US politics.
Remember how Democrats promised to lower gas prices when they took power?
Remember how the fuel prices were going down before they promised to lower fuel costs. It seems like since they took control and made their promise fuel prices have started spiraling up.
Democrats block increasing domestic production (Increasing refineries capacity) but that is blocked because they think it would unfairly help big business and add to global warming.
As a result we have a domestic fuel production shortage that makes prices go up and we are more dependant of foreign refineries.
Democrats block opening up more of the gulf coast for oil drilling; their excuse is environmentalism.
As a result, we are more dependant on foreign oil, so fuel prices go up. Are they really worried about saving the brown pelicans, or are they afraid they might have their property values of their multimillion-dollar beachfront property go down because they might have to look at oil wells and ships?
Thanks a lot Nancy Pelosi 😡
“Tuesday, April 18, 2006 “Democrats have a plan to lower gas prices, taking America in a new direction that works for everyone, not just the few.”
“Democrats believe that we can do more for the American people who are struggling to deal with high gas prices and bracing for record high home heating bills this winter.”
“House Democrats have a plan to help curb rising gas prices.”
By: Arthur - 22nd May 2007 at 09:32
Trading in your Tahoe for something more fuel-efficient might help a bit as well.
By: ATFS_Crash - 22nd May 2007 at 04:12
Capacity has been blocked for over 20 years. So why blame the dems when the last 6 years the reps have had full control?
Well the Republicans were not the ones that vowed on the Capitol steps to lower gas prices while demonizing the Republicans.
It’s obvious grandstanding for political gain. The Republicans have played similar games, though usually not as dishonest or frequently.
It wasn’t the Republicans that stuck their foot in the mouth, it was the Democrats.
Actually instead of the capacity increasing the capacity has decreased for several decades.
They could have legislated for a lot of refineries… did not happen heh?
What they have done has been quite on the contrary. It is partly what I call the Robin Hood effect, blame big business and attack it. Overtax it, overregulate it and drive it under and away.
It’s not the government’s job to build refineries, however it should try have reasonable laws and regulation to allow reasonable competition to encourage business; what I have seen has been much on the contrary.
Instead of encouraging more refineries, the taxes and regulations have caused refineries to shut down and to move to other countries. While we are shutting down our refineries, other nations are building more refineries.
It’s cheaper for the oil companies to operate a few refineries at maximum capacity than it is to operate more refineries at less capacity. The problem with doing that is that there is surges in the supply and demand. There is also technical difficulties with the refineries, such as fires, maintenance, storms. We have a centrally shut down all our refineries that gave us reserve capacity, so every little hick up in the refinery system drives up the prices.
Look at it from the bright side…. in 30 years time you will be one of the only countries left with black gold. Just think what it will be worth then!
There is some truth to what you say, in that by delaying drilling we will be able to stretch out our supply. However I think generally we will run out of oil about all at the same time.
It’s not like the tap is going to run dry. There always will be oil, the thing is how expensive it is. Eventually the price of oil will become so high that it will not be practical to use for most purposes.
As far as the US not reasonably tapping its Gulf of Mexico oil fields, that is completely foolish. It’s not going to all sit there and wait for us to take it out. Cuba is already starting to drill and pump from many of the same deposits that the US government fought the US oil industry from harvesting.
Sounds like someone is volunteering to get a refinery in their back yard.
There have been several refineries in the United States that have shut down over the past few decades.
Just a few.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB858811470783373500.html?mod=googlewsj
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-139455073.html
Not only is this not wise for the natural fluctuations. It also makes oil refineries a more juicy target. We had to reserve refining capacity, we could lose our refinery without missing a heartbeat, now days all it takes is a hick up and it screws up the whole system. Just speculation that there might be a problem will send the market off in a tizzy. So even hysteria can substantially effect the price of fuel.
There are many towns in the US that would welcome a refinery. There are probably refineries that could be restarted and trained workforce ready to man it relatively quickly.
However this global warming panic that Al Gore in the Democrats has started encourages more refineries to shut down in the US and for more refineries to start up in other countries. The regulations that primarily Democrats have set give many US companies like refineries, steel companies, ect… and unfair disadvantage in the world market.
Why should they continue to operate in the US under strict environmental standards with high wage costs; if they can go to another country with less regulation and pollute more and exploit cheap labor?
The price should mainly be set by the market. Most of the time that government interferes it creates problems instead of helping. A while back the government strong-armed the oil industry into lowering their prices, sure that was great temporarily, however in order to offset the costs they didn’t invest as much into drilling and refining capacity, so in the long run it raised the prices.
All this grandstanding about switching to alternative fuels is a bunch of nonsense in my opinion. People will switch on their own to other fuels as the price of oil become so expensive that other sources of energy become relatively cheaper, so the market will gradually shift naturally. By excessively toying around with the oil industry and automotive industry is screwing up the shift to alternative fuels.
Most other countries besides the US have better automotive fuel economy. Is that because they are higher technology, or have a higher social conscious? No it is because few prices are much higher in most other countries. Once US citizens start paying $5-$10 a gallon you will see more people driving alternative fuel vehicles and more people driving small cars that most Americans would consider ridiculously small.
Another reason that our vehicles have less fuel economy is because of the US safety standards. A lot of these little midget buggy style cars would not hold up to the US crash safety tests standards.
By: Gollevainen - 21st May 2007 at 20:06
I paid 1.35 € over litre (1 litre= 1 dm3 = a cubic shape of 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm) in here…
By: tenthije - 21st May 2007 at 19:43
Democrats block increasing domestic production (Increasing refineries capacity) but that is blocked because they think it would unfairly help big business and add to global warming.
Capacity has been blocked for over 20 years. So why blame the dems when the last 6 years the reps have had full control? They could have legislated for a lot of refineries… did not happen heh?
Democrats block opening up more of the gulf coast for oil drilling; their excuse is environmentalism.
Look at it from the bright side…. in 30 years time you will be one of the only countries left with black gold. Just think what it will be worth then!
or are they afraid they might have their property values of their multimillion-dollar beachfront property go down because they might have to look at oil wells and ships?
Sounds like someone is volunteering to get a refinery in their back yard.
Are you sure you should not be at airliners.net non_aviation forums? 😀
By: Arthur - 21st May 2007 at 17:44
So how much does a litre of bensin cost beynd the bond?
Still dead cheap. Not that they’d know what a litre is, of course.
By: Gollevainen - 21st May 2007 at 17:41
So how much does a litre of bensin cost beynd the bond?
Sign In
May 21, 2007 at 5:28 pm