Gas Prices Are High Because the Liberals Want It that Way
High gasoline prices are not a cause of the current economic recession, they are an avoidable and unnecessary symptom of liberal environmental and economic policies. When President Barack Obama took office the price of gasoline was $1.83 per gallon. Today it’s over $4.00. Understanding why that is so will give you insight into the patient game plan of the fossil-fuel-hating, combustion-engine-despising, environmentally obsessed left.
The high price of gas is not simply a function of the cost of crude oil. There are many causes for the $4.00 we are currently paying for a gallon of gasoline. Of that $4.00, taxes account for 52 cents, distribution and marketing about 32 cents, refining 56 cents, and the cost of crude oil $2.60. By the mid-20th century, oil was surpassed only by income taxes as the largest generator of revenue for the U.S. government.
Clearly, the biggest portion of the $4.00 you pay goes to the crude oil suppliers. This is where supply and demand takes over. The price of crude oil is determined by the world’s oil-exporting nations, particularly the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC is responsible for over 40% of the world’s crude production. In 2001, when OPEC reduced its production by 1 million barrels a day, gas prices in the U.S. skyrocketed to $1.71 per gallon. When it increased its production in 2005, gas prices dropped.
The United States is actually the third-largest producer of crude oil in the world, but we still import nearly 40% of our crude oil demand, mainly from Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Venezuela. But here is where life becomes quite simple. The more crude oil we produce domestically, the less taxes we heap on a gallon of gasoline, the fewer hurdles and blends we require of domestic manufacturers, the less we pay for gasoline. U.S. domestic oil production peaked way back in 1970, and by 2005, imports were twice that of domestically produced crude oil.
Increasing domestic exploration, drilling, and production is the simple solution to what we are paying at the pump. Yet our president has repeatedly misled us by alleging that there is no “silver bullet” for lowering gas prices. What the Obama administration and his liberal machine have been doing is just the opposite — and it is beginning to look intentional.
President Obama follows the liberal playbook about energy independence — code for wind and solar energy which won’t fuel our automobiles, jets, ships, or the war machines he has sent into Libya. He misleads the American people about ethanol leading to energy independence. It can’t and won’t. Ethanol is not economically competitive. Corn ethanol costs an average of $2.53 to produce – several times the 56 cents it costs to produce a gallon of gasoline. Instead, ethanol simply raises the price of gasoline we pay at the pump.
Last month, Shell Oil Company announced it was forced to scrap efforts to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska. The decision comes following a ruling by the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board to withhold critical air permits. If there was ever a clarion call to strip the EPA of its oil drilling oversight, this is it. Shell spent five years and nearly $4 billion on plans to explore for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The leases alone cost $2.2 billion. The closest village to where Shell proposed to drill is Kaktovik, nearly 70 miles away with a population of 245.
President Obama’s solution to the crisis is to launch investigations and task forces, rather than increasing production. Last month Obama announced that the Justice Department will try to “root out” fraud and waste in the oil markets, yet it was Obama himself who was quoted just a few weeks ago saying, “Politicians are often eager to feed the impression that solving the problem is just a matter of eliminating waste and abuse — you’ll hear that phrase a lot.” At a gas price town hall meeting Obama told a father of ten to cram his family into a hybrid and told us all that inflating our tires and getting a “tune-up” would beat high gas prices.
President Obama overreacted to the British Petroleum Deep Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year by issuing a crippling moratorium on offshore deepwater drilling. The spill was a result of a lack of sufficient oversight during the transition of the rig from exploration to commercial production, a particularly low-probability event. The moratorium did nothing to address the root cause of the accident. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with this line of reasoning, yet White House officials falsely represented to the public last year and more recently to a court that scientists had approved the blanket drilling moratorium. The administration then defied a federal court by replacing its original moratorium, which had been struck down, with a substantively identical second moratorium — for no good reason.
Obama’s six-month moratorium cost more than $2.7 billion in economic activity worldwide and $2.1 billion in the Gulf communities. It cost thousands of jobs and significantly reduced our domestic oil production — contributing to the high cost of gasoline. Obama has shut down much of the domestic oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, East Coast, and West Coast. The U.S. used to produce daily 10 million barrels; now we are at 7 million barrels, and we will soon be at 6 million barrels.
When the heat of high gas prices hits the White House, they default to their usual mantra of blaming Big Oil. They point to oil company profits and insinuate that these profits are from the sale of gas. However, oil companies have an anemic profit margin on the sale of gasoline — around 6%. This means that while the oil companies see a profit of around 24 cents from the gallon of gas you pay $4.00 for, the government sees a profit of 50 cents in taxes and other charges. It is the government who is gouging and needs to be investigated — not the oil companies.
Something you’ll never hear from our president is that most oil companies simply sell crude oil they produce to other companies who have refining capabilities who in turn sell to independent distributors and retailers. They set the price of gasoline and at every stage of the process people are trying to buy low and sell high. But oil companies make good villains for anybody who dislikes capitalism and the free market economy. Lest we forget, the anemic profit oil companies make on gasoline is the only reason oil companies provide us with gasoline in the first place.
