Posted on 11/01/2007 8:47:24 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
Good questions. China is running like a bull in a China shop(pun) They do not use social and industrial or economic checks and balances
By way of comparison we hear about ructions in Iran over rising prices for gasoline.
Gasoline is heavily subsidized there and as a result, people use a lot of it. Of course, when something is artificially price-capped that means there’s no incentive to make more of it. Which is why Iran’s own refining capacity is so limited. Why build refineries when there’s no opportunity to make money at it?
We have been reading about China’s exploding appetite for energy, I gather subsidized fuel prices have everything to do with that.
I’m having difficulty how a “War for Oil” would work in the here and now. The world price is the world price whether it comes from halfway round the world or your own back yard.
The Imperial Japanese invaded the Pacific because the embargo physically prevented them from buying oil anywhere at any price.
How’m I doing so far?
Well said.
$.64/liter = $2.42/gallon.
Take away just some of our extra taxes placed on gas, and you’ve got the same rate here, also without subsidizing.
I thought it was running more like a Chinese Fire Drill.
And remember the exchange rate, per capita income and most costs are still much less over there.
Cheers!
Lets not make this a pissin contest ;0)
It just like apartments in New York City. Control rents to “help” the poor and guarantee a shortage of affordable housing. The flip side of this is that the better educated more prosperous will snap up those subsidized/controlled apartments (rent control is just a subsidy paid by the landlord to the tenant in the form of foregone rent). They are much more proficient at gaming the system than the poor. Therefore, you wind up not only with a shortage, but with the poor being victimized by this shortage much more than if the product/housing was decontrolled and supply was allowed to increase. NYC’s solution, billion dollar subsidies to renters and billion dollar subsidies to builders. Complete insanity that is being replayed around the globe in different circumstances but with similar results.
Its all fun and games till someone gets hurt ;0)
China needs to perfect the amorphous silicon solar cell, since they have no electrical distribution grid. They now are the largest producers of such cells in the world, and this is their only “out” when it comes to energy. Copper for a grid is just as scarce as oil...
Look to China for solar power.
I saw an african fellow lamenting that the UN and do gooders force Solar energy on them and it isn’t as efficient as conventional energy.
The fellow connects the dots and asks: “How can we run a Steel Mill on solar panels”?
And you are right, Copper is scarce
A thousand watts per square meter... When you consider that ALL energy except nuclear is solar in it’s origin, it makes sense... The big advantage is that the power can be produced and used without a distribution network...
“A thousand watts per square meter...”
Really? Thats serious energy.
The poor fellow I told you of ewas a doctor who ran a clinic. he had 2 panels in the roof and all he had in the clinic on electricity was a refrigerator(with vaccine inside) and a single compact fluoresent light bulb. He lamented that he could not run both off the solar panels and had to shut the clinic at nightfall.
1000 watts is a lot of power
1 square metere of panels = like 100 volts x 10 amps like enough to power half an american home.
Still, impressive for solar panels
I heard or read somewhere recently that Chinas demand for petroleum is growing by 10 percent per year. Maybe someone can extrapolate that out to what percent it will increase the cost of fuel annually.
We need to know the price elasticity for that -- you just inspired *another* vanity.
Cheers!
Cheers!
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