Clipmarks | Increased gas prices Clips

“Trickle Down” Theory has Only Made Poor Poorer & Rich Richer

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:50:47 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Eat the rich! Or at least make them edible.

Income inequality has increased at an alarming rate in the last 30 years. High gas prices and rising food costs are only exacerbating an already growing problem. The “trickle down” economics that have for years been the justification for giving huge tax cuts to the super-rich met with just one little problem; the money never did trickle down. Oops.

Like no other time in history, the rich in the US are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. Americans love bootstraps stories of how every American can be rich if he or she just tries hard enough. But the truth is that Americans are trying harder than ever. They are working longer hours, and are more productive than ever before, but are still getting poorer. Somehow the “American Dream” isn’t telling the whole story.

“The basic reality is this: For most Americans, earnings have not kept up with the cost of living,” notes Reich. “This is not a new phenomenon, but it has finally caught up with the pocketbooks of average people.

Welcome To A Preview Of The Economy Killers

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:28:11 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: energy-efficient appliances and home upgrades to "save" the environment and what remains of your bank account.

Of course, this may not be an issue for you. You may not mind adjusting to newer, smaller vehicles that cost more and can do less. You might think that the increased taxes are worth it. You may have extra money in your home budget that you would otherwise waste on frivolous things if not required to use them to pay for necessities like natural gas and electricity. I'm thrilled for you. Really. I am.

Clip Source: confederateyankee.mu.nu

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have recessed Congress without passing a single appropriations bill, and the WSJ informs us that this is the first time that has happened since the 1950s.

Nancy Pelosi wants you to pay ten dollars for a gallon of gas. You'll be forced to drive a smaller car, restrict your travel, and use less carbon-producing fuels.

Harry Reid wants fewer coal and nuclear-fired electricity plants, and to charge you ever more for your air conditioning, your cooking, your electronics, your necessities, and your toys.

You'll payer higher costs on everything—food, clothes, medicines—and those higher costs will be passed along to businesses. Those businesses may have to start laying off all but critical personnel, and those surviving businesses will pass along the higher prices of their products and services to you, if you still among those who have a job.

You'll be forced to cut back on usage, or consider pouring money into expensive more

Tags: pelosi, reid, obama, higher energy, food, clothes, medicines expenses, increased products and services price

Energy Rhetoric vs Reality

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:47:24 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: RHETORIC: Oil and natural gas companies are demanding greater access to America’s resources even though they own leases on millions of acres of federal lands that are already open to drilling.

REALITY: Just because a lease is not producing oil or natural gas doesn’t mean it’s idle. Companies are actively exploring and developing the majority of their leases, but the entire process takes years and requires many steps, including securing government permits, analyzing seismic data and installing the machinery needed for drilling and production. Many leases prove not to contain enough oil and natural gas to be commercially viable, and companies can’t produce oil and natural gas where it does not exist.

REALITY: At a time when we need all the energy we can find, increasing access to domestic sources of oil and natural gas would enhance our energy security. We have enough oil and natural gas resources to power 65 million cars for 60 years and heat 60 million households for 160 years.

Clip Source: energytomorrow.org

More than 80 cents of every dollar spent at the pump goes to the price of crude and taxes. The price of crude oil is set on global markets, not by oil companies, and it accounts for more than 70 cents of every dollar of gasoline price. And the government takes nearly twice as much in taxes (13 cents) as the industry makes in profit (fewer than 8 cents)

While gasoline prices have increased dramatically this year, the price of crude oil has increased by $1.21 per gallon in 2008, compared with the price of gasoline, which is up 80 cents per gallon.

Demand is strong in both mature economies and the developing world, especially in China, India and the Middle East. The market impact of tight supplies has been exacerbated by political instability, resource mismanagement and weather. Finally, the decline in the value of the dollar against other currencies has put American consumers at a disadvantage.

Tags: domestic oil/gas exploration, government permits, seismic data, installing machinery. breakthrough technologies, multi-directional drilling,

Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:42:33 GMT

clipped by: bmeuppls
clipper's remarks: Sign the petition...

http://www.americansolutions.com/actioncenter/petitions/?Guid=54ec6e43-75a8-445b-aa7b-346a1e096659

Clip Source: hotair.com

Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn promised a tough line on energy, daring the Democrats to defy the overwhelming will of the electorate on increased domestic oil production. The Democrats walked into the trap — and they may well find a way to lose a Congressional election that they had all but won this cycle. If they adjourn for a summer break without allowing Republicans an opportunity to begin the long-term process of increasing domestic production and lowering gas prices, voters will hear all about it for the next four months … and they’ll let Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi hear about it in November.