Every three years the price of gas goes up and the left attacks the oil companies. Obama looks at profits as something evil and does not understand that profits are needed to explore for new oil and replace quality reserves. He does not realize — or refuses to acknowledge — that one oil platform alone can cost $1 billion. The left doesn’t understand that higher taxes make the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil, increasing the cost of gas at the pump.
And my how the story changes when high gas prices occur during the Obama administration as opposed to the Bush administration. In 2006, the Democrats cried foul over high gas prices. Nancy Pelosi said, “We are seeing a government run for the oil companies.” When the Democrats took control of the House and Senate, gas prices were at $2.33 per gallon. Senator Barack Obama used high gas prices to get elected, telling people on the campaign trail that he felt their pain.
“I met a guy who couldn’t go on a job search because of the high price of gas,” Obama said in 2008. “I met a teacher in South Dakota who loved her job as a teacher on an Indian reservation, but she had to quit because the drive was too far — it was taking up too much of her paycheck. I know how bad people are hurting.” But he apparently doesn’t feel your pain anymore. In fact, he blames you for high gas prices. Recently, he was asked if he still felt our pain, and he responded, “If you’re complaining about the price of gas and only getting eight miles per gallon – you, uh, know — you may have a big family but it’s probably not that big.”
The media destroyed George Bush over gas prices saying it would destroy the country. But today the media portrays high gas prices as something positive. “Higher gas prices are forcing us to search for alternative fuels and more fuel-efficient cars,” said Priya David on CBS News. “And there are other reasons to be optimistic about the high cost of gas.” So there you go. It’s a good thing.
Obama’s policies are intentionally reducing the supply of gasoline and crude oil just as world demand goes up. One must conclude based on his actions that he doesn’t object to gas at $4.00 a gallon. Inflammatory? It shouldn’t be. In 2008 he said, “I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment [in the rising cost of gas]. The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing. But if we take some steps right now to help people make the adjustment, first of all by putting more money in their pockets, but also by encouraging the market to adapt to these new circumstances more rapidly, particularly U.S. automakers.”
A president who truly wants lower gas prices can increase the supply of oil by opening up more areas offshore and in ANWR for domestic drilling and easing regulations. We have plenty of domestic resources to drill, and plenty of companies willing to drill for it if the left and their misguided environmental, big-government and anti-capitalist policies would just get out of the way. Increased domestic production would stimulate U.S. job growth and provide a tremendous boost to our economy. It would lower gas prices, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and shield us from the effects of instability in the Middle East and price fixing by OPEC.
But these things aren’t going to happen if the president wants just the opposite. The result of our president’s policies has been decreasing oil production, increasing gas prices, and a mass exodus of oil companies sending operations and rigs overseas to “greener” pastures.
The old maxim is that “actions speak louder than words,” and if we omit the grammatical error, it remains trustworthy. But in this case we have words and actions in coordination. There should be no doubt where Barack Hussein Obama wants the prices of fossil fuels to go.
Actually, the Left is quite okay with this, as well. Anything that forces people into smaller, tighter herds is okay with them. Get a leftist into his cups and he’ll even tell you so.
Liberals have LONG said they wanted $5 a gallon gas. Obama has said he wanted $5 a gallon gas. Now we have 80% of the price they want. Why? Liberal guilt.
Liberals desperately want to be like Europe. Socialist and “environmentally sensitive.” Europe has to be environmentally cautious as it has been developing for centuries using the same limited resources.
America has vast resources for our size, per capita. We are (or were) the most productive nation on earth, per working person. So we have been the best at using our resources. While we do consume more energy, we produce more than any one else.
Which in economic free market terms would mean we should be paying less for energy, since we are more efficient by being more productive. But in the liberal world, we need to be punished for not being more like every one else.
The problem with being the best at anything is you become the default leader. Leadership, by definition, is burdensome.
By definition, every one being the same through government coercion is: Communism.
While there is plenty that goes on with libs due to guilt, this is not one of them. The reason they want oil to go higher has two reasons, one primary, and one secondary. The primary reason they want $5/gal gas is to better allow them to control what goes in the country. They own the banks, 2 of the 3 auto manufacturers, control who gets loans, and what gets regulated. Obamacare is on the ropes, but it represents another huge point of control. When people have had all they can handle in one state, we still have the right and prerogative to move to another location for whatever reason. If gas goes high enough to stifle that, they have another point of control. Just check out Europe. Sure things are all very close there, and public transportation is ubiquitous. But our geography is not their geography. So if you can shut down the mobility of our population, you have a tremendous choke hold on them.
I think a secondary reason we don’t drill is that there is a kickback pipeline from the Mid-East to the libs. While they were screaming that Bush was after the oil, more than likely they were pocketing funds from the Saudis, etc. I can’t prove it, but I would love to investigate it.
In any case, the reduction of the price of gas is quite possibly one of the most predictable outcomes we have in our economy. Drill here, drill now, and watch gas go to $2.00/gal.
@big bob. I like your thought on the kick back and an investigation may be very much in order but we can get the same results by following principles rather than politicians. Obama is running on his stage personality as have most of the Democrats and too many Republicans. Principles have no race nor ethnicity. There is no white, brown or black. In engineering the Chinese must follow the same mathematics that we must follow.
