Are the ultra-high gas prices just a plot by the federal gov’t to stimulate/force companies into researching alternatively fueled autos?
No.
I believe that Clinton and Gore are secretly encouraging the Arabs to raie the price of oil-for two reasons:
(a)General Dynamics (Texas) just got a $80 billion order for F-16 fighter planes from the Gulf States-this will go a long way toward getting Gore the Texas electoral vote!
(b)the people who put Clinton in office (including BIG OIL) want a return on their investment. The increas in crude oil prices have made the owner of domestic reserves trillions richer!
Is it not possible to explain high gas prices by OPEC nations acting in their own self-interest?
Then isn’t a conspiracy a unnecessary entity for the explanation a la Occam?
(I know this is less fun, but it’s what I really think)
Besides, aren’t the high gas prices likely to hurt the incumbents politically? I’d expect them to act in their own self-interest if they were conspiring…
If we’re going to make up conspiracies, let’s make up some real fun ones involving aliens, or something from beyond the grave… 
-Steve
“Heyyyy sexy mama! Wanna kill all humans?” -Bender, Futurama
“Your game shows reward knowledge. Ours punish ignorance!” -The Simpsons
Well, just to make you happy, Steve…
Are the ultra-high gas prices just a plot by aliens from beyond the grave to stimulate/force companies into researching alternatively fueled autos?
Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99.
Hey, I like that hat, man. They sell men’s clothes where you got that?
No, it’s a plot by OPEC to make money.
I sold my soul to Satan for a dollar. I got it in the mail.
The federal government’s view is always towards doing whatever they might to have lower energy prices.
On a vaguelyrelated note, I got to ride in an electric car for the first time yesterday.
Woohoo, perks of the job!
We went right out there and refused to do accoustical versions of the electrical songs that we had refused to record in the first place.
You guys are lucky you don’t have the Australian tax system to drive your fuel prices higher.
In my town, the current price of unleaded petrol (gasoline) is about 93 cents (Aust currency)/litre. That equates to roughly US$2.60/gallon.
Almost half that amount consists of a levy imposed by our federal goverment, based on the OPEC price per barrel. Then there is a further levy placed by my state government which ostensibly is to fund road maintenance but always seems to be hijacked for other “more pressing needs”.
Hence, every time OPEC raise their price just a dollar or two, we get hit with a tenfold increase when we fill up our cars.
The nett result of the current bout of high prices caused by OPEC dropping production has seen our fuel prices rise better than 50% in the last couple of years.
Knock softly but firmly, 'cause I like soft firm knockers…
NYMEX lighht sweet closed at $28/bbl yesterday, off $6 from two weeks ago. This in advance of the OPEC meeting on the 27th.
Do you think they’ll still want to boost production?
Read and weep: unleaded US$4.30/gallon, 75% taxes. This is the price today 22nd March here in Finland.
Not many morons with SUVs on our roads!
For once you must try to face the facts: Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.
The tendency for Americans to want basic commodities at ridiculously low prices doesn’t stop at gas: look at how we deal with our water shortages. Instead of researching and perfecting an environmentally friendly way of desalinating ocean water, we continue to insist on our relatively cheap water, even at the cost of significant environmental damage. And if we can’t get that water in a given year, we are willing to undergo water rationing, but forget about the shortage once the skies open up and pour more of the magic substance onto a parched earth.
Gasoline is cheap in the US, as is diesel. Price fluctuation is the real annoying factor, and unless you want to see the feds get into the business of subsidizing and regulating aggressively the economics of one more industry, let’s accept the short-term fluctuations and think about getting to the point of not needing gasoline for autos as soon as possible.
Did we not, just a few years ago, spend MILLIONS if not BILLIONS of dollars saving the asses of a few piss-ant countries from the Iraqi’s? Now they are screwing us by not exporting their oil. Gee, what better way to say thank you.
I think a better question is why aren’t gas prices ALWAYS high?
I assume that OPEC produces the majority of our oil, and when they cut production, they employ fewer people at the rigs, and can effectively make the same amount of money on the fewer barrels produced with a fraction of the expense, right? Obviously, they can’t let oil prices get TOO high or else people would start finding alternative transportation, but with the current prices, while it has everyone grumbling, isn’t enough to make people trade in their SUVs for electric cars just yet.
Why did OPEC ever allow prices to get as low as they did a year ago for that matter? If they are the true evil monopoly everyone says they are, why not go balls out and charge outrageous prices, then flood the market when another supplier like Mexico tries to fill the demand to drive them out. Seems pretty straight forward, yet it doesn’t work that way in reality…
To paraphrase Emo Philips:
We should tell the Arabs we spent all our money and can’t pay them for the oil. When they ask, “Well what did you spend it on?” we should say, “well, these nuclear warheads…”
I for one welcome our new insect overlords… - K. Brockman
This is a self regulating problem: prices get/stay high enough, and the poorer OPEC countries will give in to the need/greed and sell beyond their OPEC quota, driving priuces down. The higher the prices get, the more likely this becomes. Also, it takes time to re-open non-opec (i.e. U.S.) fields, but once they do, they won’t shut down right away when the price drops either, making for a lower stable price level. Give it another 25 weeks. It’ll come down 35-40 %
So it is a double helix. Big deal.
I believe that we here in Britain have the most expensive petrol in the world. We currently pay 84% tax on our petrol and that has just gone up higher in the budget on monday. We pay about $5.50 per gallon and that was last week. It really pisses us off 'cos the money is swallowed up by the government and we still have rubbish roads.
Don’t even think about the fact that the government get all the money from Scottish oil fields and spend the vast majority in England (like an alleged 5 billion pounds on the Millenium dome)
Good post, Isosleepy. OPEC’s not a real monopoly because there are non-OPEC oil producers, and OPEC doesn’t control the actions of all its producers; the various petroleum ministers have to all agree on a policy, and they’re not bound by ironclad agreements even when they do agree.
-Steve
What percent of the total oil production does the U.S. contribute? Apparently not enough to cover ourselves when OPEC decides to short us.
Less than half of what we consume, according to the news reports that I’ve read. Less than what we contributed before the last great oil crisis, according to the same articles.
If there was a lesson to be learned the last time this happened, I’m afraid that we didn’t learn it.