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High gas prices put a crimp on Utahns' summer
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Well, the law of supply and demand is at work, and the OPEC countries, as well as all the various types of companies at work in bringing gasoline to the pump, are learning just how much the world is willing to pay for oil. And the price is astounding -- currently $135 per barrel. If we are to buy enough oil to meet our needs on the world market, we should expect prices to increase unless we start producing more at home. The amount of oil in the West is less than 10 percent of what is estimated to exist in the Arctic, which is 400 billion barrels of oil. Utah alone is estimated to hold 1.5 TRILLION barrels of oil tied up in oil shale.
We have plenty of oil. This is a 520 year supply at current demand levels.
How much more can the economy take? Sooner or later, when gas costs five or six bucks a gallon, things are gonna bust and everything's gonna come down around us. If you think $ 3.75 is unbearable, try five or six dollars.
Somethings gotta give. Either Big Oil is forced to stop robbing us, or we'll all be bankrupt!
Or maybe you can hire a crew of minimum wage workers to do it for you and see how much it eventually costs.
What is your next plan? Invade Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia?
Affordable Sustainable Oil is a thing of the past----------time to move on ---- and very quickly to an economy based on clean renewable electricity.
We spend over 400 Billion on imported oil each year, take just 25% of that for 4 years and we can build clean renewable energy plants that will produce 200,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for 61% of the homes in the USA.
Sadly, this is what will start a new energy revolution.
Congress needs to get off their behinds, quite pumping money in to social programs that are completely failing i.e. welfare and social security and start investing money into new forms of energy. I'm sick of pumping money into programs that promote mediocracy and that I'll probably never see a return on.
I wish everyone would stop blaming the oil companies. The only reason they earned that much in profits is because people like us were foolish enough to accept the high prices. The only way to lower the price will be to stop using oil where ever we can. Ride a bike to the bus stop and take the bus to work. Take Trax. Sell your Escalade and buy a hybrid. Find a way to reduce your dependence on oil. Once the oil companies see that the price of gas is higher than we think its worth, maybe they will lower the price and profits will decrease.
If I owned a company, I would sell my products for the highest price people would pay for them. Thats just what the oil companies are doing. If you don't like it, change.
yet you choose to blame the oil companies.
Put your anger where it should be directed.
Our Federal Senate and House.
They have not allowed a new refinery to be built for 30 years. Over the past years they have limited existing oil refineries to 50% capacity.
Guess what... limited supplies raise the cost on an item we want.
Congress also has NOT allows OUR oil companies to drill for oil off the California or Florida coasts.
AND they aren't letting OUR companies bid for oil spots in the Gulf of Mexico, but they are letting China and Columbia (I believe its Columbia) but spots in our territory in the Gulf.
Wouldn't help us anyway since we don't have the refineries to process it.
Don't forget the same thing up in Alaska.
We have plenty of resources.... but because we aren't allowed to access them our oil companies have to by crude and processed oil from other countries... which set the price.
8% that is all the make in profits.....
Send your hate and anger to your Senator's and Congress.
I disagree.
I always imagine where we would be right now if Bush and congress had taken the same money that they used to invade Iraq and instead invested it in a Manhattan Project style effort for next generation energy development. Certainly we would be leading the world in technology and innovation right now with a very strong dollar instead of sending all of our dollars to OPEC. But, Bush's grand scheme has blown all of our nation's money and credit, not to mention the cost of thousands of lives, with no good options to get out of the mess. Without a doubt, Bush is the worst president in the history of our nation. And I am a lifelong Republican who thought it couldn't get any worse than Clinton.
Oh definately. They have done a wonderful job so far! (dripping sarcasm intended).
I agree that our current government is a mess and probably an idealistic Manhattan Project simply wouldn't be possible because of that. But, at the moment, "the market's efforts" are far too fragmented and not coordinated to do any good. You also have a nasty chicken and egg type of problem where private industry simply won't invest money into something unless they see a big return on investment very quickly.
"Thomson Financial calculates that profits from the oil and natural gas industry over the past year were 8.3% of investment, while the all-industry average is 7.8%. And this was a boom year for oil. An analysis by the Cato Institute's Jerry Taylor finds that between 1970 and 2003 (which includes peak and valley years for earnings) the oil and gas business was 'less profitable than the rest of the U.S. economy.' These are not robber barons..."
Cheney's tenure as the highly compensated head of a large energy-related
firm. But a Mercury News review found ties to the industry throughout
the highest levels of the administration, including key appointees who
have served as energy company executives, invested in the field or
received large campaign contributions from it.
You take what the Cato Institute says for gospel? Their biggest contributors are oil companies. Another Right Wing Propaganda Machine the Heartland Institute is largely funded by CITGO (yes amazing isn't it), Exxon, and the Wal-Mart Family Trust.
Before quoting these organizations go to Guidestar and find out who is behind them.
Also, Ezra Taft Benson said after the great depression: "Food Storage may be as important to our temporal salvation as was boarding the ark in the days of Noah." Also, "The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat� Brigham Young. In January, the cost of wheat was just $20.00 for a hundred pounds, now: $44.00/hundred. Avoid debt like a plague! Get out of debt!
Pres. Bush & company has very little to do with this run up in gas prices, it is all supply & demand.
AIMHO
Oil does not follow the same elastic supply/demand models that Mr. Solution said they do above.
The oil supply demand market is inelastic. Meaning that price does not directly affect demand and vice versa.
I would furthermore suggest that oil/gas availability is of national security importance and that the greater good of the public outweighs the rights to large profits by a few corporations. For our current system of transportation needs and distribution of goods oil energy is needed. We are a sparsely (in areas) populated nation. Comparisons to Europe do not apply here. Reasonable access to goods and services must prevail otherwise wide-scale anarchy will ensue.
We are dependent on oil for transportation needs until a supply substitute can be invented.
We should nationalize the energy market and regulate it much the same way the electric companies are now. Anyone remember the last time electric companies were de-regulated? Enron anyone?
Laissez-faire does not always work. Californians paying electricity bills can attest to this.
If the American people really want to do something about this situation then we need to change our habits for getting around town. We need to scale back on the size of our vehicles. We need to drive more conservatively, slowing down and being less aggressive. We need to walk occasionally instead of always hoping in our cars to go around the corner.
We do have the power to change this situation but it lies within ourselves. Do we have the courage to do it? Or will we just go on blaming everyone else while we cruise down the street in our Escalade or Suburban?
The bad news is that the prospects of us maintaining the lifestyle we are used to, despite our best efforts, are poor. The good news is that it isn't as great, and the alternatives aren't as bad, as we've been led to believe.
"That happiness is to be attained through limitless material acquisition is denied by every religion and philosophy known to mankind, but is preached incessantly by every American television set."
- Robert Bellah (1975)
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