Posted on 04/24/2006 9:03:21 AM PDT by oldtimer2
Three Dollar Gasoline: an Opportunity, Not a Crisis, April 24th, 2006
Some observers think that President Bush's dismal job approval rating is not about the mess in Iraq. It is not about the shocking corruption of the Republican Congress. It is not even about President Bush's failure to prevent Hurricane Katrina. It reflects Americans' rage at $3.00 per gallon gasoline.
How can you pursue happiness in that mammoth Ford Expedition with heated leather seats if your gas bill starts competing with your mortgage payment?
Democrats have suddenly discovered that they are shocked (shocked!) by high gas prices. The New York Times reports that
Democrats running for Congress are moving quickly to use the most recent surge in oil and gasoline prices to bash Republicans over energy policy.
Oh really?
o This is the party that stopped the nation building nuclear plants.
o This is the party that toyed with carbon taxes.
o This is the party of Al Gore, now right in the middle of publicizing An Inconvenient Truth, by far the most terrifying movie you will ever see.
o This is the party that won't let oil companies prospect for oil off the left and right coasts.
o This is the party whose activists prevented the US from building new petroleum refineries.
o This is the party that filibusters against drilling for oil in an arctic wilderness that just happens to be right next to a major oil pipeline with spare capacity.
And now Democrats are bashing Republicans over energy policy?
Yes, and Republicans better get out in front of them before $3.00 gasoline and An Inconvenient Truth brew up a perfect storm and blow the nation into an eco-Marshall Plan to increase energy taxes and throw subsidies at a daunting array of environmentalist pet projects from wind farms to biodiesel.
Read Al Gore's article in Vanity Fair to understand just how terrified you should be. After reciting the usual catalog of climate changes, he warns of the 10,000 foot mound of ice on top of Greenland that would, if it melted or broken up, raise the sea level worldwide by more than 20 feet. In the face of all this, why is it that our leaders seem not to hear such clarion warnings? Maybe, Al, it because they don't just listen to eco-alarmists like you but also contrarian ideas like the theory of the University of Virginia's Bill Ruddiman that global warming from agriculture has already staved off the next ice age.
Al Gore reminds us that The Chinese expression for crisis consists of two characters:
The first is a symbol for danger
the second is a symbol for opportunity.
He is a politician and he would know. It is when they feel danger that the people rise up and demand that the politicians "do something." For a brief window of opportunity the special interest blocking forces are weakened as the people demand that the politicians lead them to safety.
All the stars are in alignment. Americans are angry as they shovel out $80 to fill up their SUVs. The Democrats are hypocritically on the attack, threatening to get to the right of the president; the mainstream media is baying for blood, shoveling anecdotal stories of helpless consumers ruined by high gas prices.
Usually economic "crises" are bad news because they provide an excuse for the politicians to do something stupid like impose price controls or prop up failing corporations. But not this one. Not if the president and the Congressional leadership can rouse themselves from their torpor. Not if they can bestir themselves to do something more than stand foursquare against "price gouging."
o Now is the time to demand that Congress passes a decent energy bill.
o Now is the chance to demand that we build some more oil refineries.
o Now is the chance to drill for oil in ANWR.
o Now is the chance to search for oil on the continental shelf off the west and east coasts.
o Now is the chance to rationalize the crazy quilt of gasolines blended for each individual city.
Of course the Democrats are demagoguing on energy. They demagogue on everything.
Some day, in a quieter, more reflective time, there will be an opportunity to conduct a scholarly study to determine whether the Democrats of the twenty-first century actually believed in anything other than temporary partisan advantage. But this is not that time.
Now is the time to call the Democrats' bluff on energy, not to mention border security, Iraq, and taxes. Is anyone paying attention? At the White House? Mr. President? Karl Rove? On Capitol Hill? Denny Hastert?
Nothing personal, you understand. It's just that when we read in Time that the White House's five point plan to save the Bush presidency doesnft include a bullet point for high gas prices, we begin to wonder if anyone is home.
Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.
"If nothing else, he should at least punch a vent hole in the cap of each one. Hopefully, it's a joke - since he also said he lives next door to an elementary school."
That would be even worse, since that much gasoline in a closed garage would build up enough fumes very shortly to be explosive, given the number of containers.
I'm a little surprised that al baby hasn't shown up to clear the air on this. I'm concerned.
"It was obviously a joke. Had to be."
Never underestimate the stupidity of anyone. He could be serious. I wish he'd come back and clarify this.
"Assuming that he's for real, which I doubt - could anyone be stupid enough to store that much gasoline indoors in glass bottles?
"
These are probably the plastic water bottles, not glass. The glass ones are pretty rare these days. In fact, they bring a nice buck at the flea markets. People build terrariums in them.
What about the Al Gore/Occidental Petroleum/Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve sale?Remember that one??
I don't know what "sparkletts bottles" are, but the name is a might forboding when used to store gasoline. Didn't you have any Bic or Zippo bottles to store it in? ;-)
One of the reasons gasoline prices are so volatile is the fact that it is very dangerous to store. Gasoline is usually down the freeway, into the dealer's underground storage tanks within a short span of time after refining. A normal gasoline retailer, depending on location, will pump anywhere from 5000 to 10000 gallons a day and will usually have a capacity for no more than three to four days inventory.
A refinery has some holding tanks but will generally have a "just in time" inventory policy also. Consequently crude oil is refined into gasoline as it needed....and that is why the price fluctuates constantly. Crude oil is more safely managed than refined gasoline so the product you fill up your tank with probably is only a couple of days old.
The petroleum business therefore is at the mercy of a constantly changing market dependent on not only supply and demand factors, but also political gyrations, international saber rattling and the futures market. (Have you ever seen the price of coffee in the grocery store the day after weather problems in coffee growing regions of the world are announced? Futures traders driving the price!) If any thing happens to disrupt this refining process such as unscheduled maintenance, fires, supply problems, tanker or pipeline situations.....up goes the futures market and the price to the consumer. Depending on how much a wholesaler owns in current contracts at a specified price will determine their profitability in times like this.
It is much safer for the industry to store gasoline at the individual dealer locations with four or five ten thousand gallon holding tanks then to try to make it ahead of time (like widgets in a warehouse) and risk setting an entire city on fire.
Glass bottles are not safe....nor are they authorized for doing what you claim you are doing. I personally do not believe you are doing this.....but if anyone else is thinking of doing it....don't!
As an after thought....one thing the futures market does do is guarantee us product....sometimes at a exorbitant price....but product nonetheless.
Of course its a joke
Stop reading liberal publications.. that is of course wrong on many levels.. but it does take more effort to get oil shale oil than pumping it out of the ground.. costs more.. If the desire for the oil is there and there is profit.. that is a win/win situation..
I was joking
Was away from office it was not suppose to be taken seriesly
it was ajoke guys
With regard to the Mets, the answer is still NO.
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must be a jealous Yankee fan wishing you had some pitching that wasn't over 40 years old and a few bats that could hit in the clutch.
I am so sorry it was a joke my name and adress are all over the clown posse place what the heck do i do I gonna go to the police station and explain it Im such a idiot
Red head yes your work is done i have lost my lunch and heading out now Im truly sorry could you please call of the attack dogs I don't have gas in my garage
Ok, I have to hear more about your address and ICP. This sounds like a great story.
Your joke was 90% convincing. Just over the top enough to make us wonder.
Ok. I'm done laughing.
Sorry, but I have to deal with flammables and hazwaste issues and see some really dumb stuff regularly.
Critize?
Republicans have controlled the Senate since 1982, the House since 1995, and the Presidency since 2001 and for 17 of the past 25 years.
I'd like to see someone take some responsibility.
They (the elected Reps) aren't going to take the blame that's for certified certain and they are too hesitant about criticizing the Dems. Both parties stink to the high heavens.
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