Right now we have two that seem more concerned with principles, Herman Cain and Donald Trump. They would both have personal interests but it is principles that are leading. I have no doubt that there would be significant differences in the way they would apply those principles.
We forget that the oil patch came up by its own bootstraps and we had pressure blowouts, well fires, pollution problems and many hurdles to get where we are now. I remember watching that gusher blow in at Oklahoma City in 1929 while 20 miles to the east and a west wind sprinkled our Model A with drops of oil. From that day on I have had an interest in the oil patch. These drillers took risks, made and lost money and developed an industry all by profit. They were a source of taxes to finance our government.
The Bolshevik hate profits but want to take everything everyone produces and then dole out some of it to show how much they care about us.
Now all of you, my readers, shop for one thing or another. Everyone of you have looked at some product and said the price is too high so you pass it up and buy a substitute or do without. If its not available you can’t get it for any price. I will have to do some skipping here but I want to make this one point. In town we have a Walmart superstore with about a third of their floor space devoted to groceries. On those shelves are over priced bottled water, soft drinks, no calorie drinks sweets and other fluff. Your life is not dependent on these offerings but the shelves are full and moving. The staples, meat, vegetables gas and other essentials are where we complain about the price.
Are the high gas prices making any significant dent in the sale of this fluff? I think that is where we need to investigate. If not, then why not? I’m not even warmed up yet but I think this is enough to post.
kickbacks are the islamic studies in university..
it obvious that the marxists and islamic collectivists want to meld..
“Liberals have LONG said they wanted $5 a gallon gas.”
Well, isn’t it so much cheaper & “greener” to just plug your battery-powered shoebox into the magic socket where electricity lives?
I assume that you are being sarcastic. If we all got electric cars and plugged them in every night, the power companies would have to build a lot of new nuclear plants. Since I am in that business, that would be great for me. We just don’t have the room for all of them.
You are wrong, their goal is $8.00 a gallon. I actually heard Obama say this when he was running in 2008. It said it would force people to make changes and concerve. Now his Energy Czar is saying the same? I do wish someone could find that interview. He also stated in the same interview that something he was proposing or supporting would make our utilities at home go sky high. I thought when he said this that it would be the end of him. I didn’t hear it again. It must have been on a channel that protects him. So they aren’t happy with $5.00, they want more.
Liberals and Democrats (well, what really IS the difference these days) have been always whining that it would be at least 10 years before we saw any benefits from drilling here at home and on off our shores. That was 30 years ago. Had we done it back then, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now. For once, can we please not listen to these Enviro-Nazis and PLEASE bring some common sense back to Washington? We should have been drilling a long time ago. NOW we are paying the price for their stalling. I hope they like paying $4 or $5 a gallon for gas when we don’t really have to.
Libertyship, I think you need to check you history a bit. It was under Carter that the price of oil shot up and it was under Reagan that it began to fall.
With high oil prices more marginal drilling became profitable but as driller tooled up then the price of oil dropped to ten dollars which ate up enough profit to bankrupt some of those drillers. This didn’t just happen because OPEC was in control of our supply they helped flood the market and could still show a profit. Its an old practice for a large company to starve out the competition so they have a monopoly. We still face that threat if we allow an increase in exploration. There are some natural forces to keep this in check but principles in planning can do a better job. If you have the money why not back up an oil well? But if outside forces can drop the price of oil to your production cost you would hesitate to invest. That is a very real threat the liberal left is very adept at using.
But, if we had our own supply of oil (as well as other forms of energy, such as coal or nuclear), OPEC would not be able to set any prices that would affect us. If our government actually helped subsidize some of the drilling so that we could become energy independent, why would we care what OPEC did since we would be producing most or all of our energy domestically.
But you are right when you say that OPEC still has the power to “flood” our market with oil, thereby not only controlling our prices but keeping us dependent on their product. But if Reagan, let alone the first Bush and then Clinton, really had an energy policy for future energy self-sufficiency, we really wouldn’t be in this mess today. Heck, could you imagine if we produced so much energy that we could actually sell some of it to other countries? That could only happen if we exploited our own resources and technology here at home first. But thanks mostly to the Enviro-Nazi lobby that’s out there, we always had major contraints on drilling and using other forms of energy (such as coal or nuclear), even as far back as Reagan, which had a Democratically controlled Congress. Sad part is, when the Republicans regained control of Congress, they should have done much, much, more on energy independence and they didn’t.
Unfortunately, they do not have to pay what the ordinary citizen pays. At least, not while they hang around, in the office they were voted into. When they leave office, they take so much of OUR money with them, in unearned full retirement benefits, that they really do not feel the pain, anyway. There exists, also, other means of them lining their bank accounts, as well – while in office, of course. I just can’t prove what my instincts tell me is true, so I cannot comment any further in that regard. I’ll bet, though, that many of you have the same instincts. When all of us band together in a struggle against that which is strangling this country, then we will have taken the first step toward recapturing the beauty; the strength, and; the integrity that once was our America. All must go, Dems and Repubs, alike. You cannot, I’ll bet, count on ten fingers the number of politicians you would like to see retain their jobs if we were able to just kick them all out, at the same time. Agreed?
