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Oil Shoots Up to $102 Per Barrel

time.com — Crude prices rebounded Thursday, shooting up more than $2 a barrel to a new record as a falling dollar and the prospect of lower interest rates attracted fresh money to the oil market. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, rose closer to records above $3 a gallon.

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  • BuzzDiggity, on 02/29/2008, -1/+9is someone drinking all the oil over there or something?
    • waspbr, on 02/29/2008, -0/+6China... and the US of course but that's a given.
    • TheHighPrivate, on 02/29/2008, -4/+3I drink your milkshake!
    • jus1haz2, on 02/29/2008, -1/+6Bender?
      • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2Exxon just hopes we never figure out the secret of the anchovy oil.
      • acdcfanbill, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2You know the secret of traditional robot cooking? Start with a good, high-quality oil. Then eat it.
    • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3China, India, Brazil, Russia caused increase in oil demand due to their growth spurts. Also, Iraq War destroyed essentially ended Iraqi oil supply for now. In addition, worldwide increase in hatred against america and other western countries caused militants in many countries to threaten supply of oil or to actually physically attack it (as in Nigeria), causing investors to buy oil futures and increasing the price of oil. Hugo Chavez is also a problem. The only truly safe oil for the US is coming from Canada and Mexico (and some from within US).
      There's also the problem of OPEC possibly cutting oil production next week, although that appears less likely now due to high oil prices.
      And also there is the fact that the dollar is depreciating rapidly against most other currencies, which inflates the price of oil in the US. That is the immediate cause of this particular price spike, but it was not the root of the problem over the long run.
      • prophetpimp, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1But they all combined still consume less oil then USA. Stop buying those Idiotic SUV and get a real car.
    • LeeSoong, on 02/29/2008, -9/+5In a related story,

      The value of the US Dollar continues to plummet in an inescapable free fall . . .

      (I bet a lot of people wish they had Ron Paul Gold dollars now - these green backs are not worth the paper they are printed on.)

      http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues
      • Mortikhi, on 02/29/2008, -2/+2How right you are.

        The only guy that understands the economy.
      • Monk22, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3the gold is a nice idea, until you actually open a history book and read about the gold act of 33 when they confiscated everyones gold.
        • LeeSoong, on 03/01/2008, -0/+2that 'law' was clearly unconstitutional.
          • Monk22, on 03/03/2008, -0/+1clearly not since they went ahead with it
    • 99CentFreedom, on 02/29/2008, -4/+2This is the result of the fraudulent Federal Reserve debasing our money. If you look at the price of gold, the same amount of gold historically buys about the same amount of oil and is virtually -inflation proof-. Wait until we really hit some trouble and Helicopter Ben Bernanke floods the market with dollars, we'll be carting around cash with wheelbarrows after hyperinflation. Dr. Ron Paul is the only candidate talking about this issue seriously.
  • mydigga, on 02/29/2008, -1/+35and to think, two years ago oil was $55 a barrel...
    • Pentarix, on 02/29/2008, -0/+11No big surprise, the Bilderberg Goup did say that it would go up to $140 a barrel this year.
      http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1070329053 ...
    • pprovo1, on 02/29/2008, -1/+9yeah and it was reiterated on later comments that before Bush took office the price per barrel was around $25!
    • Speaking, on 02/29/2008, -0/+12Oil is so high because the dollar has gone to *****. Oil is still about the same price in Euros. ***** inflation, I'm mad as hell.
      • 1randomguy08, on 02/29/2008, -0/+6Yeah exactly AU$1 use to buy only US$0.48 like 10 years ago, $0.60 4 years ago and now its $0.94
      • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4I was wondering when someone would do some comparisons in oil costs in other currencies along those same timelines.

        Oil costs are going up, yes. But the larger increase is due to the dollar falling into the toilet.
        • Monk22, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1funny since it went up long before the dollar tanked. its due to increasing demand and refineries keep going offline. the dollar is but icing on the cake.
      • LeeSoong, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2time to buy a horse . . .


        what's the price of hay these days ?
        • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1They hay itself is relatively cheap.

          It's the boarding costs that'll kill you.
      • BESTenemy, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3The oil is getting more expensive. The reason Euro pricing is different is because it is becoming a tempting reserve currency for those that used to rely on the USD. It's getting a similar boost in value that the dollar received when Nixon got us into OPEC. Rapid appreciation of Euro goes hand in hand with the physical rise in the cost of energy. The smart thing for the European Union to do is to invest this newfound wealth into energy independence, cause the "oil wars" are only going to last for as long as there is cheap oil. Fiat currencies will rise and fall, and only those will stay that will have a solid backing. I don't mean gold. I mean the actual GDP value adjusted for inflation.
      • robbob, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1Oil is traded with the US Dollar GLOBALLY. WTI, Brent, & Dubai all use US$. Iran is now offering its local currency, but you'd be insane to trust that marketplace.
        • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1As compared to the dollar? Are you not paying attention?
    • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3you can't blame it on only one factor. bush's incursions into iraq caused worldwide hatred and instability in oil producing countries, but that does not account for everything. a possibly even bigger factor is increase in worldwide demand due to increasing wealth of emerging markets like China, India, Brazil, and Russia (among others). Falling value of dollar also is a problem (this is not the same as inflation, as it is measuring against other currencies rather than past values of your own currency), but it really only accounts for the more recent price spike. Falling value of dollar was caused by banks lending money to people who couldn't pay it back, so now our banks are all losing tons of money.

