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Car Guy
A Bad Moon on the Rise
It’s rising in the form of upward creeping gas prices.
There’s a bad moon on the rise — in the form of upward creeping gas prices.
Unleaded regular is surging toward $4 per gallon again — the same highs that preceded, and arguably triggered — the current economic catatonia. If it happens again, though, the effects are probably going to be even worse. A man on his feet can usually take a sucker punch, or at least recover from it. But if he’s already on the ground and you kick him in the head, he’s done-for.
Four dollar-per-gallon gas could do exactly that to the U.S. economy — what’s left of it.
This time, unlike last time, unemployment is already nearly 10 percent (closer to 20 percent, if you go by the old way of measuring that includes people who’ve stopped even trying to find work).
This time, unlike last time, our “too big to fail” industries — including the car companies — have already failed once and it’s doubtful the government (excuse me, the Fed) can print more funny money bailout bucks without triggering either a currency devaluation or runaway inflation, maybe both.
Four dollar-per-gallon gas is going to mean a lot more than just paying an extra $15 to fill-up the car. It will mean everything is going to get proportionately more expensive, from the food on your plate to the stuff down at the mall. The tag-team of rising fuel costs and increasingly worthless Federal Reserve Notes could seal the deal this time.
People who weathered the first crisis don’t have the reserves built up to handle Round Two.
Frosting their already precarious balance sheet with another $100 per month — just for gas, not counting higher prices for everything else, too — will push many of them over the edge.
Expect unemployment to crest 10 percent — “officially” — and possibly 20 percent in the real word.
Ford is OK right now — and GM at least has a pulse. But neither can survive a repeat of the crisis of 2008, which was sparked by $4 per gallon fuel, which in turn caused millions of people to say sayonara to their V-8 SUVs, formerly the golden calf of the U.S. car industry.
The industry has come about, ditched SUVs as their profit center and worked feverishly to bring forth new economy cars and also next generation hybrids and even electric cars. But the fly in the pie is that unemployed people — or people fearful of becoming unemployed — do not buy new cars anymore than they buy new houses or new anything. If 10-20 percent of the American public is out of the game already — and the next 10-20 percent is sweating bullets about their financial situation and wondering whether they’ll still have a job next month — imagine what that’s going to do to new car sales. And what that will do to the car industry.
And what that will do to the economy.
Think about the millions of suburban communities with houses whose value has already deflated by 20-30 percent, in part because people stopped buying houses an hour’s commute from their jobs. These communities — and 1-hour commutes — were viable when it only cost $30 to fill up. But when your monthly fuel bill becomes a second mortgage and you’re also paying 10-20 percent more for everything from food to utilities, a condo in the city seems a lot more appealing.
Wave goodbye to the ‘burbs. To quote Don Corleone: They are going to sleep with the fishes.
Bottom line — I doubt the country can take $4 gas. It almost dropped the curtain last time — and last time, we had jobs, equity in our homes and 401ks, things to fall back on. Now, we’re facing a repeat with our backs already up against the wall. There’s nowhere to go and no help in sight.
If you haven’t taken some steps to prepare for what’s coming, understand that time is short.
Batten down the hatches. It could be about to get rough.
About the Author
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (74) | Leave a comment
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Kitty| 1.4.11 @ 6:35AM
Gas here in Upstate NY is $3.27. As a result, I haven't driven more than 5 miles away from home in months. No shopping at the malls; no shopping much at all.
daddio| 1.4.11 @ 2:55PM
Yep-same here. We are moving closer to things instead of living out in the country for this very reason.
Eric Cartman| 1.5.11 @ 1:52AM
Oil is now a speculative investment commodity, like put and call options. Look at what oil is following - the NYSE. Dow goes up, oil follows, Dow down, oil follows. Prices are no longer set by OPEC alone, rather OPEC and speculators set prices with the blessing of both Bush and Obama - both for different reasons. Bush had the crazy idea that the oil cartels were free-market economics and Obama just wants high gas prices to suit his Liberal Ahole Subway riders in New York. And let's not forget China buying and hording oil for itself. With this motley crew of scumbags controlling prices and supply, don't look for any sane prices anytime soon. Oil should be around $1.70 - $1.80 a gallon. But too many people are getting rich and others are having Green Wet Dreams of controlling the peasants.
Until there in an OPIC - Organization of Oil Importing Countries - to fight OPEC, get used to getting screwed. OPIC could say, "Hey, would you look at the price of corn! And Wheat! Why, we need to raise those export prices a whole lot! Say, um, in line with oil!"
Ever wonder why almost no one has blame the current recession on the oil spike in 07 - 08? It was clearly a big contributing factor. Yet it just zipped over all the CNBC talking heads, FORTUNE scribblers, etc. There was a guy on Fox saying "Hey! Oil Spike!" , but I never saw him again. It's just amazing - we all know it was a major cause (then oil fell to $1.80 after the recession hit - like it should.) Get ready for Obama to say nothing and the Stupid Party (Republicans) to look around saying "Oil? What's oil?" We are screwed.
Brian Mc| 1.4.11 @ 6:42AM
Could this finally be the straw that breaks the camel's back? If we are not given the facts behind this energy fiasco so that we can explain to co-workers, friends and family just why this calamity is transpiring, then they will only whimper sheepishly as they shrug at the gas line in ever-dwindling numbers. Thanks Algore! Thanks EPA! Thanks to all the socialist tree-huggers out there, driving about in their M5's with not a dime in their pockets but, a platinum card in their wallets. This Joe Sixpack is seething a little and glances at the ten speed in the basement aren't making it any better. The Europeans might not mind being led to the slaughter over the long course of history, but I'm fighting mad over this one...! The eco-mumbo-jumbo is the root and time is that we rip it up, spread a little Roundup and start drilling and refining again.
