Fan in Chicago

Normally not one to make such statements without supporting logic but ... - WHAT A LOAD OF B*LLCR*P.

For those that need a link, here is information for companies importing oil from the Persian Gulf for 2004: http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petrole...ummary2004.html

The same can be said for a majority of countries around the world. The real question I have is - why should anyone continue to pass judgment at the institutions and governments around the world and consider ours the best ? Different countries need different styles of governing based on their economic, social situation. I think a dictatorship and Saddam was correct for Iraq with their highly polarized religious sub-groups, level of literacy etc. (There - I said it). We as a country seem to want to dabble with any country that possesses oil and impose our will, our style of government, our social structure on them. Don't get me wrong - this is my country and there is no other country I would rather be in. But I do want us to reduce meddling in other countries' affairs. We cannot see every other society in our image. {Disclaimer - this is NOT a Bush bashing post}

I have dream - January 2007 Superbowl, Bills vs Dallas with Drew Bledsoe at QB. I can guarantee that the drooling our defense does will not be because of the Cowboys cheerleaders.

Good idea but not enough of it will be made to make a dent in the supply. Same story with Gas to Liquids (GTL technology) which converts natural gas to ultra clean diesel and some gasoline. Best case scenario, GTL makes 5% of worldwide diesel demand by 2020. We are stuck with conventional ways of producing gasoline and diesel. Short term = conservation, long term = totally different fuel for our vehicles (AND DON'T say Hydrogen please).

Tip on saving money - you can take advantage of the Fastpass thingy without staying at their hotels or paying more at the gate. Every ticket is eligible for one 'appointment' at a time. If you do a good job of always having one pending appointment, you can maximize your rides. Start early and get the popular rides done early. The crowds really start coming in around noon.

Universal is our favorite in Orlando. We as a family stay away from Disney stuff (I know - sacrilege). Highly recommended - ET, Mummy, Shrek, Jimmy Neutron, Terminator.

But she wouldn't get near the same amount of money by suing you (sorry if I assume wrong about your financial wealth). Her payment to the doc is an investment.

I am predicting that we split with them this season - hope that win comes in their house.

That is about as big an IF as I ever seen.

I would have agreed with your entire post but you had to go and sneak that last sentence in there ! If by oil companies you mean OPEC I agree. However, each and every refinery in the US is going pedal to the metal to supply gasoline and diesel. The tap is wide open but it is a tap sized for 1970s demand. We need a bigger tap or less thirst.

Fair enough, I went overboard with my sermonizing. What you are referring to is photovoltaic (PV) technology and it may actually work. This case is different in that the people who want it will pay for it similar to the buyers of hybrid cars.

I don't want my tax dollars subsidizing a technology that will help people buy V8's (as in engines).

I was actually referring to the overall economics. Subsidies prevent free market economics to take place so in essence hampers true innovation. I agree with you that the consumer may pay less for charging the battery, but if the fundamentals are not right, the tax payer is paying for the subsidies. Which means all of us pay for pushing some hair-brained idea. For renewables, take the example of wind power. Once installed, the electricity is the closest you can get to free. But the upfront costs, the variability of supply are so large that again the economics do not make sense compared to conventional generation means. The only reason you see so many wind farms going up (huge amount is Denmark, Germany, UK) is that they are subsidized by the federal govt. and have guaranteed rates that will be paid to the producers. A political ploy if you may call it so. Only place where subsidies may work is where costs would go down with large deployments and government money will help get the industry out of its learning phase/curve.

Which car is it ? If it is a vintage car needing leaded gasoline, maybe you don't have a choice. But if it is built for unleaded and the owner's manual says 87, then you are better off getting it checked and fixed (probably a major tune-up ~$75). Cheaper in the long run than paying 30c/gal extra.

Hey MadCap, Love your avatar. Fellow Tull fan ? It is my favorite band of all time.

Does your car really need the high octane gas ? A small percent of high performance, high end vehicles really need anything more than standard 87 octane gas. Check your owners manual. Else you may be flushing $$ down the toilet.

This is standard shallow news reporting. The electricity needed to charge the batteries is generated largely by either coal, oil or gas (others are nuclear and renewables). It is highly inefficient to burn one of these, make electricity, send it over the grid, have it charge some batteries to save emissions ? Imagine the losses at each step of the chain and you realize why this does not make overall economic or environmental sense.

By choice or force of circumstance ?

But the crude oil is getting heavier on average. Lighter crude is at a premium over the lighter variety. One way or the other, a refiner has to pay.

Thanx for the acknowledgement of what us in the oil industry never get credit for - cheap capacity increase without parallel in any other industry.

I speak from data unfortunately. I am anti-Bush in terms of his foreign policy but chose not to color my explanation accordingly. {I know your post was sarcastic}

And I agree with you on this. But oil is used for making gasoline, diesel, plastics, electricity .... Overall the demand surge has caused this major spike.I think we got so used to the low prices of gasoline etc. that entire generations have been brought up to not think about conservation. Little things do add up. It will take a long time for Western society to get used to the fact that the more careless we are with using non-replenishable natural resources, the more we have to pay for it eventually. I think a period of sustained high prices will cause us to think about (1) higher mileage vehicle purchases (2) Renewable sources of energy. See more windfarms for electricity yet ? (3) More nuclear plants around the world - probably not the US (4) More overall conservation efforts

Very good post and I mean it. We are profligate gas burners as a society. Gas and tobacco are very very price inelastic - takes a lot of price increases to hurt demand. Hence, prices and taxes are high on these products. I posted elsewhere that the current high prices are a result of (1) Too much demand, too little supply of products. (2) Political troubles/uncertainty in Middle East (3) Loss of 3% of gasoline pool due to MTBE take-out. Someone else noted that people have to go to work, run errands etc. But can't we increase use of public transportation ? I do agree on the other point though - that vehicles are not replaced overnight. However we all have short term memories and an optimistic outlook. SUV sales are hurting now but will go up again when gas prices fall to $2 level in October. Get used to it guys - gas is not coming down below $2 ever.

Maybe this IS the vanilla version of our defense.