      Overall, it is primarily a combination of those 3 factors. but there are probably others i have left out.
    • robbob, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3On Sept. 11th (2001) oil was $27.65, dropped to a low of $18.69 on Nov. 26th, then it just shot up from there. The only period it shot up so fast was during the Iranian revolution/ Iran-Iraq war in the mid 70s-80s.
  • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -3/+46Mission Accomplished!
    • waspbr, on 02/29/2008, -3/+5=D
    • makkaveli19, on 02/29/2008, -2/+1more like fission mailed!
    • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -3/+1True. Now Bush's oil buddies are making huge profits. ExxonMobil is now the world's 1st (or 2nd) largest company by market cap. Similar situation with other companies. Because American oil companies aren't (in general) getting their oil rigs attacked (except in Nigeria) - they can still produce the same amount of oil that they could before the price spike. Also, rise of emerging markets and fall of dollar doesn't hurt. It turns out those factors are actually more important. But either way, Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) was a huge success.
  • itsbob, on 02/29/2008, -3/+13We are screwed.
    • Daedalus17, on 02/29/2008, -5/+5Why? Because gas prices might reach levels people already pay in most European countries? I wouldn't start panicking yet.
      • WiseWeasel, on 02/29/2008, -3/+6That's different... Europeans *enjoy* getting raped by their government. In their case through taxation, in ours through inflation.
      • Hangly, on 02/29/2008, -0/+5Son, let me tell you about the differences between the European and American economies.
    • Daedalus17, on 02/29/2008, -5/+1Why? Because gas prices might reach levels people already pay in most European countries? I wouldn't start panicking yet.
      • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3Their higher costs (via taxes) also pay for stuff like health care, unlike ours. Our high prices get sucked up as profits, and aren't being used to help anyone but shareholders and CEO's.

        The dollar tanking is a large part of it too. You can't even start to compare our costs going up because of a ***** currency to their system of paying for services.
      • GunbladeVIII, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3Great! Now everyone in the US will get to enjoy a convenient, cheap, and efficient public transportation system that makes gas prices not matter!
        Oh, wait...
    • jsd8cc, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Well, screwed in the short term, yes; but this will be the impetus that brings viable alternative energy to the market -- a good thing.
      • itsbob, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2Not before too many people lose their homes and cant afford to feed their families or keep the jobs that barely sustained the way of life they had. Moving us back into a welfare dependent state.
  • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -2/+5http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/dialectic.htm

    When we understand what motivated Hegel, we can see his influence on all of our destinies. ... Hegelian conflicts steer every political arena on the planet, from the United Nations to the major American political parties, all the way down to local school boards and community councils. Dialogues and consensus-building are primary tools of the dialectic, and terror and intimidation are also acceptable formats for obtaining the goal. The ultimate Third Way agenda is world government. Once we get what's really going on, we can cut the strings and move our lives in original directions outside the confines of the dialectical madness. Focusing on Hegel's and Engel's ultimate agenda, and avoiding getting caught up in their impenetrable theories of social evolution, gives us the opportunity to think and act our way toward freedom, justice, and genuine liberty for all.

    Today the dialectic is active in every political issue that encourages taking sides. We can see it in environmentalists instigating conflicts against private property owners, in democrats against republicans, in greens against libertarians, in communists against socialists, in neo-cons against traditional conservatives, in community activists against individuals, in pro-choice versus pro-life, in Christians against Muslims, in isolationists versus interventionists, in peace activists against war hawks. No matter what the issue, the invisible dialectic aims to control both the conflict and the resolution of differences, and leads everyone involved into a new cycle of conflicts.
    • bluehexagonsun, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1"the owl of minerva flies at dusk"

      major kudos for lifting the veil of the present-day dialectic and bringing the incomparable wisdom of Hegel into the fold. the master-slave dialectic is all around us - what a pity that we are, nevertheless, blinded by the momentary comet-tail of the world-historical spirit and therefore subject to its mandates, its whims and its many-sided fallacies. i wonder, as kant once mused, whether mankind is as of yet ready for a veritable enlightenment.
      • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1who said anything about an owl of minerva?

        If you had any idea about the dialiectic, you wouldn't be trying to defend the current system. You would be trying to peel away the onion layers to expose reality.

        Some of us are more devoted to reality than to trying to chase the fog and distortion of a manipulated society.
        • bluehexagonsun, on 03/07/2008, -0/+0hegel said something about the owl of minerva, that's who.
          defend the current system? hardly. the above was an allusive hegelian critique of hegelianism. evidently you too were blinded by the comet-tail of your own "objective" thought-construct and therefore failed to notice.
    • funkywood, on 03/02/2008, -0/+1So not everything is black and white?
      • PhilLesh69, on 03/03/2008, -0/+1Everything is black and white for a reason.

        Reasonable people can think in more complex ways, but those complex thinkers ruin it all for the people who want to rule or desire undue wealth or power.
  • DannoSpeaks, on 02/29/2008, -2/+9Oh Noez!
  • davidwasman, on 02/29/2008, -1/+5Anyone know what the price per barrel was in 2000? My bet is around $42
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -2/+25$27.39 per barrel was the 2000 cost.

      Don't forget that Dick Cheney held his super secret "energy policy meeting", and several people who disagreed with the rest broke ranks and leaked to the media how he promised "$100 a barrel oil" during the Bush administration.


      Even the die-hard Fox News watchers cannot explain that even if it was a "liberal media" that reported this back in 2001, before 9/11, that there is something fishy about a story that said they were promising $100 oil, and now we are here, with $102 a barrel oil.

      Were those liberal journalists lucky? Did they read the future, and it wasn't really a plan by a president who could barely run Harken oil? I guess it was just people who want to surrender to terrorists, or something?

      Why do the fox news watchers succumb so easily to propoganda? Don't they realize they are watching the National Enquirer on TV? Don't they know they are watching ranting lunatics?
      • Hangly, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4Not saying you're wrong, but what possible gain can be had from raising the price that high? Yes the oil companies cash in big, but every other industry suffers.
        • MacEnvy, on 02/29/2008, -1/+4And which industry do you think Texas millionaires are invested in?
        • jawnboy, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2It is their brilliant tactic to deal with the developing countries, China, India and half of Asia are doing serious industrializing. Scared the hell out of them and they decided that raising the cost of energy will slow down their industrialization and of course make them and their friends massive mountains of cash.
        • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -1/+1jawnboy, you have most of the concept.

          We can also eliminate a good portion of our own middle class, and put the impoverished even farther below the poverty level. It's great. We can make massive profits, and undermine any middle class who might threaten us, or vote against us, all the while enlarging the class that we get to lock up in jails and monitor and take away their children.

          But yes, the main goal is to undermine any lesser nation, or make it harder for some nation to develop and become a threat.

          Sure, our "On rebuilding america's defenses" document focused on the threat of a "new pearl harbor", but what we truly fear is China.

          China has been making the price of steel to rise. They have been making many raw materials rise in price.

