On Jul 6, 10:07=A0am, rick murphy <RichardTRMur...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> America, Europe and the rest of the World have a very severe learning
> disability; cannot learn from the very clear and easy-to-learn lessons
> which are very readily avaiable. Everything said about America's
> addiction to oil can easily said every person and nation in the World.
>
> Shame on everybody, but especially America and Europe since the two
> has the most resouces to develop alternative sources of energy.
>
> Shame on America and Europe. Shame, Shame, Shame. god-damn shame!!!
>
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/business/06oil.html?_r=3D1&hp&oref=3Dsl=
....
>
> American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot
>
> By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
> Published: July 6, 2008
>
> Correction Appended
>
> JUST three years ago, with oil trading at a seemingly frothy $66 a
> barrel, David J. O=92Reilly made what many experts considered a risky
> bet. Outmaneuvering Chinese bidders and ignoring critics who said he
> overpaid, Mr. O=92Reilly, the chief executive of Chevron, forked over
> $18 billion to buy Unocal, a giant whose riches date back to oil
> fields made famous in the film =93There Will Be Blood.=94
>
> For Chevron, the deal proved to be a movie-worthy gusher, helping its
> profits to soar. And while he has warned about tightening energy
> supplies for years and looks prescient for buying Unocal, even Mr.
> O=92Reilly says that he still can=92t get his head around current oil
> prices, which closed above $145 a barrel on Thursday, a record.
>
> =93We can see how you can get to $100,=94 he says. =93At $140, I just
don=
=92t
> know how to explain it. We=92re surprised.=94
>
> For the rest of the country, the feeling is more like shock. As
> gasoline prices climb beyond $4 a gallon, Americans are rethinking
> what they drive and how and where they live. Entire industries are
> reeling =97 airlines and automakers most prominent among them =97 and
gas
> prices have emerged as an im****tant issue in the presidential
> campaign.
>
> Ninety percent of Americans, meanwhile, expect the pain at the pump to
> pose a financial hard****p in the next six months, according to a
> recent Associated Press-Yahoo News poll. Stocks now trade inversely to
> crude prices, and the Dow Jones industrials are in bear-market
> territory. Old icons have been written off, with Starbucks boasting
> nearly twice the market value of General Motors, which some on Wall
> Street say faces the possibility of bankruptcy.
>
> Outside the thriving oil patch, it makes for a bleak economic picture.
> But it didn=92t have to be this way.
>
> Over the last 25 years, op****tunities to head off the current crisis
> were ignored, missed or deliberately blocked, according to analysts,
> politicians and veterans of the oil and automobile industries. What=92s
> more, for all the surprise at just how high oil prices have climbed,
> and fears for the future, this is one crisis we were warned about.
> Ever since the oil shortages of the 1970s, one re****t after another
> has cautioned against America=92s oil addiction.
>
> Even as politicians heatedly debate opening new regions to drilling,
> corralling energy speculators, or starting an Apollo-like effort to
> find renewable energy supplies, analysts say the real source of the
> problem is closer to home. In fact, it=92s parked in our driveways.
>
> Nearly 70 percent of the 21 million barrels of oil the United States
> consumes every day goes for trans****tation, with the bulk of that
> burned by individual drivers, according to the National Commission on
> Energy Policy, a bipartisan research group that advises Congress.
>
> SO despite the fierce debate over what=92s behind the recent spike in
> prices, no one differs on what=92s really responsible for all that
> underlying demand here for black gold: the automobile, fueled not only
> by gasoline but also by Americans=92 famous propensity for voracious
> consumption.
>
> To be sure, the American appetite for crude oil is only one reason for
> the recent price surge. But the country=92s dependence on im****ted oil
> has only kept growing in recent years, undermining the trade balance
> and putting an added strain on global supplies.
>
> Although the road to $4 gasoline and increased oil dependence has been
> paved in places like Detroit, Houston and Riyadh, it runs through
> Wa****ngton as well, where policy makers have let the problem make
> lengthy pit stops.
>
> =93Much of what we=92re seeing today could have been prevented or
> ameliorated had we chosen to act differently,=94 says Pete V. Domenici,
> the ranking Republican member of the Senate Energy and Natural
> Resources Committee and a 36-year veteran of the Senate. =93It was a
> bipartisan failure to act.=94
>
> Mike Jackson, the chief executive of AutoNation, the country=92s biggest
> automobile retailer, is even more blunt. =93It was totally preventable,=
=94
> he says, anger creeping into his affable car-salesman=92s pitch.