Leslie| 1.5.11 @ 8:56AM
Unfortunately, this is all a part of the plan. The plan is to get people to live in urban settings. To get them to ride public transportation so that we can preserve the enviornment. We have not built a refinery in this country since the 70's. Our government has banned drilling offshore while it buys oil from countries that still drill there. It is more than an oil or an economy problem. The change that we hoped for is killing us. Heaven help us. Get on your knees, people. Heaven is our only hope.
andrew| 1.9.11 @ 1:12AM
I think the plan is for China to give us all their bicycles and we give them all our SUV's. Then we can become a 3rd world s**thole like the Socialists want us to.
oldfart| 1.4.11 @ 7:00AM
Just wait until the EPA gets through declaring CO2 a greenhouse gas even though most of the biomass on the planet (I think) - that is plants - need it to live. Gasoline will be over $5 a gallon.
Redstateboy| 1.4.11 @ 2:23PM
Not to worry... EPA's answer to all our Energy problems??? Increase the amount of Ethanol in a Gal. of Gasoline to 15%!!! of course... don't you dare put it in a Car older than 2007 or your Motorcycle, Outboard Motor, Lawn mower, ATV, JetSki, etc... This is what Liber-ulism means!!! It's right up there with their ban on the incandescent light bulb!! The American People are being assulted by the soft Liber-ul tyranny and we're just take'n it in the shorts!
JP| 1.4.11 @ 7:02AM
There is a big difference between the high fuel prices in 2007-08 and now. Demand aided by rampant speculation fueled the $150/barrel prices in 2007. Today, it is mainly a weak dollar and speculation (that the good times are returning) that is driving fuel prices up. Demand is not anywhere close to where it was 31/2 years ago.
As the author points out, high fuel prices act as an extra tax on middle class commuters. It also raises wholesale prices at a time when producers are unable to absorb the costs. And despite what some analysts predict, fuel prices will not hit $5/barrel for the simple fact that the economy will fall into recession long before it hits that number. If gas prices hit $4 a gallon we will see another round of deflationary recession.
This is result of the Fed's assault on the dollar, huge defecit spending, and a politcal envirorment that causes people to lose confidence in thier government. Welcome back to the 1970s. Or is it the 1930s?
Dagny Taggert| 1.4.11 @ 1:15PM
Check your charts, JP. The period (late '06 to mid'08) where crude prices doubled coincided with a very weak dollar as well. And speculation (as you note) is here today, just not as "rampant" yet. The only difference is that the last run-up was caused by increased demand, and this time around, it looks like decreased supply.
Perhaps Sarah Palin's "drill baby, drill" that she was so derided for by the left, is more precient as an economic problem-solver than she gets credit for. Lowest unemployment in the country: North Dakota at 3.8%. Bakken oil field development is directly responsible. Can we simplify this message enough that the electorate might be able to connect to Obama (and the left's) drilling moratorium with higher energy prices and higher unemployment? Get long oil investments to offset your personal transportation and heating cost increases, sit back, and watch the poseur-in-chief get hoisted by his liberal petard in 2012.
Appleby| 1.4.11 @ 7:14AM
Gas has been over $4 per gallon in Kanukistan for the past year. The socialists are trying to force us onto bicycles. The socialists do not understand that Kanukistan is bigger than Belgium and most of the time it is very much colder and plagued with snow and ice.
The socialists also do not understand that gas is required to bring in their groceries and heat their homes -- which is the one thing that has finally started to get the attention of the proles whose usual response is either to whine *what can you doooooooooooooooooo?* or to blame the United States.
I am encouraged to see that even the dullest socialist in Ontario is finally beginning to understand that the assertion by our Premier that raising the sales tax to 13% and charging it on the already-taxed price of gas will create jobs is not only wrong, but insane. Whether they will vote him out or not is another story; he has just announced that the State decrees that rents will not go up more than 0.7% when the price of heating that rental property has gone up exponentially, and the same people who didnt understand why rental property disappeared during rent control are likely to vote for him on the strength of this alone.
The one thing you can depend on with the average prole is his short term viewpoint. Oh, and his hatred of TheRich who can still afford to drive because they didnt hire him.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.4.11 @ 7:28AM
Thank the beltway crowd who have stopped exploration, stopped nuclear energy, and tax anything that moves or breathes.
saleboter| 1.4.11 @ 7:51AM
$4.00 is too low. $5.00 is coming soon. enjoy
Melvin| 1.4.11 @ 7:56AM
Appleby pretty much hit the nail on the head. In keeping with Obama's dogma of using executive, and bureaucratic fiat to institute his social re-engineering programs.
England used a program of their federal government dictating to all the Councils of using a extremely steep fee and fine schedule to force British citizens from their vehicles into mass transit.
It is not odd that mysteriously after the election that gasoline has embarked on a steady march up. When Obama took office gasoline was around $1.51, and now it is in some areas $3.51.
Natural market forces are not in play here but as Appleby noted. The government is going to force us into mass transit and punish us for throwing the Democrats out of office. I guess it is the KenChi (Kenyan/Chicago) way.
