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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

What She Said

Update: Today Bush suspended some of the environmental rules that are driving up gasoline prices. See this article. Wholesale gasoline prices for delivery in June dropped from 2.18 to 2.10 on the news. (The price to the gas stations is wholesale plus transportation costs.) Also see The Anchoress' post on the subject - I bet Bush is beginning to feel like he's leading a dieter's group in which all the participants refuse both to eat less or exercise more. Instead, they stare at him expecting the weight to magically drop off. End update.

We aren't going to get the government we deserve until we stop our nasty, dishonest, pandering Congressional demagogues in their tracks. Betsy Newmark has two posts up about gasoline prices that are excellent. Go here and here.

In Georgia, over 40 cents a gallon is going for taxes. Federal taxes are 18.4 cents a gallon. Exxon Mobil says it is getting about 9 cents per dollar of sales. Assume they get 30 cents a gallon. Is it fair to expect the primary producer to receive much less than the government makes?


One of the commenters on Betsy's post wrote:
While we are being angry with the politicians, let us not forget that they are chiefly responsible for the fact that no new refineries have been built in 30 years, no nuclear powerhouses have been built, drilling has not been allowed offshore for new rigs nor in ANWR. IOW they have done nothing that would allow us to meet our existing demand 30 years ago, and certainly not the increased demand since then, and have actually stopped private enterprise from developing the other sources of energy that would have at least partially insulated us from the problems we now have.

Another poster criticizes Bush for his pandering on this issue, and I don't blame him. We have the Congress we voted in, and I am in the mood to vote most of it out. We all must face the reality that they aren't focused on solving problems. Instead they are adept at whipping up outrage.

Exxon's market share of world oil has got to be significantly less than 9% (the largest oil companies are government owned). Does anyone really believe that they are controlling the world oil market?
If Americans want to blame someone for high oil prices, perhaps they should blame Chavez and the bully-mullahs of Iran. We don't want to be paying these prices, and we don't want to be forced into oil wars. The obvious solution is to develop other domestic energy sources, which at this time do not need to be ethanol.

Will Congress sit down and have a debate about this? Nah. The spinmeisters would rather talk about excess profits taxes. We'll get this Congress until we make it clear that we will not accept this Congress.

Comments:
I was disappointed that Mr Bush decided to tap the Strategic Oil Reserves.

Inconvenience as the result of congressional tail gragging and pandering does not constitute an emergency of 'national security' proportions.

I for one would like to see new oil refineries built on native American lands.

That would solve all kinds of problems and is far more beneficial than building casinos.
 
Well, building casinos has been beneficial for several of the tribes!

I think building refineries is dependent upon transportation, and I'm not sure if the tribes themselves would want them.

It would be a fascinating legal brawl if they did. I can just imagine the wacked-out branch of environmentalists jamming up the federal courts.
 
sc&a....I don't think Pres Bush decided to tap the SPR, only to temporarily stop adding to it.
 
David's right, although the some of the articles out there did say he was tapping it, it turns out he is just halting purchases for the summer.
 
Congress hasn't permitted all these energy things because the people who elected them don't want them. That's democracy. Hysteria over nuclear power, refineries, and oil drilling are popular. Just try building a nuclear power plant in your neck of the woods, ditto the rest.
 
Actually, the labor movement supported drilling in ANWR, and I'm pretty certain that at this point people would be willing to accept nuclear plants. Jobs and cheaper power, you know?

Most Americans are pretty environmentalist for obvious reasons, but not to the demented ELF degree.
 
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