I have really begun to hate the diseased mentality of the left of late
Don’t let ‘em off with the “disease” excuse. Libs are best described by the words of one of their very own, Michelle Obama: “downright mean.”
I tend to believe that all liberals are delusional…and truly believe their own lies…….I also think that they really need to get a grip and GROW UP!
They are all grown up, and they’ve become a bunch of mean, rotten, and spoiled individuals!
You know what’s worse? Bushies making up stories about gas prices in order to not think about how idiotic bush’s tax cuts without spending cuts deficit worship/witchcraft. Bushies know the prices of all commodities traded as futures are due to the decline in the dollar and loose money policies of the Fed. Obama is the super-bush in spending, and increasing prices.
But they can’t attack Obama (and the Fed) on deficits because it will concede their fault in believing “deficits do not matter.”
So they make crank noises about environmental policies that have about maybe 2% to do with current prices.
Troll~
Any Bushie who does not appreciate that, on a fiscal basis, Obama is building on Bush’s foundation of deficits and “stimuluses” is just god darn jealous the Democrats are living out what the Republicans could only dream of doing in the 2000s. You go Obama! Show them we’ll grow out of the deficit!
Those would be the Obama-Bush tax rate cuts, I presume? Because Obama supported their extension. No economist I’m aware of connects those tax rate cuts to gas prices. So you’re phobia of Bush is misplaced in this discussion.
I wish to make clear to the public I did not sneakily post the “Ody..” reply in order to boost my argument about Bush/Obama crank economics. It is genuine, to my knowing.
OK, Jackass, refute this chart, which clearly shows that despite having to fight to defend the country as the Copperheads like you refused to, under Bush the deficits were going down until Copperheads took Congress.
Time to load snakeshot….
The answer is quite simple. “Progressives” hate our technological civilization, and dream of erasing it from the face of the Earth (excuse me, “Holy Mother Gaia”).
From the 1970s on, progressive political types have been obsessed with a “return to nature”, on the principles of such European Romantic Era types as Nietzsche, Hegel, and Company. They reject not just high technology, but all technology, and demand that we forsake everything developed since the Year Zero and “start from zero” to create agrarian socialist communes operating at about Neolithic levels. (They aren’t even willing to use bronze.)
And while we peasants are living in mud huts (or maybe comfy caves), tilling our rice fields with people-drawn plows (enslaving animals is evil), and spreading “night soil” to fertilize same (don’t ask), our “enlightened elite’” will be living the life they deserve. In castles, protected by loyal retainers (armed ones), waited on by fawning acolytes (they can always find those), and whiling away their days in splendid contemplation of the ineffable. (That means “arguing with each other over which one of them is the One Most Perfect Socialist”.)
The two most amazing things about their delusions are;
1. They believe that they will still somehow have all their toys and perks- their IPods, Crackberrys, laptops, designer water, Wagyu beef, jets to Doha, and that cute barista making them a latte’ at Starbucks’s- without the technological infrastructure that makes it possible; and
2. They can force us all back into the caves, and somehow avoid killing 90% of the human population of Earth due to famine, pestilence, etc.
Note that some of this lot understand that (2) will bring about a mass die-off of humans- and are hoping for it. The same ones who reckon the “carrying capacity” of the planet at about 100 million humans, or even less.
Seen in this perspective, The One and his minions’ “green” policies make perfect sense. Logically, if you want to destroy a technological culture, starving it of energy is a great way to do it, on the “starve the beast” principle. And using lies like the primacy of Holy Wind and Holy Sun to divert attention from your true objectives is an effective way to avoid being held to account for your plans.
Because if people actually knew what our leaders dream of doing to them, and their children, and grandchildren, they wouldn’t be our leaders very long. Unlike them, the majority of us do not have a secret death wish for our civilization.
However, by the same token, it is pointless to try to reason with this lot. Not just because of their fanaticism, but also due to their ignorance. They pride themselves on knowing nothing about that which they hate, because actual knowledge is evidence of apostasy, in their minds, and would sully the perfection of their spotless psyches. (See [1] above.)
There is no argument, no matter how factual, that will sway these people from their course. Even pointing out that the Nazis, for all their obsession with “Wunderwaffen”, were primitivist pagans who mandated vegetarianism makes no impression.
The only solution is to strip these “idealists” of power, drive them from office, and keep them out until such time as another generation of “progressives” grows up, who do not dream of a pre-technological Paradise that never actually existed.
If, indeed, there is any chance that such a generation will ever be born.
clear ether
eon
Great post, as usual, eon, but I think you are giving too much credit to the crackpot delusions of a tiny percentage of flakes who imagine themselves in Oz, rather than the dominant motivation of the left, power, and the dominant weapon, envy.
The secretariat of the left exploits those crackpots for their own purposes. Elite marxists don’t believe the bullshit any more than you do. To them, the value of “environmentalism” is that it is a marvelous means to dupe the fraction of the middle class that can’t otherwise be bribed with more direct means to facilitate acquiring absolute power for themselves. The fact that the crackpot schemes will quickly drive humanity into abject serfdom is a thrilling bonus, but the real purpose is recruit educated fools and fragment society in preparation for the ultimate conquest.