>
> The speed at which gas prices are climbing is forcing a seismic change
> in long-held American habits, from car-buying to commuting. Last week,
> Ford Motor re****ted that S.U.V. sales were down 55 percent from a year
> ago, while demand for its full-size F-series pickup, a gas guzzler
> that was the country=92s best-selling vehicle for 26 consecutive years,
> is off 40 percent. The only Ford model to show a sales increase was
> the midsized Fusion. A Ford spokeswoman says the market ****ft is
> =93totally unprecedented and faster than anything we=92ve ever seen.=94
>
> If the latest rise in oil prices isn=92t just another spike =97 like
thos=
e
> of the 1970s and 1980s =97 but is instead a fundamental repricing of the
> commodity responsible for much of modern American life, the impact of
> that change will affect everyone from home builders and homeowners in
> exurbs to cor****ate leaders, landlords and commuters in cities.
>
> Although Asian consumers have begun emulating America=92s love affair
> with the automobile, with the commercial booms of China and India
> playing pivotal roles in increased oil demand, the largest energy
> appetite in the world is still found in the United States. Home to
> only 4 percent of the world=92s population, the nation slurps up about a
> quarter of the planet=92s oil =97 and Americans=92 daily use is nearly
tw=
ice
> the combined consumption of the Chinese and Indians, according to an
> annual energy survey published by BP, the British oil giant.
>
> Indeed, low-priced gasoline has long been part of the American social
> contract, according to Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and
> Republican leader. While in office, Mr. Gingrich battled efforts to
> modulate demand through tools like increased gas taxes and tighter
> fuel standards, and he argues that voters won=92t sup****t such measures
> even now.
>
> For Chevron, the deal proved to be a movie-worthy gusher, helping its
> profits to soar. And while he has warned about tightening energy
> supplies for years and looks prescient for buying Unocal, even Mr.
> O=92Reilly says that he still can=92t get his head around current oil
> prices, which closed above $145 a barrel on Thursday, a record.
>
> =93We can see how you can get to $100,=94 he says. =93At $140, I just
don=
=92t
> know how to explain it. We=92re surprised.=94
>
> For the rest of the country, the feeling is more like shock. As
> gasoline prices climb beyond $4 a gallon, Americans are rethinking
> what they drive and how and where they live. Entire industries are
> reeling =97 airlines and automakers most prominent among them =97 and
gas
> prices have emerged as an im****tant issue in the presidential
> campaign.
>
> Ninety percent of Americans, meanwhile, expect the pain at the pump to
> pose a financial hard****p in the next six months, according to a
> recent Associated Press-Yahoo News poll. Stocks now trade inversely to
> crude prices, and the Dow Jones industrials are in bear-market
> territory. Old icons have been written off, with Starbucks boasting
> nearly twice the market value of General Motors, which some on Wall
> Street say faces the possibility of bankruptcy.
>
> Outside the thriving oil patch, it makes for a bleak economic picture.
> But it didn=92t have to be this way.
>
> Over the last 25 years, op****tunities to head off the current crisis
> were ignored, missed or deliberately blocked, according to analysts,
> politicians and veterans of the oil and automobile industries. What=92s
> more, for all the surprise at just how high oil prices have climbed,
> and fears for the future, this is one crisis we were warned about.
> Ever since the oil shortages of the 1970s, one re****t after another
> has cautioned against America=92s oil addiction.
>
> Even as politicians heatedly debate opening new regions to drilling,
> corralling energy speculators, or starting an Apollo-like effort to
> find renewable energy supplies, analysts say the real source of the
> problem is closer to home. In fact, it=92s parked in our driveways.
>
> Nearly 70 percent of the 21 million barrels of oil the United States
> consumes every day goes for trans****tation, with the bulk of that
> burned by individual drivers, according to the National Commission on
> Energy Policy, a bipartisan research group that advises Congress.
>
> SO despite the fierce debate over what=92s behind the recent spike in
> prices, no one differs on what=92s really responsible for all that
> underlying demand here for black gold: the automobile, fueled not only
> by gasoline but also by Americans=92 famous propensity for voracious
> consumption.
>
> To be sure, the American appetite for crude oil is only one reason for
> the recent price surge. But the country=92s dependence on im****ted oil
> has only kept growing in recent years, undermining the trade balance
> and putting an added strain on global supplies.
>
> Although the road to $4 gasoline and increased oil dependence has been
> paved in places like Detroit, Houston and Riyadh, it runs through
> Wa****ngton as well, where policy makers have let the problem make
> lengthy pit stops.
>
> =93Much of what we=92re seeing today could have been prevented or
> ameliorated had we chosen to act differently,=94 says Pete V. Domenici,
> the ranking Republican member of the Senate Energy and Natural
> Resources Committee and a 36-year veteran of the Senate. =93It was a
> bipartisan failure ...
>
> read more =BB
recently the PEW orginization showed that the majority polled have no
changed their minds as to offshore and land drilling for oil in the
U.S.Even the greenies are now looking at it a lot diferently and in
su****t of both,and the people are now pu****ng for oil driling in
Alaskas refuges.People are starting to wake up to the fact that our
oil problems lie right here in our own copuntry more than overseas
|
