$135 barrel, yes folks $135
that is a 35% increase since the end of last year
that is a 382% increase since the scumbag took office on Jan 21, 2001
Yep cash flow -- out of the US and into everyone else
With imports running at about 12,000,000 barrels a day - that is a transfer of wealth equal to over $1.6 billion per day --- or almost $600 billion per year.
That is money leaving the US of A and heading towards the coffers of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Norway, Nigeria, Indonesia, Kuwait and a whole slew of other countries. That is our hard earned dollars from people barely hanging onto jobs, barely making payments on their homes, barely have the ability to send their kids to college.
That is money that is not coming back to the US, That is money that does not belong to us anymore.
Gas, the lifeblood of commerce in almost all of the US, is at $3.83. It was under $3 one year ago. That also means gas will be $5 by mid-summer, that means filling some of those tanks up will cost over $100 a shot.
Gas at $5 will look real cheap when it hits $6-7 by the end of the year. And it will. Invest in a good lock on the gas cap. The oil analysts (who probably need psychological analysts) on CNN and MSNBC are calling for $200 a barrel oil and $10-12 gas next year (or sooner). And if you didn't see the testimony in Congress yesterday -- the oil executives were whining that they were
regular people too - and have to answer to their friends and buy gasoline just like you and I.
I am playing my Stradivarius
This is fucking insanity - there are no other words. Most of the media is treating these price rises as some sort of fun thing and contest - like picking the right David on American Idol. And you just know all those GOP free market Milton Friedman-worshippers think the market will just make this all adjust accordingly. If living in Hoovervilles with four sweaters and eating Alpo is adjusting -- then I guess our 'friends' at freerepublic.com and lucianne.com are on the mark.
Frankly we are living in such ridiculous and abnormal times (thank you George W. Dickhead), that I think we can throw all economic models out the top floor window of the 2,800 foot Burj Dubai. The 90% of Americans who live without a Porsche or $100 pedicures are NOT going to be helped out by free market economics -- NOT anytime soon. These high prices are not going to bring new ideas/inventions and oil substitutes to market anytime in the near future. In addition, drilling in ANWR, drilling off the coast of Florida or building more refineries is NOT going to solve this problem -- they are way too long term, and if anything they would continue to mask what the real issue is -- our insatiable thirst for oil and our inability to change our deeply entrenched gasoline based culture.
This is not about finding and refining more oil -- it is about changing our lifestyles, changing the way we live and figuring out how to get off a product we so heavily depend upon - and have ZERO control over. This is our 3rd major wake-up call (1973-74, 1979-80) and we better damn do something about it this time. Conquering the Middle East and claiming the oil as ours is not an option.
So as the problem of oil deepens what does the Doofus-in-Charge do -- he goes to Saudi Arabia and begs (with a lot of winking and nodding) for OPEC to help him out. Then he chides all the Arab governments about the way they run their countries. Not wanting his stench on their land, the Arabs basically laugh him out of town.
This is not only about freedom on the road - it is about our entire society and its survival. How does most food get transported in the country? How about all air travel? What about the northern part of the country that depends on heating oil in the winter? What about products and pharmaceuticals that are petroleum based? The connections and mazes and "drill downs" from oil are staggering - so staggering I do not think we can survive as an economic engine or as a nation - at these prices and as hostages to other nations. You thought 9/11 was horrific - wait till we see the oil induced economic 9/11.
But let's thank the MSM for continuing to make this just another problem to solve. After all, the American Idol winner, Hillary's latest crap about Michigan, which douchebag McCain will pick for his veep? the Peterson murder and other assorted bullshit all are way more important than this. For us Amuricans are tough and patriotic and will weather this storm like troopers!!!
You know, the government does have a role in making this nation a better, safer, more productive and optimistic place for its citizens and future citizens. While it rarely ever lives up to any of those marks - the last seven years have proven as bad as you think it can be, it is even worse. Reagan's was partially right about these scary words "I'm from the government" -- except he failed to mention it was really "I'm from the Bush government."
Thank you George W. Bush for "The Best Years of Our Lives" and ensuring a "secure future" -- for your buddies. May you rot in hell and live next to Ann Coulter for eternity.
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26 comments:
I heard the dumbass richass CEO of Shell (I think or someone like that) blaming the high price of oil on the US Congress.
But of course! That evil, evil filthy congress!!
Why?
Well the mean, mean people in Congress won't let the oil companies drill for oil on protected lands and wah wah wah cries the rich oil baby, we need to drill, we need the oil!
My friend who is a Ph.D and really smart and cool and an energy expert was just at a solar conference and she told me about a presentation that she saw.
The premise was that every drop of oil we use here is not available for someone else and it is not coming back. Or if we don't get it, the same idea applies.
Sun however, and wind - everyone can share in that same power.
The net results?
Energy. Peace.
No it is not a two step easy process but it is possible.
