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Why we are victims of the oil industry

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DH106

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 12, 2002
Posts
185
Having lost two mainline-flying jobs due to mismanagement and oil prices, it's infuriating to see oil priced as it is.

Exxon Mobil's 2nd quarter profit was a whopping 7.64 billion dollars! And, the other oil companies were just as busy laughing all the way to the bank, as they held all consumers and companies by the you-know-whats.

The bottom line is that we are being scammed, by oil-producing nations (with OPEC at the top of the list) and the oil companies. When it costs an OPEC nation around $1.50 to produce a barrel of oil, and they sell it for the current price of around $65 per barrel, that's pure greed -- especially considering that it just wasn't too long ago that oil was priced at $17 per barrel.

I got fed up and wondered why the oil industry does to us what it does. I recently read a book, Over A Barrel: Breaking The Middle East Oil Cartel, by Raymond Learsy. It explains everything about the oil scam that we're forced to pay for every day. It describes, in great detail, the gross extent to which the oil-producing nations and the oil companies are in collusion to break us of our pocketbooks.

I greatly urge all other pilots to read this book, to get an education on what's really going on. I have no ties to the publisher, so I'm just recommending it as a mere reader. But, please, go out and get a copy and read it (it's not a Bush-bashing book, as it's written by a conservative and former Reagan appointee). It will change your outlook on what's going on in this nation.
 
I ain't no dang hippy but when my lease is up, I am getting a new Honda civic hybrid. If everyone switched to cars that had low consumption, that would drive prices down. It would take some time but I am tired of giving my money to greedy gougers. Wanna stick em, lower consumption.

I drive an S2000 now...not really bad on consumption but it could be better.
 
Probably the biggest factor in all this are the mergers in the oil industry that began under Clinton and have continued under Bush. Just about all of the smaller oil companies have been bought out by larger companies, and many of those large companies have merged as well. Many of these mergers have been disguised as "joint ventures". What has essentially happened is they have divided up the country so that no matter which company pumps your gas, it all comes from the same refiner. This consolidation began as a reaction to all the money the oil industry lost in the 80s and 90s. It will be interesting to see if there is some kind of action to break up these companies and create more competition.

Not to say OPEC is not a huge factor, it is. But oil industry consolidation is a big factor as well.
 
Our current plight is a function of two things:

1) A completely clueless president (clueless about the attack on the common mans pocketbook by big oil) and an equally inept congress. Their job is to preserve the good of our country and lead. They have let the oil companies take advantage of the entire nation. Expect a revolution if prices don't come down.... AND STAY DOWN.

2) Wall Street. Every analyst on Wall Street predicted crude prices to retreat when it hit $30, $40, and $50 per barrell. Our airline managements gave into this advice and waited for that price retreat before buying fuel hedges. Well, as we all know, the prices never retreated, hence fuel hedging was never put in place. It wasn't until oil hit $50 that analysts then changed their tune and called for prices to remain high indefinitely. At $50 per barrel price levels, oil would have to go above $75/ barrell to support fuel hedge contracts bought at $50 due to the high purchase price of those contracts. I hope those who decided not to hedge at $20, $30, $40 per barrel were held accountable and got fired. Then again, they are management. When is airline management ever held accountable?
 
Mr Hat said:
I ain't no dang hippy but when my lease is up, I am getting a new Honda civic hybrid. If everyone switched to cars that had low consumption, that would drive prices down. It would take some time but I am tired of giving my money to greedy gougers. Wanna stick em, lower consumption.

I drive an S2000 now...not really bad on consumption but it could be better.
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I know that sounds good, but I don't believe that lowering consumption does anything for the long term. If consumption rate per person goes down, all they need to do is lower the supply to meet the new lower rate; thus keeping us sucking on the oil nipple for many, many more years.
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I think that the best cure is to let prices skyrocket - yes, I said skyrocket. That will FINALLY force the American consumer to demand a switch over to different fuels. Has anyone noticed that the latest Ford commercials are touting that their new cars will run on Ethanol? I can guarantee that this would never had happened if gas wasn't $3.00 per gallon. . .
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You can pass all of the energy bills you want to in Congress, but NOTHING will happen until you affect each and every American. That can only be done at the gas pump. . .
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WhymeWorry is on target.

Bush and Cheney are 100% bought and paid for by Big Oil and King Coal. They don't care about you, your family, your job, the air you breathe or the water you drink. Poll numbers are plummeting and indictments are flying.

This country is finally starting to come out of it's post 9/11 hypnotic trance.
 
Mr Hat said:
I ain't no dang hippy but when my lease is up, I am getting a new Honda civic hybrid. If everyone switched to cars that had low consumption, that would drive prices down. It would take some time but I am tired of giving my money to greedy gougers. Wanna stick em, lower consumption.

I drive an S2000 now...not really bad on consumption but it could be better.

If consumption goes down, they'll raise the prices to make up for the loss in consumption.
 
I know that sounds good, but I don't believe that lowering consumption does anything for the long term. If consumption rate per person goes down, all they need to do is lower the supply to meet the new lower rate; thus keeping us sucking on the oil nipple for many, many more years.
Your probably right. But at least I won't be filling up all the time driving to EWR. My drive is 40 miles, the new Civic gets 50 miles to the gal on the highway and it's only $20,000. I don't know about increased maintaince costs yet as I haven't really researched the car but the battery has some rediculous warrenty on it.

I am really going to sound like a liberal hippy when I mention this but have you heard of Willy Nelsons vegitable fuel that he uses to run his tour van. Apparently it will run flawlessly in any diesel engine...made from corn oil. Talk about a way to get America's farmers out of debt. The only problem I can see is that if another midwestern drought hits, it would hurt more than summer BBQ's.

We do need to find other fuel sources though. Additional drilling is a bandaid that could only work if we were working on a perminent solution in the way of alternative fuels.
 
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Mr. Hat - USA Today did an analysis of the hybrids and the two issues that stood out were the fact that the advertised EPA mileage on the sticker wasn't even close to what people were getting in actual driving. That seemed to be due to the fact that the EPA allows the manufacturer to really "stack the deck" in their favor during proving runs. The other factor was the hybrid premium of $5000-$8000 you pay up front doesn't make up for the higher gas mileage over the expected five year life of the vehicle.
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Now, the one established technology they talked about was the diesel powered VW Golf TDI. 43 Miles per gallon, consistenly proven over many years of ownership.
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Yes, I have looked into bio-diesel - basically cooking oil mixed with methanol. Currently it is $2.71 per gallon vs. $3.19 per gallon for regular diesel fuel. 100% biodiesel has a solvent effect that cleans out the entire fuel system and has a higher "lubricity" that makes you diesel engine last up to three times longer. However, I would have to drive about an hour just to fill up with bio-diesel, so the only reason I'm not using it today is simply availability.
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So there you have it. . . my simple argument to leave gasoline (and diesel) prices sky-high along with higher consumption . . . .
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Implementation of the Hydrogen fuel cell sounds like the best idea if you ask me. Read an article recently , Iceland claims to have a full H2 eonomy by 2010 or there abouts. I will do further research on H2, most of the details escape me at the moment.
 

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