          If we can choke them out on the more basic resources, maybe we can bide our time and eventually defeat them. We just want to win.
    • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3now the bush admin is trying to make people think that oil was always this expensive!
      27.39 is much less than 42.
    • EtherGnat, on 02/29/2008, -0/+142 is the answer, but I don't think you have the right question.
  • Shawshanksr, on 02/29/2008, -5/+3russia have claimed the oil fields under the arctic!
    • BaronSamedi242, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2Why was this dugg down? It's actually true, and quite scary. The Canadians, Russians and Americans ALL want the vast reserves up there. There may well be war between any of those two countries over it.
  • BikerDude69, on 02/29/2008, -7/+4...for no reason!

    Honestly, the price of oil is based on pure speculation. There is plenty of oil, and plenty of sun, wind and natural earth resources to meet our energey needs. This entire thing is artificial inflation.
    • waspbr, on 02/29/2008, -0/+8Not quite, although the supply is great, there is an even greater demand. The rate at which oil is extracted is still not enough to compensate for the demand despite the oil reserves.
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -2/+8and what is all inflation really about??

      We cannot allow people to advance and grow their wealth, because then they become as powerful as the elite. We need to wipe out their wealth every generation or so, in order to ensure that our families maintain control. Those middle class folks cannot be allowed to build wealth and threaten our position as the owners of the United States.

      We control the United States. We believe in the United States. All the rest of you are just visiting.
    • Hangly, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1And plenty of credit and plenty of love!
    • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -1/+4FAIL. Oil demand has definitely increased since before the price spike due to growth of emerging markets (BRIC countries). Also, don't forget about the falling value of the dollar and the rising instability in most oil producing countries due to increased anti-Western sentiment (mostly caused by the current administration's policies). Also, there is always the question of when oil will run out. The real question is whether oil is overvalued.
      • omegaredIX, on 02/29/2008, -3/+1Negative sir you could not be more wrong. Research Peak oil. The world is running out of oil and we are seeing it right now. These are the early conflicts for control of that region. This is only the beginning.

        www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
        • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -0/+0peak oil is a problem but it is not the reason for the oil spike. nobody really knows exactly when we will run out of oil.
          • waspbr, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1In principle oil is never going to run out, it is just going to get so expensive that people won't afford to use it any more.
        • PhilLesh69, on 03/03/2008, -0/+1research abiotic oil.

          Oil is not a fossil fuel. It is created by geological processes.
  • pprovo1, on 02/29/2008, -10/+17Ron Paul saw this one coming a long time ago...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkUc0k2ePhk
    • thatsmyaibo, on 02/29/2008, -4/+6Good for him. I like the guy too but really....really...
      • Waterrat, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1Quite a few people saw this coming...Way back to the 1960's.
        if Ron Paul is so smart,why does he think evolution never happened?
    • waspbr, on 02/29/2008, -8/+8FFS, enough about ron paul
    • Qtip42, on 02/29/2008, -5/+5Stop being bitches and just accept the fact that Paul supporters are everywhere and won't shut up.
    • jackhatedance, on 02/29/2008, -3/+0But he was not sure. or he would have bought in oil at that time.
      • VikingoTJ, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3He is already making a killing off of other commodities. He was very sure about all of this.
    • antechinus, on 02/29/2008, -10/+2***** Ron Paul and ***** the horse he rode in on.
      • BESTenemy, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2With your mentality we'll all soon be riding horses. Oh... and enjoy your cheap $102 / barrel oil.
    • Qtip42, on 02/29/2008, -3/+11Just listening to paul speak on behalf of the people makes me proud. At least someone has his head on straight.
    • Hangly, on 02/29/2008, -2/+6Guess what, people will keep talking about Ron Paul when there are more than one of him. At the moment he's unique, and therefore noteworthy.
    • camelboy86, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2Who is this Ron Paul you speak of? Never heard of him before on digg.

      If digg was the only source of Election information then I would believe that Ron Paul is God in human form.
  • neoquietus, on 02/29/2008, -3/+7And thus dies forever "Cheap Oil". Rising demand from all countries, especially fast growing ones like China coupled with peak oil means that oil will likely never again be bellow $80 a barrel.
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2"peak oil"?

      Look up "abiotic oil".

      While we spent all our money on the moon race, the Russians study the origins of oil, and discovered that it was a product of geological activity, much like diamonds. It is plentiful and renewable.
      • neoquietus, on 02/29/2008, -1/+5I have heard of "abiotic oil", and their claims are not widely accepted because they fail to account for many of the signs that point to a biotic origin. Peak oil will occur regardless of the source of the oil if we pump it out faster than it is being created.
        • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -2/+3Then you understand that anytime the russians drill down to 40,000 feet, they find oil? You understand that supply and demand are vital to maintaining high prices?

          Western oil companies have no desire to pursue deep well drilling because that would expose the fallacy of "peak oil" which is keeping their profits high.

          Trust me, they will drill down to 40,000 or more feet, quietly, secretly, to continue selling us this almost renewable resource, as long as we keep believing that it was the byproduct of dinosaurs who never lived 40,000 feet below the earth's surface.
      • BESTenemy, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4Doesn't really matter whether the oil is renewable or not. The Peak Oil theory (the Hubert's Peak theory) is based simply on the rate of discovery of new oil against the rate of consumption. We can have planets and planets full of black liquid stuff. Doesn't matter one bit if we can't find it quickly and cheaply, as well as extract it.

        There's plenty of deep oil, you know. There's ocean floor oil. There's tar sand oil. There will always be that of the kind that is hard to extract. If you put more energy into oil than you get out by using it, then it's not a viable fuel. It's that simple. Doesn't matter what the theories are. We're running out of cheap oil - and that is a real problem. Without oil there is no industrial economy. There is no food to sustain the population numbers. There is no heat. There is no affordable transportation. There are no cheap plastics.
        • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1The basis of discovery is centered on the conventional wisdom. They are not looking deep enough to find the really plentiful supplies.
          There are even accounts of how the Russians were building deep well drills in Vietnam, and how those projects were mysteriously sabotaged.

          The costs of drilling deep do not mitigate deep-well drilling, especially with $100 oil, considering they could drill for the easy oil, at $27.39 a barrel oil, only 8 years ago.

