Posted on 08/31/2005 9:20:44 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
Let's not blow this oil debate out of proportion
Take a country already reeling from rising prices at the gas pump. Mix in a horrific hurricane certain to pinch the oil marketplace even further, and the recipe is complete for overreaction on a grand scale.
America's love for fossil fuels has been a subject of controversy for a long time. A war involving the part of the world that supplies much of the oil we use creates a perfect environment for emotion to consume rationality.
So with the stars perfectly aligned for a meteor shower of fallacies about oil, I offer an invitation to bring our debates back to earth.
To start, we have to dissuade politicians, Democrat and Republican, from raiding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I'm sorry, but expensive gas is not a strategic emergency. It's a personal financial burden for many, but words have meaning, and "strategic" pertains to national security issues, not the pain of a $50 fill-up.
Next, we need a crash course in what makes oil prices go up in the first place. Some of the factors are things we can do something about. Our failure to drill and refine more domestic oil is a national shame. As a nation, we scarcely deserve to whine about our reliance on foreign suppliers when we have so steadfastly refused to do the things that would increase U.S. oil output.
But the biggest influence on world oil prices right now is about demand, not supply. After a summer of fairly normal vacation driving, Americans are only now starting to opt for more hybrid cars and public transportation. But no shift in our habits will outweigh the biggest oil story on the planet – the exploding economies of China and India, creating new market demand for oil ...
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Oh yeah, where is all that sweet IRAQI crude that the left promised would be a result of this war?
It is being used to enrich Halliburton. /DU mode
Ping for oil/gas price discussion. Demand has, as oldleft said, increased margins. It seems the industrialization of India and China has not only given us cheap goods at WalMart, but it has also driven up the price of gas.
If people really desire alternate energy sources to be developed we need to set a minimum price for oil that is higher then the current cost of alternate technologies. New technologies are not going to have a chance if the price of oil fluctuates between $20-30 and $70+ a barrel. No one will make the deep pocket investments necessary if the profits won't be there.
We could set a minimum price of oil at say $50 per barrel (the price is much higher now but I think it will drop eventually). If the price drops under $50 a tax kicks in to make up the difference. At the end of the year the amount taxed is sent back to us in the form of a tax rebate. We would in fact be subsidizing these alternate technolgies but that's the price you pay if you want to change things faster.
ping
He could fill them all for less than one of ours!
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