If suing OPEC wasn't bad enough

[Guest grimel]

The illustrious Maxine Waters at the house grilling of the oil company CEO's suggested nationalizing the oil companies and having CONgress run them.

[TripleDigitRide]

Could that be any worse than what we've got at this point? Either way, we the people, have no control whatsoever.

[Marswolf]

Maxine is from California. Need I say more?

[Marswolf]

Could that be any worse than what we've got at this point?

Oh yeah. Much worse. We'd be up to $8 a gallon gas already if the government was running the show. It's for the children.

[Smith]

Could that be any worse than what we've got at this point? Either way, we the people, have no control whatsoever.

are you serious? "we the people" have control through consumer demand and making sure government stays out of our lives and let us go after what we need, ala ANWAR. Any other control is called communism.

[Mike.357]

I wish you all would buy into the idea of staying out of anwr. Let the Arabs run out of oil and then we will still have a supply.

Can you imagine things if we had the oil and not the rags?

I am actually suprised that that hag suggesting nationalizing oil did not drive the price up.

You all know we may well have $ 6 a gallon gas by Labor Day, actually I will be suprised if it is not that bad.

[TripleDigitRide]

I wish you all would buy into the idea of staying out of anwr. Let the Arabs run out of oil and then we will still have a supply.

Can you imagine things if we had the oil and not the rags?

I am actually suprised that that hag suggesting nationalizing oil did not drive the price up.

You all know we may well have $ 6 a gallon gas by Labor Day, actually I will be suprised if it is not that bad.

When exactly will they run out of oil?

[Smith]

I wish you all would buy into the idea of staying out of anwr. Let the Arabs run out of oil and then we will still have a supply.

Can you imagine things if we had the oil and not the rags?

I am actually suprised that that hag suggesting nationalizing oil did not drive the price up.

You all know we may well have $ 6 a gallon gas by Labor Day, actually I will be suprised if it is not that bad.

I would agree, except I doubt big brother is that slick. BTW we get the majority of our oil domestically anyway. The only problem is we have to pay Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela for it. they are pumping a lot of the sam eoil we could tap and selling it to us. That alone would force OPEC into competition mode and seriously suck the profits out of it for them.

[Mike.357]

drilling anywhere is not a solution right now. How many years, months whatever would it take for that oil to actually reach gas pumps?

There has to be some other solution.

I heard a story on local radio today about Thomas Edison and electricity. Seems back in the day he was trying to sell his newfangled electric. They wired up an area for display. The Gas Light proponents were caught trying to cut Edisons electric wires for his electric lights.. Once the electric was proven to be the wave of the future the gas light industry became the electric light industry.

I have no doubt that if for example Water could replace gasoline that big oil would become Big Water and still make the money. There is another viable source for energy out there. Someone needs to make it happen. Hopefully it will be one of us.

[Smith]

It doesn't really matter how long it would take. The fact we aare drilling would drive OPEC and the rest of the world into a "make it cheaper to buy than drill" mode. Suppply and demand.

[TripleDigitRide]

There is another viable source for energy out there. Someone needs to make it happen. Hopefully it will be one of us.

There have been/are other options, but what's been the reason for them not actually catching on in the mainstream?

There are already cars (not all fully production models) that run on electricity, water, and even compressed air. The options are there, but they don't seem to be catching on like we need them to be. Why is that?

[Guest eyebedam]

They need to make cars run on Weed. They world would be a happier place.

[TripleDigitRide]

They need to make cars run on Weed. They world would be a happier place.

Cheech & Chong tried that, but for some strange reason it didn't catch on like we'd hoped.

[Mike.357]

There have been/are other options, but what's been the reason for them not actually catching on in the mainstream?

That was what the guy on the radio was getting at today. The industry in control now is going to do whatever they can to inhibit new ideas and implimentation of those ideas. Eventually right overcomes wrong.

Go back in history. I have no doubt that people heavily invested in horses and wagons did everything they could to throw wrenches in the works of the automobile. I bet Pony Express riders cut lines on telegraph wires back in the day.

Same thing HAS gone on in the auto industry. I have always heard of carbeurators <sp> that could get 100 MPG. Patents were bought up by the big three. Heck I heard about that 25 years ago.

In a nutshell the "haves" want to keep the "have nots" from having.

[strickj]

I like the idea of hydrogen fuel cells in cars but think about it.The price of a bottle of water is 1.00 to 1.25 so lets just say $1.00.

Theres 20 ounces in a bottle

Theres 128 ounces in a gallon.

So it would take a little over six (6) bottles to equal one (1) gallon at the cost of $6.00 a gallon

Gas as of now is around $ 4.00 a gallon (nat average I think)

If congress baned gas today in favor of water as a source of energy we the people would be loosing money.And as mentioned,big gas would in turn change to big water and the price would go up.

The only solution to this conundrum would be if it rained once a week and you piped the rain from your gutters into your fuel tank.(If I remember correctly tap water wont work because of the chemicals or something)

Yeah its pretty f`ed up that bottled water cost more then refined oil

Edited May 25, 2008 by strickj

[Mark@Sea]

Congress took over a few railroads some time back. The results were not pretty. You guys realize that what with all the state and federal taxes, the Govt. is making 7X the oil companies profit on every gallon pumped? That finding and drilling new wells costs big money, and that the refineries we have are running flat out to keep up with demand? That the enviros have kept new refineries from being built for years? Also, with the switch to summertime formulas, the refineries have to go offline for a few days to make the changes?

