From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Mon Oct 22 2001 - 11:06:39 MDT
Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
>
> <<I agree. I love the libertarian philosophy but I love <life even more. George Bush you have done a lot of <stupid things but now is not the time to criticize <you, the stuff you have done in the past month seems <fine to me and I'm very glad I don't h
ave you're job. <George, I wish you well.
>
> < John K Clark jonkc@att.net>>
>
> My comment concerns the dropping of the other shoe. That W Bush needs to liberate American reliance from Wahabbi-owned fuels-namely oil. And no! I don't buy the "lets use their oil up first" philosophy peddled by morons, who have no "backup" fuel source
.
It's not necessarily moronic. It deprives them of future resources that
would be needed if they ever got their infrastructure and strategic
gamesmanship asses together, they are willing to sell out their futures
on the cheap in exchange for a reliable income (and long term oil supply
contracts, which make up more than 2/3 of the oil market, go for far
less per barrel than the spot market rates you read about in the funny
pages) today.
Furthermore, there is a 'backup' fuel source: nuclear power.
The SUV phenom of the 90's would never have taken place if the
efficiency gains of the 1980's had not gone way overboard beyond what an
unimpeded market would have developed.
I'm sitting here in New England which just had one of the coldest years
in 100, including the latest ending winter and the earliest frost since
the 19th century. Despite having one of the highest fossil fuel
consumption density levels in the world, we are experiencing not only no
global warming, but no local warming either. How many were amazed at
Extro5 (June 15th) at my explaination for my buzz cut (I get it cut
after the first truly hot day of the year). I was still shoveling myself
out of the driveway in May. Most of the leaves have fallen and it's
barely past the middle of october, the geese are already well into their
migration, as are the woodcock.
While one year a trend does not make, I'm having significant doubts
after a few similar years as to the validity of claims that the US needs
to account for CO2 externalities in its tax structure on the fuel
market.
The spoiler:
Here is the real reason foreign spats mess with our oil market so badly:
oil windfall profits taxes. If you make too big a profit on oil you take
out of the ground here at home, you pay extra taxes on it. Consequently,
when foreign suppliers spike their supplies, pushing the spot market
higher, well established low cost domestic wells shut down production
for the duration to avoid paying the windfall profits tax, only to start
up again when the prices drop back to the high teens to low 20's per
bbl.
I know a fellow who has shut down all of his wells, which produce for
between $8.00-12.00 per bbl, until oil prices drop back to below $20.00
per bbl.
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