          Do you at least realize that most diamonds that are mined each year are simply locked away in a DeBeers vault in London, in order to maintain the rarity and demand for diamonds? That's not some conspiracy theory *****. That is fact. Diamonds and Oil are products of very common geological processes. We have a core that is liquid iron, and it rotates within a solid iron core. That produces electricity and magnetism, and probably even gravity (though the conventional wisdom is that mass creates gravity) and going a few miles up in the earth's core, all that heat and energy and pressure creates diamonds, oil and who knows what else.
    • EtherGnat, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3Even if the theory of abiogenic petroleum origin turns out to be true (and most petroleum geologists believe it's not--a conspiracy I know) it doesn't help us much. It's not about how much oil there is, but how much CHEAP oil there is. There's little doubt that that's becoming more and more difficult to find.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiotic_oil
      • PhilLesh69, on 03/03/2008, -0/+1If it was economically feasible to drill for the easy oil at $$23.79 a barrel, don't you think it eventually became feasible to drill down 40,000 feet when it reached $50 a barrel? or $75 a barrel?
  • nastronomical, on 02/29/2008, -11/+7Lets drill in anwar, drill in the gulf of mexico and explore other spots! oh wait the liberal sheep hate it! well suck it up *****. deal with the high prices......hey atleast you pay less than europeans...for now ;).
    • neoquietus, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2ANWAR would supply the entire US for 30 days or less, so drilling it will only extend the inevitable by a minute amount.
      • EtherGnat, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2That is incorrect. Even conservative estimates of technically recoverable oil put availability at 4.3 billion barrels--enough to last the US for 215 days. A more realistic way of putting it is that it could supply 5% of US oil needs for about 12 years.

        That might sound like a lot, but it's still just a drop in the bucket. I think we'll eventually have to drill in ANWR, but it's wise to save it for a rainy day. The value of the oil there keeps going up and up.
    • carve, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3We don't use oil efficiently enough for anwar to make a difference. Lets pump the rest of the world dry first. Believe it or not, oil is still cheap. In five or ten years you'll be looking back to the good old days when oil was only $100/barrel. By then, we'll begin to use, and extract, oil more efficiently. In another 20 years, then, we'll at least have a source of oil left to run our airplanes.
      • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2We can run our airplanes on the used oil we cook our chinese food and french fries in, already.

        Don't forget, JP5 is kerosene. Jet fuel is kerosene.

        We can make that by using lye to separate out the glycerine from used vegetable oil, to produce diesel.

        The diesel engine was originally designed to run on processed vegetable oil. Jet airplaines fly using kerosene, close in flammability to diesel.
    • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -2/+3Dugg down for "*****".

      I dont care what you said after that. I stopped reading.
      • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1You must have a very delicate mind.
        • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2No. But if someone has a point to make, they can make it without attempting to come up with as condescending of terms as possible to express their feelings.

          I just find it totally uncalled for.
        • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1sure. sure.

          But don't overlook a point just because the person has a deficit of tact.
    • felman87, on 02/29/2008, -3/+4Why not harness hydrogen and break the oil habit completely? Wait, neocon sheep hate it because then the few oil corps that fund them wouldn't be able to rape the american people.
      • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3It isn't just neocons. Even democrat corporatists do not want to allow us to have basically free, or cheap energy.

        Who makes money off of the masses when a 9-volt battery can produce a month's worth of energy?
      • EtherGnat, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2It takes more energy to separate hydrogen than you get in return. Hydrogen is nothing more than another battery technology.
        • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -2/+1With proper research, we can develop the technology to use electrolysis to separate hydrogen from oxygen in water.

          To say that it cannot be done would be like all the naysayers who claimed that we couldn't split the atom.

          There IS a way. If we don't search for it, then obviously we can fool ourselves into thinking it will never happen.

          It's a good thing the folks in the Manhattan Project didn't think that way.
      • Mothrog, on 03/01/2008, -1/+1Probably because hydrogen uses as much or more energy to create than it ever produces, which is why it is an energy carrier, not an energy source, dunce.
  • fedak, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4103.5 in asia overnight
  • thatsmyaibo, on 02/29/2008, -1/+8Living in LA sucks hard right now. Prices here are anywhere from 3.25 to almost 4.00. That refinery problem in Texas probably didn't help either. I just wish we had better public transport.
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4Refineries blowing up has more to do with the price of gasoline than the price of oil. We have limited refining capacity. We can ship all the oil we desire to the US, the supply is fairly strong. But refining it is our bottleneck.

      I wonder how much money is made every time a refinery "explodes, but not by terrorist act" and who really benefits?
      • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3Time to bring a few of the many dozen mothballed refineries back on-line, huh?

        "We can't do that! It would increase supply! That would cut into our record profits!"
        • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3We actually have mothballed refineries?

          Well that just makes the last 5 years of increasing prices seem totally unnecessary.

          After Katrina, the damaged refineries in Louisiana was the explanation for that price spike.

          Then there was an explosion in Texas. That explained another spike.

          Then there was an explosion again this week, in texas. Another answer for spikes in gas prices.

          If we have refineries in some sort of reserve, then we've been lied to, we've been sold a bill of goods.
          • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3According to this link: http://www.industrialinfo.com/marketcoverage.jsp?p ...

            There are 128 decommissioned refineries. That's almost 1/4 of the refineries listed. (659 total. 531 in operation, 128 decommissioned) If even a fraction of them could be started up again, our refinery problems would be lessened by a GREAT extent.

            The fact that them are 128 of them on mothballs, and then the oil industry claiming "well, the liberals won't let us build any!", just shows that they really have no interest in increasing the number of working refineries.
          • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1Plus, I struggle to remember refineries exploding before 9/11. I won't do the math to figure probabilities, and what not, but I was born in 1969, and I cannot recall ANY refinery exploding anywhere until the last 7 years. There was even a major explosion in England, about 2 or 3 years ago.

            How come they were so safe and secure for the last 30 years, but for the last 8 years they seem to want to blow up at random?
  • redxninja, on 02/29/2008, -1/+6Black gold.
  • jkramlich, on 02/29/2008, -2/+17Fact check me but I believe oil was at $26 per barrel before Bush took office.
  • EntangledPhysx, on 02/29/2008, -1/+7OVER 102 DOLLARS?!?!?!
    • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -3/+1IT'S OVER 9000!!!!! (pennies)
      • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -1/+4Dude, please explain to us your infatuation with 9,000. I've seen you comment at least once before with this 'it's over 9000".