JP| 1.4.11 @ 8:09AM
I'm not sure if the hike is by design. Afterall, we saw what happened to Bush and the GOP politically when fuel prices soared in 2006-2008. The 2012 campaign season is about to begin and I don't think the Oval Office wants high gas prices to be the focue of the campaign.
Yes, the President wants his Green Policies to be implemented. But he surely doesn't wish to pay the political price. Niether does his party as they plan thier counter-offensive to re-take the House. But his policies do have negative effects, which I believe he and his advisors underestimated. Namely, the more you tax and regulate a product the less you will see of it. The fossil fuels industry is capital intensive. And despite thier fantastic record of delivering fuel to the farthest reaches of the US, they are not fools. They will only buy and distribute enough oil to meet current demands -and no more. Speculators also are getting into the game as it is apparent that a new asset bubble is forming around fossil fuels and grains.
If one couples a weak dollar, speculation, and lower production of oil, it isn't too difficult to see why fuel prices are soaring. Wait until you see what food prices will do this year.
Inflation is a funny thing. Once it starts, it is difficult to stop. And the collateral damage is significant. And if I am not mistaken, hyper inflation in fuel and food is what helped to undo Carter.
Appleby| 1.4.11 @ 4:42PM
Obama and his gang don't think there will BE any price to pay -- same as Premier Dad (as we facetiously call Dalton McGinty here in Ontario) thinks we'll accept his plan to shut down all coal fired plants and replace them with windmills and solar panels for which creation he is using our tax money to subsidize -- the Koreans [Samsung].
"Someday you'll thank me," he says. And the sad thing is, he believes it. So does Obama.
Melvin| 1.4.11 @ 8:00AM
Brothers and sisters here right soon it is going to get really, really, damn ugly. So please prepare the best way that you can.
Many of those who post here regularly have mentioned steps in self-preparedness.
This Country is just a step away from anarchy.
Louis Jenkins| 1.4.11 @ 8:15AM
"If you haven't taken some steps to prepare for what's coming, understand that time is short."
Well, Melvin, you stole my thunder again. If gas goes to to $4.00 or $5.00 our country will go belly up. Thank you Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. No drilling, no nuke plants, no coal, and an overactive EPA. Get ready America. Have you had enough yet? Remember folks, the price of gas affects you, not the groomed and svelt DC crowd.
Melvin | 1.4.11 @ 8:40AM
My humblest apologizes Louis, I do not do so maliciously.
One good thing is, that a good many of us have arrived at the same conclusion at the same time.
Mike W| 1.4.11 @ 8:30AM
As nice as it would be to blame Oduma and the Democrats for the energy problems, that theory does't hold water.
Oil is a declining resource. There are no big oil fields in the USA waiting to be discovered. The Bakken is substantial but still it is only a spit in the bucket compared to the fields in the middle east. Oil sands requires high oil prices to be economically viable.
There are alternatives. Nukes are good but the regulatory problems and the public relations problems put out by the ignorant media are immense.
Nothing compares to oil as far energy density and transportability are concerned. We are running out of it. Deal with it. No amount of whining and moaning will give us dirt cheap gasoline in the future.
Melvin| 1.4.11 @ 8:48AM
Jeez Mike, Yes oil is not a finite resource and does have limitations, but it is not running out in the context that you are using.
Those who suffer from the chicken little syndrome have been running around for years, squawking at anyone who will listen.
There is still easily obtained oil out there and new technologies are coming on line all time to extract it from those harder to reach places.
People have listened and had the bejesus scared of them long enough from the Chicken Littles, most notably Climate Change Global Warming crap.
I am in full agreement with you that we need to explore each and every alternative that we can. But how can we create the scientists and engineers in government run schools who are more hell bent on social re-engineering that science and math.
Pecos Pete| 1.4.11 @ 8:56AM
Gosh, Mike, you have nailed it. No more whining from me. I'm gonna smile every day as the price of gasoline and diesel goes up, and up and up.
You are so right when you say that there is no reason to drill for more oil ... because there ain't any out there.
Rationing is the answer! Price controls work too. These solutions worked very nicely when Jimma Carter was the boss.
Let's all lay down and just deal with it. Higher prices for food will help me to lay my head down on my pillow at night.
Public transportation will fix the problem, right? Just think about all of the new jobs for bus drivers; and construction of electric trolleys, and trains. Why heck, I'll even get my horse buggy fired up. Gosh, it will be nirvana.
Seriously, I'm gonna go out and buy an electric car that gets its fuel from coal and gas fired electric power generators. Oops, that won't work either ... I meant to say that solar and wind power will provide all the electricity we need.
If we don't drill there won't be any old or new oil.
Yep, I'm just gonna lay down and deal with it. I hope you can join me in my cave. I've got some really nice clubs and you'll enjoy rubbing sticks together to start a fire. Gosh, we'll have lots of fun!
Yeah, Mike, you'll enjoy dealing with it.
Louis Jenkins| 1.4.11 @ 9:25AM
Pecos Pete, don't forget, we can also hit women in the head with those clubs! Wow, a great time back at the cave.
Alan| 1.4.11 @ 9:01AM
Wrong, Mike. It's obvious this price spike is not the natural increase over time, but a deliberate and artificial spike caused by the Obamacrats shutting down production in the Gulf, the Rockies, and all coasts. (down 20% (!) in the Gulf due to Obama regulations)
The Obamacrats are betting they can force $5 gas and get the news media to blame the Republicans and evil oil companies. The Marxists don't want to relieve working-class suffering (like old-fashioned liberals), they want to promote economic suffering as long as it can be harnassed politically to overthrow the constitutional order and free market.
