Posted on 04/21/2006 12:06:54 PM PDT by Matt Bruce
SARASOTA, FL. (NS) -
The all-time record high prices for gas - oil - diesel are no longer just an 'issue' to be talked about. Fingers don't need to be blamed. This has become an AMERICAN issue that requires both Democrats and Republicans to come together and quit their bickering and PASS an Energy Bill that will allow the United States of America to become energy self sufficient and put America and American's FIRST!
Have you have been to the gas station today? You did know how high gas prices have gotten, right???
Well, don't expect to see them going down any time 'soon'...
Oil prices have been hitting new record high's everyday this week. One New York gas station was selling gas way over $4 a gallon...
Prices that high were reported to be rare, with most of the nation paying something closer to $3 per gallon...
However, one of my trucks sitting in Ontario, CA. reported seeing prices as high as $4.04 per gallon at the pump...
Magnifying the sense of alarm is the fact that a few states were suddenly hit with shortages of gas this week. And in some places, people cannot get gas at all...
The price of oil due to be delivered in June was already selling at a record high today – $75.00 a barrel – that is up several dollars from just a few days ago. Many analysts say $80 dollars a barrel could easily be the average coming this summer...
Adding to the high pump price pressure is a booming China and India putting a big new squeeze on the global oil supply where there was little pressure before. These two huge countries alone could soon use up as much oil as the entire rest of the world does now...
It also does not help that guerilla war in Nigeria has knocked out about 20 percent of that oil-giant's production. Oil traders are also worried about Iran's nuclear buildup...
Iran has threatened Israel, the United States and the World with 'serious' consequences should sanctions be placed against them by the UN Security Council...
And let's not forget that there still are 3 Oil Refineries not refining any oil along the Gulf Coast. It has been this way since Hurricane Katrina struck, and no new Oil Refineries have been built in over a decade, despite efforts last year by the Bush Administration to get an Energy Bill passed that was stalemated by Democrats...
But even without these overseas headaches, America is having its own oil production problems. Production usually goes down in the spring, but this year the problem's worse because a few refineries damaged in last year's hurricanes are still out...
And the addition of a cleaner additive to the nation's gas is causing problems because that additive -- ethanol -- is in short supply, making gas itself in shorter supply. This is also known an E85 across the Upper Midwest...
Democrats, like New York Sen. Charles Schumer, are trying to make political hay out of the pain at the pump, even as The New York Times points out that Democrats did little about high energy prices when they hit during the Clinton administration...
Schumer's calling for an investigation to see if the big oil companies might be taking advantage of the oil panic to gouge the public...
What a FARCE! We all know Oil Companies ARE making record profits and every time prices go UP, the U.S. - State & Local Government gets more TAX money in their coffers too...
And that is one thing that is driving many Democratic and Republican leaders absolutely nuts! They all want the public to see just how remarkably well the American economy is doing, but right now, most people are not seeing beyond these gas signs, and WHY should they???
High crude Oil and retail pump prices affect ALL of us. Sooner or later, EVERYTHING we buy is going to go UP as a result of what's happening right now with OIL...
Our Nation's Farmers are going to have an extremely tough time planting their first crop, let alone trying to get a second one in this year with fuel not being readily available to them and the higher cost of production causing many NOT to plant at all...
Companies that were 'hanging' on a fence, just trying to 'get by' will be GONE as a result of these higher energy costs...
Wait until your electric bills start going higher in a manner of a month or two when Utility Companies start asking for emergency rate hikes...
How many people won't be going on their vacations this summer because they can't AFFORD to buy gas for their vehicles???
INFLATION and what you have today WILL get worse! But WAIT there IS one possible solution!!!
CALL your Senator's and Congressional Representatives NOW and have them ask President Bush CONVENE Congress right NOW to enact WHATEVER Legislation is needed to get the USA more energy self sufficient and REDUCE our dependence on Foreign Oil...
I don't care how many Oil wells, Refineries, Off-Shore Drilling Platforms it takes! The time is NOW to do SOMETHING about this issue...
We need to drop the EPA regulations adding to the expense of production and slowing down our refineries!
It's way past TIME for the President to call the Congress into Emergency session and NOT be let to go ANYWHERE until they PASS an Energy Bill that INCLUDES getting our Oil from Alaska shipped TO our Refineries in the Western United States. Give Americans American Oil...
For NOW, That's Just 'OUR' Opinion...