Moreover, the dominant motivation of the foot-soldiers of the left isn’t love of gaia either. Their motivation is much more basic, raw naked envy.
exactly right
the left uses the cover of their “useful idiot” to garner support via their touchy feely platforms
these ideas, spun by the emotions with no link to reality, are the gateway for the real troublemakers of the left to surge through
a nice little appeal here, a little coercion there and, presto chango, freedom disappears
we dont need any more examples of the left’s m.o.
it is what it is; we get bogged down by the sheer volume of totalitarian turds and lost within the stench if we try to address them one by one
we need to be presenting our side to as many undecided and unengaged as we can
this is a battle of ideology and we need to keep presenting our side with conviction
we already have enough “evidence” to point out the hypocrisy of the left to last a thousand generations
It’s a great point.
We get lost in the details of environmentalism or statist health care or the multiplier factor of Keynsism. And just engaging in the debate gives credence to philosophies that start as fantasies and should be viewed in the same way as truther’s crackpot theories.
The premises are nuts, so what difference does it make whether some deatail at level n of the nutty concept makes sense in isolation or not.
We need leaders who focus on the greatest revelation for humanity since people noticed they could actually grow their own food…people who are free to do as they choose create prosperity a thousand times better than any command and control government ever created.
In the case of those praying for a die-off, their delusion is that they and their progeny would survive. They are completely useless and would starve for their imbecility and lack of survival skills, or else become the victim of water-borne diseases. Furthermore, if they somehow managed to survive those, the rest of humanity would kill them and their offspring for inviting such a fate, especially if they had the chutzpah to try to lead the tribes of survivors.
When I start my own country the only thing the Left will be allowed to control is nerf production. Nice, harmless foam rubber. And I will regulate even that. No pointy corners allowed. Because, without adult supervision, the Left will contrive a way to hurt people with those pointy bits, if left to themselves.
Amen!!
“…beginning to look intentional.”
Oh, come now. These people are *on record* and have had their voices *recorded* as saying they want this, that they believe it will be good for us and the planet. The simple fact is that the automobile is the finest physical manifestation of the freedoms that have been secured for us through great sacrifice, and as such, it must be destroyed.
They want this.
This is deliberate and intentional.
Why are you reluctant to recognize this?
Now they want to raise taxes on oil companies, which will be paid by those of us who buy gas. I’m tired of these buffoons and their idiotic preening for the cameras. If the country could run on hot air, our energy problems would be over.
High fuel prices are Obama’s way of showing his devotion to the muslim world, and paying jizya for America.
You will not hear any protests from Obama on high fuel costs.
Not to worry…. There will always be plenty of jet fuel to fly King Barack, Queen Michelle and thier entourage of 600 around the world…
What’s that you say ? You have a 20 mile commute to get to work ? No problem !! Just sell your house and move closer to your job, or, get up a couple hours earlier and ride your bicycle to work… Problem solved !!
Lord? Please forgive me for how much I truly hate the demonic left that infects your creation!
We are to love our enemies, partly because they are their own worst enemy. If they could just be converted look how many friends we could gain yet we cannot drive but must invite and they turn down the invitation. Sad. If we can’t live that invitation can we present it? Jesus never compelled the first of his followers to come after Him. Ten righteous would have preserved Sodom but it fell about seven short. Lot was called righteous.
Obama’s Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is on record as saying: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” (Plus, Obama himself and his Sec. of Transportation have been on record as favoring higher energy prices.) Well, they’ve “somehow” figured it out. Debase the dollar (internationally, oil prices are denominated in dollars so if the dollar is worth less you have to spend more of them to buy a barrel of imported oil)which we experience as higher prices at the pump; reduce supply by banning domestic production (a goal of the Democrat party in thrall to its “environmentalist” base for decades), mandate ethanol (which, as the article points out, is more expensive than petroleum and, although you’d never know it from Obama’s talking points, receives enormous government subsidies). There, they’ve done it. They’ve drastically increased the price of petroleum to levels near those in Europe. Meanwhile, we’ve got an administration that refuses to recognize that we’ve got, and will retain, an embedded inventory of 250,000,000 petroleum powered vehicles in this country and use petroleum to produce or ship nearly every item you can see if you make a 360 degree turn while reading this. The administration’s solution to higher fuel prices – deplete the oil drilling allowance which will further increase prices at the pump and demonize “big oil.” Yet, the administration, protected by its wall of media enablers, is able to evade any responibility for the effects of its deliberate policies. Must be nice to be a Democrat.
The $2.53 number for ethanol was based on a figure published over 5 years ago. Considering how much of ethanol’s cost is based on the energy required for its production, I’m guessing that today’s cost would be substantially higher, perhaps well above the $3.00 level.
So, we’re paying more and more for automobile fuel that delivers fewer and fewer miles per tankful. And the government has started down the road to E15, which will make matters far worse (not just the energy content).
I don’t know where you’re getting your numbers, but most are way off. Example: crude imports are well over 50%, closer to 60. This number has gone up significantly since January 20, 2009.
IOW, it’s worse than you’re saying; much worse.
in order to make cars more efficient, as the president wants, the first thing that needs to be done is to force automakers to produce the fuel efficiency curves, or to change the highway speed that they present. If we wanted to get higher gas milage, we would up the highway speed to 65 (on the estimate of mpg) and the city speed to 45.
