Posted on 04/18/2006 8:09:46 AM PDT by ex-Texan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he is "concerned" about high gasoline prices, and pledged that the U.S. government will keep a close watch out for profiteering.
"I'm concerned about higher gasoline prices," Bush said at a Rose Garden news conference to name new staff appointments.
"The government has the responsibility to make sure that we watch very carefully and investigate possible price-gouging, and we will do just that," Bush said in unprompted remarks about energy prices.
U.S. crude oil futures hit a record of $70.88 a barrel on Tuesday on fears of supply disruptions in Iran stemming from its nuclear standoff with the West, as well as lingering outages in Nigeria.
U.S. retail gasoline prices rose 10 cents last week to average $2.78 a gallon, up 29 cents over the last three weeks and 55 cents higher than a year ago, the government said on Monday.
Bush said high crude oil prices, rising summer driving demand and a switch to new motor gasoline standards is keeping gasoline prices high.
"It's tight supply worldwide and we've got increasing demand from countries like India and China, which means that any disruption of supply ... (is) going to cause the price of crude to go up," Bush said.
More drivers will take to the road this summer, which will also boost demand, he said.
"At this time of year people are beginning to drive more, getting out on the highways, taking a little time off," Bush said. "That increasing demand is also part of the reason the price of gasoline is going up."
People still need to get from Point A to Point B. Goods still need to get from the factories to the stores. Etc. The real crisis will come at exactly the point that the price of gasoline puts a tourniquet on the physical flow of commerce.
Price controls or the Arab oil embargo?
It depends on how fast other countries can come up with this idea and corner the market with it. If we do it first, we can make all the profit by selling our ideas overseas.
The reality is, you cannot generate enough hydrogen even for individual use at a reasonable cost. The coating materials for electrodes alone will cost you a fortune. research is ongoing to develop metal bipolar plate materials and coatings that are low-cost, lightweight, corrosion-resistant, gas impermeable, and amenable to mass manufacturing.
While it's a lofty dream, it's not very practical at this point. You will need conpressors to liquify hydrogen. Who is going to be smart enough to maintain all this stuff? people have trouble changing a spark plug, and finding out where to put oil in their cars, never mind managing a hydrogen strage system that could blow up an entire block.
Here's a right-now possible solution:
Many businesses could operate by giving their employees a 4 day workweek, at 10 hours/day.
That could easily translate into a 10-15% reduction in in gas consumption.
Trouble with comparing Europe with us is you can drive across the entire nation on a tank of gas.
and that'll never happen
I wouldn't think you couldn't get too many rpms on a shaft/cam setup with wave action...Seems the best you could do would be milivolts...I'm curious how this works...
Agreed! I work four 12-hour a day shifts. Four on and four off.
I can make a full tank go for about two weeks.
I do. I'm sure my broker has used my money to buy those stocks to fatten my portfolio.
More like the entire continent.
Well, ideally you could produce massive amounts of hydrogen with the electricity generated from a nuke plant. I just pulled this idea out of my skull a few years ago.
Being all too familiar with D.C. traffic patterns, I can safely say that all the PA, NY, NJ, MA and CT license plates I saw in traffic weren't making necessary trips between points "A" and "B".
That said, I think people should be able to drive whatever they want wherever they want. I just see it as a little bit hypocritical to bitch about the price of gas, then hit the road for an Easter weekend getaway.
What is price gouging, how is it legally defined, what law is violated, and what are the legal consequences?
I don't remember, you are the apparent expert on the subject.
.... Restrict prices and supply will vanish.
Raise the price high enough and so will the customers, along with the economy.
...and how will this bring Gulf Coast crude production back on line?
The game of two card monte is being played, the plan is to let the Dims have control of things for the next 8-12 years, and then of course the R's can swarm back in to "reform" and save us. IOW, whoever leads does not matter, they reject a few of the flotsam, a couple of Dims get elected, what is the difference except for better office space, and a title?
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