Hope & Change

[SparrowHawk]

In the words of your Demi-god, 'there you go again'.

That quote was by Chu, who was then the Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab at the time in 2008 when he said it.

Here is an article to put the quote in context.

POLITICS DECEMBER 12, 2008
Times Tough for Energy OverhaulStruggling Economy, Falling Oil Prices Complicate Obama Team's Agenda

Did he say it? YES, he did! Was/is he Secretary of Energy? Indeed so! End of conversation. As they say in the law, "Goes to motive"

Now then moving briskly along. Let's get into why somewhere are around 25% of the rise in gas prices is the DIRECT Result of the Obama Administration policies. Ever here of "Commodity Inflation"?

These two excerpts are from a Blog titles Econonbrowser: Submitted for you consideration,

The dollar strengthened against the euro with last spring's sovereign debt concerns, but has slid back dramatically since this summer. My view is that the anticipation of the Fed's latest quantitative easing measures has been a key factor in that slide. (Author's note: When did Gas start to rise?)

It's interesting to look at how big an increase in commodity prices we would have expected given the size of the dollar depreciation and given the size of the recent correlation. It turns out that the recent run-up in oil prices is no mystery, given the magnitude of the dollar depreciation.In the year ended September 1, a 1% depreciation of the dollar would typically be associated with a 1.3% increase in the dollar price of oil or copper.

Further the result is due to the massive debt in this country and around the world. The "Quantitative Easing" QE1 & QE2 initiated by the Fed to buy bad debt and open up markets runs the risk of staggering deflation as the bad debt is not liquidated from our system. This places further upward pressure on prices. Further as the debt is now over 100% of GDP our options become limited and the Keynesian big government solution proving to be an abject failure we see not only Oil rising but other commodities as well. Since Barack Obama took office he have seen a 25% increase in the price of groceries as well. These increases in prices are a direct result of the regime. I put a quick pencil to it and these price increase represent around a $175/mo hidden tax on those who can afford it least.

Any question as to answer to the fundamental election question? Are you better off now then you were four years ago?" People vote there wallets AND if there kids are getting shot at in far off lands. This guy hasn't met an Arab state he couldn't bomb, invade or threaten to do either one and it's clear to most human beings he doesn't understand economics.

Truth is the Republicans could put up a Baby Harp seal against him and I'd vote for it over this guy.

 

[Ms Tree]

No one is talking about the fact that refineries are being shut down and the US gas exports are the US's largest export. The oil companies are selling the gas abroad at a high rate than can be earned here in the US. That just might have an affect on gas prices at the pump huh?

I think the gas price issue is a catch 22. Unfortunately Reagan killed the gas tax and with it any incentive there was to start developing alternative fuels.

I agree with the basis of what Obama is arguing for in terms of higher fuel prices but the idiot is doing a horrible job of explaining it much the same way they screwed up health care reform. Great idea with no support. Fuel prices should have been gradually increased while the economy was doing better in the 80's and 90's. When fuel prices are low people waste. There is no incentive to develop alternatives. No incentive to start building mass transit. Think of the mass transit we would have now if we had started to develop it back in the 70's when the first gas crisis hit. Instead we just sat by and did nothing. Not one damn thing.

My wifes car is 16 years old and makes 34 mpg on the high way at an average speed of 67mph. Calculated it on a MSY trip a few weeks ago. I do not believe that in 16 years we can not improve upon that and this is in a 5 passenger mid size (by todays measurements) sedan.

The sudden jump in gas prices now is to damaging. The fear in Iran and other hot spots in the ME is scaring the speculators. In Jul of 08, crude hit $150 a barre yet gas prices were lower than they are today at a little over $100 a barrel. We can start drilling and lower oil prices just to be hit with this issue farther on down the line or we can finally address the issue and start trying a different plan.

There is no easy fix. The free market surely cannot fix the problem. Markets are reactive, not proactive. We need to be ahead of the curve on this problem. We need to reduce consumption by driving less, and having more fuel efficient vehicles. We need to start building houses that are far more energy efficient. We need to research and subsidize renewable resources like solar and wind on a small scale such as for residential homes. We need to start investing heavily in mass transit. Light rail and buses for the cities and trains to connect cities and suburbs.

We have been coasting for quite some time now. We can pay a little now or we can pay a whole lot more later. I'm betting the people in the US will continue to be stupid and pay more later.

 

[delldude]

I heard about the gas and refineries....how many got shut down?

Another Obama EPA nudge.

 

[Ms Tree]

Truth is the Republicans could put up a Baby Harp seal against him and I'd vote for it over this guy.

