Why Do Higher Gas Prices Anger You?

Think I'll just be moving to Montana soon....raise me up a crop of Dental Floss... gonna be a dental floss tycoon....

Bear


Bear, have you been doubling up on your meds again?

BBB

Probably not.

In my home town of Putnam Connecticut there ae two location that were once farms, each of about 50 acres. One is now a subdivisions the other has several high tech factories sitting on it. The soil is classified as Merrimac which in New England is a highly desirable agricultural soil. 100 years ago, c.1900, those two farm provided all the fresh vegetables consumed in the town (pop. 9000). That land is no longer available for agriculture, and that describes most of the northeast US which has the highest concentration of population in the US.

"Most of the northeast US"? That's certainly not the impression I get from looking at a map or a satellite picture.

I deal with areal photos all the time , the place, from the air, looks like a jungle. I also live there, the woods are full of houses. One of the interesting things about the northeast hardwood temperate forest that it coexists with large suburban developments. Everyone wants to live in their own sylvan glen. This is also a major potential disaster. If we were to get a major summer drought, which happens every 100 years or so, and that woods were to catch on fire, which also happens periodically, we would be in big trouble.

There's still a lot of farm land in Pennsylvania that isn't getting much use. We could use another industry to compete with coal. Also, maybe some of those subdivisions could be reclaimed as farm land when the inhabitants realize they are too far away from work and shopping to be able to afford to live there.

As to not having oranges and grapes in the winter time, I think you could still get them, but the prices would be higher. At any rate, we wouldn't starve to death for lack of oranges in February.

There's also the possibility of building semi-trucks that run on alternative fuel. Doesn't Willy Nelson have a tour bus that runs on biodiesel?

Reason #866 why not to move South.

Today, everyone in the South decided to buy gas. Somewhere amid this madness, a rumour began that the area would be sans gasoline for a couple of days, due to the gulf suppliers being out of business.

It was like the great depression, only with gas stations instead of banks.

Lines were swirling all around gas stations, people became irate, store owners pulled ****. (No credit cards or checks today, only cash.)

Gas in Atlanta over $5. a gallon.

It's not a rumor, Lash.

http://www.wral.com/news/4921361/detail.html

Holy guacamole, Batman!

I fell prey to the radio today. They were warning about prices skyrocketing so I filled up this afternoon for $2.85 a gallon.
The same station was charging $2.51 this morning.

We are being sodomized (lube extra) by the oil industry.

See my post at the bottom of page 22. Bear posted right after me and it appears to have been missed.

No, I saw it, but Lash's description sort of brought it home.

Suffice it to say that prices that rise this fast are not, NOT, what I support. Obviously anything this catastrophic is caused by disaster and one would hope it would go back closer to $3.00 a gallon as soon as the delivery problem was solved.

Of course the kids are thrilled to think the school buses may not be able to operate. They are saying they are trying to make sure emergency vehicles and hospital generators have all of the gas they need first.

Please do remind the teachers to assign homework over the internet. I'm sure your children would be disappointed if they didn't.

We've been paying lip service for 3 decades. But the SUV's roll off the assembly lines. Why? Because gas is cheaper now than it was in 1980 in real dollars. But the noose is tightening and moving freight by diesel is very uneconomical. We need to develop more rail lines and invest in the ones that are languishing now.

There is another thing you guys in the northeast are forgetting.
The MAJOR port of entry for natural gas into this country from overseas in New Orleans.
Guess where most of that NG goes.
To the northeast for home heating and other uses in wintertime.
Are you ready to pay more for it?

On a different note,a foreign country has offered aid and assistance.
I will post verbatim an e-mail I got,from an information site I subscribe to...

On August 31, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz called U.S. President George W. Bush offering condolences to the victims of the disaster and the people of the United States from the government and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the loss of life and destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.


King Abdullah affirmed that Saudi Arabia stands with the United States as it faces this tragedy, and is ready to provide assistance to mitigate its effects and consequences.


On Monday, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi stated that Saudi Arabia stands ready to immediately increase its crude oil production to 11 million barrels per day, and sustain that level to replace any market shortages resulting from the effects of Hurricane Katrina in order to stabilize world crude prices.