Get a Marxist drunk so he'll talk truthfully (I have), and ask him what's needed to make the revolution. He'll tell you it's simply this: destroy the middle class financially, because that's the only way they'll ever support overthrowing the current system. If their families are sitting in the dark, cold, hungry, and unemployed, all assets destroyed, they will be up for any change.
Petronius| 1.4.11 @ 9:52AM
This country and most of the globe hasn't had a free market in anything but luxury goods in living memory. And whether or not the government takes over the oil industry is a bogus question since the antitrust laws of 1911 did exactly that. The last issue on the table is whether the U.S. Government will abolish what little freedom petroleum producers have left in running their businesses. All this time the lefties, prigs, and puritans have been getting their way because most of us were working at our mundane jobs trying to accumulate enough wealth to insulate ourselves from these worthless bastards. Now that their activities have taken our jobs and sources of income we are well aware of who is ruining our lives. At long last we have the time to deal with them. At the rate they are driving up the cost of everything, we will face the ultimate decision before the year is out. If the worst comes, the only compensation for those who are civilized is that by destroying us the lefties will destroy themselves too. Ask any expat from Russia. They'll tell you.
JP| 1.4.11 @ 9:05AM
Actually there are plenty of oil fields in the US. North Dakota has huge reserves, as does the California and the Gulf of Mexico. The Northern Plains have between 150-200 billion barrels of untapped oil. And the Canadians are supplying the US with most of our oil needs via thier own fields and the tar sands.
And yes, every President since Nixon has put restrictions on oil drilling and exploration -not just Obama. But please, drop the Peak Oil nonsense. Just 2 years ago oil was at $39 a barrel. Since then demand has dropped. So don't lecture us about Peak Oil. This isn't a supply issue as much as it is a financial and political one.
owyheewine| 1.4.11 @ 9:31AM
I retired from the oil industry a few years ago after 35 years. When I started the world reserves of oil were about 12 years production. Guess what the current number is? About 12 years.
You need to remember the Carter years oil crisis. Oil was running out, internal combustion engines were going to be obsolete, demand was in a never ending decline. The guess what. Spurred by higher prices, oil companies developed new exploratory and production techniqes and world wide production soared. We need to quit thinking about answers that get implemented at the speed of video games. These developments will take time. Our private industry engineers and real scientists are on the job and will produce the energy the world needs. They will be able to get the job done faster if we elect a government that gets out of the way.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.4.11 @ 10:12AM
Guys forgive me for jumping in here.
Mike W.
YOU ARE JUST FLAT OUT WRONG...OR FLAT OUT LYING...OR BOTH.
We in the oil industry KNOW where to extract enough oil and natural gas to sustain our civilization with predictable growth trends for 200 years...right the hell here in the US including our offshore deposits.
Second,
We have enough coal to modify into oil for another 300 years...with present technology!
Third,
We have not even been allowed to explore and measure for the huge deposits of oil off 70% of our coastline.
Fourth,
Nuke plants are the simple answer for electricity, and in spite of Jane Fonda's movie.....not one death has been attributed to nuke plants in America...ever, except maybe construction hands building them.....and just maybe Homer Simpson.
Mike W| 1.4.11 @ 3:46PM
There is an estimated 5 billion barrel recoverable in the Bakken. ANWR estimates vary from 4 to 30 billion. So, guesstimate and say 17 billion recoverable barrels. Even if we kept all of the oil here, that is only about 3 years of supply between the two of them , assuming an economy that is not growing.
There are other sources, there are oil shales, tar sands, but those all require a high price to make them viable.
If Exxon produces oil in ANWR why would or should they keep it in the USA? Oil is a fungible commodity. It will go on the world market and be priced based on world wide demands. Exxon, Conoco Phillips, Marathon, etc. are not going to produce a product at a discount for the citizens of the USA.
Millions of Chinese and Indians want the good life with automobiles. We can't stop it.
Nukes have to be part of the answer.
Dustoff| 1.4.11 @ 12:39PM
ahhhhhhh Mike, pretty much two places in the US we look for oil. Gulf and Alaska. We are putting the gun to our own heads for not looking anywhere else.
It's not supply, it's lack of looking because states and gov won't.
Dagny Taggert| 1.4.11 @ 1:48PM
We all have beliefs we cling to Mike W. For some it's global warming for others it's religion. And for some it's "peak oil." Makes sense on first blush. Two big problems with the theory: 1) crude oil is created by the breaking down of organic material--no shortage of that, right?--so new oil is being naturally created all the time. 2) didn't you learn in logic that it's impossible to prove a negative?
4 of the 10 largest oil fields were discovered in the last 10 years--it's going to be hard to predict a peak with that production coming online.
I've plenty of liberal relatives that freak out about the loss of species and bio-diversity. What they fail to add to the equation is that it's highly unlikely that man has discovered all species, and that every year new ones are discovered. Unfortunately they're attached to a belief system that doesn't allow for alternative explanations. Don't fall for it. These liberals consider themselves to be very smart--to the point where they don't think things through.
Redstateboy| 1.4.11 @ 2:24PM
Ever heard of ANWAR?
ECM| 1.4.11 @ 6:33PM
Oh lord, Peak Oil, like pagan religions of old (newly-re-discovered in the last several decades), never goes out of style.
