Posted on 02/29/2008 6:15:45 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Can’t be pimpin’ in no Smart car.
Part of the reason for high oil prices now seems to be the failure of global warming to produce. People are using petroleum products to heat their houses.
Global warming has been a real disappointment here in Illinois this year.
And the recent highs have nothing to do with the weak dollar either. My Tahoe did it all by itself.
Could it be that the continuous purchasing of oil to be placed in our national emergency reserves is sustaining a high demand?
Could it be that continuous and expanded military operations are taking oil away from the civilian market?
Or, could it be that supply and demand have nothing to do with current prices and that they are controlled and contrived by speculators with the government's blessings???
One of the few things I miss about formerly living in SE Wisconsin.
I say we make eco-nuts and liberals FEEL PAIN for getting us here.
Was thinking about this this morning. If a politician wanted to score a bunch of points with a bunch of different groups, all they’d have to do is propose stripping off a bunch of the taxes on diesel.
1. This would likely make it more reasonable for people to buy diesel vehicles
2. This would reduce the pain for farmers and truckers, making it easier to put food on their families’ tables
3. This would reduce the cost of food transport, making it easier for everyone else to put food on their tables.
4. This would put another stake in the heart of the ethanol boondoggle, dropping the price of food as we stop burning it
5. This would revitalize biodiesel/alternative diesel (think coal gasification) research, since the lower cost will spur demand (reducing our dependence on foreign sources of petroleum)
6. The (now) more cost-effectiveness of diesel would put more companies to building diesel vehicles, which (if you’re into that kind of thing) would reduce the impact on the environment, and also would put more people to work
7. Would, as a corollary to the reduced pain on truckers, enable more people to remain or go back into business as independent owner-operators, thus improving the employment situation
8. Would reduce the amount of money available for the government to waste on boondoggle road projects like the Big Dig, thus (theoretically; we are talking about politicians here) forcing them to make more cost-effective decisions on projects.
There are probably more reasons to do this, but I don’t see a downside. I mean really, $3.50 for a gallon of diesel is just stupid.
IMHO $3/gal isn’t enough to impact things much - which surprises me because I was sure it would.
I don’t see ANY reduction in traffic congestion or freeway speeds.
It may take $5/gal to do it.
My little 35+ mpg Saturn looks better every day.
The SUV is gonna get a lot of garage time this year I’m afraid.
$4 per gallon gasoline is a liberal wet dream.
It will only happen if we attack Iran.
What is it going to take to tell the libs and environazis to just shut up and get out of the way of drilling ANWAR and off our coasts? there’s oil there for the taking. We can go get it. Build several sparkling new refineries, pump the oil out of the ground, refine it and sell it here in the good ole U. S. of A.. And tell the environazis to bite it.
No kidding. Every time I see a giant SUV and the person in it/owns it whining about gas I just laugh. It's one thing if you got 4 kids and a full house to have a big SUV but most of the people around here that have them are single or married with no kids and just had it as a status symbol.
Some advice, if you want an SUV, get something like the Hyundai Sante Fe. It gets ~25 mpg highway, comes with a 100k mile warranty, and isn't very expensive.
The weak dollar would have sent oil from $15 to 25/30, not to $100. The rest has been demand and speculation.
I wouldn't be so sure of that. Gas went up 80¢ from this time last year to summer. A repeat and we are at $4 by summer.
Might?
It’s been predicted. It’s a given.
See, the *experts* were right again....
Not us. We switched to natural gas in Nov and saved $300 a month in heating costs alone so far this year.
More than paid for the good deal we got on a used furnace.
I’m surprised more people have not switched to electric or natural gas from petro products to heat their homes.
And, IMHO, it's mostly speculation.
In order to be an oil futures trader these days you have to be scared of your own shadow, scared of your neighbor's shadow, scared of what happened last week, scared about what might happen next week, or the week after, etc.....
We’d do wood if we could.
The way this house is built, putting in a fireplace chimney would be a major undertaking, we don’t have the money, and we’d lose our whole dining room, the only room practical enough to put it in.
The dining room is central in the house. Any other room wouldn’t allow for it to heat more than that room.
“$4 per gallon gasoline is a liberal wet dream.
It will only happen if we attack Iran.”
I heard this same statement about $3 per gallon of gas.
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.