Money – Some people think that the reason the public misunderstands so many issues is that these issues are too "complex" for most voters. But is that really so?
This is far to simple...the far left will never understand it. I totally agree with him..in that increasing the taxes on oil companys will only put more money in the government pocket. It will not save the consumer a dime. And Hillary saying that the oil companys should pay the tax is insane. In the first place. How much will the oil companys have to pay. Gas taxes are based on consumption.
The idea of don't know their a$$es from their elbows politicians seizing the profits of oil companies and squandering it on their cockamamie programs sends shivers down my spine.
Sowell gets it - the politiciians would rather give the public demagoguery rather than solutions. And the public doesn't seem to care.
The Democrats have kept the country from drilling for oil in the gulf and Anwar.
The Democrats keep stopping refineries from being built.
The Democrats stop nuclear power plants from being built.
The Democrats then blame the Republicans for short supply of fuel causing the increase of price.
Too complicated for them I guess. Everything has to be the Republican's fault. That is their simple solution for everything.
Which gulf would that be?
The Gulf of Mexico. He's referring to expanding oil exploration and drilling ...
http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2008/04/gri...
"Congress might also consider opening up the 85% of the nation's continental shelf to exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas that it has declared off-limits, but it refuses to do this. Meanwhile, China is exploring for oil just ninety miles off the coast of Florida, courtesy of Cuba."
We have not been permitted by the Democrats in Congress to build new refineries, or to dig in the ANWR, or Colorado, or Utah, where we would have twice as much oil as the Saudis, but we have to suffer $4. a gallon gas. It is a shame our own politicians are making our life miserable. They want high gas prices. Democrats have wanted us to get those SUVs off the road for decades. They are positively gleeful. Find out if your candidate will allow us to dig domestic oil, if not vote them out in November. We must send them a message no matter what party they belong to.
See, your comments explain much of what Sowell is arguing against.
1. Congress hasn't kept anyone from building a new refinery. It is expensive however, because of clean air and clean water regulations. These have significantly improved both air and water quality in the US over the last 30 years.
2. The US has approx 22 BBO of proven reserves. Even accounting for ANWR and the Bakken Formation reserves will only increase by double. Colorado and Utah have few if any proven reserves and nobody is keeping people from drilling there. Regardless the Saudis have approx 280 BBO in proven reserves, nothing the US has is even close, much less twice.
3. If you read the article, Sowell argues that it is a simple matter of supply vs. demand. If so, the SUV's driven by the American consumer certainly did not help the problem.
Just some information for your perusal.
"Despite the fact that gas prices have skyrocketed over the past seven years, the United States is currently taking 70,000 barrels of oil a day off the market to continue filling the nation's SPR. Moreover, the DOE recently announced plans to increase this SPR fill rate to 76,000 barrels per day"
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny22_hinch...
Unsurprisingly, its oil consumption for aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and facilities makes the Pentagon the single largest oil consumer in the world. By the way, according to the 2006 CIA World Factbook rankings there are only 35 countries (out of 210) in the world that consume more oil per day than the Pentagon.
http://www.energybulletin.net/26194.html
Let's get pragmatic, okay.
Compare ANWAR to SPR, just for perspective.(apples oranges and bird in the ground)
"Increasing production in the first and second years is scheduled as 25,000 and 50,000 barrels per day, respectively. Peak production of 10 percent of the annual development rate, approximately 100,000 barrels per day, is scheduled in the third year of production. Beginning in the fourth year production declines at an exponential rate of 10 percent per year, ending after 40 years."
DOD consumes 395,000 barrels per day.
http://www.energybulletin.net/13199.html
If any of my sources are BS let me know.
" The range of potential is from 5.7 to 16.0 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil (the 95 percent to 5 percent probability range). A mid-case of 10.3 billion barrels is based on the statistical mean of the estimates."
You don't think 16 billion barrels of oil would help?
Not for long. The U.S. uses about 6.6 BBO per year. Even if ANWAR produced at maximum capacity (approx 800 MBO per year) and it ALL went to the U.S. (not at all a guarentee, the U.S. still exports oil) it would only meet approx 12% of domestic demand assuming, of course, that demand remains stable. It appears that demand is decreasing due to high prices. Finally.
Look at the outer continental shelf estimates:
Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Assessment 2006:
66.6 to 115.3 billion barrels of oil in U.S.
326.4 to 565.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/162214...
Congress needs to wake up and realize that the only way to bring prices down in the short term is to increase supply
That will help bring the prices down to a reasonable level while the longer term strategies are developed
They need to do both at once - more supply AND long term strategies to reduce dependence on foreign oil
Why is it that Congress is always missing half of the equation?
