Oil & Fuel Dire fuel predictions

varmint · May 21, 2004

You're probably right for many areas of the country- around here in Maryland, Mac jobs and Wally world pays about $8/hour, I believe.

Ledgemere Farm · May 21, 2004

Whatever happened to gasahol anyway? Can't even get it up north. Let me guess: THE OIL COMPANIES BOUGHT UP ALL THE RIGHTS ON IT???

MikePA · May 21, 2004

Let me guess: THE OIL COMPANIES BOUGHT UP ALL THE RIGHTS ON IT???

Yep. They keep the documentation about this activity in the same hanger where they keep the black helicopters and the plans for the 100 mpg carburetor. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Ole_Hickory · May 21, 2004

LOL /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

To20Chris · May 21, 2004

The problem with a lot of the alternative fuels is that it takes more money or fossil fuels to make them than you get back. I'm pretty sure ethanol is one of those cases. In other words, you would be better off just burning the oil. The only answer in the short term is to figure out ways to use less energy.

KiotiJohn · May 22, 2004

( has anyone considered the fact that China is starting to consume a larger percentage of the worlds oil? Since it's a limited commodity, you can expect the price to be going up (and up). )
With the new affluence of the Chinese, more and more of her consumers are able to buy cars. With their population, imagine on what a scale it will be! Both steel and gas will be needed in an amount unheard of for one country. The US's previous high use of the resources will surely pale in comparison since China has billions of people, not hundreds of millions as in the US. Another commodity that I would not have thought of is concrete. There are only a few MFGs out there and lately, many of the ships that were scheduled to come here are being diverted to China. This has created quite a headache for one local company who is, I believe, only one of two Concrete MFG in the US. Order backlogs have gone from one day to around 3 weeks now and getting worse. This is history folks, it's what the rest of the world watched the US do, but won't ever see again. John

DaveNay · May 22, 2004

I spent three weeks in China in 2001, and I can tell you one thing. They have a LOOOOONGGG WAY TO GO. There are certain areas of growth in China, and some very specific projects, like the Three Gorges Dam and the Bejing Olympics, but other than that the majority of the country is like the worst part of the United States you can think of, and then divided that by ten again. There are basically two classes of people in China (excluding the major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong)...the haves and the have nots. There really is no middle class. Out in the country, if a family is lucky to have a vehicle, then it looked to me like it was a 25 year old 150cc motorcycle. And most of the roads look like BMX dirt tracks.

Is there potential for vast tecnological resource usage? Beyond a doubt. But it is going to be a real challenge, and possibly require some social and government restructuring before it can happen. If they do thoug, watch your shorts, because they will be vaccuuming the planet dry.

Dave

OkeeDon · May 22, 2004

( The real scary thing is 50% of the mineral/oil rights in this country are owned by foreign investors. 20% of the land in the west is owned by foreign investors. They are playing havoc with the farming/ranching industry. They come in and buy the land, close out all watering, bid up government leases so nobody can afford them and then just leave the land idle. )

Ah. Waiting for what, I wonder? What do they see that we don't?