12 thoughts on “Who Needs Gas Anyway?”

  1. Perhaps the gas prices are going to spike because heating oil revenues are way down over much of the country. Perhaps gas prices spike because, ahem, they can. The usual suspect already emerging is the old “switching production to warmer weather blends.” Jimmy Carter may have been weak and misguided, but he flushed out the motives of Big Oil 35 years ago on Capitol Hill. Asking why oil was so high, Big Oil said they had to recover “lost profits.” Nonetheless, Carter undid Nixon’s oil regulation moves, announced what became known as the Carter Doctrine (officially stating the Persian Gulf was of National Defense status), and Domestic oil production surged in Texas, Alaska and elsewhere while imports dropped. If gas isn’t ever really going to be cheap again, we may as well create our own. If it gets too high, an American will develop a viable hydrogen alternative then try to keep the Chinese and Russians from stealing it.

  2. Hmmm, OJ, why not “drill, baby drill” for oil in our own country right now other then let Chinese and Russians steal it? Why spend trillions of dollars and decades on development of viable hydrogen alternative? Whose trillions of dollars will that be? What do you have against black gold? Bueller? Bueller?

  3. I have nothing at all against black gold. The drilling in the western US is unprecedented. There’s even a few tapped wells in Minnesota that will be uncapped when the price works. Trillions of dollars? We just spent that in Iraq to protect our national interest of Gulf petroleum as well as to save lives. Last I checked, that Iraq oil hasn’t been reimbursing us as promised. Some lives were likely saved, but a whole lot more were squandered in the mindless “planning” that intentionally disregarded military, intelligence, and diplomatic experience.

  4. OldJ…I don’t think you can artifically raise gas prices unless you can artifically reduce production. If the oil companies have a conspiracy to artifically raise prices beyond what the market dictates, then they will have a surplus of oil.

  5. OJ, what the eff does Iraq war has to do with rules and regulations of the current administration which restrict domestic oil production and spending of trillions of dollars which would be required to develop a viable hydrogen alternative? Can you focus and not drag non-sequturs into the discussion?

  7. The Iraq War has had an effect on gas prices. So has the current Administration’s policy. It’s rather too bad that the Gulf Spill happened the way it did, providing a convenient “I told you so” which isn’t altogether inaccurate regarding having SOME rules. I say allow Keystone and see what it does. I wouldn’t call anything involving National Energy and National Defense “non sequitur” that has taken place in the past 40+ years. 55 mile per hour speed limits on 2-lane highways may be economically detrimental to some private enterprise as well. But it does help public safety, which is the government’s job, and it does help us better use a resource we shouldn’t waste. I will finish with Iraq: a Marine I know who was in Iraq on Day 1 in 2003 said more resources were applied to guarding the oil fields than to securing weaponry that was all over the place. Some young National Guard guys who went in 2004-2005 said we still spent major resources guarding the oil facilities while sectarian fighting went on using weapons we didn’t secure at the get-go because we didn’t have enough dedicated troops. Not to mention all those old obsolete artillery shells from Iran-Iraq War became IED raw materials aimed at us.

  8. oldjohnnie, the biggest effect on oil prices is the industrialization of once-backward economies.
    Global oil production is about 10% higher now than it was in the year 2000 when a gallon of gas cost about half as much as it does now.

  9. Save the post. Won’t happen. Some yahoo commentary about green energy in the Strib earlier this week also claimed gas would be $4-$5.00 a gallon by this summer. It is an election year. No way gas prices go that high. Upper $3 dollar range maybe. Place your bets!

  11. oldjohnnie said:

    “providing a convenient “I told you so” which isn’t altogether inaccurate regarding having SOME rules”

    Regarding the “rules” that push drilling far away from the coast and into the deep water?

  12. OJ spewed: “55 mile per hour speed limits on 2-lane highways may be economically detrimental to some private enterprise as well. But it does help public safety, which is the government’s job, and it does help us better use a resource we shouldn’t waste.”

    No, Mr. Iwantgovernmenttotellmewhenitissafetogothebathroom. It is absolutely NOT (federal) government’s job to mandate speed limits on the road. Just like it is NOT (federal) governments’ job to mandate 0bamacare, or wearing of seatbelts, or smoking, or transfats, or sugar, or anything else for that matter, other than what is prescribed in the Constitution. You are aware of The Constitution, are you OJ? And it is absolutely certainly not government’s role to determine what is a better use for a any certain resource.

    You know, if I knew any better, based on non-sequitur arguments, I would dare suggest that OJ is a new reincarnation of RatioRick.

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