I, for one, welcome our new socialist overlords.   

Glenn Beck to Big Oil,what should be said.

GLENN:  Enough.  We brought together the heads of big oil.  See that big head over there?  Yeah, he runs Shell.  That one?  That runs ExxonMobil.  Mr. Big oil, we're here to talk about the high price of gasoline.  How could it have possibly gotten this high?

Let me tell you what we've done here in congress.  We told you that drilling in ANWR is off limits.  We told you that drilling off the coast of Florida and California is off limits.  We told you, Mr. Big oil, that there wouldn't be any new leases for drilling in the Gulf while China and Venezuela and even Cuba pursued these leases and have just signed 100-year leases on the oil in the Gulf of Mexico.  We here in congress have promised, as all three presidential candidates have also promised, to introduce and pass in the next term a cap and trade legislation bill that will increase the price of gasoline according to the EPA by an additional $1.50.  Some people say it could be as high as $5 additional per gallon.  Order, order.  We have said that we're shutting down oil fields in Colorado.  We won't let you develop shale oil fields in several Western states.  And yesterday we passed legislation that would let us sue OPEC with the full understanding that they'll never retaliate.  Yes.  We have allowed environmental attorneys to sue you big oil fiends for future possible destruction of Alaskan Eskimo village which legal experts believe is the same strategy used to bring down big tobacco.  We're especially proud of our recent action to protect the polar bear and their habitat which just happens to be where the future oil deposits happen to be located.  We told you that you're making too much money and that we're looking at seizing any money that we consider windfall profits.  Yes.  We have allowed you to drill in some very small areas in Alaska while simultaneously creating very generous environmental laws which have tied up the very production we authorize through years of litigation after you spent the money on buying and setting up equipment.  We told you through our policies that we would not allow you to build a new refinery in over 30 years.  In fact, this great country, under our tutelage, has even reduced the number of operational refineries by half since 1982.  Order, order, order.  We have even told your potential competitors in the nuclear and hydroelectric industries that we would send the environmental lawyers after them if they even dared think about building a new plant or a new dam.  We've refused to fund or allow the deployment of coal-to-oil technology which has been around since the 1930s.  We've told you that you have to make different blends of gasoline, let states like California dictate what unique gasoline blends you have to make for them.  We will not reduce our federal gasoline tax.  We won't even consider reducing it for the summer months.  So Mr. Big oil, tell me why exactly are gas prices so high?  Order, order!

Stop.  That's what should be said.  Thank you.  That's what should be said.  Instead congress is going to bring big oil in front of them today and say, "Oh, oh, are you price gouging?"  .

There does seem to be a small problem with even expanding refineries in the continental U.S., hard to believe I guess.   This portion from a PBS interview, December 2007.



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Kevin,

Unfortunately I do not have access to the quotation from Maxine Waters at this time.  I personally heard her speaking to the gentleman from Shell when she said that.  I will be looking for a transcript tomorrow when I have the time.

Charlie,

"Big Oil" does not have to send those "huge sums of cash" to offshore accounts.  90% of their revenues come from off shore.  Also, most of our oil companies in the United States are not U S owned.  They were bought out in the 70's and 80's because of the regulations they were having to put up with in the US made it untenable for them to continue as American owned entities.  American Oil Corporation, the original "Big Oil"(Standard Oil, John D Rockefeller),  known as Amoco was bought out by British Petroleum (BP) as was Gulf Oil.  Shell Oil is a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, and has always been so.  ExxonMobil is primarily foreign owned.  Citgo is Argentinian.  ConocoPhillips and Marathon are about the only major American owned companies left.  This is not all inclusive obviously, but I think you can take my point.

the bending over we as American citizens are having to put up with comes from socialists and anti-capitolists in our government.  What I heard in the "hearings" today sounded more of Marx and Engels than it did of a free economic policy.

Jerry

Callico wrote on May 23^rd, 2008 at 4:37pm:



Callico wrote on May 24^th, 2008 at 1:55am:



I thought the most unmistakable bearing of what she said made very clear she speaks for herself.  

It definitely goes back to supply and demand

We SUPPLY the Congress and then FORGET to DEMAND that they do anything.

If you ask the average man/woman on the street who their rep or senator is - they don't have a clue, yet they keep electing these idiots and these idiots keep doing whatever they want because no one tells them differently.

Until the people of this country wake up and start DEMANDING their EMPLOYEES in DC start doing something NOTHING will ever get done and we'll keep getting screwed.

But that would take an effort and getting off our apathetic butts and getting involved and most people aren't willing to do that.

My 2 cents...

Hugs BD

Callico wrote on May 23^rd, 2008 at 4:37pm:


While there may be other hurdles, local or other agencies, financing, and dealing with oil companies, according to the EPA site an approval went through.


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The Saudi's were mum to the approach of investing but financing seemed to be attempting gov handouts, as of 2005.

So, on my way to work I stop at the gas station down the road to fill up.  Across the island from me is a guy filling up his brand new Hummer.  I notice that he left the engine running.

Seventy bucks later I pull off and continue to work.

On my return trip home, I notice that he's still there continuing to fill his vehicle.  Maybe I should have told him to turn his engine off.

Now, the first part of this story is true.  The second part is my poor attempt at an allegory. An allegory of us...filling our tanks, standing still and getting nowhere.

Conserve however you can.  Challenge yourself for one month to do everything possible, what ever you think possible, to power down.

Cheap oil is over.

Steve G

An interesting site from the US Government showing the weekly averages of fuel prices across the US, also showing the increase/decrease over the previous week.  The graph on the right shows the percentages of the price of gasoline/diesel and where it goes.

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

I don't think a 6% margin for distribution and marketing leaves a whole lot of room for gouging by the oil companies.  You will notice that at 11% for taxes the government is taking almost twice as much, and that is not even the profit level!  The Boston Tea Party was over a 2% tax.  We surely have forgotten a lot in the last 234 years!

Jerry

"--------- There is no short-term fix for gasoline prices. Prices are what they are as a result of rising global oil demand from India, China and a rapidly growing Middle East on top of our own increasing consumption, a shortage of “sweet” crude that is used for the diesel fuel that Europe is highly dependent upon and our own neglect of effective energy policy for 30 years.

Cynical ideas, like the McCain-Clinton summertime gas-tax holiday, would only make the problem worse, and reckless initiatives like the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep offer to subsidize gasoline for three years for people who buy its gas guzzlers are the moral equivalent of tobacco companies offering discounted cigarettes to teenagers.

I can’t say it better than my friend Tim Shriver, the chairman of Special Olympics, did in a Memorial Day essay in The Washington Post: “So Dodge wants to sell you a car you don’t really want to buy, that is not fuel-efficient, will further damage our environment, and will further subsidize oil states, some of which are on the other side of the wars we’re currently fighting. ... The planet be damned, the troops be forgotten, the economy be ignored: buy a Dodge.”

No, our mythical candidate would say the long-term answer is to go exactly the other way: guarantee people a high price of gasoline — forever."  Tom Friedman, NYT. He goes on to say the it takes this kind of thing to get oil and Detroit on our side.

Hard to argue with it from here.

Charlie

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Besides, it's North Dakota for crap sake.

Even wildlife refuse to live in North Dakota.

Charlie wrote on May 28^th, 2008 at 10:39pm:


He can drive whatever the fuck he wants!

I NEED to drive my one ton to make a living!