Posted on 08/31/2005 6:13:58 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Michael Savage says it's time to do what Nixon did - - price controls
The only person that cannot quit their job is a slave, or a mother. Everyone else is in voluntary-servitude. You can quit, but you're making out in the bargain right now. Before you spend ALL of your "disposable income" on something, you will choose something else.
In the meantime, you may complain and lament.
The basic problem is though that society has changed significantly since the the 1950's. Back then far more people lived in small neighborhoods with shopping within walking distance. Trains and streetcars were more widespread than they are today and people used mass transit more often.
Today, suburbs are far more common and exurbs now exist. It is not at all unusual for people to have 30, 40 or even 100 mile daily commutes. The population density in these outer bands is too low to sustain an effective mass transit alternative.
Back in the 1950's gasoline usage was an option for a great many people and cars a luxury, not a necessity. Today only a minority of people can say that.
This is a significant difference.
The other is the loss of local farms, industry and commerce. Today we are more likely to get food from California, Florida, even South America. The notion of seasonal vegetables and fruits practically no longer exists. We get most of our consumer goods from abroad, often from China. To get these items from so far away requires increased energy in the form of diesel. Not a problem when oil was cheap but these costs will be factored into what we see on the store shelves now. We will see many items become more expensive, not just gasoline. In time, enterprising individuals will redevelop local industries and manufactoring jobs will return to the US. But it will take time.
The price comparisons are not based on consumption rates. If you campare a gallon of gas to a loaf of bread then you need to consider how many loaves of bread did you consume compared to gallons of gas.
The sandle-clad Sierra Clubbers et. al. should be charged a premium at the pump for blocking expanded oil exploration and nuclear developement whilst bearing a wind/solar-generating device from their nether-region orifice.
that's hardly a sustainable policy. the idea is that if businesses can be encouraged to make some modest accomodations to help their workers conserve on gasoline needed to commute, we can get through this. telling everyone "just quit your job" isn't going to solve anything.
Bush needs to make that appeal specifically. He is going to have to address the nation again, these gas prices are going to reach a flash point with the populace.
The probable political solution to this will be even worse. I expect Bush and our congress critters will push through legislation to grant a $100 emergency gasoline relief deduction to all taxpayers of driving age. That how you buy votes in this country, and how you subsidize corporate profits through public debt.
Well, like everybody else, I'm in tears when filling my tank these days; but, unlike everybody else, I'm not in panic mode, nor am I accusing evil oil companies of price gouging -- I'm grateful that, for the past two decades, the price of my gas hasn't risen nearly as much as inflation. Will need to fill up again tomorrow and thankfully, at least for now, the price of Kleenex hasn't gone up, yet.
This "price gouging" stuff is crap, by the way. Price gouging is only possible when you have a monopoly. If there truly is no competition among oil companies, then why did they wait until now to "gouge" us? They could have increased the price years ago. And why charge only $3 or $4 a gallon, when they could all conspire to charge $10? Because competition does exist, and price is merely a mechanism to balance supply with demand.
I thought the same thing. nimby should be taxeed too
It HAS been that long since I was a hippy.
That's fine and dandy. I hope YOU and YOUR FELLOW WORKERS can just so "encourage" your employer to do just that.
However, it sure sounds like you don't think they are amenable to a "4x10" or "1 day a week" accomodations? Didn't you say? So are you more interested in (a) encouraging them (b) coercing them via government or (c) exercising the marketplace for your talents and going to someplace that will?
If you cannot convince (encourage) the company that it is best to make these accomodations then you're not making a good business case to them or they're not taking advantage of a good business case. And if they are unreasonable and not acting on good business principles, why are you helping them as an employee?
Point taken. But you can complicate it even further by factoring in how much more fuel efficient modern cars are than a Studebaker.
Still, it is telling that, if adjusted for inflation, a barrel of oil today should be selling for more than $100.
Good point, fooman. I've been using a lot more alcohol lately as gas prices have skyrocketed. Time for another martini; be back soon.
lol
just telling everyone to "quit their jobs" isn't a rational solution to anything - it may look great as a chapter in some Ayn Rand novel, right now we need real solutions.
asking americans to "conserve gas" while not addressing the issue of how to get their corporations to accomodate different commuting patterns, is as dumb as asking the residents of NO to "leave the city" right after the hurricane, while not providing them with any information or means to exit it.
HitmanNY, you are right! A price cap would be great. I say cap it at $0.60/gallon. At that price I could drive around endlessly without a care about wasting my money.
The U.S. reached peak oil in 1970. Production has consistently fallen since then and will continue to.
Coal conversion may be an option, but do not expect domestic crude production to increase in any substantial way.
Insider report on Katrina damage - take it for what it's worth....
There are MANY production platform missing (as in not visible from the air). This means they have been totally lost. I am talking about 10's of platforms, not single digit numbers. Each platform can have from 4 to 100+ wells on it. Most larger ones have 20-30 wells in this area, with numerous caisson wells. They are on their sides, on the bottom of the gulf - they will likely be left as reef material, provided we can get permission. MMS regulations require us to plug each of the wells that were on these platforms - HUGE cost now, as the platforms are gone... Hopefully, MMS will grant `abandon in place' status for these wiped out structures.
We also set individual wells as satellites and pipe them back to existing platforms. These stand-alone wells are called caisson wells. 90% of those in the storm path are bent over, rendering them a total loss, We would have to remove the existing bent structure and drill a new well, as bent pipe is basically unusable.
We utilize platforms as gathering hubs. We pipe the raw oil/water to them and then send it on for separation, or separate it there and send finished oil on. Damage to a hub means everything going to the hub is offline indefinitely. There are +/- 15 HUBS missing. MISSING!! As in we cannot find them from the air.
Thus even if the wells feeding the hub are ok, we have nowhere to pump the oil to...
The jackup drilling rigs appear to be in various stages of damage, but most rode the storm out with minimal problems. However, each of them has shifted position.
When we jack the rig up, it is carefully positioned directly over the well slot where we are working. The derrick has rails that allow us to slide it in 4 directions to get the derrick directly over the well or slot. If the rig moves (right/left, or from level to uneven), it has to be jacked back down to the waterline and repositioned with tugboats, then jacked back up. After it is back up and level, the derrick is slid on the 2 sets of rails, and bolted into position over the well or slot again.
Thus we have to reset each of the drilling rigs, which requires getting OUT of the well, tugboats and a move, then getting back into the well. The open hole we have drilled (what is not enclosed in cemented casing) is likely to be lost, and if the wellhead or the casing is bent, then the well will have to be redrilled. This is an exploration setback of at least a month, but we don't yet know the boat situation.
Boats are usually brought into harbor to weather storms. We do not have a boat count yet, but from the initial reports, we may have lost or grounded 30% of the Gulf of Mexico fleet. This means everything will cost more, take longer - repairs, repositioning, everything.
In short, the Gulf area hit by the storm is basically in about the same shape as Biloxi. The damage numbers you have gotten from the government and analysts are, in my opinion, much too low. We are looking at YEARS to return to the production levels we had prior to the storm. The eastern Gulf of Mexico is primarily oil production...
Loss of the MARS platform alone cost us 95,000 barrels a day for a year or maybe more.
YEARS, people. I know what this means - hope everyone else gets it too...
The front page of the Houston Chronicle has a rig beached on Dauphin Island. The legs have been sheared off and derrick is missing – thus it is a total loss. This rig was operating in Main Pass (adjacent to Plaquemines Parish), and thus was blown to Alabama and beached.
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