The Group Of Eights' Empty Rhetoric

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:09:13 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: With rising gas costs, Americans in a variety of polls have shown by a majority they now want to explore offshore drilling, so this move will be popular among that majority and John McCain has been pushing for it as well.

Reported on June 26, 2008, the InsiderAdvantage/Poll, asks "Do you favor or oppose increased exploration and production of oil and natural gas off the coasts of Florida?”

Favor (61%)
Oppose (32%)
No opinion (7%)
Rasmussen- June 17, 2008:
"67% Support Offshore Drilling,
64% Expect it Will Lower Prices."

Zogby- June 26, 2008: "74 percent support offshore oil drilling in U.S."

Clip Source: www.chicagotribune.com

The State, Columbia, S.C. " />

Clip Source: wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com

In an effort to reduce pressure on oil prices and increase supply of domestic oil, President Bush today lifted a ban on offshore drilling. But that does not mean drilling will start immediately. An order by Congress remains in place.

Tags: g-8 summit, lake toyako, hokkaido, japan, climate change, the food shortage, the rising global fuel prices, nuclear proliferation and development

The Challenge of Our Lifetime: 100% of Our Electricity from Renewable Sources in 10 Years

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:53:51 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Amen.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

In a speech yesterday in Washington, D.C., Gore called politics the biggest barrier to change and referred to the call for more drilling as a means to lowering gas prices “perverse,” because it will take too long and increased production will never keep up with demand, thus prices are unlikely to go down.

Gore sees this massive transformation as a one-off investment to replace an electricity grid that mainly relies on expensive and dirty fossil fuels with one that relies more on free and clean fuels.

With energy efficiency, we’ll be able to reduce the number of new power plants we have to build and also avoid the high costs of building more dirty coal power plants planned today.

The vast majority of funding for new power plants will come from private capital.

“To those who say the challenge is not politically viable," Gore said. "I suggest they go before the American people and try to defend the status quo. Then bear witness to the people’s appetite for change.”

Tags: energy, clean energy, al gore

Gas prices keep rural shoppers local, help stores

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:12:33 GMT

clipped by: ckissel

Clip Source: irjci.blogspot.com

Rural residents, who often travel great distances to shop, are staying closer to home and thus helping local stores, Anne D'Innocenzio and Kate Brumback report for the Associated Press.

"While it may not reverse the decades-long decline of small-town shopping, it could lead national mall developers and merchants to rethink where to build and challenge a basic tenet of retailing: Build, and shoppers will come from miles away."

The surge in shoppers has increased traffic in Thomasville, Ala., which is 100 miles from Mobile or Montgomery, which is home to the nearest malls.

Tax revenues are up 5 percent in Thomasville for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, and Brewton, Ala., 80 miles southeast of Thomasville, population approximately 5,000, reports an increase in sales tax revenue of 6 percent in recent months.

Oil Depletion Analysis Centre - Newsletter

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:20:54 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: energybulletin.net

In the week of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid the dominant story has been the content of the latest report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Despite OPEC sticking to its assertion that the high oil price is mostly down to speculation, the IEA declared that the current prices are “justified by fundamentals”.

Another risk becoming increasingly apparent as a result of what IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka this week described as “the third oil shock”, is that contrary to what some green campaigners may have hoped, constraints around oil and gas are likely to worsen environmental damage rather than assist in reducing it. In the UK this week John Hutton put his cards on the table saying that he will support the building of new coal plants without waiting for development of carbon capture technology. In the US a poll showed increased public support for off-shore and Arctic drilling and weakening support for conservation.

Tags: energy, i-policy, i-risks, i-increase, environment, i-climate change, i-acceleration, i-consequences

Put A Stop To Cut-Rate Gas: International Monetary Fund

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:17:59 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Governments that try to create a false economy for oil are not revealing the truth to their people.

About half of humanity, from India to Chile, now benefits from cut-rate petroleum prices. In 2008, these countries will account for all the growth in world oil demand, or an additional one million barrels a day, according to Deutsche Bank. Their consumption will be the highest in eight years.