Like the state of Maryland, which hasn't built any new power plants since the '70's and now is buying 30 percent of its' power from other states - when demand goes up, either supply or price go up as well. Since the supply side is hammerlocked by impossible legal hurdles (Thank you, Sierra Club), guess which its' gonna be?

Kind of like what Hillary and BHO have in mind for health care, unless you figure they have some magic formula for making more people become doctors and nurses. Well, actually, thats' easy - just lower the educational requirements. Hmmm.... just what I want, a Dr. that got his degree through a government funded, affirmative action diploma mill.

[analog_kidd]

I was listening to a piece on the radio a few weeks back, and they were discussing Anwar. Forgive me, I don't have exact numbers, but I'll be close enought to get the point.

They were saying how many billions of barrels of oil we use here in the US each year. Then they said how many trillionsd of barrels they estimate to be in Anwar. I did the math and it came out to 500 years worth of oil at our current rate of consumption. Now our rate may go up some, so lets say it lasts 400 years, or the rate may go up for a while till we discover a new source, and then our usage will drop off.

Either way, 400-500 years is an awful long time to come up with something else.

Also, the other argument I hear all the time is we don't have enough refineries and it will take us 8 to 10 years to get online, which is a true statement. However, the idea of building new refineries and drilling in Anwar was first brought up during the Clinton administration, and was shot down because everyone said it would take 8 to 10 years and won't be worth it. Well guess what? if they had the foresight back then, we would not have the problem we have today. Let's not make the same mistake now.

As far as the time to build the refineries, I'm not so sure we couldn't shorten that as well, if we really wanted to. Looking at the history of my hometown, Oak Ridge, back in the 40's, the US rallied together to build an entire town, and the facilities to develop the atom bomb, all in just a few years.

[Guest grimel]

drilling anywhere is not a solution right now. How many years, months whatever would it take for that oil to actually reach gas pumps?

Yeah, let's not get our oil That way in 5 years when we could have it coming on line the situation can be worse. COMPETITION drives down prices. We have a lot of oil. We ain't touching it, but, other people (Cuba, China, etc) are drilling in "our" oil off Fla's coast. The longer we wait to start drilling the worse it will be. Had we started drilling when it was first reserved (yes, ANWAR was set aside as a place FOR us to drill) for oil production it would be on line NOW.

In addition to drilling in ANWAR, Homeland Security needs to goto AZ, and TELL everyone involved to SFTU, write the permits, and get out of the refinery builder's way.

[Guest grimel]

As far as the time to build the refineries, I'm not so sure we couldn't shorten that as well, if we really wanted to. Looking at the history of my hometown, Oak Ridge, back in the 40's, the US rallied together to build an entire town, and the facilities to develop the atom bomb, all in just a few years.

The ONLY thing it would take is someone from Homeland Security to declare it a national security measure and force the permits to be written, then tell the construction company to make it happen and get out of their way.

[The Rabbi]

That was what the guy on the radio was getting at today. The industry in control now is going to do whatever they can to inhibit new ideas and implimentation of those ideas. Eventually right overcomes wrong.

That's a popular conspiracy theory. Unfortunately wrong.

Look at the research money being spent on alternative fuels. Most of it is being spent by oil companies. Chevron is the largest in this area.

Another factor not brought up here is the action of the Fed. The dollar has been plummeting in value because the Fed has led us into a negative interest rate environment. Since oil is sold in dollars, the cost of oil rises as the dollar falls. If the dollar were still at the same level against the Euro as it was 9 months ago oil would be about 40% lower than it is today.

[Luckyforward]

We are spending billions to prop up Saudi Arabia. The Prez has asked twice and has been turned down twice when he has asked the Saudis to increase oil production.

Who has no power?

[Luckyforward]

The Prez goes to Saudi Arabia and asks for a SECOND time for more oil to be pumped. Despite the BILLIONS we spend for our "ally" to help us, they turn us down . . . twice.

How much power do WE have?

[Luckyforward]

test . . . my replies are NOT showing

[The Rabbi]

The Prez goes to Saudi Arabia and asks for a SECOND time for more oil to be pumped. Despite the BILLIONS we spend for our "ally" to help us, they turn us down . . . twice.

How much power do WE have?

The mistake was asking, not knowing the answer. It's their oil, they can do what they want.

[Smith]

That's a popular conspiracy theory. Unfortunately wrong.

Look at the research money being spent on alternative fuels. Most of it is being spent by oil companies. Chevron is the largest in this area.

Another factor not brought up here is the action of the Fed. The dollar has been plummeting in value because the Fed has led us into a negative interest rate environment. Since oil is sold in dollars, the cost of oil rises as the dollar falls. If the dollar were still at the same level against the Euro as it was 9 months ago oil would be about 40% lower than it is today.

You really have to stop using facts and economic understanding in your arguments. You need more emotion and feelings!