#12 David: “interesting discussion.” Yes it is, But as usual, a discussion that doesn’t reveal all the facts. Mr. Wickert mentions that production of corn ethanol isn’t economical. It probably isn’t, but……. Brazil runs most of its motor vehicles on ethanol made from sugar cane. We could try something like that here. But the domestic sugar industry supports a sky high government tariff on imported sugar cane products to keep their profits high.
In a reply to Post #1, big bob wrote: “there is a kickback pipeline from the Middle East to the libs…….drill here, drill now, and watch gas go to $2 per gallon….” Fun thought.
#2 Libertyship 46: “we should have been drilling years ago.” Another fun thought. As of federal fiscal year 2010, here are some statistics from the Bureau of Land Management, which manages onshore leasing for energy development, oil & natural gas. There were 41,186,158 acres under lease, but only 12,205, 418 producing. Almost 29,000,000 acres undeveloped.
Another 2010 factoid: there were 4,090 APDs (applications for permit to drill) approved by state and/or federal regulators, but only 1,480 actually started. Bottom line seems to be that it’s the energy companies who are preventing production, not so-called liberals, the Middle East, whomever.
There may be good reasons why so much acreage is undeveloped. But if ya’ll want ‘drill, baby, drill’, talk to the energy companies.
FYI
the “interesting discussion’ers” are a recent, low keyed spammer
(might even be a keylogger for obamas lynchpins)
pay them no mind
I have never understood that “look at how many acres don’t have wells on them!” math. Oil isn’t like housing, you don’t just plop wells right next to each other and look for a buyer. Once you’ve leased the land, you have to actually figure out if there is any oil under it that is actually worth getting to at current prices/technology (remember natural gas prices 5-6 years ago, and the response in both drilling wells in previously unprofitable areas and using new technology to increase performance?). You also have to deal with regulatory and environmental issues. How many of those acres are effectively off limits because the EPA de facto blocks all attempts to drill from them, as in the Shell example above? How many acres were leased on the speculative hope that maybe oil might be found there at some point, but hasn’t yet? How many were leased only because all of the really good sites are off limits by decree of the government, and the oil companies are trying to get any leases they can (even marginal or currently-unprofitable ones) before those, too get taken away by the government?
The raw acreage comparison just doesn’t make any sense, unless your intention is to absolve the government of all blame for its actions regarding oil production.
BigD nailed it. i would also like to add, that one of the reasons that the drilling hasn’t started yet, is because of lawsuits. The environuts tie you up in court… for years. That is why we no longer build nuclear plants or our own oil refineries. We haven’t in 20-30 years! Also, States like CA refuse to allow drilling off their shores.
Steve, you are trying to manufacture some evidence as to why the oil industry is to blame, but they simply are not. Each one of these permit requests costs oodles of money. Starting to drill costs far more. Did you not read the article? Did Shell not just give up on drilling in the arctic? Did they not just walk away from billions invested? Billions! It’s not like they really are not trying to drill where they profitably can. That incident alone tells the story. NO ONE voluntarily walks away from billions invested.
Read my comments Marc. I chose not to get into the off-shore part of the article. As for lawsuits, I’m not aware of any energy-related lawsuits currently being pursued here in Colorado by enviros. Perhaps you can share some examples, and be specific.
My experience in watching various lawsuits against the federal land management agencies is they often get filed due to failure of the agencies to follow their own rules. One of the shortcomings by persons who write for PJM is that they decry suits, but often don’t get into why a lawsuit gets filed.
IF YOU DON~T WORK YOU DON~T EAT; SAME FOR THE OIL COMPANIES: IF THEY DON~T DRILL and PRODUCE OIL THEY DON~T EAT.
BLAME obama- epa- environmentalists and EXTREME PUNKS….LIBERALS
As a study of history, there is a pattern that never changes. When political leaders are ideologues, and filter all decisions through ideology, rather than common sense (or proven realities, if you prefer), the people suffer. I can list dozens of examples (outside of our current administration), but I don’t think it’s necessary.
That is why these decisions don’t make sense. Obama, and his lackeys, are all about ideology. And the pain and suffering that is inflicted on the people is justified by the ends they hope to accomplish, but never will.
I wish the American people would come to realize that the arsonist cannot be on the payroll as the fire fighter. That illustrates exactly what this administration is functioning as.
Arg…
They ain’t helping.
The recession IS fueled by high fuel prices; No way around it.
First of all, it costs more to transport these products.
Secondly; oil is used in everyday products people use that they cannot simply stop using. i.e. cooking utensils, computers & parts; Anything made of rubber, plastic, or resins; Too numerous to list.
Not using fuel cost in calculating a cost of living is just plain lying about the figure, and is a scam.
But, what do you expect from the Democrat Party?
Peak Oil is here, and that is why energy prices are going up.
Bullshit.
Source?
Just look at rising oil prices.
Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell, p. 190 (2000 edition)
I’m looking forward to the end of the month when the so called “summer driving season” starts.
Will the media talk about how people can’t afford gas or will they proclaim that Americans want to stay at home this summer?
