How is that Prius sounding now? I never calculated this rate of inflation. I think that we have definitelly seen the last of price per gal < $3.00. Maybe even $4.00. We are entering the world of Europia.
In a political attempt to appease the voters, dems summoned up all the oil execs. This is a fake facade to appear hardline against rising prices. The dems know that the tax cuts will not be voted down. Of course it will appear like they tried but the evil republicans are to blame.
"Exxon paid $11 billion in taxes last year. Adding another $1 billion to the ticket would probably mean more pain at the pump. But the plan won’t pass, especially since Democrats themselves don’t agree on it. Not only would it be bad for oil producing states, but the tax revenues would be spent, not used to reduce the deficit."-Foxnews
I'm pretty much regurgitating the article from foxnews.com (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/12/lots-hot-air-gas-end-high-prices/). Forgive me for my lack of originality. I just wanted to get the ball moving.
Picture front: Lcpl Goekler and Cpl Dean
Picture back: Cpl Hassinger and Cpl Edwards
Photographer: Lcpl Robinson
What a job we had. Pumping fuel. Wow. But it was far better than what I am doing now and will probably be the best job I will have had. My income peaked out a couple of months before the economic downturn and probably won't recover for quite some time, if then.
ReplyDeleteI have been noticing these ultra-small cars on the road. American roads are starting to be populated by little pieces of crap like one would find in Europe or Japan. It is rather sad that government policy is forcing Americans to downsize and do with less. I personally would be driving a pickup if it weren't for the high gas prices. Although there are many forces behind the rise in oil prices like the increase in demand from developing economies--the BRICs, the U.S. government's policy on drilling and montary policy are a big factor behind high oil prices and I find it hard to accept that the government is forcing people into these crappy little electric cars. Not something to be proud of. This is exactly what the government is doing, whether it is on purpose or not, by hamstringing domestic oil production while at the same time loaning Brazil billions of dollars to drill for oil here in the Gulf Coast and devaluing the dollar.
I heard on a show that for every barrel of oil an oil company makes about 10cents in profit while the government gets 40cents in taxes. I know this is not the exact numbers but the ratio is about the same. Also this is from some oil comapany executive before a Senate hearing: " MULVA: For our company we earned $11.4 billion last year and we paid $8.3 billion in income taxes as well as $3.1 billion in other taxes. So our total worldwide taxes paid actually equaled our income, so any fair-minded person would likely agree that we pay our full share." http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_051211/content/01125108.guest.html
The price of oil is going down and will probably be lower this summer due to supply and demand.
Is that a photo of a post apocyptic Mad Max world (ie a world where Obama's policies are followed to the letter) where fuel supplies are controlled by competing militias?
ReplyDeleteI pretty much agree with Jeff. Yes, the Prius is looking better (though I think the price would need to get up to $6/gal for a purely economic justification). Yes government policy forcing customer choice. Setting up a phony situation that forces us to make the economic decision government wants us to make.
Drill, drill, drill. The price will come down and all our standards of living will get higher.
That's not to say that our government is totally responsible for the higher costs. Rising economic production and prosperity in China and India are driving the price up too. This is an inevitability of capitalism being embraced around the world. We shouldn't begrudge the citizens of those companies, I mean countries! the success we have enjoyed. It is why China is going whole hog trying to build plants for energy production (primarily through coal, but also many other means) and working to have influence in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree with your statement that capitalism is being embraced around the world. It is not. What is being embraced is STATE-CAPITALISM. An oxymoron. It is just a new name for facism.
ReplyDeleteAnd China's economy is in danger of overheating. Hyperinflation is a possiblity over there.
India and China particularly are far, far more capitalistic than they were in the past, and their economic dynamism is exacerbating the shortages of raw materials in the world. This is fact.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the growing economies of the BRIC nations are definitently a cause of the rising oil and commodity prices, along with the devaluting of the dollar and other government policies. China certainly is far closer to being a capitalist nation than it was, but that does not mean that it is actually a capitalist system nor does it mean contiued progress towards a capitalist system. They have serious structual issues with their economy that could lead to overheating. America is not even a true capitalist system and hasn't been for quite some time.
ReplyDelete