Matt Bruce Managing Editor News Sarasota.com
You're right, of course- and I remember that period very well:
and I also recall that just a few years ago, oil dropped below $10 a barrel- wells were being capped, weaker companies were going out of business, and nary a peep from Congress or the Drive-By Media in sympathy.
Manipulation
Fraud
Corruption
All driven by the markets.
.
The boom and bust was the result of this country's out-of-control drilling when oil prices rose and OPEC's strategic raising of its production causing oil prices to fall.
.
As much as I despise Schumer, the last time I looked he was a member of the minority party. For whatever reasons that he engages in what he does, he is certainly not an idiot.
He is however quite good at embarrassing the majority party.
Who among FReepers would put up with this if they held a seat in the Senate?
Yes, but if we had continued our drilling program, instead of buying their oil because it was "cheap", we wouldn't be held hostage by Arab oil ministers today. I am certain this was the Arabs' plan. A good plan it was too! They could do a lot worse than have "the most powerful nation on earth" under their thumb.
I never thought our drilling was "out of control". Industry was just trying to keep up with demand, only to have their legs cut out from under them by a fickle public that preferred cheap oil, regardless of where it came from. (Not having access to slave labor, we can't produce oil as inexpensively as they can.)
When you are in the minority, all you need in a couple of hard-ons to hold up everything. And you can just whine and complain constantly and this is considered 'doing your job.' Of course, Schumer would be opened mocked if the media weren't so hopeful that he would beat us. But I'll agree, he is not an idiot. He is just a schmuck. And a liability to our society.
But we can't even muster a plausible 'threat' of drilling for our own oil because most experts know that its been thirty years already since Carter put Alaska off the grid and we haven't made any progress since then. And even if we get ANWAR drilling through another budget bill like we did last year, some leftist group would file suit and a commie judge like Stephen Reinhardt would hold it up for another three years until Bush was out of office.
"These kinds of discussions have a lot of "we" and "us" pronouns thrown around. Let's try to remember how markets actually work."
The Federal Governement has artificially depressed the supply through laws that restrict production. They have done this because they hate us. I know that's hard to believe, but the contempt that D.C. has for the rest of us should be pretty clear for all to see. This is just one manifestation of it.
We should have done this 20 years ago but must start NOW for energy independence.
Any other "plan" is total obfuscating bullshit.
If we doubled the domestic oil production, it would not exceed our existing refining capability. It would just be refining domestic crude instead of foreign.
Where in Oklahoma are rigs sitting stacked? That's not what I'm hearing at all. In the Anadarko or where?
Ummm, why shouldn't the people who own the property (i.e., mineral rights) be paid fairly for what they own, especially a property that may or may not produce any revenue? I doubt any one is trying to make a killing ... and it's such a small part of the cost of a well compared to the revenues from production, why in the world would this be a consideration at all, unless you think the companies should just be *given* the oil?
Most small property owners I know of, myself included, are content to let Oklahoma force pool us to get a fair price. Probably the only ones "wanting to make a killing" - which they won't be able to do, anyway - are other independents who paid a lot for those minerals a while back - (maybe 20-25 years ago or more) and have had to sit on them, with no production at all, with their money tied up in them - and it's their own friends and competitors who are wanting to produce them. They'll partner up and it will all come out in the wash.
Production royalties are not a factor in the problem at all, IMHO.
What? What would a gas station have to sell if they didn't get any gasoline? The station owner knows his cost and it's up to him to charge what the market will bear. Otherwise, no gas station anymore.
Who you calling "oil scum"? LOL
"Don't tell my mama I work in the oilfield, she thinks I'm playing piano in a whorehouse!" - Early 1980s Oklahoma bumper sticker
Heh, the very same people you wanted to take that fixed income away from further back there, in the form of lease bonuses and royalties.
Who do you think these "Big Oil" companies are? The largest one employs upwards of 100,000 people and has shareholders of every stripe across these United States. "They" are "us."
The bottleneck is not just in refining capacity. Congress has been monkeying with the different types of gasoline that can be sold and when, to satisfy EPA requirements. This makes for artificial shortages when the time comes to make the switch from one to another at the change of seasons.
And it did it so fast, it would make your head spin. Most of the newer independents at that time, who produced 85-90% of the oil in the US were set up on business models of $20-28 per bbl oil. It went straight down from around $36 to $11 in one week. February, 1986. February 10th, to be exact. I remember it well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.