Quick note on my thoughts on the price of oil:
I think this sucks - we are criticized for "fighting for oil", yet we are criticized when the price shoots through the roof.
The USA suffers through these high oil prices at the whim of the global market.
Oil Prices could be dropped significantly if we explored for and tapped our own, not inconsiderable oil supplies.
Brazil just announced that they have a supply of oil larger than that of Saudi Arabia...
In a sum - there is far more oil than some would like for you to believe. I remember Ms. Falk's kindergarten class at Herbrich Elementary School in Fairlawn, OH, back when Jimmy Carter ruled the roost, and it said that "by the late 1990's there won't be any more oil"
...and we were going into an ice age
...and we'd be able to take vacations on the moon
...and we'd have a colony on Mars
...and we'd have flying cars
The Price of gasoline, on the other hand is directly affected by the refinery capacity of any given nation and the world, for that matter. Here in the US there ain't been a refinery built in, what, 30 years?
So if we built a few more refineries and drilled for some of own oil, we'd be fine, right?
Wrong - this is all an effect of the Global Economy (which I am thinking might not be such a good thing). We'd first have to divest ourselves of the global economy and begin production of all of the things we get from overseas - t-shirts, electronics, toys, etc. That would cripple the lower developing countries of the planet where all of the cheap labor resides.
Globalism is raising the standard of living in the developing countries and lowering the standard of living in the developing countries, so we are all heading for a rather mediocre stabilising point, economically. I, for one, being the Crazed American and an unapologetic nationalist, do not want to see that happen.
"Good Fences make Good Neighbors" - - someone once said...
That's all right now-
Crazed American, out.
4 comments:
Just my ten cents, but with Chinese citizens increasing their person wealth, a HUGE trade deficit, their growing consumption of gasoline, and the ear-popping drop of the value of the dollar...why aren't the former "Big" Three automakers sending every flex fuel, E85, hybrid, electric, biofuel vehicle they make?
The market is rich for personal vehicles, the Chinese can bypass the oil glutton, and the U.S. would gain jobs, market share, and GDP growth.
Like I said, it's just my ten cents.
Indeed - problem is that oil and hyrdocarbon powered internal combustion engines are much cheaper.
As for questioning the inaction of the "Big" Three, I shall respond in two parts:
1) they build crap - that's why the Crazed American owns two high mileage Hondas - the best cars of their type on the market - I am a fan of competition inthe marketplace
2) There's a reason that the "big" three aren't that "big" anymore - they don't always do the smartest things...
Also, the Chinese do not innovate. The Chinese did not develop the LCD TV for example, butthey can build the hell outof them...
Just my $0.10 ($0.02 adjusted for inflation)...
Do you feel, as I do, that the energy companies are sitting on a perfectly viable and readily available "alternative fuel" already, but are just riding the oil as far as it will go? And one day, when things are looking very dire with the oil situation they will miraculously "discover" this new technology (even though they've had it for over a decade). And everyone will applaud them for their forward thinking, even though they've been buying up and burying patents and ideas for some time now? I feel this applies to automakers as well, who undoubtedly developed many alternatives to the gasoline powered internal combustion engine and could easily mass produce them (beyond the half assed hybrids available now), but are just sitting on that technology as well. Or do I just sound like one of those crazy conspiracy theorists? Wait...did you hear that? I think the black helicopters are coming....
Moose, prblem is they keep finding oil. As the President of Brazil was quoted as saying "God is a Brazillian", 'cause they just found oil deposits (easily accessible unlike Russia's Siberian fields) that are larger than Saudi Arabia. In fact, the Brazilians, a robust nuclear power, have just announced plans to acquire / build a nuclear submarine to protect those off shore fields.
Like it or not, there is MUCH more oil than anyone ever thought. Hell there are some theories that it might not be a product of dead organic matter after all and may have some "abiotic" source.
On that happy note, Honda's releasing a fuel cell vehicle. The Calrity is powered by hydrogen and only releases water vapor (which coincidentally is a much more potent "greenhouse gas" than CO2 or Methane).
If the powers that be wanted cheaper oil, there'd be cheaper oil - G-d know there's enough of it... Problem is there is absolutely no incentive for anyone in the energy industry to get more oil thn they already do.
Cheaper gas - then you have to build more refineries.
Do I think they have some new fangled technology that could revolutionize the way we get from place to place? I don't know, but the ast time someone promised us that - we got that frikkin' ridiculous Segway. So I'm not going to hold my breath. If Honda's Fuel Cell Experiment works out, then I think you'll see at the least more Fuel Cell Cars (ironically or not - they will be powered by fossil fuels or nuclear - hydrogen don't crack itslef out of water - you have to have electricity to do that...)
We can talk more of this at the Turkey Day party at the Mountain redoubt tomorrow - 4pm.
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