They looked but they could not find a seal dumb enough to run for the RNC. They found a few turkeys of which four are left standing.

 

[delldude]

Lets see....

EPA (cap and trade) made more stringent emissions standards on coal fired power and did the same to refineries.......resulting in shutdowns and EPA induced shortages and higher prices.

So we're supposed to buy into failing green energy products?

 

[SparrowHawk]

No one is talking about the fact that refineries are being shut down and the US gas exports are the US's largest export. The oil companies are selling the gas abroad at a high rate than can be earned here in the US. That just might have an affect on gas prices at the pump huh?

I think the gas price issue is a catch 22. Unfortunately Reagan killed the gas tax and with it any incentive there was to start developing alternative fuels.

I agree with the basis of what Obama is arguing for in terms of higher fuel prices but the idiot is doing a horrible job of explaining it much the same way they screwed up health care reform. Great idea with no support. Fuel prices should have been gradually increased while the economy was doing better in the 80's and 90's. When fuel prices are low people waste. There is no incentive to develop alternatives. No incentive to start building mass transit. Think of the mass transit we would have now if we had started to develop it back in the 70's when the first gas crisis hit. Instead we just sat by and did nothing. Not one damn thing.

My wifes car is 16 years old and makes 34 mpg on the high way at an average speed of 67mph. Calculated it on a MSY trip a few weeks ago. I do not believe that in 16 years we can not improve upon that and this is in a 5 passenger mid size (by todays measurements) sedan.

The sudden jump in gas prices now is to damaging. The fear in Iran and other hot spots in the ME is scaring the speculators. In Jul of 08, crude hit $150 a barre yet gas prices were lower than they are today at a little over $100 a barrel. We can start drilling and lower oil prices just to be hit with this issue farther on down the line or we can finally address the issue and start trying a different plan.

There is no easy fix. The free market surely cannot fix the problem. Markets are reactive, not proactive. We need to be ahead of the curve on this problem. We need to reduce consumption by driving less, and having more fuel efficient vehicles. We need to start building houses that are far more energy efficient. We need to research and subsidize renewable resources like solar and wind on a small scale such as for residential homes. We need to start investing heavily in mass transit. Light rail and buses for the cities and trains to connect cities and suburbs.

We have been coasting for quite some time now. We can pay a little now or we can pay a whole lot more later. I'm betting the people in the US will continue to be stupid and pay more later.

ALL of the above is irrelevant!

It in NOT the role of government to pick economic winners as a matter of public policy. We've already reduced consumption on a per capita basis.

You want an example of "Proactive Action" by the Federal Government and I give you Freddie and Fannie and the housing bubble. Between the fiat currency and the Government mandating underwriting policies (Think easy credit) and just as Ron Paul predicted 4 years earlier the bubble burst. Gotta LOVE that proactive Government.

Want another example of a government managed economy? Ever hear of the Soviet Union? Finally collapsed due to debt and a government run economy. Now there's Hope and Change we can all believe in. OOPS and then there is the government car, aka Chevy Volt!! I hear they got orders stacked up like well a half empty box of toothpicks. Anyone know did sales of this government wunder kar break 2,000 units in a 13 million unit marketplace?

And to think people actually think the government can run health care? So called green energy is nothing more then Crony Capitalism at its finest.

Truth is the previous 3 paragraphs are trumped by the first one.

View attachment 9361

 

[tech2101]

Article on rising gas prices and refineries.

Actually, the President doesn’t have that kind of pricing power. The more likely reason behind the price increase, though certainly less compelling as a political argument, is the recent spate of refinery closures in the U.S. Over the past year, refineries have faced a classic margin squeeze. Prices for Brent crude have gone up, but demand for gasoline in the U.S. is at a 15-year low. That means refineries haven’t been able to pass on the higher prices to their customers.



As a result, companies have chosen to shut down a handful of large refineries rather than continue to lose money on them. Since December, the U.S. has lost about 4 percent of its refining capacity, says Fadel Gheit, a senior oil and gas analyst for Oppenheimer. That month, two large refineries outside Philadelphia shut down: Sunoco’s plant in Marcus Hook, Pa., and a ConocoPhillips plant in nearby Trainer, Pa. Together they accounted for about 20 percent of all gasoline produced in the Northeast.

Fall 2011 gasoline demand lagged behind 2010 and behind the 10-year average pace, largely in response to economic uncertainty in the US and unresolved debt conditions in Europe. During the same period US gasoline production remained near the upper end of its 15-year range, around 9.0 million barrels per day. It was a rather notable increase in US gasoline exports that helped keep gasoline stock levels a seasonal downward track. The EIA pegged September US gasoline exports at a new record high on the month of 529,000 barrels per day. That is more than two times the year ago pace and eclipsed the December 2010 high by 2.3%.

