Fixing the Price of Oil

Must have slipped all of those politicians minds this simple fact: between federal and state taxes, nearly a quarter of what you and I pay at the pumps goes into their hands. My own state senator Arlen "Magic Bullet Theory" Specter wants to impose a tax on oil company execs who are making money. Apparently, Arlen Specter is a maroon. Has he never heard that nobody, anywhere, ever absorbs higher costs- except the consumer, who gets the increase passed on to them.

The best way to fix our oil problem is a multi-pronged approach: conservation, increases domestic oil production, and researching energy alternatives. Punitive taxes are stupid.

It\'s all just a big political circus. The US government has no power on the price of oil. Anything they do will be of very short term effect and will screw up other things in the system. This whole debate is just empty rethoric. Their last deperate mititary attempt at solving the problem has failed as the cost of it seems to be more than will ever be recuperated. The last resort I would guess is to kiss the feet of oil rich countries and try to get a pardon for being international bullies.

Hey maybe we\'re gonna get that lumber and beef money after all.

It won't solve anything major, but it might go somewhere with developing some trust with the populace.

What about creating a central reporting location for gas prices? One mandated by the government, available to the public, similar to GasBuddy. If a station wants to change it's price, all it needs to do is report that to the reporting agency and then raise the price. Any consumer could log onto a website and compare all the prices available and then shop where gas is cheapest by having perfect pricing information. Gas stations get some of their advantage by being in control of that information. GasBuddy helped the consumer, but isn't updated frequently enough or with a great deal of specificity. I'm not sure the end expendature on the program would add up to the cost savings to consumers, but the good will might be worth something.

Eh, just thinking outloud.

Offshore oil drilling, currently banned off Florida in the oil-rich eastern Gulf of Mexico (ironically enough Cuba will soon be drilling 45 miles from Florida) will not only yield millions of barrels of oil, but is less environmentally damaging (oil spills occur from transportation) and has an unexpected windfall: offshore oil rigs act as artificial reefs that causes an explosion of fish and other marine wildlife. Take Louisiana. About 15 years ago some wells played out off Louisiana and the oil companies were about to dismantle the rigs, but fishermen shouted "NO!!" Louisiana produces on third of America’s seafood, and 85 percent of Louisiana's fishing trips involve fishing around these structures. There’s 50 times more marine life around an oil production platform than in the surrounding Gulf bottoms. Louisiana produces one-third of America’s commercial fisheries–because of, not in spite of, these platforms. Talk about'cher win-win.

Neither side has the courage to take the steps that need to be done. They both want to point fingers at the oil companies, when the real issue is that we simply demand more than can be easily supplied. They need to address this by promoting alternatives that make sense, and by taking steps to lower our actual usage. But those things won't be cheap (will probably be more expensive than $3/gallon gas) and would require that they have some frank discussions with the citizens about the true nature of the problem.

Probability of this happening, instead of merely more political pandering and posturing? Near zero, based on what I have seen so far.

RR

OPEC apparently doesn't think the current pricing has anything to do with a shortage of supply and state that it is directly related to geopolitical tensions in oil producing countries (Nigeria, Iran, etc) The Saudi Oil Minister said

"You know, and I know, that the reason the price is where it is is not from a shortage of supply."

Interesting...

This is just sick. All hail the American Dream come to fruition. At Americans' expense. How nice. Nice to know my gas money is at least helping out those who need it.

On a different note, why isn't there a bigger push for people to conserve. How many of you commuters in traffic are in the car by yourself? How many of the cars around you in traffic have only one person in them? Closer to 1 in 10 or 8 in 10? Are the politicians so worried about reelection that they afraid to even suggest that Americans try (gasp) to conserve even a little bit?

Why do people want a car that can drive 150 miles an hour? Where can you drive that fast in America except on race tracks? (And if you are racing around on race tracks, shut your traps about the price of gas). One of the biggest complaints I hear again and again about hybrids is "they aren't powerful enough." Powerful enough for what? Planning on a high speed chase in the near future? Is it that important that you can go from 0 to 60 in .0002 seconds while you are idling on the highway (or really ever as long as it isn't ridiculous)?

Did anyone here know that cruise ships calculate gas mileage as gallons per mile and not the other way around. Those ships go about six inches (no joke) for every gallon of gas. And you know what? The cruise industry is booming right now. More people are going every year. I am not saying this is bad, I like cruises myself, but what does it say about us that in the midst of an "oil crisis" we are burning 10,000 gallons of fuel to travel a mile?

...end of rant...