        What's your deal? Are you retarded, or do you have a point?
        • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1Actually, that's my first "over 9000" post.

          But here, this might give you an idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17zNW-wz35E

          Or another silly one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBtpyeLxVkI

          I know, it's a stupid meme, but sometimes even stupid memes are funny.
        • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Wayyy to obscure. This isn't like saying "I believe you have my stapler" or "m'kay" or "It's the electrolytes".

          You went way out into obscurity. The idea is to identify with others by referencing something they also enjoyed or identified with.
  • TheGuruStud, on 02/29/2008, -14/+23THANK YOU - you bible belt ***** from retard land, USA.

    None of this would've been possible without you. I hope you all die agonizing deaths along with your hero, bush.
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -3/+14Ironically, they're going to suffer the most. They all drive SUVs and love Nascar.
      • zeromancer, on 02/29/2008, -0/+6SUVs come suburbialand. they drive trucks.
        • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -1/+4No, the nascar loving neocons are so susceptible to media influence that once they were told that everyone was buying SUVs, they all ran out and bought one.

          Then they put "support our troops" magents on the back.
      • Hangly, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3And they eat food.
    • JensUK, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3And if the other guy was in he'd be pressing for fuel taxes that end up with the same pump price.
      • CrazyZ, on 02/29/2008, -1/+4Shhhh. The sheeple on the other side of the fence don't like to hear truths.......
  • UltramegaOK, on 02/29/2008, -3/+10It's time people started dusting off their bicycles.
    Most people who live in cities don't NEED a car.

    Yes, it's more convenient.
    But at what cost? Every time I go to the pump (rarely since I bike to school and work) I imagine the smug look on the faces of those corporate scum who make more money in 30 seconds than most people do in a year.

    Exxon made nearly $1,300 per second in 2007. http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/news/companies/exx ...
    • carve, on 02/29/2008, -6/+4Your decidedly communist slant is disturbing, but I'm willing to make an exception for the oil industry. They rely on corporate welfare like wars, public roads, and absurd tax breaks to make their money.

      And yes- the bicycle is highly underrated. I ride 11 miles to work about 2 or 3 days per week. Unless I take a road trip I only need to gas up my Cherokee once a month. I actually FELL BETTER when I ride to work, too. It really wakes you up. To top it off, even on an 11 mile commute, it takes me about the same amount of time to ride as driving- about 1/2 hour (I'm able to take neighborhood streets to avoid the congestion).
      • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -1/+4I'm not sure what you mean by "decidedly communist slant", since you also ride a bike. Was it his comment about "corporate scum"?

        The biggest problem in this country is that too many people have taken sides, and anytime someone disagrees with them, they assume that they are surrendering to the terrorists, or are communists, or are against America. There are so many divergent views that all seek to make America great, but in this tabloid fox news world, it can only be that singular mindset, that single belief or agreement. That is why will eventually fail, because the 30% who adhere to neocon ideology believe that everyone else is against them.

        Don't forget that you can be all for democracy while still looking at corporatism as a flawed, greedy and destructive ideology. Do you understand human nature? If left unchecked, greed and ego can ruin even the most munificent businesses.

        Like you say, riding your bike makes you feel better. That's great. I'll admit that, at least here in DC, the bike riders are an annoyance, but I understand your point of view.

  • capiCrimm, on 02/29/2008, -9/+4and adjusted for inflation it's not that bad.

    http://www.cato.org/images/pubs/pub6440.jpg
    • minox, on 02/29/2008, -1/+4Correct, in recent history 1979-1982 mark a much higher price than we are currently paying.
      • ZiggityZhang, on 02/29/2008, -2/+1Just because it isn't the worst time to need oil doesn't mean this isn't a crisis either. If you sit around waiting for the worst of the worst to come it's going to be too late.
    • cdigioia, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Exactly, although I'm extremely concerned about the limited oil supplies in the world, fact is, when accounting for inflation, gasoline currently isn't that expensive compared to the past.

      I'm not sure why you're getting dugg down for providing a very relevant link...
    • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -0/+0That graph is dated 5/1/06. Oil was not as expensive back then. We are at approximately the inflation-adjusted high right now. Here's a more accurate one from the Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/i ...
      It's somewhat old (7-31-07), but still more accurate than the one posted above. Notice that one of the sources is the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is by definition the official source for crude oil prices. The inflation adjusted high is slightly higher now due to inflation (about $104), so we're right there.
  • nastronomical, on 02/29/2008, -10/+4Wanna reduce gas prices? tell the fed and state to cut taxes by 50%. Of course that wont happen...lol. If you think its high now wait till the "tax gas" to pay for "free healthcare" begins...oh what sheep you people are!!
    • almondfilter3, on 02/29/2008, -2/+6Someone who tries to lecture everyone on how to handle this giant problem (with an impossibility mind you) and uses "lol" in the same thought, shouldn't be calling anyone, particularly addressing almost everyone besides yourself, as...sheep...eesh.
    • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2Yeah, real good idea. The gas taxes haven't gone up to cause this *****, and cutting the gas taxes would cut money for things like road repair (I know my state uses a LARGE portion of the gas tax collected for road repairs and infrastructure work).

      You can't tax-cut your way to prosperity.

      And honestly, the "extra taxes" that people would pay would be MORE than offset by the insurance premiums they wouldn't have to pay.
  • esaks, on 02/29/2008, -3/+15The price of oil isn't going up, it's our dollar thats dropping thats making it expensive.
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -1/+9You have a good point, inflating our dollar certainly affects how much it costs to buy oil, in adjusted prices.

      BUT, $102 barrel oil is still 5 times more costly than it was in 2000. Adjust for inflation, and it still is much more than our economy was geared to pay.

      Then consider that our dollar's value is dropping. We are now 52% below the Euro. They have printed 16% more money, meaning our inflation is at 16% beyond normal inflation.

      It's way too complex for the average person to comprehend, but it's safe to say, it's not good.
      • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2And the amount of inflation is hard to determine, since they stopped printing the M3 numbers.