Dale, left coast| 1.7.11 @ 2:43PM
Mike . . . known oil reserves on the planet TODAY are many times higher than in the 70's . . . we are running out - nonsense!!!! Demands today are higher than ever . . . China, India and other developing countries are using more. So . . . ideal time for Odumber to shut down the Gulf. The enviro-whacks have hampered or stopped drilling in the US for decades . . . time to ramp it up. There is enough nat. gas and oil in the US, onshore and offshore for over 100 years . . . we just have to go and get it.
Back to the Gulf . . . did you know that several of the rigs that left the gulf went to Brazil . . . to work for Petrobras . . . who is heavily invested in Petrobras? A frequent visitor to the WH the last couple of years Obummers right hand man . . . Gorge S.
George True| 1.4.11 @ 9:13AM
Several posters have already touched on one of the main reasons behind the steady increase in gasoline prices - the declining U.S.dollar. Few people in America are aware that the dollar has declined in value something like 13% over the last year or so. And with massive runaway federal spending combined with continued quantitative easing, the further steady erosion of our currency is a foregone conclusion.
Oil is a commodity that is traded in dollars, which is why the dollar is considered the world's reserve currency (although maybe not for much longer). Any oil exporting nation knows that the dollars that it accepts in exchange for its oil are substantially less valuable than they were just six months ago, hence each barrel of oil must bring a greater number of dollars to compensate.
Unfortunately, this will only continue, because no matter how much the Republicans are able to rein in spending, at this point the unfunded mandates and entitlements of our government are so massive that the Fed will continue the QE for the foreseeable future. As a result, the dollar will continue to decline in value, and thus all commodities, including and especially oil, will become more costly, at least in terms of how many dollars it takes to buy them.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.4.11 @ 10:20AM
George,
My oldest and dearest friend is an economics professor; has been for forty years. A dollar a year man to six presidents, (though seldom listened to).
He still loves to teach eco 101. On the first day of class in every semester....he writes these words on the blackboard.
"Inflation is taxation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He poses different questions in every quiz and final exam to which the same exact answer is that above.
He has a lot of fun figuring out new ways to ask the questions to which that is the answer.
Derek Leaberry| 1.4.11 @ 2:58PM
Mr. True, is it true that much of the recent Stock Market run-up is due to depreciated dollars caused by the policies of Bernanke and Obama?
Carlos| 1.4.11 @ 10:06AM
Perhaps gasoline will go to 5.56 per gallon. Or even 7.62. Whichever, only those who have prepared will be able to afford it.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.4.11 @ 10:29AM
Carlos,
tacky tacky tacky (smile)
Too Many Tims| 1.4.11 @ 10:33AM
The ruination of the US dollar is why gas is shooting up, and the only comfort I can give myself is to think that our fool of a President is not going to see a second term when gas is $5 a gallon.
Expensive gas is what the left has been pining for for four or five decades now. Let them enjoy it.
dcd| 1.4.11 @ 10:56AM
While it's comforting that most posters here (Jimmy Carter Mike excepted) understand that the overall plan of this administration, and everything--everything--it does every day is designed to (1) over-regulate (2) tax (3) ration, and (4) selectively destroy the economic and cultural pillars of what used to be American society, I'm afraid that Carlos is ahead of most of you.
Il Duce Negro is absolutely hell-bent on rationing energy, just as he's committed to rationing "health care," manufacturing, and ultimately people he doesn't like. Anyone who still believes our current ruling class isn't interested in herding us recalcitrants into concentration/extermination camps isn't paying attention. Will it happen overnight? Of course not, but once industry is ground to a halt, energy and medical services are rationed or forcibly eliminated, and the military is purged of all of those who don't subscribe to the rulers' preferred agenda (meaning, they become neither more nor less than a Praetorian guard for Il Duce), what exactly are the options left?
The Demon party ought to be happy that the American electorate expressed its wishes this past November through the ballot box and not from the barrels of millions of privately owned firearms. But per Carlos, only the latter option is likely to be available in the near future. Gasoline rationing is only a small symptom but a good predictor of what the ruling class has in mind for most of us. So be prepared as best you can, but it is going to get really, really ugly soon.
I'll wait now for the occasional troll lefties to remove their airheads from their bongs and bathhouses to tell me exactly what I have wrong about Il Duce's endgame, and exactly how the policies being rammed down our throats do not follow the sequence laid out above in steps 1-4. Should be an interesting exercise in obfuscation, lying, and stale personal insults.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.4.11 @ 12:22PM
I wrote this for TEAM America in September 2009
( myteamusa.org ) Are my predictions to be seriously taken? www.texassaidno.com
ENERGY SLAVERY
Climate Change? Mothball Your Car!
If you have been "dropping in" on "The American Spectator" or our other recommended news sources, you pretty well understand the parameters of the Climate Change Lie . So Let's cut to the chase.
Many in our federal government demand that you put your automobile on blocks. That is precisely their end-game...their goal, and make no mistake about it.
They want you on a bicycle, a bus, or a train, so they know where you are, and where you are going! Oh! they also think it will be pretty neat to know why you are going where you are going as well!
In Fact, they would rather you go nowhere, except if they herd you there. Nice thought isn't it?
Ladies and gentlemen, "Cap and Trade" or any other energy rationing scheme, is merely a method of curtailing your freedom, and it is a multiple "whammy". For instance, if you live in the South, boy o boy do you thank goodness for air-conditioning. What happens when you cannot afford to turn it on? If you live in the North, the lack of heating can be actually life-threatening!
