I'm getting SO SICK of gas prices and car taxes!

[greasemonkeyok]

"It's also the most in-your-face because it's a weekly or more thing whereas NG is a monthly bill, or in my case LP which is a yearly bill."

My point exactly, you gripe about vehicle fuel prices because it is easy to point at the final sales amount on the pump and say "ain't it awful." That requires little or no basic understanding of the energy industry, energy usage by industry, cost of infrastructure, cost of exploration, production, transportation, refining, etc.

I'll also admit that my 10-year-old VW diesel does not appeal to the reptilain brain that Detroit exploited for nearly a century. But it doesn't propel me into making uneducated statements about fuel costs either.

If you are not familiar with Detroit's exploitation of the reptilain brain in marketing, educate yourself. The side effects linger on today.

 

[2manyrocks]

Generally the Federal Reserve determines how much money is in the system, not the Treasury. The Treasury prints money but only currency, not the really, really big sums of money created electronically by the Feds.

Tim and Ben.

Standing in line for gas--that was the 1973 oil embargo. History test: what set off the 1973 oil embargo?

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Geo-political events, specifically US support of ****** in the Yom Kippur war.

And that little episode should have been a word to the wise for the US energy consuming public, but it wasn't.

 

[varmint]

What fun! This thread has lots of facts, some truths, some good observations, lots of BS, and everyone's opinion. With limited oil, growing world demand, and the problems of climate change (opps- sorry to open that door...) I think we're just going to have to get used to ever increasing fuel costs, and plan accordingly. Diesel Land Rover- good idea!

 

[Cat_Driver]

For those of you who believe big oil and the government are directly responsible for the price of gasoline being $4.00/gallon in the US I ask:

Let's look at the facts and this will satisfy you "myopic" comment.

Let's go with your premise that the Government has no "responsibility" for high oil prices.

# 1 FACT the government is making more money that they ever have with high fuel prices now that's a simple fact no one can dispute.

#2 When any entity is raking in that kind of money why would then NOT want to continue raking in that money. Another undisputed FACT.

#3 It's a FACT that if we were drilling all the oil in this Country the price would drop. FACT. The more product there is the lower that price is, simple economic. The argument that Europe or someone else will pay more is a moot point because other Countries can only take in so much. NO COUNTRY has unlimited storage capacity. FACT.

President Bush tapped the oil reserves and the prices plummeted FACT...oh wait that fact shows the Government can effect oil prices.

FACT, the Government ALLOWS traders to but millions of dollars worth of oil futures and they only have to put up pennies on the dollar. FACT the government could stop this. If a trader wants to buy a barrel of oil, then they pay full price THAT DAY.

FACT if the Government can take over GM and hand it over to the UNIONS then the Government can direct how much oil gets exported and how much stays here.

FACT the Government stopped drilling in the Gulf yet allowed China to drill in the same Gulf.

Fact - Obama gave BILLIONS to a foreign oil company to fund their drilling operations and told them we would be their best customer. Obama could have done that in the Gulf but refused.

So you can see these are simple facts showing how the Government is in control of oil prices directly in many ways.

The argument of "if we drill today we won't have that oil for 10 years" well they have been saying that since 1974. That almost 50 years of using the 10 year old excuse.

LAST FACT, there is no oil shortage anywhere on the planet. In fact the polar caps have more oil than .....it was 90 billion barrels, representing an estimated 13 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil resources.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/En...No-oil-shortage-OPEC-says/UPI-83251298902309/

http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...e-great-polar-oil-rush-has-begun-2349789.html

Time for people to wake up, read it and see there is no oil shortage.

http://www.akdart.com/oil4.html

Oil production in North Dakota has surged to more than a half-million barrels per day, now surpassing the production levels of OPEC member Ecuador. North Dakota's 6,300 wells produce enough oil to displace U.S. imports from foreign suppliers such as Iraq and Colombia, according to the state's Oil and Gas Division.


