being found, or a combination of those, but one way or another, this is a relatively short term problem. The free(ish) market will provide. It always has and always will.
Now that I’m done being optimistic... in the short term, we're doomed. Damn Enviro-weenies.
to quote glenn beck: Ill drill through a baby caribou’s EYE if that’s what it takes to get at cheap oil.
It’s a frustrating situation
Granted, I don't know much about what is involved in a switch from foreign to domestic oil, but I cannot see it being a bad thing when gas is $4 a gallon and climbing. There just has to be a solution on the horizon, I just feel that perhaps the powers that be care more about the potential money to be made than they do about the people who are emptying their wallets at the gas pump.
think of it this way:
Global warming is cancer
a failing ecinomic system is a fire.
what do you treat first ? put the fire out, then treat the cancer. if our economy fails we are doomed now. if the earth warms a bit over the next 100 years... not quite as impending doom. see what i mean?
...and you are also right about "the powers that be care more about the potential money to be made than they do about the people who are emptying their wallets at the gas pump. " do you really think that Al Gore isn't making money off of global warming? He is invested in it. That is his job...and oil is the enemy.
people keep blaming Big oil. It isnt big oil thats the problem. They are just offering a product that is so good we have become dependent on it. Wouldnt it also be in big oil's best intrest to have lower Oil prices as well (light sweet crude)? this would lower their overhead. they could lower gas prices, sell more because of it, and make a bigger profit off of it. would we complain about their profit if gas was a $1.50/gal?
their profit isnt the problem. the "problem" is the world market. China and india are industrializing. this is sending demand through the roof. The US dollar is in the tank right now. since the dollar and the price of crude oil are tied together the price goes "up". It takes more dollers to make a barrel of oil when the doller is worth LESS. ...again this is a shor term problem. and is going to suck. (as if it doesnt already)
so how does the US solve the world market problem... same as above: DEREGULATION. Let the market dictate. When oil is used up or too expensive to drill the market will force another product to take oil's place.
Our economy does need attention but I think we can fix it without the expense of our environment. We have one home, one planet, and no other place to go if we trash this one. Until we colonize another planet we need to pay attention to how we absorb/consume resources here.
The price of oil is BS. There are tentions in Nigeria and Iran, yes, but that should not be the reason for such high prices. Of course, others contribute the high prices on the growth of China and India, similarly to that of our increased concrete prices, etc... I read the other day that oil imports to China in 2004 was 40% of their total consumption. During the first quarter of 2008, it only rose to 42%. Hmmmm. Unless India is drinking lots of imported crude the Arab nations are raping us blind.....which they have been for years of course.
We are the world leader in wheat and corn like the Arabs are the world leader in oil. The U.S. should jack up the price of exported wheat and corn to match the prices of imported oil.
... and everyone says the world hates us NOW.
im not the quickest car on the street.
on that note... gas in my town hit 3.75/gal. This is a high never seen before in this town. To keep myself from going crazy, i have to keep repeating in my head "the higher the price the faster the solution. the higher the price.... "
im torn though. I would like to see it lower so i can survive the short term better, but i do want to see other options for fuel just to create compitition in the energy industry. I still have faith in capitolism.
... a bit of devine intervention woulndt hurt though...
I hope its sooner than later. as soon as hydrogen becomes popular the efficiancy will go through the roof. this will make it very cheap to run. as soon as that happens oil will be done for ( at least as a feul)
That doesnt change the soulution. DEREGULATE. Let big oil in the US build refineries.
NOT cutting the intrest rate would help as well. cutting taxes on big buisness will stimulate the economy here by making it cheaper to do buisness here (and attracting it). both of these moves will make it more profitable for forgin buisness to invest in the US thus raising hte value of the dollar.
Edit: here is the article:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90HHK0GC&show_article=1
a little over 1/2 way down the page is the quote im talking about.
"There is no reason why oil prices should be above $60," Gheit said, noting that domestic crude supplies are at average levels, and that refineries are cutting gasoline production as high prices cut consumers demand for fuel. "The physical supplies do not justify the price, it just doesn't make sense."
1) we have not built a production facility in over 30 years. You cant tell me that we dont use more oil than we did 30 years ago. it may not be a shortage but if onr refinery goes down the price spikes big time. most people dont want to build a new one because of fear (the same thing that is driving the market). Who wants to build a new one (reguardless of profit) if the billion + dollar building is useless 10-20 years from now?
2) yes.... and no. if the prices were lower more people would buy more gas more often. wouldnt that lead to more profit?
3) Gas is inelastic. we all need it. I cant go to work 10% less. and i cant exactly dictate where my job location is... and i cant afford the neighborhood that my job is located in so i cant move much closer. if everyone went out 10% less in their lives there would be a drastic ecinomic fall out. 10% eating dinner on the road. 10% less vacations. 10% less trips to the mall. 10% less trips to the cigar shop, and so on...
There is no growth in an economy where there is conservation.