So! What if you are forced, due to the cost, to choose between driving your car or cooling or heating your home and work-place? Some choice, right?
Okay, now let's consider for just a moment the "ripple effects" of energy rationing across our entire economy. Well first, coal miners and oil-drilling personnel are out of a job. Heck, I don't know if coal miners appreciate their jobs or not, but I worked on oil-drilling rigs as a young man, and I can tell you that those men are some of the proudest, bravest men I have ever worked with. WOW! do I respect them, and not a union member in the bunch!
Many in our federal government simply want to change "supply and demand" with "No supply without begging the government" .
Oh! your grocery bill will explode. A huge percentage of our groceries are transported ...by trucks...burning diesel or natural gas. OOPS! I am sure many of you have additional insights into the ripple effects of energy rationing. Drop us a line.
We here at T.E.A.M. AMERICA can come to only one conclusion. Government imposed energy rationing is either insane, or it is purely evil.
Our country is blessed with a 300 years supply of clean energy in the ground beneath our feet. We also have the "now idle" manufacturing infrastructure to begin Today pursuing one of my favorite energy options i.e. "Modular Nuclear Plants".
One of the huge "bugaboos" the Greenies throw at us is quite simply the "China Syndrome"; the fear of a catastrophic failure of a conventional nuclear plant even worse than the Chernobyl disaster.
Okay, let's pursue this line of reasoning a little. The single biggest obstacle in building a completely safe conventional nuclear plant is pouring a gazillion tons of concrete properly for the "containment vessel", (the huge dome you see in the distance). Everything is just so huge in a conventional plant, that honest human mistakes might multiply and cause a catastrophic failure.
So let's build little ones...in our factories...with manageable quality controls. Then we line those suckers up like "D-cell batteries" and boil some water. (Think about nuclear submarine sized units.)
Please, let us remember that is how electric power is generated...always !
You boil some water, make some steam, and spin a turbine generator!
We have proven how to do this safely with nuclear power for over 40 years in our submarine fleet!
OH BUT WHAT ABOUT A FAILURE?????
We simply shut two valves...drag the unit off line...dump the fuel rods in a pre-prepared underground glass vault filled with water...and we lose a few kilowatts of electricity until we slide a replacement unit on line.
(Huh? Glass vaults? You betcha!) Glass is very stable, lasts virtually forever, is very strong, and does not corrode. Those individual vaults will have very thick walls and cap. (think of the glass 'bricks' you have seen in homes you have visited. They are hollow...and stronger than the whole wall around them.)
Okay, Okay, Okay. We have forty years to educate our population as to the safety of this method...if anybody wanted to do so!
Instead, our lying government, and our lying media want to turn us into beggars.
Best regards, all
dcd| 1.4.11 @ 1:26PM
Ken you know as well as I do, Il Duce Negro cannot allow small modular nuclear reactors to be built--he and his cronies will do everything in their power to prevent them. As long as Harry Reid's lapdog Jaczko is Chairman at the NRC, SMRs have no chance.
Imagine: modular, American-manufactured, scalable, low emission sources of electric power, installable just about anywhere, which don't need refueling for 4-8 years, the base fuel (uranium) available in great abundance in the lower 48 in 5-6 different states from Virginia to Wyoming, and the fuel is 95% recyclable by volume. It's perfect, sensible, renewable--and thus, there is no way this administration will let it happen, ever. When there's abundance, rationing is a really tough sell. When you've artificially induced shortages, then you can ration. Pretty simple and deadly for those hoping that SMRs will come on line in the near future. I hope they do, of course, but realistically, and despite public rhetoric, every organ of this festering body of filth called the U.S. federal government is aligned and motivated to kill the entire concept.
Ask your anti-nuke friends, what other industry has had exactly one (1) occupational death over the last 50 years? Answer: none. Nuclear's record at land and in Rickover's Navy is unparalleled in human history. It doesn't matter--it's efficiency and potential are mortal threats to the rationers. Freedom, and of course ultimately undesirable people interested in such, must be strangled.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.4.11 @ 2:04PM
dcd,
Thank you.
I have posted here a number of times to the effect that there is going to be an "event" that turns everything upside down this year...or so.
I have some very "interesting friends". Many of them were recruited by me for my companies, and they are now heads of their companies. (energy related)
When I post here, I am sometimes speaking for some of those "friends" whose very positions prevent them from posting. They are trying to negotiate the rapids on behalf of their millions of employees that count on them to do so.
Don't think for a moment that those millions of employees do not hear me....at least through the grapevine.
Sir,
things are coming to a head.
To help you prepare...I hope you will get my newest bestseller. www.texassaidno.com
Please forgive my agents if they can't process your order as quickly as you might want. They are swamped.
Dustoff| 1.4.11 @ 1:04PM
WOW...... Gas just dropped to $88 bucks
Byron| 1.4.11 @ 1:09PM
We're gonna stupid ourselves to death.
gary siebel| 1.4.11 @ 2:25PM
It was conservatives like Bolton and Krauthammer insisting Bush was going to nuke Iran, thereby frightening the liberals in the process -- who happened to be big oil traders in London-- that drove up the gas prices so exorbitantly. (It was so bad I wondered if those two had positions in oil stocks?) Prices cracked the day Bush sent an observer to the nuke talks with Iran in Europe, thereby signaling a nuke strike was not imminent.