However, you would have to pry the profits out of the oil people.
And what Pres and VP are so tightly wired to them????
Great post.
And hey come say happy 1 year blogversary before it is too late and my heart is too broken!!
Signed, needy but willing to go Solar in Albany
D-CAP: You didn't happen to see further out on the curve, did you? Like say SEP09? Our econ guy says last week it was still in gentle backwardation from $126 but had an upward inflection point medium -term.
McCain apparently extended his electoral lead over Obama overnight.
You're right about the Middle-East being pretty much what it's going to be for a long time, but as alternative sources require so much R & D and we get lucky and Obama sneaks in, he wont be able to get a budget through with anything for alternative energy.
So, I'm bracing for McCain's move on Northern South America around 9/11/09. Venezuela is the big prize of course. After that, the Colombian center and left and martial law. After that Ecuador. After that Bolivia. With the other big prize, Panama, to go last. That's McCain's fantasy, of course. [And Boehner and McConnell may just be able to apply enough pressure on Obama to make him go for it against his will].
But as I've written over and over again. The staging area will be Colombia and I don't see how GI Joe can make it out of the Jewish section of Cali in one piece. Who do you reckon is tougher: a new US recruit all stoked up on Top Gun, Rambo and Jarhead movies or a Jewish teenage girl who's seen her father and brother blown to bits when she was 7?
Call me unpatriotic if you like but I'll take the Judia calena and lay a body count of 5 and KNOW I HAVE THE BEST OF IT.
So, how's McCain going to defeat 500,000 men in Venezuela? Only one way I can think of. ICBM. And if a US ICBM hits Caracas, Medvedev will insert one of his own into McCain's ass, another into Bill Gates's ass, and drop one on the Metropolitan Museum Of Art for shis and giggles.
Your gas is $3.83?! Where do I go for such a deal. Mine's $4.17!
Hey Cap;
I pay over $5.00 in Canada for the equivalent to the American gallon, and we are the biggest importers to the US. Our own government doesn't see fit to give us a break and is selling out all our finite national resources.
Canada bought out BA I believe decades ago and the Petro Canada gas stations used to (probably still does) belong to Canadians. Our own service stations won't discount to their owners.
This is a world wide problem and you are still at the envious position of having the cheaper petrol. But I understand your post perfectly. This is killing middle class and the working poor economically. The choice is fuel or food.
And Exxon raked in $40 billion in "profits". In capitalistic societies, profit is not a dirty word. Selling fuels at such exorbitant prices is akin to quadrupling the price of drinking water after a natural disaster.
D-CAPny:
I just saw the Light Sweet curve as of the close. The fuckin thing is in contango. Like UPWARDLY-SLOPING,MAN. I wrote a post about it. WWIII is just around the corner if that bastard McCain gets elected.
Fran – I saw that. The execs at oil companies are gonna need body guards soon. Sure let the drill in oceans and ANWR – we have oil, no oceans, no food, no animals, no environment – plenty of oil, plenty of dead people. On my way to your place
Kelso – not being all that familiar with commodity trading and curves – does that mean it is headed up even more? This country will NEVER tolerate long term energy solutions – stockholders ONLY care about the next quarter. While Caracas is the big prize (plenty of oil and close by) – the real light sweet crude is under the sands of Arabia – and there is a lot more. Venezuela has the heavy stuff Plus the Hispanics in the US (40,000,000 of them) of them would be a tad upset at McCain if he invaded any of their lands
Omni - $3.83 is national average – it is over $4 in NYC
Robert – so they oil industry is as nasty up north. Big surprise huh! Pretty soon the rich and ELITE like bush will start building rockets and shipping the proliteriat to the moon – and say you are on your own – the oil is for the rich
Kelso – Mccain has WWIII tattooed on Cindy’s dick
btw Kelso - i went to read your post -- the site doesnt load properly on my machine (i use firefox) and the graphics are all over the place -- so i cant read anything
Didn't the idiot king say back in 2000 that he would reduce the price of oil through the power of his personality and relationships with the Arab world? That worked out really well, didn't it.
I watched a bit of the oil exec hearings on C-Span and I've been angry ever since.
To hear them tell it, oil companies only make a few cents per gallon of gas.
Did you know that the U.S. is importing only a few thousand more barrels of oil as they did in the 80's? That's what one politician said and he cited a credible source.
If our leaders had any balls, they'd levy taxes on those sons of bitches so that soon they WOULD only be making pennies per gallon.
It's beyond outrageous, and the blame goes to American petroleum companies, Bush, Rice and those cocksuckers in Saudi Arabia.
"crude" is still cheaper than "extra virgin".
Yes Morse he did. Something about tellin' them A-rabs to open up the spigots. Ya see, he was an oil man and he could do it. Except he couldn't, because his friends are so much better off with $130/barrel oil. I wonder, will most Americans ever figure it out? Will they figure out how much oil has gone up in price after W's excellent adventure in Iraq?
