DRUDGE: White House Studies $4 Gallon 'Nightmare' Scenario

Drudge Report ^ | Sun Mar 20 2005 | Matt Drudge

[Montfort]

"If every US citizen was capable of riding 15 miles, which BTW is really not that far, we would have of people with very nice legs. Plus, the morning and evening ride would be awesome. Imagine the pacelines, six lanes of bikes on the 405 freeway, no smog..."

I am not a bicyclist now, but I must admit that you can fit a lot of bikes an interstate highway. Perhaps they could turn the HOV lanes into bike lanes. Just kidding, of course. We live too far from our jobs for this to be practical.

The problem is that Beijing is not so full of bikes anymore. Cars have replaced many bikes, and this is one reason why gasoline prices are going so high.

[Sprite518]

You hit the nail on the head! Good post!

[Evolution]

OPEC doesn't set the price of gasoline in the US. Duh!

60% of our oil comes from OPEC countries and they decide how much and at what price they will produce oil.

[eno_]

Good thing I have a bible as I have no faith in the federal government.

You should measure religion against a higher standard. Spongebob Squarepants has more credibility than the government.

[eno_]

obvious remedies such as construction of electricly powered mass-transit systems in our nation's most densely populated regions and urban areas.

Problem is, those trains end up waaaaaaaay over budget, and are then run by union goons so a ride costs (the taxpayer, not the fare payer) $19. At those prices, we could just buy each rider an Escalade and all the gas they'd need.

[eno_]

Did someone from the Maryknoll Institute accidently hijack Free Republic on this thread???

C'mon. We'd go from not thinking about how much gas we use to actually thinking about it: One shopping trip per week instead of three, work at home one or two days per week, buy a Prius, which is a very nice quiet comfortable car, etc. A few easy steps to using less, versus Carterian price contros? Which would a real conservative pick?

If prices stabilize above $50, many alternatives will come on line, some of which would be good for our balance of payments. If the government starts mucking with prices, those alternatives will stay on the sidelines until oil is $70/bbl.

[LibertarianInExile]

Go to hell.

I have no intention of going anywhere near NYC. However, you may feel free to kiss MY nether regions.

[Sir_Ed]

You may not realize how severly people's lives would be destroyed by this huge jump in gas prices.

I live in a small town in rural Oregon, and I drive an F250 pickup truck, because I haul gravel, topsoil and lumber.

I, of neccesity, must drive many miles to get around, as the county is so large, and the people, businesses and farms so scattered.

I can't afford to get another car. One might say "well, change jobs so you CAN afford another car," but all over Oregon jobs are being LOST, not gained, and I'm an ex-logger, so believe me, THOSE jobs will never be coming back. I also cannot ride my bike everywhere, such is completely impractical...show me how to carry groceries, computers or topsoil on a bicycle!

And one of my joys just happens to be going on Sunday drives and seeing this wonderful state I live in, and hiking and mountain biking old logging roads. The government is already shutting down the vast majority of logging raods around here, if gas goes the way so many people on this thread want it to, eventually there will be NO driving the back roads, or forests...and that is wrong.

Ed

[Mr. Lucky]

Newbies are generally expected to mind their manners.

[lasereye]

Some of the high horsepower cars they are coming out with today are absurd. Over 600 in some. They might try putting heavy tax surcharges on cars like that (heresy in Freeperland). In the long run though, the market will drive fuel efficiency. People can buy all the sub-compacts they want, but they haven't wanted them because gas has been cheap. Remember the Japanese have been the big innovators in autos.

[antiunion person]

Why don't we just do what all the lefties said Bush was going to Iraq for. Take all the oil and bring it to the states. The hell with China and the rest of the world. To hell especially with the environmentals and take all their SUV's and high priced homes away from them and have them live like the rest of the working slobs like me. If we were to just take the oil from Iraq, the price of oil from Saudi Arabia would drop in half and more overnight. Their dependence on our money is the same of our dependence of their oil.

[Pelham]

Refineries usually get built near a supply source. Which is one reason refiners aren't much interested in building new capacity in the US.

[Pelham]

It's probably not being used as a weapon. Global demand is going up dramatically due to China industrializing. China will soon be requiring as much oil as the whole world is currently using. American oil production peaked in 1973, global production should be peaking right now. Either we find a huge new oil field or you can count on oil going up simply due to demand.

[Light Speed]

We are basically being put into the arena......money does enjoy their entertainment : )

I have worked in the oil patch for 2 plus decades.
Basically prostitutes who arrive with 3 different colored wigs and outfits.....and yes...you will pay for services rendered.

Peak oil is real...
North Sea peaked in 1999,
PEMEX of Mexico just announced their largest field there is in decline.
Some oil firms have been caught skewing the numbers on their Low Sulphur assets....Dutch Royal Shell : )

All the news makes for great gossip run..and a play for speculators to drive up oil on long call.
They are basically seeing how long they can run the price before inflation gets out of hand.
It is a money grab.

Their is ample oil/gas in reality.
some delay in refining yes...but not a true margin to support the high prices.
Gas at the pump is still cheaper than bottled water.
This money play is good for all the worlds critical resources.
There is a run on them too right now.
Last year...China scowered the earth and purchased over 60% of all the critical stuff....from steel to chemical...even concrete.
Buy it now..and transport it now beofre prices climb higher.

China gets to drive the U.S. dollar around and torment the U.S.
Europe is kinda quiet on that.

In the 80's...Iranian and Iraqi oil where out of play in volume due to their war....high prices result.
Post Yom Kippur war was an Arab Tantraum after loosing to Israel.
You'd think the gutless Arab would go punish Soviet Russia for their vaunted weapon systems that failed to net the Arab his great victory.
Russia went away laughing...

Muslims would tantraum today if they were not in so much debt to world banking.

Things are likely to get messy in the future.
We are on the doorstep of a new foriegn weapons sales run.
Their is a rift within the House of Saud...some are desiring to migrate toward China for weapons over U.S.
This is the next level of world competition...lies and intrigues.
Europe had placed sanctions on China after Tianneman,
Europe still sent China over 500 Million in weapons and tech thru back door.
Soon the front door will open.

In the Oilman movie theatre they have the official version of Gladiator to watch.
Barbarrian Horde does not win in the arena.

And no Exxon Tigers get killed either.