The real disaster occurred when Reagan made us completely dependent on oil, signaling victory for the oil companies when he removed the alternative energy panels from the White House.
The philosophy of greed is what has damaged us the most, much more so than the EPA. All the same, a temporary rollback in some EPA standards may be in order, just to kep the economy alive.
But let's place the blame where it belongs. The decline of America began with the economic policies of Reaganomics. What we gained from them was an increase in gambling. What we lost was manufacturing (which, by the way, was extolled as a wonderful and necessary occurrence by economists of all persuasions). If you believe Adam Smith's assertion in regards to the "unseen hand," that is, that those working for their greedy, naked self interest, are guided as if by an unseen hand to work for the betterment of the whole, then Benedict Arnold should be your hero.
Oldefarte| 1.5.11 @ 1:04PM
Obviously, you don't know your ars from a hole in the ground about economics/finance/business; and you are a out of the closet liberal. Neither Bush nor Reagan had the ability to effect the supply and demand of oil/energy. Alternative energy? There's no such thing, out the imbicilic minds of you and CRAZED SEX POODLE AL; and there is certainly no demand or supply of same capable of supplying this country's or the world's energy needs. Your STUPIDLY statement of being 'dependent on oil' has ALWAYS been the situation and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Every manufacturing factory, mode of transportation, generated energy source of power, business operation, etc depends upon oil, and without it we would all wither up and die. Oh, your moronic manufacturing loss situation was caused by labor unions and their excessive demand for above market wages which sent manufacturers heading for this country's exit doors in search of lower wages/costs. Your socialists labor unions have also destroyed our governments and our schools with incompetitents running same and being paid exhorbatant salaries to boot. So take your socialistic Democrat ideas and put them where they belong.....in the toilet!!!
gary siebel| 1.4.11 @ 2:34PM
One more thing; just shoot all the economists. They are a pack of useless retards!
dcd| 1.4.11 @ 3:17PM
There's no way through the rotting morass of you Carterites, is there?
Oil prices are set in a global but hardly free market. Spikes occur when various events (such as an OPEC "quota" that traders believe will be followed--very rare) occur or are perceived as likely to occur. There's also a large element of supply and demand balancing, which (despite many stupid economists) cannot be repealed or ignored despite various governments' best efforts.
Oil and gasoline prices were high in 07/08 for a wide variety of reasons, but mostly because people thought, erroneously, that a global economic expansion was continuing. They were wrong, and oil prices fell by more than half during the recession. What this all has to do with Reagan's pro-market, pro-freedom policies is beyond me--maybe it takes a lifetime in academia or on hard drugs to make the connection. I can't, and you can't express it with any intelligence.
What I do know is that you are violently opposed to free choices, see all profit as naked self interest, and therefore pose a mortal threat to me, my family, and this country as our Founders constituted it. Which is why what Carlos said above is so true--there's no arguing with totalitarians like you, because you are not content to leave the rest of us alone to prosper or fail based on our own choices. No, you must decide for us what is in our self-interest, and see anything other than socialism as selfish and (I guess) treasonous--an interesting leap of logic that falls into a very dark canyon of nothingness.
Basically, you believe that what I (and oil companies, for that matter) earn is presumptively yours (or the government's, assuming you control it) to redistribute as you see fit. I disagree and I'm willing to fight about it, either at the ballot box or with whatever weapons I have at my disposal. You decide which way you'd like to have it; I submit that you have a better shot at the ballot box than against the vast majority of Americans who would agree with me and be happy to eliminate folks like you if you continue to try to ram Il Duce's utopia down our throats.
Oldefarte| 1.5.11 @ 1:07PM
Fortionately for the rest of us, those economists have more brains than you do obviously!!!!
Steve A| 1.4.11 @ 2:35PM
gary, You should start a Comedy Central show there buddy. Too funny. I know you can not possibly be serious. When Reagan ripped off Carter's joke solar panels it caused an energy crisis?? Haaaaaaa
If we had continued with Carteromics we would now be in a better spot ??? Haaaaaa.
Oh man, you are killing me. I needed a good laugh today. Much thanks!.
JeffW| 1.4.11 @ 2:41PM
Gary,
Your a tool.
Oldefarte| 1.4.11 @ 2:56PM
This bad moon has been arising for some time now, thanks to everyone's DEMOCRAT friends/associates. Their moronic governmental dictates have resulted in an oil drilling moratorium after the BP spill, and thereafter their foot-dragging/prevention of oil drilling permits issuance; all of which is economically destroying the Gulf states. Their latest socialistic dictation is their attempt to impose their environmental idology upon all of us by confiscating Texas' natural gas production, which will further explode our economic depression. VOTE people, and VOTE REPUBLICAN!!!!!!!!!
gary siebel| 1.4.11 @ 4:57PM
LOL... thought that might get a rise out of the knee-jerks. But please spare me the attempts to put words in my mouth. I said what I meant; only retards would leap to the erroneous conclusion that I am against profits!
And check the data dumb asses -- the price of oil definitely cracked immediately after Bush sent the observer to the talks. Unlike many here, I get my info from a wide variety of sources -- it's the only way to sort out the wheat from chaff. Corroboration is important! and I don't hide behind a fake name
Before the oil price crac!ked, papers such as The Guardian, London (which is not on my reading list) was screaming about the impending strike.
But it seems conservatives panic just as easily as the liberals --
btw, last time I checked, every family unit operated on socialist principles, placing family ahead of individuals. So we see how anti-family some conservatives are, truly.