"I have one word for you, just one word -- plastics."
(can't forget our second favorite petroleum product.)
Sweet jaysus, DCap. We're truly fucked. $3.89 and rising here at a rate of least a nickel a week. Ten bucks a gallon, here we come!
I've got a post in the pipeline about this situation, and I'm mildly optimistic.
Stay tuned.
DCap - It's now at $4.03 where I'm at and rising every day. I try to walk most places now, but living on Long Island, that's almost next to impossible, especially if you need get stuff done around the house. We heat our house with oil, too, the expense for which will come from cutting an expense somewhere else. Use less oil? Guess what? Even opting for less reliance costs a bundle, too. Sheesh.
Great post. Is it really possible that this country will elect that moron mcCain? Are we THAT STUPID? I think Bush has decided that if he can't have a favorable legacy, he'll go for the worst President ever. After all it will make him famous forever. Kind of like a mass murderer who wants to be top of the list of major mother fuckers. And Dick Cheney gave us the finger when he chose himself to be veep. What the fuck does he care? He'll take his billions and continue to smirk and shoot.
dcap, I think you hit the nail with a giant hammer in your comment to kelso. We will not tolerate long term solutions. Until we are all but serfs of other world powers, will we then think about trying other forms of energy out.
People like to talk about the Manhattan Project as a size-cost example of what we can do when we want. Of course we CAN, but we were designing a destructive force. Anytime we get a chance to blow shit up, we'll take it. Anytime we get a chance to help EVERYONE out, it's a lovely chorus of 'screw you, bottom 95%!'
All it will take is for one Category 4 Hurricane to hit the gulf coast this summer and this whole United States of America thing is finished.
I am amazed every day at how NBC news keeps posing the question "How high does it need to get before people start changing their spending habits?", not realizing that this has already happened.
D-CAPny: Velly, velly good bust about "Cindy's dick"! Mazel tov!
I do take exception, however, to your use of the word "hispanics" and the idea that the problem with McCain opening a Southern front would be his popularity with Spanish-speaking Americans. Spanish-speaking Americans would react to McCain's bellicosity in South America dependent upon each person's own ideology and the ideology of his or her culture.
You and I are Ashkenaz, si o no? OK, if you told me your name was Ross Loeb I would have a very different impression of your sub-ethnicity than if you told me your name was Jonathan Shurtz. In the former case, I would take you to be kind of from an aristocratic German Jewish family and in the latter case I would take you to be from a more common Galicianer family. You're digging me on this, right?
OK, if we Ashkenazim can draw such fine distinctions among ourselves who are essentially identical, why should a Mexican-American have any kinship at all with a Venezuelan in Venezuela?
So, the problem with McCain sending 50,000 troops into Northern South America -- other than it would be typical of today's Republicans and as a pacifist it makes me sick -- is that he would be acting as Adolf Hitler yet without even Hitler's commitment to victory.
He'd just be sending 50,000 young Americans as lambs to the slaughter because McCain loves war and pain and suffering and as earnest as he seems, he HATES his country and is a DISGRACE to his service. And, personally, McCain's a DISGRACE to my father's service in the US Navy.
There's still 241 more days of the Bush-Cheney junta to go, but I think we're safe to say that this piece of crap has degraded everything he has touched. Or looked at. Or thought about, if indeed he thinks about anything.
He is the Harriett Myers of Supreme Court nominees of US Presidents.
Worst President Ever is in the bag. He has 241 days to seize Worst Human Being ever. Don't count him out!
I hate the gouging on gas, but that said; The rest of the world has paid double digit prices for petrol for quite a long ass time.
If this is the only way to get the majority of Americans to demand alternative energy...great!
Snark button on full tilt for the last part of my oomment ;)
Another fantastic, well stated post.
I'm getting ready to re-read "The Long Emergency".
The French had a solution to rich fucks screwing over the people regularly and maybe that extreme solution will need to be implemented again. I know that these neocons and CEOs and billionaires aren't in the least bit afraid of the people but maybe they need a refresher course. (That's the anger in me talking but seriously, like you said, they won't tolerate long term solutions or anything that promotes a sane solution so what choice have we?)
You know, I worked hard for ages to finally afford to buy my dream car, a fully loaded black on black Acura TL with power to spare.
After filling it up yesterday for half a hundred dollars, I'm going to start looking for something with zero street cred that gets 40 mpg.
I'd like to drive it over Bush's foot before I sell it, though.
"This is not about finding and refining more oil -- it is about changing our lifestyles, changing the way we live and figuring out how to get off a product we so heavily depend upon."
Well said. It's too bad no administration tried to do this over the past 30 years since the last gas crisis - instead, when cheap, available gas came back, everyone just forgot about it all and just went back to big gas guzzlers. Maybe this time they will actually do something to address the root cause of the problem.
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