jetdiknight said:
OK....this title was not my own, but from the top news on Yahoo today.
I know we all hurt from this fuel crisis. But maybe we should look at how we had become so complacent with lower then normal fuel prices for the last decades...while the rest of the world paid much much more.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/104996/Why-Gas-in-the-U.S.-Is-So-Cheap
Out of 155 countries surveyed, US is ranked only number 111 in terms of highest fuel cost, at a relatively cheap $3.45 to $4.00. Of course, there are still 44 countries that have even lower fuel costs, but those countries either are oil producing countries or heavily subsidize the fuel costs as a social welfare tactic.
Maybe we should vote for the person who can lower fuel costs for us all ?
Either that, or move to Venezuela.
RIGHT?!? Chavez has lowered oil prices so low that the emerging middle class there is big into Harley Davidson motorcycles. Fuel is so cheap there now that the poor are even getting into cars. In Iran, fuel is roughly thirteen cents a gallon! Riots happened last summer in Tehran due to fuel jumping from eight cents to thirteen cents a gallon. Iran, the second biggest OPEC producers, cannot even refine their own product. They have to send out the oil to get back gasoline and diesel fuel. Now isn’t that crazy how this all works?! Furthermore you should note that a cartoon of Marlboros runs roughly a hundred dollars these days in Tehran.
This is the biggest reason, I feel, why fuel prices will go up in the coming years. If 100 million Chinese start to drive to and from where ever it is they drive to, fuel will go through the roof faster than we can predict. Furthermore, most the emerging poor countries use diesel and not gasoline as most people on this board know. Since we refine and export a lot of diesel fuel, I do not feel we will be a diesel-fueled nation anytime soon.
However, and sadly to some, I see us more as an electric nation. Plug in hybrids will workout will for most people in this country, the question is does the aging grid have the juice to power our cars as well as homes, businesses, etc. Where will the batteries go when the time comes to junk them? Etc. Etc. Etc. New technology, no issues, same problem... after all energy independence is hard to get overnight.
To bad most Americans want McDonalds like service. Not the crappy food but the fact that when we place an order (i.e. "AHH congress man, congress women, senator, or Mr. President can we get some cheaper fuel prices here please.") we expect it to be done in a rather short period of time. Frankly high prices have been something we are not use to but have been predicting for sometime now. The question on everyone else’s mind was when would it happen? Now that it is happening, anyone that didn’t think this could happen to us is naive. The greatest nation in the world needs to retool and fight the good fight.
Global warming, climate change, or whatever crap you want to call it may or may not be a real issue for some but energy independence is a real issue facing all of us today. O and guess what, drilling in places like ANWR may give us some oil; however, it sure as **** will not be making a dent into what we import. More domestic oil is like methadone for the heroin addict. Sure it decreases the person’s dependence on the initial drug itself but they still are very much addicted to the feeling and need it constantly in order to function, much like our economy. Perhaps this is a weak analogy but I’m sure you get the point.
The feeling of cheap fuel, cheap food, and cheap living are indeed escaping the rest of my fellow Americans. My kids will never know what it feels like to put twenty bucks into a fuel tank and go back inside to get change. The days of cheap oil are long over. We can use dirty energy consuming techniques like coal gasification or tar sands in Canada while we find a real source but no that’s not the complete answer. The same goes for food for fuel. Yea, isn’t really cute to know that farmers were the answer to our fuel problem all along, NOT. PSSH, I’m all for getting farmers more well desevered money for a job that does not pay in the millions without putting tens of millions into the operation. Big business love government welfare; nevertheless, I hate paying taxes so these profit making companies can get some more money to please their shareholders.
Local economies, in the not so distant future, will be the key to solving our nations energy problems. When business start doing business with each other two towns away from each other rather then 12,000 miles away in China, then and only then, can we maybe see an increase and decrease in certain aspects of American life. Perhaps there will be an increase in localized jobs, making it easier for an American to get a good paying living wage job. Furthermore, maybe products will decrease in price due to shorter distances of travel between producer and consumer. With all that said and done, maybe then and hopefully so, fuel prices can be somewhat more stabilized.
Sorry for the rant. So what good it will do about our fuel for our future? Nothing what so ever! Hey at least I got to vent….
[FONT="]Erik [/FONT]