Posted on 10/28/2005 3:21:21 PM PDT by Crackingham
They don't, of course when the temp is well below zero, the heat runs constantly anyway!
>I guess no one lived in Vermont or New Hampshire or Alaska
>before our almighty Federal Overlords deemed it safe for
>habitation. How did our ancestors survive in cold climates
>before the human right of heat subsides was invented? The
>world may never know...
Well way back then there were differences. People were off grid, relying on coal furnaces and wood burning stoves. Options that for many, especially apartment dwellers are not available now. Many dwellings at this point can only be heated though utilities and even for those which are not the purchase of a coal furnace or wood burning stove is likely to be beyond the means (in the short term) of the people who would have difficulty paying bills this winter.
Average home sizes were also smaller than they are today making them easier to heat and the society as a whole was not brought up on climate control. People in cold climes stocked more sweaters, blankets, etc...
Finally in the era of well water, pipes were not an issue.
So while you are quite right that people survived in the past in those climes, changes have occurred in the way we as a society live. When the whole infrastructure is up and running, fully functional, we live on average far better than our forebearers. But when breakdowns occur we can find ourselves in far worse shape.
Example: My home in Houston. New construction and yet in the era of climate control the builders are inclined to cut corners in ways that if that same climate control were unavailable the home would be far less comfortable than a home built 50 or 60 years ago. The windows are single paned, without screens (and no ready way to retrofit them), as a cost saving measure but that makes opening them in perpetually buggy Houston a difficult proposition. Why was it built that way? The builders in Houston don't believe that people would want to use anything but climate control.
I don't think we have any evidence that new refineries will be built.
Well we actually agree on the foolishness of taxing the oil companies and in any event the increase in energy prices will not affect me in any substantial fashion. As you might imagine in Houston the summer cooling bills are higher than the winter heating bills for I would imagine just about everyone down here, just about every year. The issue is truly one for those living further north not Houstonians.
There have been whisperings up north though of potential problems- there was a better article that I saw maybe a month or two ago but here is one
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/051026power.shtml
I am familiar with the funds sponsered by the energy companies but wonder as to the solvency of them given the increased energy prices and the likelyhood that more families will be applying for assistance.
How can the market work, if there is no competition?
And face it, there isn't real competition in the oil market. You have OPEC, which is completely non-competitive, and a few big oil companies. That's it.
Gregg's idea is a bad one, I'll grant you that. But simply saying 'let the market work' at every single turn, when there is no competition, is naive. We are not talking about the price of something that is uncontrolled like grapes or tooth brushes.
Obviously you are one of the liberal reporters from the Gitmo press conference where they asked if the lack of A/C for terrorists constituted a violation of their human rights.
For you think that a TV is necessary to prevent death, just as heat is necessary in winter to prevent freezing to death.
And liberal nut-job reporters think that A/C is necessary in the summer for survival as one might 'sweat to death'.
I think we should tax the senate and their spending spree 300%
What do you want to regulate and how? There is competition, but just not enough of it. We can't do much about OPEC. They need the money as bad as we need the oil.
Well as I said, prices here are back to what they were before Hurricane Katrina. Iraq is still a factor in high energy futures. Those prices dropped some after the constitution vote. I think those prices will drop some more after the December elections.
ISO New England is concerned about the length/breadth of peak cold in Jan/Feb. But they can handle the power loads otherwise. Today's peak load for the New England grid is just over 16,000MW. In July I've seen it go as high as 25,000. http://www.cvx.com/java/NELoadGraph.htm
As of Friday Oct 28, the Gulf of Mexico is producing 32% of its normal oil output and 45% of its normal gas output. Three refineries in LA and one in Texas City, TX are still shut down. But there's still two months for the oil folks to improve those numbers.
People around here (mostly stuck-on-stupid liberals) always gripe about high prices on necessities, yet they always seem to have money for cigarettes, booze and lottery tickets. It's difficult for me to find limitless compassion for people who refuse to help themselves by prioritizing their expenses, and then blame everyone else. Yes there are truly needy people out there. But I think most of them just have bad budgeting skills, and the states make billions in tax dollars by encouraging such behavior.
Well I'm an eternal optimist. Plus I know things are never as bad as the MSM tells us. They're always out to scare and disinform people anyway. I have electric heat. I'd prefer not to but I like the apartment I'm at right now. Last February my peak electric bill was $112 for 34 days. If push comes to shove I know how to turn a light switch off.
Lie all you want, but your posts show that I have hit the mark.
You are simply too ashamed to admit your beliefs.
You have been on these threads before, haven't you, under a different screen name? I remember a similar argument, totally without merit, made from one who used a dinosaur moniker before. Was it you? However, you were banned for some reason if I am not mistaken. If I am mistaken, I apologize in advance, but after the arguments you made, your moniker, and past history, I can't help but come to this conclusion.
Judd Gregg? Why doesn't he just give his $350 million Powerball lottery winnings to the poor, to help pay their heating bills, instead of advocating tired, old Carter lunacies?
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2005/10/was_jimmy_carte.html
Actually, Carter imposed the Windfall Profits Tax, which only exacerbated the gas shortages ... Carter's windfall profits tax was enacted on 2 April, 1980. ...
Nope, I've never been banned. There is a Freeper named Godzilla running around, but he's(?) not been banned either.
I would have used 'Godzilla' but by the time I discover the website, it had already been taken.
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