Fix for oil prices

[skeeter@ccia.com]

What would it do to the world if we sold our bushel of wheat for what a barrel of oil cost? Ok I know our newest cost of $105 per barrel is lots due to the fact our dollar isn't worth a dollar anymore and the world bases it's money and market on our dollar value but in order to break the cycle of devaluation of the buck, would it be wise to export our goods this way? The world has to eat and why should we 'give' our goods away while continue to pay more for imports. How do we stop the cycle of America shipping recycle materials to say China so they can turn it back into goods we buy then recycle again back to them. Feeding the circle. What would it take to make the circle (cycle) to go off course in our direction? Would this equal cost of wheat/oil help bring the dollar value back up? Think our government will ever help us with a tax cut at the pumps? I say sell a bushel of wheat for what a barrel of oil cost to those that produce the oil. Even if it doesn't help bring up the value of the dollar. They gotta eat. Fair trade.

[gd357]

Good idea. Also, how about even percentage tariffs? If it costs us 30% to ship something somewhere, where's the sense in letting them send goods here for a fraction of that?

gd

[Brother Rockeye]

that sounds like the ongoing Canadian deal-ship raw resources out and pay exponentially for the manufactured return product...
and you know a bushel of wheat for a barrel of oil would be great,if the wheat producer finally got paid for growing it...
and we pay more for oil and gas than you folks do...and we produce our own too...

sorry...Canadian perspective...

[skeet]

Canada is where the US imports most of it's oil from. The Canadian gummit has always been rippin y'all a new tail end on taxes on oil. Guess them french canadians got all that tax passed Man...I hope you ain't french canadian. It really was a joke.

[Andy L]

This whole thing about prices, taxes, gun laws, just socialism in general in Canada, is what makes this election so damned important.

Hillarys Universal Healthcare and Obamas Ban on Handguns.

Who does that sound like?

[skeet]

UHC would cost so blasted much and ya know them politicians and bureaucrats can't keep from makin more and new regulations. It will never work right and as cheaply as it COULD be from the private sector. And a ban on handguns would be a terrible thing as well as a failure for the most part. When will these people ever understand...that it ain't the gun?? I know y'all. They know it but that ain't what they want to hear. I seriously will never give up my guns willingly. They will have to be found and taken.

[DogYeller]

This a major catastrophe. Its driving prices up on every commodity. Its increasing our trade deficit and leading
to further devaluation of the dollar, eroding the buying power and standard of living of all Americans.
We need:

To drill on ANWAR

Drill offshore all over the U.S.

Increase refinery capacity

Switch over to using coal and enhanced air pollution control mechanisms for our power plants

Build more electrical power plants using nuclear power

Explore and encourage development of alternate fuel sources, including exploitation of shale oil.

Do something to negate the nefarious impact of commodity trading in oil futures

Talk turkey to the damn Saudis making it clear to them that there will be consequences if they don't increase oil production until we can deal with this problem.

Congress, both political parties and Bush have been negligent in pursuing the above options. They have buckled under to pressure from environmentalist wackos. Its past time for them to start thinking about America and Americans and not about their own investments.

[Brother Rockeye]

not to worry skeet,I ain't a frog...I'm an Irish Canuck.

i believe the problems in both our countries are the politicians themselves...what happened to them being OUR voice in government?
We've turned into feeder beef that only matter as long as they are makin money off us...burns my arse!

I've been sayin since the long gun registry was rammed down our throats "I'll hand over my guns as long as they don't mind gettin every last round of ammo first"

do whatever you have to to protect your rights as American Citizens-I only wish we had a constitution with some teeth in it!

[fabsroman]

Uh, the problems aren't just the politicians, but the people. I still see plenty of big cars and SUVs on the road with only one person in them. Obviously, gas isn't too expensive yet. Don't worry, this problem will fix itself right up. Just like in the 80's when people were looking for more economical cars, out came the Honda Civic. That POS small little car that got a million miles to the gallon compared to the American boats. Now, Honda has a fuel cell vehicle that it introduced this year to fleet owners, and if it all works out, it will be available to the public soon. The fuel cell vehicle uses hydrogen gas and it only emits water. It is win win on all accounts. Sad thing is that Ford won't have one ready for production until 2012. I am hoping that our cars can last that long, but who knows. If the fuel cell technology is out for a couple of years and they get the bugs out of it, the next problem will be with supplying the fuel. That is where Congress can come to the rescue. They can essentially give station owners a huge tax break for installing fuel cell "pumps" or whatever you need to fuel these vehicles.

There is also another alternative out there right now for you commuters. It is a vehicle that runs on natural gas and it has a 250 mile range. Problem is, finding fueling stations. To own one, you have to have a dispensing unit put in at your place and you have to have a natural gas line at your place.

Then there is another solution, moving closer to work.

Everybody stop crying a river and find an alternative to the problem instead. Once gas gets way too high, then I'm willing to bet that people will be finding alternatives instead of just complaining about it.

Oh yeah, I read somewhere that if ALL Americans traded their vehicles in on vehicles that got just 5 mpg better than what they currently own, we would have absolutely no dependence on foreign oil. I bet there would be no issue if all the vehicles I saw on the road were Ford Focus, Chevy Cobalt, Honda Civic, Toyota Corollas, etc. However, we Americans want our Cadillacs, our Corvettes, our Mustangs, and we want to complain about gas prices.

