Live Blogging 31
July 29th, 2004 - 8:49 pm
“…not the Saudi Royal Family.”
Kerry is talking about oil of course, and America’s foreign dependence.
See http://denbeste.nu on why that ain’t gonna change, no matter who the President is.
Kerry knows his supporters are from Lalaland.
yeah but when the core of your party in the audience gets their science from “art bell”, you gotta go with that line.
Ouch! What happened no “not alienating our allies” ???
No it isn’t. And promsing magic new technology ain’t gonna help any.
Heck, the man won’t even allow drilling in ANWR.
Voila l’homage a Michael Moore.
Dude, its gonna be cold fusion for everybody!!!!
$6/gallon at the pump will remove our dependence on foreign oil.
The question is not about oil supply, but oil supply AT THE PRESENT PRICE.
Raise the prices and watch people’s habits change. Raise the price of electricity and watch habits change.
we will also get new technology at higher gasoline/oil prices. The economy value proposition shifts as prices go up…
IS Kerry promising us dramatically higher gasoline prices?
“we will also get new technology at higher gasoline/oil prices. The economy value proposition shifts as prices go up…”
Andy is right. The Saudi-problem is NOT that they jack up oil /energy prices so high. The problem is that that they can easily LOWER the price, while INCREASING supply, whenever a new technology starts to look competitive. They’re the dominant supplier in a limited-market cartel, and they can economically crush new technology/competition.
The only solution is not economic, not technological. Impose a huge variable tarriff on Saudi oil, so the price to US users remains constantly high regardless of Saudi price cuts. New technologies will then compete to deliver oil or energy at the lower-than-import prices. Usually subsidies to domestic industry are preferable to tarriffs against imports, HOWEVER, since we aren’t wise enough to pick which of several competing technologies will eventually prove best, we control the market just enough to protect all domestic producers, while allowing enough freedom of markets to evolve a survivor.)
This isn’t news. John Anderson essentially ran on this idea in 1980 — with the fillip that the oil tax collected would ALSO offset Social Security expenses.
You ever hear of John Anderson?
(He’s never heard of you, either…)
Since 1980 we have LOTS of new technology. Gene splicing. Superconductive ceramics. Computer improvements out the wazoo, and the internet. What do we have for energy? Oil, gas, coal, fission, hydro, wind, solar … Is there a single damn thing on that list that President Jimmy Carter wasn’t thinking about — hell, that President TRUMAN wasn’t thinking about? Now, somebody start mining Star Trek’s dilithium crystals so we can extract the antimatter– that’d be a new technology to get excited over. But otherwise, invoking technology to solve the Saudi problem is a bit less effective, IMHO, than simple prayer. Because the laws of physics are inflexible — while God does the miracle thing at least once in a while…
Agree with Den Beste: oil dependence is a fact of life for the foreseeable future.
Saudi, or for that matter Arab/Persian, OWNERSHIP of that oil is very much NOT a fact of life we all have to settle for, however. We can take it whenever we want, and should remember that.
Agree with Den Beste: oil dependence is a fact of life for the foreseeable future.
Saudi, or for that matter Arab/Persian, OWNERSHIP of that oil is very much NOT a fact of life we all have to settle for, however. We can take it whenever we want, and should remember that.
Kerry won’t insult or alienate our allies!
Except, of course, for the Saudi Royal Family.