Mel Torme| 1.4.11 @ 6:50PM
"... the price of oil definitely cracked ..."
Gary, that giant cracking sound you heard did not come from the refinery, my friend. The giant cracking sound was a skull fracture caused by your brain expanding beyond normal skeletal parameters, as your 1970's-era delusions are swollen to elephant-man-like dimensions.
I hope Obamacare covers this, for your sake.
"If you want your old, over-swollen brain matter, you can keep your old, over-swollen brain matter."
Dale, left coast| 1.7.11 @ 3:01PM
Gary . . . every family unit . . . lol
Socialism is when my neighbor's family comes over and raids my fridge on a regular basis . . .
What would you call the average single parent family on welfare in Chicago? Liberalism???
gary siebel| 1.4.11 @ 8:01PM
How about that... and here I thought Mel Torme was dead and buried. LOL
I need some better competition.:-)
Dale left coast| 1.7.11 @ 2:58PM
Gary . . . what do you think of the Bamster shutting down the Gulf . . . so some of the rigs could go to Brazil to drill for Petrobras? Did you know that little Gorge S is heavily invested in Petrobras and is a frequent visitor at the WH the last 2 years???
Carl | 1.4.11 @ 9:19PM
This is a conversation that is long over due. Unfortunately it likely won't gain momentum until gas prices reach $3.99. I am involved in the Transition Movement where the main focus is helping individuals via their communities begin to prepare for just this kind of shock. People are taking charge of their own futures and it is inspiring to see the amazing work that is being done as we transition to a world without easy/cheap oil. Check it out.
Bill Sundling| 1.4.11 @ 10:14PM
The government is printing money with nothing to back it up. Expect gas to hit $5 per gallon. Maybe even $10. Who knows? We could very well see the kind of hyperinflation that Germany saw in the 1920s.
MacDaddy| 1.5.11 @ 11:17AM
NOW is the time. If we were to do TWO things politically, the price of oil would a.) become more stable and b.) settle down at historical prices which would allow sustainability and promote economic growth. These two things are: 1. Approve, announce and implement drilling in the ANWR. Just making that ANNOUNCEMENT would drop oil prices by 10% - 15%....not just saying so, economists and oil speculation patterns analysts have documented it. We now STILL have oil sitting in tankers. We have a glut of crude, so much we can't even store it, and yet speculators are driving the price up. Which brings me to: b.) impose an immediate margin requirement of 20% to purchase crude oil futures. This would take the "speculator"money premium out of the market. Alternatively, we could put a 'surtax' on profits made on crude oil futures unless the futures trader ACTUALLY TAKES DELIVERY OF THE OIL TRADED...that would return OIL to a market-demand driven pricing realm and greatly reduce incentives to idly profit on oil fluctuations...if you will recall, it was PURE SPECULATION that drove the price to $140 per barrel back in 2008. Why won't we do this? 1. congress has no sense. 2. Congress has no guts.
ONTIME| 1.6.11 @ 3:42PM
Energy is going to cost more because that is what the burr headed shill in the Oval Office stated, it's by agenda and environmental design that this planned inflationary cost is going to take place. It could be avoided but then that would mean getting control of the Congress and their lousy habits and making them adhere to a planned "cut the fat diet" ...fat chance, eh?
Add this energy swing into the foot dragging ways these torpedoe launchers have landmined the financial system, hog tied the industrial sector, EPA'd the food supply with poor method and regulated medical into a barely suvivable existence and folks, I'm not real hopeful about this new year. Even if we found a way to remove all these overpaid disruptors, decertified the unions and pared all the thousands of agencies from the budget, we are like one legged frogs trying to get a good jump, pretty is the last word one should use.
Don't worry though you can bet you government folks will all be taken care of and will sleep a lot more sound than you....yep
buddy| 1.6.11 @ 4:29PM
my daddy always said, "charge what you (opec) want for oil; we think a bushel of wheat is as valuable to you as a barrel of oil is to us!"
we should set, as national policy, the price of exported wheat at the going price for a barrel of imported oil and watch it come down. we have oil but they don't have have wheat and you can't grow it in the sand!
FAAQ2| 1.6.11 @ 11:16PM
So we can thank Obama for the shitty gas prices again ?? Gee lets not drill in the gulf - we might get some stupid bird oily - oh yes these kool-aid drinking assholes won't be happy until we are all in Covered Wagons and horses. Oh and oil lamps - what's next - blow up all the Dams, shut down and oil-gas and coal fired plants - whats next kool aid drinkers ??
Garry Owen| 1.7.11 @ 11:17AM
We were warned up front that this is a part of "Hope and Change" but many Americans did not read between the lines. Now come another opportunity for "Hope and Change" to take more control of our economy in the name of saving the U.S.!
David Minnich| 2.7.11 @ 4:59PM
The only good thing about $4.00+ gasoline is that it will help seal the deal in 2012 - goodbye Obama, goodbye EPA carbon controls, goodbye drilling moratorium, goodbye coal and natural gas power plant moratorium, goodbye to windmills and solar panels, goodbye to all this progressive insanity. It's been 1979 all over again. They never learn.
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 4:10AM
Unleaded regular is surging toward $4 per gallon again -- the same highs that preceded, and arguably triggered -- the current economic catatonia. If it happens again, though, the effects are probably going to be even worse. A man on his feet can usually take a sucker punch, or at least recover from it. But if he's already on the ground and you kick him in the head, he's done-for.
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