The top things that would drop the price of gas (oil) by no less than 20% in one month. First stop the Federal Reserve from printing any more money. More dollars equals higher prices. Second remove all federal bands on energy production and refining this should be handled at the state level. Third remove the current federal taxes from fuel at the pump this would also include propane and home heating oil and replace them with a tax that is a direct mirror image of the profits by the energy companies. If the energy companies profits are so obscene than that same amount should be more than enough for Uncle Sam.
Gas and commodity prices are high because the fed cheapened the dollar. They cheapened the dollar by expanding the money supply as another one of their trillion dollar experiments in social engineering. The meme to stick is that gas prices are high because the fed cheapened the dollar. The non-drilling, low production, and 17 types of boutique summer gasolines requires more thinking than the average bumper sticker thinker can manage.
Forcing us to subsidize corn ethanol, set aside farming, and the green industry of solar, wind and electric cars should also go onto the chopping block. It is only fair.
“Gas Prices Are High Because the Liberals Want It that Way”
Far from the stupidest article to have appeared in PJM, but it will do for today.
Joseph: Far from the stupidest troll to appear on pajamas media, but it will do for today.
This article is nothing but bullshit.
All of your liberal friends will be the first ones to “see something, say something” and turn you in for nothing at all. They are liberals because they want YOU to pony up the tax money. Of course they want high energy prices. Higher prices mean higher taxes, and of course THEY will be the recipients of the tax money. We need to let all of our liberal friends know that they cannot be our friends anymore as long as they have their hands in our pockets. If the president would pick up the mantra “drill baby drill” we would see 2$ gas! But of course he won’t.
First…depending on the type of crude oil, a barrel (42 gal) produces anywhere from 4.2 to 19.4 gallons of gasoline representing from 5% to 30% of that 42 gal barrel of crude oil usable for gasoline production.
Crude oil is a global commodity in which oil production companies and refiners do NOT control the prices of the commodity. Likewise, the government CANNOT influence the raw and processing commodity pricing. The government however, can ONLY influence the retail pricing by added tax(s).
So I would sure like to see the author of this article elaborate on the premise of the article. If you do respond, PLEASE do not attempt to explain how domestic policies of the federal government restricting domestic production as the influence on retail pricing. ALL oil produced at the well head is traded on the commodities market! For example! The U.S. exports only a small amount of domestic oil to a single country…Canada, with all the rest of domestic oil used domestically. Explain, using your premise, how domestic produced oil influences lower prices at the retail pump for gasoline.
Misrepresenting the facts and politicizing them is not productive to any cause by any persons or parties!
Now, IF the U.S. were to produce all its crude oil available, for only domestic consumption and could remove it from the global commodities market, the facts may be quite different…but that is not the case!
Supply and Demand: by lowering the supply (the US being the world’s third-largest producer of oil before all this mess), the price goes up. Lowering production by 30% is a big deal.
Since that was a major point in the article, it seems rather clear that you didn’t even read it.
Another major point: devaluing the currency by printing WAY WAY WAY too much… when dollars are less valuable, they buy less of any given commodity (including oil).
That was also mentioned in the article.
So, if “Misrepresenting the facts and politicizing them is not productive to any cause by any persons or parties!” then maybe you should quit doing so.
Deoxy…Okay lets discuss supply and demand. Maybe you could take a look at the historic U.S. consumption charts and then scratch your head a bit. Then average out say the last 20 years. Then do the same same for U. S. import/export for the same period of time and scratch your head again. You should be able to note some interesting facts! Adjusted for current inflation supply and demand will be at approximately $60/BBL and pre 9/11 approximately environment $40/BBL. Now, other than flux in the USD valuation what accounts for the rest of the inflated cost…especially, when there is a slight decrease in the historic average on the domestic demand side?
There should be a discussion on the market manipulation of oil but it should be an informed discussion and not the age old populist and politicized discussion. The U.S. does NOT need foreign imports outside that available and online FOR PRODUCTION in North America. The reason we do import as we do from outside North America is because of decades old strategic national security policies that remain high classified as does the true North American reserves status. In spite of these policies American’s enjoy the lowest fuel prices and have the highest demand. Now tell me how that can be using your premise for argument.
While the number of private registered vehicles surpasses the number of licensed drivers and during the years of good economic environment, that gap increases, while the number of licensed drivers doesn’t flux significantly
+/-. Rural driving remains essentially static. Metropolitian driving remains essentially static. Holiday driving trends remain essentially static over time.
The point being, that if one gets past all the populist government technical data used for politicizing oil, you’ll find the real data to support significant market manipulation, not by the producer, or the government. Furthermore, OPEC and its members, though not all friendly to the U.S., has a very fair production and pricing matrix for every economic condition and maintains production versus supply and demand that protects their determined and rather modest and static profit baseline. Furthermore, it is signficantly in the interest of U.S. National security that the global oil producers use the USD for market currency. In 2000 OPEC dropped the USD in favor of the Euro. If that trend expands that is serious trouble for the U.S. and the USD.
All this said, your point of devalued USD is a relevent one but certainly not the most significant at the moment. Likewise, while supply and demand is an important component of production and pricing it is no longer the ‘driving’ force beyond $60 to $80/BBL oil under post 9/11 conditions. That is the simple facts and more well head and refinery production is NOT any solution to the real problem(s).