        "No! You can't know how much money we're printing! That's a secret!'
        • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1But we do know how much money they are printing.

          The problem is, too many people are so scared to acknowledge it, that they deny it and get angry towards anyone who is trying to bring it up.

          Another example of cognitive dissonance. Once you understand cognitive dissonance fully, you can begin to see the pundits and players get flustered when they are faced with someone who explains things in the old-logic way, and how they end up becoming angry and dismissive.
  • burntsac, on 02/29/2008, -10/+5cold hard economics can answer the question. it's not as entertaining as sean penn or some other hollywood liberal douche, but last i checked America isn't the only country that uses oil - there's these other countries in the world that are growing as well (cough, china! cough, india!). plus the environmentalists won't let us build any other oil refineries here in the US. so as demand increases and supply is suppressed, it follows that the prices will increase as well.

    let the liberal burying begin! wheeeee!!!
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -1/+5Or let a conservative who has been paying attention answer your comment.

      Liberals are not preventing the building of more refineries. The oil companies don't want any more. They prefer to keep a lower supply, because, ummm, duhh, supply and demand influences prices. Gee.

      Especially at today's prices, it would be so easy to open a refinery per year, to increase production, but with profits being made by almost doubling the cost of retail gasoline with the current supply system, regardless of how that affects the American consumer, why would they?

  • Myal, on 02/29/2008, -2/+7You think 3 dollars a gallon is bad? Wait till the summer comes and its 4 dollars a gallon. Better yet, come up here to canada where I pay $1.20 a litre. Do the math. Canada already pays more. AND england even more.

    http://masklinnscans.free.fr/4chan/Demotivators/pi ...
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -1/+5Germany pays even more.

      They were paying 5 or 6 dollars a gallon in 1993 when I was over there with my German ex-girlfriend. It cost me $75 to fill up my rental opel.
      • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2Yes, but a large chunk of those prices are taxes which pay for services, which isn't the case here.
        • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -0/+2No doubt. Plus, most of those services actually happen, as opposed to here, where we get taxed, charged fees, registration and inspection and tolls and every other method of taking money, yet nothing ever seems to actually go back into the services they claim these hidden costs are supposed to pay for.

          In Germany, traffic is not a big deal, because most of the extra taxes on gasoline go into subsidizing public transportation. So that most people just prefer public transportation, and so that most people could rely on public transportation to be able to get just about anywhere in Germany.

          I remember being in a very remote suburb of Hiedelberg, and there was a bus. There was a hotel, and I could see a town about a half mile away with maybe 30 homes, yet there was a regular bus service that went into Hiedelberg and to other surrounding rural towns. Try to imagine a bus service in some town of 30 homes in the United States??? If it exists, it probably looks like some third-world country's used school-bus posing as public transportation.
    • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1i get why europeans pay more, but why canada? they have way more oil than the US.
      • jawnboy, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3It is because of NAFTA - part of the agreement is that Canada has to supply oil to the USA at the same rate it does Canada. Which is funny Obama and Clinton have both talked about needing to use pressure to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate NAFTA - which would be really bad as there is absolutely no chance of something like that ending back into a renegotiated agreement.
        • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1but if it's the same rate, shouldn't it be equally expensive?
          • jawnboy, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2Canada's government adds quite a bit of tax on top and most of our Gasoline providers are American companies anyway. It is really sadly humorous, we have all the natural resources one could need, but apparently we are too dumb to refine them so we sell them the the US cheap and then buy them back with considerable markup.
    • MindTrigger, on 02/29/2008, -1/+4I always lol when I see these posts, because the fact that some other countries already pay more for gas DOES NOT change the fact that a big raise in gas prices here in the US, will put another dent in our economy, not to mention the wallets of people who are already living on a stretched dollar.

      Cheap gas has always been a way of life here. You can't blame America for being "addicted to oil" when it has been the policy of our government to make oil and gas a non-issue for us up until the last few years. When the gas prices are high enough, there will be a societal impact that will spark change in the minds of the masses here. As much as a fear the economic ripples of the higher gas prices, I embrace it for the positive long-term change it will bring.
  • iri1978, on 02/29/2008, -0/+8oil is not only getting more explensive it is $ going down
    1€ = 1.3174$ year ego now 1.5194$
    • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4oil is getting more expensive BECAUSE dollar is going down. also, dollar is going down because oil is getting more expensive. it's a vicious cycle.
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -0/+5Yes. We are not seeing the bigger picture.

      a 52% loss to the Euro. The Federal reserve increasing our money supply by 16% (meaning watering down our currency by 16%, the same thing as the euro gaining 52% on our dollar.)

      We don't even know how deflated our dollar is any more.

      They claim 6% inflation, which is bad, in and of itself, but when you factor in everything else, what are we really losing in real dollar buying power??? 16%, 20%, 25%???

      I don't think even the fed reserve even knows. I think it's all new math, and everyone is scared by it. All they can do is to continue to reduce fed lending rates, printing more money to lend to over-extended lenders, increasing the amount of money that is chasing fewer and fewer commodities.
      • camelboy86, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2They are thinking that inflation is easier to fix than a recession. So they are doing things that will improve the economy, but may weaken the dollar. Not saying it will work, but I think that is what they have in mind.
        • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1If you have a nest egg of a million dollars, and the dollar was weakened by 16%, then, at the stroke of a pen by the Fed Reserve Chairman, you just lost $160,000 of your nest egg.

          Sure, you still have a million bucks, but it has less buying power. That's before you even consider inflation and everything else. Some non-elected, private individual who barely answers to the government or citizens just erased $160,000 of your wealth right before your eyes.
  • KdogTN, on 02/29/2008, -1/+7There are several solutions that we can take into consideration here to help with the oil and gas issue. For one, why are we still paying for lost crops to corn and grain farmers across the nation? That can be used for E-85 fuel. Flex vehicles have been in use for years in south America as well as in Europe. I have literally been tinkering around with a solar distiller and can produce my own e-85 for close to $1 a gallon. The major problem is the major oil companies have lobbyist in DC that threaten to take away the fancy cars and vacation homes of the House of Representatives an the Senate if they talk about flex fuel and or any other renewable. It's not just republicans or Democrats, it's both parties. Until we flush Washington of the crap that we have elected into office we will never find a solution. This government over the years has moved from the motto, "This government of the people, for the people" has changed to, "For our selves ***** the people."
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4I drive a diesel mercedes. I get used vegetable oil from the chinese restaurand and a McDonald's in my town. It costs me about 84 cents a gallon, including the lye, and I get about 37 miles a gallon.