[Jack]

Fabs, take a look at what Brazil did.
Because they have an enormous amount of sugar cane, they were able to make enough ethanol to switch to using ethanol instead of gasoline. Now they import zero petroleum.
One problem they had in doing this was the old chicken and egg thing. Car makers said "we'll build the cars when there's stations everywhere where drivers can get ethanol."
Gas station owners said "It's too expensive to put in a new pump and tank for ethanol when there aren't cars to use it."
And so things sat for a year or so. Finally the Brazilian government employed one of those evil 'government mandates' and said, by a certain date, every fuel station had to have an ethanol pump.
Now, for us, I doubt ethanol is the long range solution. My point is,government does sometimes need to nudge things along.
For example, one factor that drives up gasoline prices is a 'shortage' of refinery capacity. Who owns the refineries? The companies that drill for oil and sell gasoline. The petroleum companies like the 'shortage' of refineries just fine- it drives up gas prices, increasing their profit.
If refineries were owned by independent operators, you can bet the 'shortage' of refinery capacity would soon disappear, and gas prices would come down a little.

[skeet]

You just hit every sacred cow of the greenies and it'll make 'em bleed green if all that stuff went through ceptin the alternative energy thingies. The NIMBY groups would come outta the wood works. Environmental disaster would soon follow and the human race would either die off completely like the dinosaurs...or they would be irradiated and change into some ungodly monsterous creature that would live in the world and probably prosper. I'm talking of the ungodly creature ...the conservative!! Oh horrors

[DogYeller]

Let 'em come, it's time to stand up and say "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more".

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Fabs, you are just starting your family. Wait till you have a few kids and a dog. Then take a ride in a VW beetle to the ocean for a vacation. (7 hrs). Add all your clothes, food, snacks, tents etc etc ..oh where did the kids go?...Under the pile or rubble...Have to go back, forgot the wife...now she has to get in too..Na the small cars are fine and needed but not in every situation. I hope to be around down the road when you have to scoot your driver seat up so far your knees are in your chest and you need a bubble in the windshield for your face to stick in so you can stuff your little ones and gear in the back seat and drive for miles..lol or when you have to tote them and their friends to their ball game at school or other school activities like band with their gear..yes you would want to leave the gas hog SUV home for that one......does make for fun days...sort of miss them since the little ones are grown now but those were the days...I can average 19 MPG out of my Hemi in town and up to 23 mpg on the big road..mind you now that is 60mph..if do 70mph..only will get about 21...so yes we all do need to change a few things..but still need the quad cab with bed on back...tools etc etc....Been there...done that...Life is still grand..We have to get America back to the American people. VOTE VOTE VOTE.. Does membership in HC or the NRA count as belonging to a well formed group? I also took and oath when I was drafted but never took an oath to get out..I feel that still makes me part of our well formed Military...and shouldn't be bothered by the 2nd. hummm

[fabsroman]

Skeeter,

You are right about needing a bigger vehicle once our family gets bigger, but there are ways around that too. The bigger vehicle doesn't always have to be the one being used. I find it kind of moronic that people buy a $50,000 SUV and have no other car to use other than the SUV. So, they commute in the SUV too. Their gas bill is insane. Then, they wonder why their SUV has 150,000 miles on it in 6 years and they have to buy a new one. I'm willing to bet that most of those SUV's I see in rush hour are headed to work, and not to drop off 3 kids at school or soccer practice. Even if you have 3 kids, why can't you drive a car to drop them off? I'm also willing to bet that those SUV's are not headed on vacation every morning packed full of stuff.

My wife and I have talked about getting an SUV down the road, but way down the road. Right now, I have the Taurus that can fit two baby seats in the back, it has a decent size trunk, and I have a storage container on the top. That should get us along just fine for several more years. Then, there is the F-350 crew cab that can be used when we really need it. I don't see another SUV or large truck purchase any time in the next 5 years.

My parents had 5 kids and somehow, we managed in a little FIAT hatchback from 1976 to 1980, and then they bought the Ford Fairmont, which wasn't a large station wagon by any means. Finally, in 1987, when I was 16 years old, my dad finally got a full size Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser station wagon.

Then, with family size being what it is today (i.e., 2 kids), how many people really NEED that SUV?

The conservatives complain about gas like the democrats complain about health care. Then, we buy SUV's, eat trans fat, smoke, and drink and get mad at the government when they cannot help us out of our situation. Don't even get me started on us Americans and TV.

[M.T. Pockets]

Fabs, I agree. I hate paying this much for fuel as much as anyone, but I don't see any fewer cars on the road. When I was a kid I rode the bus to school. Today, the same school had to build a parking lot and add onto is to make room for all the kids driving pickup trucks to school.

I remember past Presidents telling us to keep our thermostats at 65 and they reduced the speed limit to 55.

The price of fuel is plenty high, but it must not be high enough to hurt yet.

Be careful if you want the gov't to step in and control prices, this is just an example of free enterprise at work, like it or not.