"Posted on 07/01/2008 9:56:49 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, whose nation is the world's number one oil exporter, called on consumer countries to get used to high prices in comments published on Tuesday.
"Consumer countries have to adapt to the prices and the mechanisms of the market," the king said in an interview published by the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassah.
"
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Some people are simply out of touch with reality, and there's no arguing with them.
“Your Highness, the name’s Plainview. Daniel Plainview. I’m in the oil business, too. Here, have a milkshake while I tell you a little story.”
Again with the ‘whining’ claims. Since when is it whining to point out that many people are being seriously affected by gas prices? I guess whining to you is anyone saying something that you don’t want to hear...
And I also don’t know where you are getting this idea that I, or everyone else (except for you of course) isn’t dealing with it all by cutting back. I also don’t know where you get the idea that there is nothing wrong with living in what is the greatest nation on earth and having to chose between being able to drive to work, or occassionally going out to dinner with friends. Especially when people are now having to make these choices due to an incompetent government (from the top on down) that has prevented any real solutions to increasing our oil supply and so devalued our currency to pay for their pet projects. No amount of planning, no matter how brilliant you make think you are, can fully prepare for how badly the government can affect your finances. Glad you’re making out ok though, that’s the important thing.
And I love your solution to just “get a new job” as if all someone needed to do was to go down to the ‘job store’ and get immediate employment. I got the job I could get, and I am grateful for that. The same goes for everyone else I know, we are grateful for the jobs we have. But again, we take what we can get, not what we would like to have, and what we can get means that our quality of life has gone down drastically over the past couple of years. Now to clarify, this is not ‘whining’ as I’m sure you will call it (since it doesn’t follow your template), it is merely stating the facts.
You also stated that the oil and gas industry is operating under a free market and that the prices are set by supply and demand. Not once did I say that supply and demand weren’t in play here. But it is not a free market and you’re damn right I’m going to blame someone about it - our glorious government servants who continue to refuse the oil companies from increasing supply, who have successfully fought against the building of new nuclear power plants and refineries, and who have even suggested that it would be just swell to nationalize the refineries we do have.
As for your comments that I am somehow a ‘typical liberal whiner’. Bullcrap. I say it like it is.
Now, I’m bored with you. Goodbye.
We purchased Alaska from Russia for the natural resources. Period. So let's get about drilling some of those resources. We are the laughing stock of the world because the environmentalist (ie - the socialist left), are dragging our economy down On Purpose. Senator “Coal and Oil are making us Sick” Reid is a moron. Many of our adversaries want nothing more than our quality of living to decrease, and mock our inability to utilize our own God given natural resources.
I am not defending OPEC here but let’s look at this from a different perspective. The oil is THEIRS and it is a finite resource. I don’t see them cutting back production to jack prices but if we controlled all that oil ourselves why wouldn’t we, in good business fashion, manage them to bring a max profit? When their supplies dry up, as they will, what will they have to sell the world?
Frankly I think the value of the dollar, the supply demand factor and the political situation has far more to do with the price of oil then OPEC does.
Finally it is a simple thing to go ahead and develop ALL our petro sources starting NOW. If in the time it takes to get them on line we come across a better alternative then we can cap them and hold them in reserve for an emergency. We also need to forge ahead now with nuclear energy.
Wow. You really are a piece of work.
I suggest you reread what you said. Anyone who has ever lived one second in the real world with the rest of us middle class lowlifes knows that what you say is not only ignorant, but insulting to boot. Try being middle class and living on the East Coast, then tell me that all one has to do to be financially secure is to just ‘make a change’. Rest assured that I, and millions of others just like me, work long and hard hours every day just to be able to afford to keep ourselves out of real financial trouble. I can assure that we don’t do it because we love it, and that if simply ‘making a change’, as you put it, would raise us to your almighty level then it would have been done a long time ago. You continue to presume to know so much about my and everyone elses situations, which is a sure sign of being a self absorbed narcissist. I only point this out to make my next point, which is that this is exactly the kind of ludicrous ignorance about middle class Americans that I would expect to hear from Democrats and country club Republicans.
Here’s a little news flash. Not everyone who is middle class today and struggling with their finances has a “poor me” attitude and most of us are working hard everyday to make our lives better and to live up to your standards. But unlike, not all of us can financially afford to suffer the fools in our government, high taxes, high gas prices, high property taxes, high rent, etc. And how dare you criticize people for bringing this up.
Now, why not try worrying about yourself (I know that you have nothing to worry about since you are so obviously superior to everyone else and have no problems to speak of) and live your life without insulting anyone who has the temerity to say that high gas prices are affecting them.
Now, good day, and good bye. I have nothing more to say to you except that I only hope that if I ever to achieve a status where I am as fortunate as you are that I don’t also turn into an smug, arrogant elitist.
Jesus Christ!
Why don’t you try actually reading what I have been saying, because not one time have I blamed anyone for anything, except for blaming our government from preventing oil companies from drilling and increasing the oil supply. I also never said any single thing against capitalism, yet your response to everything I have said is that I am some anti-capitalist and somehow a liberal.
Honestly, I don’t even know why I bother interacting with you since you obviously aren’t interested in anything other than engaging in strawman arguements. Get off of your soapbox and try actually paying attention to what other people are saying. Get over yourself already.
I give up.
are you still going on about this?
You know what, you’re absolutely right. I’ll just buy my own oil field and drill myself.