According to the Institute for Energy Research, we have more than 1.4 trillion barrels of oil that is [sic] technically recoverable in the United States with existing technology. The largest deposits are located offshore, in portions of Alaska and in shale deposits in the Rocky Mountain states. So the United States has more recoverable oil than the rest of the non-North American world combined. The Heritage Foundation says this is enough to fuel every passenger car in the nation for 430 years. ... When you add in recoverable resources from Canada and Mexico, the total recoverable oil in North America exceeds 1.7 trillion barrels. "To put this in context, Saudi Arabia has about 260 billion barrels of oil in proved reserves."

 

[Loudo]

It's the same here in Oz, I paid $6.20 per gallon ($1.56 per liter)for diesel yesterday and our gas is even more expensive at least $6.80 per gallon($1.70 per liter). It looks like it's going to get worse when their bloody carbon tax comes in. Methinks we will all be walking soon unless we can ride a horse or a push bike.

 

[2manyrocks]

Geo-political events, specifically US support of ****** in the Yom Kippur war.

And that little episode should have been a word to the wise for the US energy consuming public, but it wasn't.

Absolutely. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis

At the time, the media pointed fingers at everyone, but I don't recall any of them pointing to the actual cause, and years later, many still don't know what actually set off one of the most fundamental economic changes in history. It wasn't economics. It was as you said, geo-political events.

Before 1973, the auto makers were building some huge, inefficient cars, and the economic effects of the embargo nearly put the auto industry under. Not so many years later, the auto makers went to building large, profitable cars again--and then gas prices did them and the economy in again.

So the finger pointing has resumed, much like 1973, and I'm wondering if simple economics explains it all or if we'll be finding out more about the real causes later on.

 

[LazySusanFarms]

NG is cheap because it is drilled in dollars, produced in dollars and purchased in dollars. It never leaves our shores so a devaluing dollar doesn't affect it. We need to use more NG and less oil.

I thought all farmers were great recyclers? I just bought a used Ford F150, one owner for $8,500 with 130k miles. It will be my last truck.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Ok Cat-Driver, I won't respond to the Republican playbook talking points that you raised as most of those arguments are either flat wrong, or totally irrelevant.

Instead I will ask one direct relevant question. How much does it cost per gallon of gasoline to drill, produce, refine, transport, and market the oil from North Dakota? If you don't know the answer to this question, or even care what the answer is, then you are not engaged in a fact-based discussion of the cost of motor fuel. In accounting it is called "costs of goods sold."

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I worked with a geologist in the late 1980's who had a Bakken play in North Dakota, and bought a lot of leases up there. The presence of hydrocarbons in those shale plays, and the location of the shale deposits, have been known for at least a hundred years. I don't pretend to know everything about the energy industry, but I have a basic understanding of capital accumulation, ROI, geologic risk, price risk, and mechanical risk. For example, as to the latter, if you drill and complete an oil well, then the casing collapses for any one of a number of reasons, you may have to spend as much to fix the collapsed casing as you did drilling the well in the first place. Those extra costs reduce the profit you will make per barrel.

 

[Nicb7800]

Simply ignore 5030...... he thinks he is smarter than you, and therefore, should dictate what you drive. Apparently, we shouldn't be free to complain about something we feel is unjust. I'm surprised he didn't tell you Mitt Romney was governor of Maine while he was at it.

I thank you for your service to my country.

I couldn't agree with you more about 5030, I think he just likes to argue. Lol what's even weirder he has a republican elephant for his call tag. It should prob be more of a hammer and sickle. Lol:laughing: that's coming from a true conservative, I think it is a little crazy when people such as he, think that it's in there best interest on a (tractor sight) to tell people to drive a Prius! That truly is laughable and let me tell you something else.I'm glad I own 2 diesel trucks and have for years I love the smell,the sound, the feel, the power,the pull,the Americanism it reeks every time I set behind the wheel. Every time I hook on to a 20k trailer and pull it down the road to my next adventure. No I do not like stopping at the pump, let's be honest. But that's why we whine, cuss and carry on about what's wrong in this country. I never do forget though we live in the greatest country in the world, hands down, my anscestors left Europe to get away from there ways, 5030 sounds like you need to catch the first boat over there. Then you can drive that little car with all you intelligent new friends. P.s. thank you if you have served this great country. Nic