May I suggest elizaphanian.blogspot.com?
I agree with you about the political basis of the current oil shortage, but I also believe that the "long-term alternatives to oil" that you think we need will not ever be had until there is an economic basis for them -- until, that is, someone can make money off of them. Sooner or later, then, we must undergo the pain that political connivers have determined we should suffer now.
What else but sheer political connivance could actually promote an idea so nonsensical and self-defeating as making gasoline out of corn -- so that now we have not only a "shortage" of oil, but a "shortage" of grain as well. Bravo, gentlemen!
The party is over for Americans. Leaders of both parties have ushered in a world where corporations have been given the global tools they need to drive down the cost of doing business by taking jobs done by Americans and handing them to convivial fellows and gals from Bangalore at the same time that living expenses are trending sharply upward. No one will pity the largely self-inflicted hard times of a fat and stupid nation such as ours:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Fro...e/
JF10Aa02.html
I don't see the point, really, unless they're going to sell the oil at a cut rate to Americans. But, they're not. All this so that Exxon can sell a few more $150 barrels to China?
It's not the oil companies driving up the price of crude. It's the stock market speculators, and there ain't much a body can do about that.
This was Excellent! Thanks!
It's not the oil companies driving up the price of crude. It's the stock market speculators, and there ain't much a body can do about that.
uuhhh... no.
That's just the current scapegoat.
Bravo. Needs saying again, and again and again.
That's just the current scapegoat.
Alright genius. Then you tell me: what's driven up them pump prices? Tell us and we'll all be happy.
Alright genius. Then you tell me: what's driven up them pump prices? Tell us and we'll all be happy.
Seconded. Anyone can poo-poo.
Alright genius. Then you tell me: what's driven up them pump prices? Tell us and we'll all be happy.
Maybe you & Scott W. could collaborate together and from that achieve a level of thought, even if mediocre, that perhaps might accomplish this instead of my having to compensate for yours and his deficiencies?
Foul!
It's easy to insult those of us who aren't convinced that the latest scapegoat isn't actually the perpetrator, but if ad hominem is your stock in trade, surely Da Rulz apply? Explain, please, why what you say should be taken at face value.
Speculators ARE the stock market. If you are going to blame it all on capitalism you might as well be up front about it.
Capitalism is only as good as the hearts of those who call themselves capitalists. Given the state of the culture these days, how can we expect capitalists to be better than anyone else?
Truth of it is, we have no individuality left. We have all been absorbed into the greater corporate organism.
Even the Church, with its bizarre, thoroughly modern mania for turning the most individual of experiences -- religious conversion -- into corporate mergers, is far from immune.
Perhaps that is the reason that youth prizes indolence so highly -- they see what corporatism has done to individuals, and figure that, if anyone is going to define them through negatives, it ought to be themselves -- at least they can claim self-destruction as their own.
It also perhaps explains why they are -- despite decades of empty ballyhoo to the contrary -- indifferent to the corporatism that distinguishes what they call "organized religion". This is a big problem for the Church, and it is probably what moved JP2 to some of his more outlandish celebrity posing in bloated renaissance fairs like World Youth Day.
Maybe you & Scott W. could collaborate together and from that achieve a level of thought, even if mediocre, that perhaps might accomplish this instead of my having to compensate for yours and his deficiencies?
I'll bypass the insult and try to elicit a proper response. Namely, there are several theories of the rise in oil prices--most of them, including speculation, are at least plausible on the face of it. But if we are to take speculation off the table, we need at least a half way decent reason for it and a better proposal to replace it with. It doesn't even need to be a heavily documented one, just a valid argument--All I'm doing is the same thing everyone gets asked in algebra class: show your work that allowed you to arrive at the right answer.
Well, the few industry insiders I have heard speak about it (as insiders - producers - they of course have their biases) list speculation and lack of/outdated refining capacity. That is, you can pump more oil out of the ground, but until refineries get enlarged/improved (a difficult thing to do with all the red tape in the US) you can't do much more to increase the supply of actual fuel.
By all means, let's legalize drilling for and refining oil. But let's not be oblivious to the manufactured geopolitical tensions and Federal Reserve counterfeiting schemes that have so much to do with the skyrocketing price of oil. Eliminate the FED, enforce 100 percent reserve banking, drop the legal tender laws, legalize competing currencies and stop the saber-rattling with Iran. Then we'll see what happens to the price of oil.
In fact, rolling back the American Empire (575,000 troops and 730 military bases in 130 foreign countries!) will do more than ease tensions roiling the oil markets. The trillion (yes, *trillion*) dollars saved in abandoning this lunatic policy can help pay off the national debt and be returned to beleaguered American taxpayers, who will then have a lot more disposable income to pay for fuel (and food and housing and everything else).
We have no business protecting rich allies in Western Europe, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Israel. They (well, with the possible exception of Israel) don't want us there, and even if they do want us there, we should have nothing to do with their defense. They're rich enough to defend themselves. Not only that, but Americans are *less* safe spreading their armed forces so thin.
Where were American fighter planes the morning of 9/11/2001? Why did an airliner hit the Pentagon 30 minutes after the Twin Towers were hit? Were our airmen and soldiers too busy raping civilians on Okinawa and getting drunk in Germany to bother with defending actual Americans under actual foreign attack on actual American soil?
Come home, America! Armed neutrality is the key to peace and prosperity.
Gee, if they're so bad, why do we want them home, raping civilians in the heartland and getting drunk in Peoria?
Good point, Ralph. Better to keep them abroad, drunk and raping the beneficiaries of the U.S. defense umbrella. That'll protect Americans.
Armed neutrality is the key to peace and prosperity.
This raises at least two questions for another thread. (1) What is the responsible policy for a leading nation such as the U.S.? It can't lie at the vicious extremities of imperialism or isolationism. So what is the answer?
(2) What should the national goals be of a leading nation such as the U.S.? They can't lie at the vicious extremities of self-indulgence or self-neglect. So what is the answer?
Die Antwort ist nicht eine Gabe, sondern eine Aufgabe.
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