Drilling for Oil in the Bakken formation

[sailaway21]

The point remains that oil is underpriced enough to spur further R&D in alternative fuels research. The other alternative is the type of program that got Jimmy Carter dis-elected from the presidency; massive federal spending on dubious energy projects. And the basic axiom there is that, were it so laden with profit potential and long term viability, private industry would be doing it already. Only government is capable of spending trillions on a pig in a poke. Private enterprise usually stops after a few millions are wasted.

CD should feel free to invest as much as he wishes into alternative energy and research. There are actual investment funds that do so. They don't make any money but they'll invest your's for you. But that's not what CD is really after; he's after my tax dollars for Uncle Sam to disburse to some chosen companies with potential in the eye's of government. CD, I've got news for you. Been there, done that. Check out the decade of the 1970's under "how not to run government".

[retclt]

The day before yesterday diesel was 4.15 at the Texaco a block from the house. I passed it on 1/4 tank. I'm empty now and in two days the price has risen to 4.45. I have really cut back on driving and I ALWAYS borrow the wife's hybrid when available. I point this out (again) because if something doesn't change really soon we are ALL going down. The price of diesel affects everyone . . . Farmers to delivery trucks to trains to freighters to . . . . . . . . . . .

I have cousin's in the trucking industry who are about to be forced out of it.

... and Cam . . .you might consider putting off the RV thing for awhile. You can buy a new decked out Escalade and tour the country staying in 5 star hotels for less.

[Zanshin]

retclt - just remember that the types of fuel prices you are seeing in the USA have been around in Europe for many years and life still goes on.

[retclt]

Originally Posted by Zanshin

retclt - just remember that the types of fuel prices you are seeing in the USA have been around in Europe for many years and life still goes on.

True . . . but not life as we knew it. A guy in Europe on my rung of the social ladder lives in an apartment and may not even own a car. I (for now) own all kinds of cool stuff. I like owning a sailboat. We have the oil. Our leaders won't let us drill for it. If the Clintons hadn’t cut off Alaska 10 years ago things might be different. If our leaders hadn’t sold us out years ago (to China) things would be different.

[sailaway21]

Originally Posted by Zanshin

retclt - just remember that the types of fuel prices you are seeing in the USA have been around in Europe for many years and life still goes on.

Without getting into the argument of why the countries of Europe tax fuel so highly nor the relative productivity of the US vs Europe it is safe to say that the US economy can tolerate substantially higher energy costs and still continue to function quite well. The costs are inflationary and will make certain things more expensive, but probably only over the near term, much as we saw in the 70's and 80's. I'm not hearing anybody expressing amazement that we've had twenty five years of under-valued oil prices. The energy crisis of the 70's spurred the development of a great deal of oil production-so much that it became tough to make money in oil. The American and world consumer were the beneficiaries of it.

By all lights, according to common wisdom, the Europeans should be suffering even more than we are given the run-up in prices. They are not suffering so much as a good part of the run-up here is not due to oil itself, it is due to the weakness of the dollar. Indexed against the Euro the increase in price looks far less threatening.

The problems in the transportation industry are just those same problems that everyone has magnified. Increased fuel costs will have to be passed on to consumers. Until freight rates rise, truckers will be suffering. What normally happens in these cases is that alot of the lower tier, less sound, trucking firms who have not made themselves financially solvent during the era of cheap fuel go under. To the extent that many of these are single rig owner operators it is lamentable. Those of them who've planned for such a rainy day may well park their rig and work another job until freight rates make trucking appealing again.

The largest current energy problem we have is nothing less than a weak dollar. There is no shortage of oil, although the US refinery situation exacerbates any hiccups in production. In another thread, the market crash thread, someone asked me about commodities being an international standard of exchange, much like gold used to be. Due to the dollar's weakness we are currently in an era where oil and food are much more the unit of exchange rate than the dollar is. When you are forced to buy your food and oil in dollars you're going to get a lot less food and oil. If food and oil become significantly more costly they de facto become the medium of exchange, in essence replacing the dollar. Strengthening the dollar will go a long way towards alleviating the current situation. Of course, the powers that be seem to be more concerned with Wall Street than Main Street.

[camaraderie]

Since this is about oil and a lot of people seem to be picking on our oil companies for increases in prices and record profits...it is instructive to look at one of the graphs used at this weeks "lets beat up big oil" hearings in congress. Before you look....a little quiz...what is the biggest oil company in the world?













Surprised?

[Rockter]

The UK government... the glitzy New labour, led by the tax, borrow and spend Gordon Brown... tried taxing fuel until our ears popped. Some 60% of the cost is tax... now £1.20 a litre at the pump, that's $2.40 a litre, close to $9.20 a US gal
Two weeks ago, they got slaughtered at the local government elections, and 2 days ago got slaughtered again at the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. They plan another 2p a litre tax hike in the Autumn. There wil be a revolution if they try that one.
The British have had enough of them, and their savage fuel taxes.

Use a little less there Americans, and the price will soften. If you drive what I drive... all of you... fourth from bottom...

diesel cars with VED and emissions ratings

... you won't need to import any oil at all.

I got 83 mpg at 55 mph from that little lady (dry roads).... that's about 69 mpg(US). It's not that small a car, and it is fast enough when you need it.

I must sound very pious, but the vast majority of our car driving is alone, and this lady really costs very little to run.

On one road test in the British press (Jeremey Clarkson), he claimed 114 mpg(UK), 95 mpg(US), though he must really have been nursing the motor.

I have no formal interest in SEAT or Volkswagen.

Use less, Americans. Do it right, supply yourself with your own oil, and you can dump the lot of them, and their foreign oil.

[sailaway21]

Congressional grandstanding produces what? Opinion: Mark Steyn: Too bad your car can't run on Congress' hot air | oil, change, nopec, government, production - OCRegister.com

[cardiacpaul]

dayyyyum, and I thought I was choppin' high cotton when I get 13 mpg in the nazi squad car, and 16.5 in the Van.

[Freesail99]

I am not sure if this was covered, but most commodities when traded, you must invest 10% of what your "buying". With oil you only need to invest 5%. Changing some of those number would help.