And here is a related piece,from...

http://www.saudiembassy.net/2005News/News/NewsDetail.asp?cIndex=5497

8/29/2005
Saudi Arabia ready to increase oil production as crude prices rise


Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi has declared that Saudi Arabia is closely monitoring the impact Hurricane Katrina may have on U.S. crude oil supplies, refining activity and oil prices. The Kingdom, he said, is in close contact with all its customers, ready to assist them with any shortfall in oil supplies; and reiterated its concern for the effect of higher oil prices on the global economy, particularly on the economies of the developing countries. He went on to state that Saudi Arabia stands ready to immediately increase its crude oil production to 11.0 million barrels per day, and sustain that level to replace any market shortages.

We talked earlier in the thread about natural gas home heating for places with long winters. I have news for you, it's already at the market limit. If it gets any higher there will be a massive revolt. People will convert to some other source.

But the supply has been seriously affected.
With less supply comes higher demand,thus higher prices.

By Philip Thornton, Economics Correspondent
Published: 01 September 2005
Oil prices fell yesterday after the US government offered to loan crude from its reserve to replace output lost when Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, sinking at least 20 oil rigs.

The move came as Opec, the producers' cartel, said it stood ready to pump extra oil to offset shortages from the scores of facilities put out of action by the storm.

In New York, prices fell 87 cents to end at $68.94 while London Brent crude firmed 10 cents to $67.67 a barrel, after dropping as low as $65.99. It hit a peak of $70.85 on Tuesday. Prices had risen close to record levels after it emerged 95 per cent of production in the region had been halted. Royal Dutch Shell said its Mars platform, which pumps 15 per cent of gulf oil output, was damaged, while the Louisana coast guard said at least 20 oil rigs had sunk or were missing.

The Energy Department said it had received three formal requests from US refiners for emergency oil loans and had already approved one. It said six more refiners had enquired about oil loans, but had not submitted formal requests.

Ben Bernanke, the White House's economic adviser, said the effect on the energy sector would be temporary. "There are some petroleum refineries that don't have crude and by allowing them to draw from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve they will be able to produce more gasoline," he said.

Mr Bernanke, who is seen as a leading candidate to succeed Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve, played down the impact on the economy. "As long as we find that the energy impact is only temporary ... my guess is that the effects on the overall economy will be fairly modest."

He said the reaction of the bond market to push interest rates lower indicated the main impact would be slower growth rather than higher inflation. "I think that is a vote of confidence in the Federal Reserve," he said. "People are confident that inflation will be low despite these shocks to gasoline and oil prices."

Analysts warned that the respite in oil prices could be short-lived. "This move will not solve the real problem - the oil cannot be refined," Dominic Bryant, at BNP Paribas, said. "Even before the loss of 1.8 million barrels per day of output refineries were struggling to keep up with demand. So increasing the crude supply will not overcome this bottleneck."

Nine refineries with a combined capacity of nearly 2 million bpd were shut and four more were running at reduced rates. Barclays Capital estimates between 20 and 40 million barrels of refinery throughput could be lost.

Oil prices fell yesterday after the US government offered to loan crude from its reserve to replace output lost when Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, sinking at least 20 oil rigs.

The move came as Opec, the producers' cartel, said it stood ready to pump extra oil to offset shortages from the scores of facilities put out of action by the storm.

In New York, prices fell 87 cents to end at $68.94 while London Brent crude firmed 10 cents to $67.67 a barrel, after dropping as low as $65.99. It hit a peak of $70.85 on Tuesday. Prices had risen close to record levels after it emerged 95 per cent of production in the region had been halted. Royal Dutch Shell said its Mars platform, which pumps 15 per cent of gulf oil output, was damaged, while the Louisana coast guard said at least 20 oil rigs had sunk or were missing.

Is anyone out there listening, the price of crude is academic. There are no real "market forces" at work here. The oil companies have us, and have had us, where they want us for over thirty years.

The price of crude oil as a bellweather of the price of refined product is a sham. The oil companies charge what they choose to charge. Evidence the 247% rise in oil company profits during 2004.

The worry is that rising oil prices will put pressure on every other facet of our economy causing inflation. Infaltion will cause the Fed to raise interest rates and viola, we have a re-play of the 1970's and "stagflation".

Sadly, many of our best minds are currently burying theirs and watching silently as wealth passes upward at an ever increasing rate. The destruction of our economy and the middle class could be the end of democracy as we have known it.

Perhaps, a re-read of the fall of the Roman Empire is in order.