Um… I wish we did what Venezuela does. That is, the govt OWNS the oil companies. Think about it. Then the oil comp. profits go straight to the federal income instead of the pockets of millionjaries and billionaires. Also it would protect the environment. The Venezuelans pay the cheapest price for fuel in the world. Around 25 cents a gallon.
Yeah, that’s the ticket! Better yet, why not have the government own ALL the major industries? After all, history has pretty much demonstrated that when government owns and operates industries- the means of production- – it is principally noted for its superior managerial efficiency, fiscal prudence and sound business practices…. isn’t it?
As for ensuring that environmental protections meet the highest standards, one only has to look to eastern Europe to marvel at what Big Government ownership of industry has bequeathed the population there. I highly recommend a trip to the Czech Republic to visit the region known as the “Black Triangle.”
Re: Venezuela. Are you just reporting something you read, or have you been there lately? I was there last week. If the government is getting all of the money, why are there so many poor people? So many street children?
And now for facts. Venezuelan oil is heavy. Very heavy, and difficult to process. In fact, the majority (and possibly all of it) is refined here, in the United States, because we have the ability. Now how was the gas at 17 cents a gallon last week? It is heavily subsidized. The government owns all of the oil production because they nationalized (stole) it.
Sorry, Venezuela is not the example you were looking for.
Democrats and Opec: A Love Story….
http://wwwtwosetsofbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/democrats-and-opec-love-story-what.html
#15 Big D; reply: “once you’ve leased the land, you actually have to figure out f there is any oil underneath worth getting to…..” My experience in watching lease sales here in the Intermountain West is that the companies do their due diligence first before even bidding on land. If the geology isn’t promising, they don’t bid.
“You also have to deal with regulatory and environmental issues.” If an APD has been approved, then those issues have been covered. Also, the BLM, in advertising parcels in each quarterly lease sale, places stipulations that the companies know about before they bid; altho BLM routinely waives stips. My unanswered question was; why are approved APDs not being acted upon?
Some of these stipulations are due to sensitive wildlife issues. Big game hunting is also a major part of the economy in rural Colorado. If every available acre gets turned over to the companies, then what happens to the herds? BLM tries to cover the wildlife issues by NSO stips (No Surface Occupancy) meaning a company needs to drill directionally from another well pad instead of actually drilling on a lease parcel.
“How many were leased because all of the really good sites are off-limits by decree of the government…..” Perhaps you can provide some specifics, and again, my comments pertain to onshore leasing. I’m aware that leases were pulled that were right outside Arches National Park and Dinosaur Natl. Monument. Outdoor recreation is also part of our economy here in the West. Overall here in Colorado, we have over 4.6 million BLM acres under lease for O & G. and another 170,000+ acres set aside for development of solar energy. That seems an ample amount of available acreage.
“The raw acreage comparison just doesn’t make any sense…..” Actually it does, but one needs to study the issue in depth. As part of that, it’s also useful to review companies’ SEC filings to see how they treat undeveloped leases (hint: they’re assets on the balance sheet).
Liberalism is a cancer that is destroying our country, but the brain-washed left push ahead with idiotic ideas that will fail. The bigger problem is we are LOSING this war to liberalism and this will eventually be the downfall of the United States.
LIBERALISM DOES NOT WORK AND IT NEVER WILL.
Why doesn’t Obama tell the truth about alternative energy and how they are not economically feasible? He is a destructive individual and has caused extensive damage to our economy and country. But what the hell, let’s just keep doing what the dopey liberals want…It’s working soooo well, right? And let’s just keep spending like idiot Obama wants, we can just keep printing money.
Obama and his liberal supporters are using the high price of gas to help destroy this country. This ethanol crap has raised prices across the board. It makes gas cost more to buy and vehicles get less mileage using it. Ethanol does not even replace the extra diesel fuel that it takes to plant, harvest, and transport all that extra corn from which ethanol is made. A 50 lb. bag of livestock corn which was less than $5 3 or 4 years ago is almost $11 now. Wonder why food prices are up so much.
I recently found a gas station that sold pure gas, no ethanol, and bought a full tank of it. I got 1.2 miles per gallon better mileage with it. For me this means that I can go as far on 17 gallons of pure gas as I can on 18 gallons of ethanol. Ethanol costs me $4 a tank extra to use. Small engines and older vehicles fuel systems are damaged by 10% ethanol, 15% will damage even newer cars. Millions will have to be spent on maintenance if E15 is mandated by obama, mostly by working people who can’t afford it. Want to be replacing your $6-800 fuel pump every few months?
It may not seem like it, but high gas prices are a blessing. Personally, I hope the cost of a gallon goes to more than $5 a gallon. $6 or $7 would make me gloriously happy–and I’m a conservative to the bone.
Sky-high gas prices are Obama’s doom in 2012!
You know, I just really hate it when people spew facts that have no regard to the history or context of their relativity. As I recall, after Hurricane Katrina (Bush regime) that the price of gas for cars was around $4.00 per gallon also…so, let’s play fair. The big oil companies with their well paid lobbists control more of Congress than we would like. My only salvation is that I own some stock in Exxon and at least receive via the dividends, some meager rebate on what I pay at the pump!