You are the only one saying that I am complaining. For the last time (maybe try reading it slowly this time so that you fully understand): STATING THAT I, LIKE MILLIONS OF OTHERS, AM BEING SERIOUSLY AFFECTED BY GAS PRICES IS SIMPLY STATING A FACT, NOT COMPLAINING. Understand? Did you get that through your head? Maybe you should read it again (slowly) so that it really sticks. It would be a refreshing change of pace from the hyperbole you have been dishing out.
Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I saw someone who was so full of himself and so certain of everything. Is this how you act around everyone who dares to go against what you say?
But I will admit that this whole affair has been my fault. I should have realized long ago that having a discussion with you, sans hyperbole and holier than thou arrogance emanating from nearly every one of your statements, is an exercise in futility. I have lost count of how many times I have stated a fact only to have it met with a ridiculous accusation or strawman arguement. So in the attempt to stop going around and around in a maddening circle with someone who obviously has no intention of listening to anything other than the sound of his own brilliance, I hereby submit to your vast superior reasoning and knowlege on every issue now and in the future. Huzzah!
No further need to tell me anymore. I already stated that I bow to your superiority and acknowledge that you know everything there is to know about everyone else’s personal lifestyles, situations, budgets, and thought processes. You are a magnificent, all knowing person - for only a magnificent, all knowing person would be able to come up with the conclusions about how and why other people are affected by gas prices, and how other people think about such issues without even knowing them. I am humbled in your presence and truely in awe of your omniscience.
You said that you are rarely wrong in most matters, and while most people would mistake this as being a display of absolutely stunning arrogance, I now correctly see it as a statement of fact and am grateful for the amazing good fortune I received to be in your presence if only for a short while. Just think, before the internet and anonymous discussion boards it would have been nearly impossible for me to come across someone who is never wrong and could so perfectly and expertly sum up how I live my life, know what actions I take and point out their faults, and tell me what my thoughts and beliefs are on grand issues - and all based on a few postings over the course of a couple of days. Like I said, pure brilliance!! You have a gift my friend. Bravo.
I have no problem with OPEC or the Saudis selling oil for whatever they want to charge...after all, if we hadn't abdicated responsibility for an energy policy (and became dependent upon the kindness of strangers) they wouldn't have us over a 42 gallon barrel.
No, this is what pi$$es me off...they don't even respect us enough to tell plausible lies. They're insulting our intelligence, and THAT makes me angry.
Again, I have no problem with the Saudis pricing their oil however they want. If they said, "We're managing our resources to our benefit," I'd not only not mind...I'd give them kudos for honesty.
No, what infuriates me is that the King is telling us to 'eat cake'...and he's insulting our intelligence. Friends, my @ss.
"We have nothing to do with the current sharp increase in crude prices," he said reiterating the Saudi position that speculation, rising demand and the taxation of oil products in consumer countries were to blame.
The Saudis have their robes in a knot about American foreign policy, and are wielding their oil weapon. It's no different than 1973 or 1979. OPEC is effectively setting the price, and they're setting it high.
There's been no significant change in taxation of energy in Europe or here in the last 10 years. If taxation is an issue, why now?
Frankly I think the value of the dollar, the supply demand factor and the political situation has far more to do with the price of oil then OPEC does.
Well, if the dollar is the reason...you'd have to ask why petroleum is so much higher in Europe than one, two, or three years ago.
Of course it's the supply/demand factor. Who's effectively setting the supply? OPEC.
As far as speculation...it's my personal judgment that 'speculation' is adding little, if anything, to the price. Geopolitical concerns and speculation can only have an effect in a tight market, which we have.
Finally it is a simple thing to go ahead and develop ALL our petro sources starting NOW. If in the time it takes to get them on line we come across a better alternative then we can cap them and hold them in reserve for an emergency. We also need to forge ahead now with nuclear energy...
Of course it's a simple thing...but it's not happening now, is it? What chance is there? Little to none?
The dollar most certainly has much to do with the increase since it is weaker and is the currency used to settle contracts. As for Europe, their taxes probably do account for the major part of the difference. Fuel has always been more there then here. In the 1960’s I spent time in the UK and gasoline then was $.75 per gallon or almost 3 times what it was here.
OPEC is determining the supply as they must if they are to manage their resources to the best advantage. That said all signs indicate they are pumping close to 15% more oil then they were in 2004 (Saudis-8.1 million bbl vs 9.7 bbl))
Speculation IS in fact adding much to the price but it is the REASON speculators are finding more buyers then sellers for futures. The continual hype by the media regarding pending conflict in the M.E, Ahmadouchbag shooting his mouth off and such creates a frenzy among these guys in the trading pits because we are so tight in the supply demand area.
I lay the blame for this situation squarely on the Congress, both sides. The development of our natural resources should probably have begun when we were hit by the first oil embargo and it should most certainly have begun after 9-11.
Bring the oil we have on line and begin now. If it takes 3,5, or 10 years in some instances, so what. The ongoing process of developing these resources will have an effect on prices in the near term and more so as the oil comes on line.
Meanwhile the oil belongs to the Saudis they can do what they want with it. Where they must be careful is in attempting to push the price to high, because if this triggers a recession in the major economies then they will be seeing oil at $10-12 bbl again as they did in 1998. It’s a balancing act and a dangerous one.
There is also the possibility that if they become to aggressive in their pricing by withholding supply they may provoke a conflict in which the buyers of their product become the takers of their product.
Since the worlds economy would absolutely grind to a halt without oil, it may come to be that the major developed nations will align themselves in an effort to secure their futures by becoming the “managers” of this resource on a planet wide basis.
Sure it’s a long shot but who knows how far it can go if desperation sets in?
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