In China, oil demand is estimated to rise 5 to 10 percent this year, but the government has resisted calls to end price controls. A few other countries – Chile and South Korea – are now moving toward subsidies to appease political pressures.

In Congress, bills to combat global warming would raise costs for oil users, even possibly adding a dollar to gasoline prices. But proposals by lawmakers to relieve those costs with subsidies to consumers would only defeat the purpose of reducing oil demand.

Clip Source: www.csmonitor.com

In China, the government caps gas prices. Drivers there pay about half of what Americans pay. In many countries, oil prices are held artificially low, either by fiat or subsidy. The result? Consumption keeps rising, boosting global prices. The rest of the world – the part now racing to conserve – ends up paying more than it should.

Unfair?

Yes, say global actors such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is calling on governments to let consumers face market prices in order to kick-start conservation and reduce official spending.

A few nations that do subsidize fuel are feeling the financial pinch on budgets and moving to reduce subsidies or end price caps, despite street protests against such moves. Most of them are in Asia, the region that will account for 70 percent of the increase in oil demand this year.

The biggest culprits are oil exporting nations, especially in the Gulf. They continue to throw petrodollars at both fuel subsidies and big projects that consume oil.

Tags: gas price caps, cut-rate petroleum prices, india, china, gulf states, increased comsuption, imf

Flooding Spurs Ethanol Backlash

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:01:36 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: But others remain strongly in support of biofuels.

"Abandoning our commitment to ethanol and biofuels, as some would suggest we do, would do nothing to provide meaningful relief from high grain prices today or in the future," said Bob Dineen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. "It would absolutely force the price of gas through the roof and require the import of more record-high foreign oil."

Clip Source: www.upi.com

New federal energy regulations call for increased production of ethanol in an effort to limit dependence on foreign oil. But already the rise in corn prices, with final damages from flooding still to be assessed, has created a backlash against biofuels, The Detroit News reported Monday.

Railway cars and the remains of the span of the Sutliff railway bridge lie in the Cedar River June 22, 2008, after flooding collapsed the bridge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 10 days ago. Floodwaters have receded enough to begin to asses the damage. (UPI Photo/Mark Cowan)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry in April cited steep increases in cattle feed prices while asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut in half its 2008 mandate of 9 billion gallons of biofuels this year. More recently, 24 Republican senators, including presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain, also noted the rise in food prices in asking the EPA to revisit the regulation.

Tags: midwest flooding, crop loss, ethanol, biofuels, cattle feed, epa, republican senators

Gas Tax Holiday Not Going to Lower Prices

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:47:51 GMT

clipped by: DrCat2013
clipper's remarks: AND it would take money away from the Highway Trust Fund.

Clip Source: www.factcheck.org

Hillary Clinton and John McCain are offering overburdened motorists a federal "gasoline tax holiday." But economists say that the proposal is unlikely to actually lower the price of gasoline. McCain's plan would essentially give federal funds to oil refineries, while the net effect of Clinton's plan probably wouldn't be much at all, although it would create a lot of new administrative work.

According to the basic principles of supply and demand, cutting the price of an item causes people to buy more of it.

when something is priced too low, consumers will buy it faster than it can be manufactured, which leads to shortages.

For gasoline, this means that cutting the price

will likely stimulate demand for more gas

With the supply of gasoline pretty much fixed (at least in the short term), the increased demand triggered by the price cut will lead consumers to bid up the price of gas.

Society of Civil Engineers estimates that the three-month gas tax holiday could cost as much as $8.5 billion.

Florida Gov.Crist Calls For End To Feds Moratorium On Drilling

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:56:07 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Public opinion started to move in favor of oil drilling off Florida after Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 forced many Floridians to wait in long lines for gas, said David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, a lobbying group.

Jeanne and other powerful hurricanes that battered Florida in 2004 and 2005 left millions of Floridians struggling to fill their gas tanks because of a lack of electricity to pump the fuel and difficulties getting fresh supplies into Florida.

A business group that supports oil drilling release a survey on Thursday saying 61 percent of Florida respondents support increased exploration and production of oil and natural gas off the Florida coasts.

"Public opinion is supportive .... ['I]t's time to give it a try (drilling) and watch it very closely,'" Mica said.

Environment Florida, an anti-drilling advocacy group, said it got an unprecedented response from supporters to a write-in campaign after Crist changed his position.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

PENSACOLA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - For decades opposition to oil drilling off Florida's coast was one of the few issues uniting the state's Democrats and Republicans, who agreed that shielding the environment and the huge tourism industry came first.