      But don't tell anyone. Or better yet, call them left-wing liberal conspiracy theorists if they do what I do. Us intelligent conservatives want to have cheap transportation. We don't need them ruining my good opportunity of getting that used oil for free.
      • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1I was about to ask you what you paid for that used vegetable oil (if you did).

        Your system rocks. Kudos for a job well done, Phil.

        Too bad it's not realistic for a large increase in the amount of people that do it. There aren't enough McDonalds friers around to keep more than a small percentage of cars doing what yours is able to.
      • theexitwound, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2There are those who say you're 'cheating the system' because you're not paying the taxes that keep the roads in working order by avoiding the pumps. I wish I could convert my car to be honest. Does your exhaust smell like french fries?
        • jawnboy, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2If your car is diesel there is no conversion needed, he is talking about esterfied vegetable oil just dump it in your tank.
        • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1theexitwound, I pay personal property tax on my car. I pay license and registration fees, and inspection and emissions fees. I'm not cheating the system, I'm just being smart enough to not pay more than I need to. I they can't pave roads and maintain signs and traffic lights because someone isn't paying the gas taxes, then we need to wonder where all those other taxes are being wasted or stolen.

          jawnboy, yes, there is is slight conversion needed. It costs roughly $800 to add a second tank, a preheater and some solenoids and switches. You have to start your car on regular diesel, then let it warm up for a minute or two, then when you stop, you need to switch back to regular diesel long enough to be sure no veg oil is in the last part of the fuel system so that it doesn't gum up the system. Usually, if you're about to pull into a store or whatever, you can switch over for the last 30 seconds, then stop the engine like normal.

          DO NOT JUST DUMP VEGETABLE OIL IN YOUR TANK! It will run for a few weeks or months, but eventually you'll have a siezed engine.
      • KdogTN, on 03/01/2008, -0/+0A good friend of mine owns and operates a grease trap service company in Georgia and has been running bio diesel for over 5 years. His fuel costs have hit the bottom and his profit hit the roof. He actually started selling fuel to the cement company next to his yard for his trucks and tanks. He told me that maintenance on his trucks has gone down because the fuel burns cleaner and the trucks run better. I buy e-85 from a little store around the corner from my house and it has increased it's performance and runs better. I pay $2.10 a gallon right now for it. Oh and BTW, my friend who owns the grease trap service took all of the extra money saved from the fuel and gave all of his employees a $8,000 Christmas bonus last year. Makes me sick to see the rest of the country getting gouged so horribly by big oil.
  • subigo, on 02/29/2008, -0/+3And it's times like these that I'm happy to work at home. I drove a total of 24 miles in the month of February.
  • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -0/+4it rose again today to over $103
  • eijnok, on 02/29/2008, -0/+103 Dollars a gallon, thats really low comparing with the prices in Sweden where i live, here the gallon price is over 7$ a gallon.
    • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1And again. Are those prices due to the cost of the oil/refining, corporate profits, or taxes which provide services for the citizens?
  • adjective, on 02/29/2008, -1/+15Come over here to England where we pay about $8/gallon.

    :D
    • tuxthepenguin, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3Thats because your government taxes you around $4-5 a gallon
      • PhilLesh69, on 03/01/2008, -0/+1You are right. But then those taxes are generally used to augment public transportation and to maintain public roads, not put into general funds or used for all sorts of local, state and federal entitlements.

        In Germany, it is more cost effective to use public transportation than to own a car. Yet, for the people who need to drive, whether because of distance, or inaccess to public transportation are more than happy to pay the higher taxes, even the higher cost of tires and maintenance, because the roads are well maintained, the traffic levels are reasonable and they can trust that everyone else who is driving is trained and tested to ensure a lower traffic fatality rate, in spite of being able to drive at whatever speed the car or driver is capable of achieving, than in the US.
  • Randrayla, on 02/29/2008, -2/+3Oil is just catching up. For so many years we saw increasing wages and prosperity and now the economy is catching up. Its the nature of the beast.
    • anengineer, on 02/29/2008, -1/+4You're all wet. I don't have time to support this claim but suffice it to say that wages have pretty much been stagnant for 10-15 years and the "prosperity" you mention has been supported by borrowing against homes and credit card use.
    • PhilLesh69, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2The beast. Sure.

      What prosperity are you speaking of?

      I've got mine, for sure, but I'm not blind to the rest of my countrymen. I know I'm unusual to be 38 and basically retired.
  • AuldNic, on 02/29/2008, -4/+2america better start another war with some other oil producing country so that they can drive there big greedy cars and air conditioning units.
    • BaronSamedi242, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1Iran's next on the list I believe.
  • Hangly, on 02/29/2008, -2/+3Can we stop pricing oil in something other than dollars please? Every time I see a price I have to check a bunch of online graphs to see whether it was oil that went up, the dollar that went down, or both.
    • j0313971, on 02/29/2008, -0/+0i only saw 1 price in euros. all the rest were $s.
    • BaronSamedi242, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1If we did that, then the dollar would completely collapse. It's the on;y thing preventing Weimar-style hyperinflation.
  • doyoulikeworms, on 02/29/2008, -1/+5A better title is "Value of US Dollar Plummets, Oil Now $102 Per Barrel".
  • 0crabby0, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1http://digg.com/business_finance/Gasoline_supplies ...
    Five days ago, the price of oil has nothing to do with supply.
  • tgc1, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2Wait until it's "OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!!!"
    • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2See! I'm not the only one! It's not that obscure!

      *chuckle*
  • Fishbrains, on 02/29/2008, -4/+2To be honest if the dollar wasn't so worthless oil may not have gone so high. Also as the great man that is Jerermy Clarkson once pointed out petrol is still good value for money. A litre of petrol is less than water, and you forget that most of the cost is tax.
    • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1I get gallons of water for 79 cents. Gas here is $3 a gallon.

