How long till we tell... ( Gas Topic )

[Heald]

It is very much true, so much true that if you were to ask any economist or any other expert in the oil market about the high prices of oil, there would be two things that would always come up: the rise of Asian industries and the Middle-East conflicts. Asia's growing industries cause more dependency on oil, increasing the price, whereas the conflicts in the Middle-East make it more difficult and therefore more expensive for oil companies to drill for oil in war-torn zones. There are other mitigating factors (such as the US slump) but, looking at oil prices globally, these are the two factors. Want proof? Look up any graph of global oil prices and note sharp spikes in price just after we invade Iraq in both Gulf Wars.

I know I'm pretty anti-Bush but no one can deny that he has some part to play in the global rise of oil prices, and Republicans need to know that they're being hypocrites if they both support the conflict and yet want oil prices to come down.

On an interesting note, oil prices last took their biggest plummet due to September 11th. Since many right-wing "experts" say unequivocally that if Obama is elected president, something akin to 9/11 will happen again. I guess if people really want low oil prices, you should vote for Obama!

[mr_pikachu]

I know I'm pretty anti-Bush but no one can deny that he has some part to play in the global rise of oil prices, and Republicans need to know that they're being hypocrites if they both support the conflict and yet want oil prices to come down.

What ever happened to "this is an oil war"?

Oh, I get it. Arguing that we only got involved in the conflict to swipe foreign oil is foolish now, since we're obviously not getting any and never intended to do so. The solution? Pull a 180 and say that it's the reason for our oil shortage. Brilliant!


RSW: The problem is that our own supplies are short now. I understand your point about waiting until later so that we can essentially dominate the world market, but there are three problems with that.

1. Consumers are suffering today. However sound your plan for future profits may be, it won't help us much if our economy falters in the short-term. Voters are unlikely to go for such a vision, either.

2. If we wait until everyone else is out of oil, chances are that alternative sources of energy will be well-developed by then. Other countries don't want the US to be the sole supplier of world power, so they'll be apt to switch their method to prevent a monopoly. Maybe this wouldn't be likely if the crude supply was set to expire in 20 years, but it could just as easily be 200. (Note that many wells that would be unprofitable in the present market could become legitimate when oil supplies are critically low; consumers would just have to deal with much higher prices to maintain the same net profit for production companies exercising their final options.)

3. Who's to say that future green groups will be any saner? The current trend in public opinion seems to favor environmentalism; just look at the commercials you see daily about global warming and those moronic spiral lightbulbs. (Side note: I plan to stock up on the classic bulb variety. 50 years' worth should be enough for now.) Such thoughts were hardly mainstream a decade ago; who knows how much further things could shift by the time world petroleum runs dry? I highly doubt they'll give up their protests against drilling in those reserves without a serious yet stupidly comical fight.