What do you think prices would do if the oil companies kept the refined gasoline here instead of importing it? Of course they would go down. That is exactly why they are exporting it. As demand here goes down, the oil companies must export their finished product out of the United States in order to keep the supply/demand balanced to maintain the higher price, thereby increasing profits.

My link

The United States' rapidly declining crude oil supply has made a stunning about-face, shredding federal oil projections and putting energy independence in sight of some analyst forecasts.

After declining to levels not seen since the 1940s, U.S. crude production began rising again in 2009. Drilling rigs have rushed into the nation's oil fields, suggesting a surge in domestic crude is on the horizon.

The number of rigs in U.S. oil fields has more than quad­rupled in the past three years to 1,272, according to the Baker Hughes rig count. Including those in natural gas fields, the United States now has more rigs at work than the entire rest of the world.

"It's staggering," said Marshall Adkins, who directs energy research for the financial services firm Raymond James. "If we continue growing anywhere near that pace and keep squeezing demand out of the system, that puts you in a world where we are not importing oil in 10 years."

My link

 

[southwind]

Please make certain you're sitting down prior to clicking upon the link.

Click at your on risk! Stupity unchained lives HERE

I'm sure she just "Mis-spoke" ! Maybe she needs to borrow Barrack's teleprompter !

 

[delldude]

Get Ready for Higher Gas Prices
Thanks to the EPA.

There are various other causes for the shutdown and this may be among them:

In January, Hovensa entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department in which the company agreed to invest $700 million on pollution controls after a series of chemical releases affected people living downwind from the refinery. Hovensa also agreed to pay a $5.4 million penalty for violating the Clean Air Act.

U.S. mainland-based refineries

Existing U.S. mainland-based refineries have difficulty competing with new refineries in developing countries such as India and China as well as in the Middle East (where the tentacles of U.S. environmental restrictions don’t reach) and we rarely build new ones. Environmental groups have asked a state judge in South Dakota “to strike down a state permit that would allow … the first new U.S. oil refinery built since 1976.” It would “process 400,000 barrels of Canadian tar sands crude oil each day into low-sulfur gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and liquid petroleum gas.”

The tactic of delaying regulatory approval for as long as possible, then attacking the approval in court and demanding that the regulatory process begin anew has unfortunately been effective.

HOUSTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) – U.S. oil companies are bracing for a potential strike by refinery workers and have plans to keep plants operating if negotiations which began this week for a new labor deal break down.

Representatives of the United Steelworkers union and oil companies began meeting to hammer out a new three-year national contract before current contract expires at 12 a.m. on Feb 1.

In September, the head of the USW negotiating team, union International Vice President Gary Beevers, said without improvements in health and safety protections in the new contract, USW members would walk off their jobs.

Link

Refineries closed due to not being profitable or is it stifled from additional costs from regulations?

 

[SparrowHawk]

Pssst! Who has caused the debt to skyrocket? Answer, OBAMA! Once you have that piece of the puzzle then all of the rest of it is rather simple. If you don't stop the massive and out of control debt all you do is kick all of the cans down the road.

 

[delldude]

Pssst! Who has caused the debt to skyrocket? Once you have that piece of the puzzle then all of the rest of it is rather simple. If you don't stop the massivand out of control debt all you do is kick all of the cans down the road.

Psssst.....Tell the EuroWonks too.......

 

[SparrowHawk]

Psssst.....Tell the EuroWonks too.......

Interestingly enough some of the folks in that group I belong to are starting to "get it". on the subject. There is open talk about how bad a "Haircut" some countries and banks are going to have to take. They are at least in the talk stage while Obama whistles past the graveyard.

 

[tech2101]

Get Ready for Higher Gas Prices
Thanks to the EPA

You did not read any of the articles in my post, or you just choose to ignore them.

I will vote for for the Gingrich/Bachmann ticket if they will pump my $2 gallon gas.

 

[tech2101]

Interestingly enough some of the folks in that group I belong to are starting to "get it".

I am so very excited that you are now in a policy making advisory position for European economic affairs. Congratulations!

 

[delldude]

You did not read any of the articles in my post, or you just choose to ignore them.

I will vote for for the Gingrich/Bachmann ticket if they will pump my $2 gallon gas.

Yes I did.......high operating costs? Wouldn't have an iota of EPA regs driving that now, would it?

Including those in natural gas fields

But at the same time drilling permits down some 30% in the gulf and 70% mainland?

Your oil and gas production that you trump today are the results of decisions reached long before Obama was involved in anything.