Without increasing the supply in the short term we will be looking at escalating prices for decades.
Does anyone seriously believe that the demand from China and India will lessen? As those countries continue to develop, the demand for oil will outpace supply
More supply won't ease the crisis. The supply can be artificially manipulated in about a half dozen ways.
This isn't a supply/demand equation in simple. There are numerous other factors at work here.
True there are other factors but the single biggest factor is the increased demand and the uncertainty of supply. The point of the article is that pointing out the major factor, supply and demand, is not that complicated.
No, it isn't. The single biggest factor is the commodity market.
Because stocks have not performed at historic rates and the commodity market can be shifted by a relatively small (several billions) investment, many of the larger investors shifted their investments into commodities, especially grains, oil and gold.
According to which experts or source?
More than one.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy...
http://www.reason.com/news/show/125414.html
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/m... -- lifestyle subindex page_top stories
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3708951.stm
Certainly, supply and demand, along with the falling dollar, have something to do with it, but it isn't as simple as Sowell would have us believe.
So you are trying to say investments in oil were bad risks? Sounds like bunk to me. Some might be selling off Oil stocks now with oil selling at record highs, but I doubt that has crapola to do with supply and demand. Demand is growing, even at record prices.
No, I said that the prime driver of the price of oil has been investment in the commodities market, which has almost nothing to do with investment in companies that produce oil.
"Oil stocks" would be stocks that have to do with oil production, refining or transport. Those stocks are also doing well with the record profits. However, what I'm referring to is not stocks and bonds, but the commodities market where you buy or sell a "contract" for a certain quantity of a said product. The commodities market is notoriously fickle and it has been one of if not the major driver of the price of oil as other market factors become important (supply, demand, transport, instability, the dollar).
"70,000 barrels of oil a day"
That's a drop in the bucket compared to the 20 million barrels per day that is used in the US
We are approaching hurricane season. All it will take is destruction of rigs in the Gulf to increase prices dramatically
Do you think these politicians will step up to the plate and admit that suspending delivery to the reserve was a mistake if that occurs?
Where does the oil for the reserve come from??
The oil is delivered from oil companies as payment in kind for royalties owed for pumping oil from federal land.
Thomas Sowell has a column in one of our suburban newspapers. I've always found them to be too simple.
IMHO, the free market is great. But, as I was taught many long years ago, you have to have one first. Most companies, in spite of their rhetoric, will fight like the devil to avoid being in a free market situation. Not that they dislike competition (though mostly they do). But the thought of free entry to (and free exit from) a market spooks them. Generally the feeling is "there's something not fair about a market that I have to leave."
Was it Will Rogers who observed that we have a great economic system--free enterprise for the people and socialism for business?
Thomas Sowell makes it so even a "simple" minded liberal can understand but they don't want to believe anything truthful so, therefore, they always believe any conspiracy of the moment.
I saw this comment posted yesterday by a Propeller liberal.
"The price of oil is high because Bush is mad because he can't drill in Alaska." Now how can you deal with a simpleminded statement like that? lol
This is great! Sowell argues that it's not "emotionally satisfying" to not have someone to blame for high oil prices and then immediately takes off on an appeal to emotion. It cracks me up!!
The problem with high oil prices IS very much related to supply and demand, but that is far from the only part of the equation. Yes, it is VERY complicated. It isn't as simple as ECON 101.
It is too complicated for most people to understand and even if the time were taken to explain it to them, it would be difficult to get through all of the other BS ideology that gets in the way.
You should have posted this under Humor, SOTM!!!
Bkumm, I'd be careful about requesting Propeller to appropriately classify comment. Most of your comments would wind up in the circular file. Glass houses etc. etc.
Now, feel free to tell us again that you're just giving us your thoughts, it's a free country, you're not trying to tell anyone else how to post or what is worthy of discussion (but you are) and all the usual passive/aggressive, insincerely self-deprecatory remarks that usually ensue.
Have a nice day.
Hilarious! Do you need a tissue?
Show me where I said that you (or anyone else) could not, should not and must not post a comment or post a submission. Show me. You can't. Can you?
You also can't show where I've said that this post isn't worthy of discussion. In fact, despite what you will almost certainly bring up, I said that only about a couple of topics mostly spam.
I have said that some topics are pointless, but I have most certainly NOT said that they aren't worthy of discussion. There is a distinct difference.
This submission is hilarious. It is an argument to emotion about arguing to emotion. I find it immensely amusing and I'll post whatever I want about it.
Now, you have a nice day.
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FTA: "The problem is not that supply and demand is such a complex explanation. The problem is that supply and demand is not an emotionally satisfying explanation. For that, you need melodrama, heroes and villains."