      How the hell much do you pay for water?
      • orlyfactor, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Bottled water maybe.
        • bjornski, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Maybe if he's buying it in 16oz bottles from the local soda bottler, sure.

          When I buy water, I get the plastic gallon jugs. $.79 each. (sometimes cheaper, especially if you bring the jugs back to recycle and re-use them).

          Anyone buying water 16oz at a time is a moron.
        • rockefeller2, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2I get about 4000 gallons of water out of my tap a month for about $5.
  • ajtait, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3Anyone hear of peak oil?
  • lastmovement, on 02/29/2008, -4/+1http://blog4paul.blogspot.com
    http://waronyou.blogspot.com
    http://thelastmovement.blogspot.com
    http://thehypereport.blogspot.com
    http://BOXINGINSIDER.blogspot.com
    http://fightNet.blogspot.com
    http://realrapnewz.blogspot.com
    http://fistfullofmoney.blogspot.com
    Boston Globe Reports Buckley Skull & Bones http://thelastmovement.blogspot.com/2008/02/boston ...
  • orlyfactor, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3When I hear it called sweet light crude, it just makes me want to pour a glass of it and drink it up!
  • crazywarthog, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3And is the US Government opening up new areas for exploration in the homeland ? No ! They and many of you think we can conserve our way out of this mess. Just walk or ride a bicycle and stop complaining. You voted for these idiots in Congress.

    Fools you are !
    • robbob, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2Actually our govt is doubling the US reserves at $100+/BBL to 1.5 M Barrels. They are either stupid or they believe THIS is now cheap as they are looking into the future.
  • caponumen, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2All commodities are racing ahead, clearly the slow down in the US will not change this anytime soon and inflation will not "take care of itself".
  • gjohnson352, on 02/29/2008, -2/+3It's a bit of a ***** headline. Is oil going up, or is the dollar going down? Given the fact that our dollar just fell to an all-time low of 1.5 euro to the dollar, it strikes me that this is just another manifestation of the horrible fiscal and monetary policies of the Bush administration.

    Oh, and didn't Exxon just post some ridiculously high profit? I'm not a great fan of Michael Moore, but I have to be honest that Fahrenheit 911 got me thinking about the right questions to ask here.

    • GeauxLSU, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Monetary policies of the Bush administration? Try monetary policy of Americans who defaulted on their payments forcing the hand of the Fed to lower rates.
      Trade imbalance from Clinton's China policy and NAFTA aren't helping either add to that the loss of manufacturing jobs...I thought the Dems were supposed to help the Blue collar guys?
      Federal deficit is an issue, but pales to the other two above.
  • GeauxLSU, on 02/29/2008, -1/+1GOOD...IMO, all the environmental movements of the past decades have done less to change the American mindset on energy conservation and renewable energy than the recent oil spike.....Nothing like hitting people in the pocketbook to change their mindset! Less SUV's on the road is a great thing...and safer for me in my small car.

    Economics will be the guiding force behind all of these renewable movements....As oil gets pricier, venture capitalists will look elsewhere for opportunities that were once seen as expensive and not practical.

    Short term pain....LONG TERM GAIN!
    • MindTrigger, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2So how does it feel for you to think that everyone in America can fit their lifestyles around small cars just because you do. I take it you don't have a large family, or a job where you have to drive clients around.

      I have news for you too. I know it's fashionable for people to pick on SUV's, but have you gone out and seen the gas mileage ratings on mid and large sized cars at ALL of the major manufacturers? They all get ***** gas mileage, including the 6cyl cars and small trucks/SUVs. A 2008 Ford Expedition (V8), for example, has only a few MPG difference from most other non-4cyl vehicles on the roads. Try to remember than when you are cruising around in your little tin can, pointing the finger at SUV drivers. Go out and do the research. It only takes about 30 mins.
      • GeauxLSU, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Mine gets almost 40 MPG....And I have a very active lifestyle. I use hitches and the most importantly.....I clean my car out of stuff I am not using. American roads are full of single occupant gas guzzler with nothing in tow.

        Europeans do fine with their smaller cars.....It is attitude not need!
        • MindTrigger, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2You use hitches? What does that mean? How active your lifestyle is has no influence over the size of car you personally need. Do you have a wife and 4 kids? Do you live in a part of the country where a larger 4 Wheel drive is safer during the winter? Do you tow a boat, or a trailer? People like you don't understand that not everyone fits into your little myopic idea of the world.

          My other point was that it's not just SUV's on the road that get ***** gas mileage. Almost ALL cars that have anything bigger than a 4 cylinder engine get nearly the same gas mileage, and they are all bad. It's time for the car manufacturers to step up and bring better technology to larger cars, because no matter what you may think, not everyone can fit their lives into a Prius. Some of us have valid reasons for needing more room and more power.
        • GeauxLSU, on 02/29/2008, -0/+2Your case is the exception more than the rule. I see plenty of people that don't live in those conditions driving gas guzzlers ALONE. American roads are full of far too many bad choices.
          Yes I do have a hitch that can tow. I use it for extra room when needed and have driven cross country with 4 people inside.
  • Konrad9, on 02/29/2008, -1/+3Oil isn't rising, the dollar is falling.
  • scottykempf, on 02/29/2008, -3/+2That's nothing. Just wait until gasoline is $102 A GALLON!!!
  • mattowan, on 02/29/2008, -1/+2Oil will keep going up until we start drilling off the coasts of California and Florida and in ANWAR. It will create tens of thousands of jobs and lower oil prices, in addition to propping the dollar.
  • infectaphibian, on 03/01/2008, -0/+2Soon driving a big SUV will be a subtle way of saying "hey ladies, look at me.... I'm broke."
  • docrings, on 03/03/2008, -0/+1Shale oil to the rescue... we won't run out of oil in our lifetime... but it will be expensive. Oil will probably plateau at about $150/bbl in ten years as America and Canada ramp up oil shale production.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/j-thomas-andrews/oil ...

    Still will be good to be in a plug-in hybrid...

  • Maevirko69, on 03/04/2008, -0/+1ron paul would abolish oil. COME ON PEOPLE, USE YOUR HEAD RON PAUL 08 GEEZ
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