Last week Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican who often sounds like a Democrat, shattered the consensus by calling for an end to a federal moratorium on oil and gas drilling along the country's outer continental shelf.

What some see as a crack in the protective shield for Florida's $57 billion tourism industry has drawn howls of protest from Democrats and environmental groups.

They worry that the long battle against oil drilling in the Sunshine State has entered a new phase as spiraling gas prices threaten the status quo.

For coastal oil drilling to resume, the U.S. Congress would have to lift a national moratorium and then Florida's legislature would have to approve drilling in state waters.

Tags: pensacola beach, florida, gov. charlie crist, offshore oil drilling, u.s.congress, national moratorium, florida petroleum council,

Barack Obama's Answer To High Gas Prices

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:16:51 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: ........He's just full of good ideas, ain't he?.........

In the little land we like to call reality, our economy runs on oil. No matter how many green initiatives we sponsor, there will be significant time required to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels.

Ignoring the shortfall puts our entire economy -- and, by extension, our national security -- at risk.

Clip Source: directorblue.blogspot.com

By 2025, Barack Obama:

...would like 25% of U.S. electricity to be generated from clean, renewable sources including wind, solar and geothermal with a Renewable Portfolio Standard. Obama calls for $150 billion to be invested over 10 years in clean energy and infrastructure to support it.

Rewind to June 20, 1979:

President Carter announces program to increase Nation's use of solar energy, including solar development bank and increased funds for solar energy research and development.

Tags: gasoline, battery car

Israel and Oil Prices--"Geopolitical" Factors Ignored

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:40:46 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Israel threatens Iran, oil sets new record high. See the pattern? It happens every time they threaten, or the US does. All these articles show on google search and are dated June 2008, now oil prices are up to $140 per barrel. Yet no one is talking about war-mongering as a factor in high oil prices, even though Iran is the 4th largest exporter in the world. As some would say...Duh! It is not a supply issue.

Repeating for the upteenth time, high gas prices are due to:

1. speculative trading
2. dollar devaluation
3. geopolitical issues (war, rumors of war, US war policy, Israel)
4. government debt, increased money supply, war spending.

These all tie together and started oil's price surge when the Iraq war began, and not before. War policy drives oil up on the trade floor.

Clip Source: www.google.com

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Israeli minister threatens Iran

alJazeera Magazine - Iran pursues diplomacy, Israel threatens ...

Israeli threat to attack Iran over nuclear weapons | World news ...

Israel threatens war on Gaza and Iran - Telegraph

Israel Threatens War on Gaza and IranIsrael Braced Itself for

Israeli official: Attack on Iran 'unavoidable' - Israel ..

Israeli leader threatens Iran - Yahoo! News

ran threatens 'devastating' response if attacked by Israel

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Israeli minister threatens Iran

alJazeera Magazine - Iran pursues diplomacy, Israel threatens ...

Israeli threat to attack Iran over nuclear weapons | World new

Israel threatens war on Gaza and Iran - Telegraph

Israel Threatens War on Gaza and IranIsrael Braced Itself for ...

Israeli official: Attack on Iran 'unavoidable' - Israel ..

Israeli leader threatens Iran - Yahoo! News

Iran threatens 'devastating' response if attacked by Israel ..

Tags: israel, war mongering, oil prices, gas prices

Solution? $2 Gas in 30 Days if Congress Acts

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:09:29 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Tell them to do it! Legally limiting financial speculation (oil future's trading) by government regulation would send oil prices down to levels based upon physical supply and demand they claim. One only wonders if this would overcome the devalued dollar which also drives prices up. But they should do it immediately!

The argument of these financial analysts says that the propaganda about needing increased supply is wrong and that OPEC and Ahmadinejad's analysis is correct that supply is not the problem.

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

Gas could fall to $2 if Congress acts, analysts say

Limiting speculation would push prices to fundamental level, lawmakers told

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy-futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday.

Testifying to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135.

Krapels said that it wouldn't even take 30 days to drive prices lower, as fund managers quickly liquidated their positions in futures markets.

"Record oil prices are inflated by speculation and not justified by market fundamentals," according to Gheit. "Based on supply and demand fundamentals, crude-oil prices should not be above $60 per barrel."

Tags: oil prices, economy