Valbrandr I have a question for you; How much petrolium product do you consume in your day to day life?
Now take that number and multiply it by a few billion and you will have one of the main reasons why prices for petrolium products are on the rise.
Rember petrolium is a nonreplenishable reasourse the more that is used up the more it\'s value will rise.
I personally drive quite a ways every day to work, but I drive a small Kia Sephia to cut down on fuel consumption. I despise the people cruising around in H2\'s or Giant SUV\'s, but they are not the real problem - the real problem is OPEC and the Oil Refineries. Here\'s the facts jack. Oil supply has NOTHING to do with gas prices. If you beleive that then you are misinformed, stubborn or just plain stupid.
It costs OPEC $4.21 US dollars to drill for, market and ship one barrel of oil. They sell that same barrel of oil for approximately $70.01 currently. Considering the $4.21 average cost per barrel includes all expenses, that means that the majority of that is PURE profit. The oil industry doesn\'t follow the standard economic format of supply and demand, instead they market on demand only, - a monopoply because the workd is dependant on oil.
The next reason is patnents. In the late 50\'s and clear until the 70\'s, car manufactures invented carburators that acheived nearly 50-60 mpg, which is better than a hybrid car gets today. The patents for these were bought out by Sinclair, BP, and Exon, where the plans were destroyed. Better gas milage meant less profit for them too, so while its a smart business move it really hurt us.
And finally the gas prices are gouged by refinery companies. Intentionally. The reason gas prices in the US are so high is partiall because we lack the refining capicity. This is intentional. If we could refine tons of gas easily, then the price would go down, as would profits. If we had build plenty of refineries, then losing 8 refineries to the hurricane wouldn\'t have hurt us as much.
Ok wake up people we have been needing to open up Alaska for drilling for a long time.
Bush announced that he would open the US Alaskan Oil reserves to help gas prices. This is purly a PR move, as anyone knows that the oil supply here isn\'t what is making the gas prices go up after the hurricane. ITS THE LACK OF REFINERIES! More oil doesn\'t mean that more gas will be produced. In fact it doesn\'t change that ammount at all. The only positive spin from this is Wall Street, where investors stand to lose alot of money unless consumer confidence doesn\'t drop drastically as a result of the gas scare.
valbrandr, if you saw 10 million dollars that you could have simplyy by taking it, even if it would hurt other people, would you take it? don\'t say no, that would be a lie, there is no one who wouldn\'t, communism doesn\'t need people to be more intelligent, it needs people to be perfect, and that will never happen
Hmmm whats wrong with people these days? I have denied many better job offers because my current job allows me flexible scheduling so I can be with my family when necessary. Why do people care so much about money? Is that the American dream? I say screw that - my American dream is comming home and having a family filled with love. Yes providing is important - but a modest income is enough for me so long as I can watch my kid grow up.
Power, sex, pleasure, anger, revenge, the list goes on and on. And I am more than willing to bet that you have fallen prey to more than one of these greeds. After all there is no perfect man and there never will be.
Agreed no one is perfect and I am far far from perfect. There is one level though I can\' go to and that is hurting someone else to better myself. Self defense is an exception - someone is pointing a gun at my wife, they are either going to have to kill me or they will be killed. You kill my wife, I will hunt you down - so revenge maybe, but revenge isn\'t without provocation. I\'m not tough enough to just let someone who killed my wife or baby just go, and I\'m not going to try to \"capture them\" for the cops. Screw that, either they are going down or me.
I\'m sounding like a really pleasant fellow right now... the point I\'m trying to make is that we all have our weaknesses, but I do believe that with the support of the pople around you in a good society, real communism could work, as long as the necessary paradigm shift occurred. I think communism doesn\'t rely on people being perfect, just people believing in the sytem is enough.
I was hoping to pick your brain about what you thought about the Democrats, but you stated your not one. This makes me wonder what you thought was going to happen at the last election. What was it that made you so mad you thing there should be a Bush bashin thread every month?
Well, I\'ll admit personally I was an anybody but Bush person. I liked Kerry only slightly more actually as he seemed just a fake. Bush had a stupid smirk all the time and Kerry always seemed to be acting grandly. Bullshit I say. Personally I say screw both major parties. Both are corrupt organizations who are NOT looking out for the common person - neither one is. Some might promote different values - republicans TEND (not always) think things are completely black and white - i.e. abortion, gay marriage, etc, while democrats see more grey shades. Probabily neither are right. I\'d like to see someone truely progressive and different in office - not just President, but across the board. How many poor people ar e sitting in congress, or in the Oval Office? To me thats descrimination based on income - I don\'t believe that the average rich politican represents me very well. I love America but something has to change - the voice of the people has been lost. Each president is a face to a Party, a puppet of sorts. All blurting out what they think YOU want to hear. I\'d rather someone not like that at all.
Be glad you aren\'t living in Europe gas prices in the Uk are close to hitting $6.00 a gallon
That doesn\'t affect people as badly in the UK because of geographical distances. The average commute for an American vs a European is way longer for an American. Also being so big physically there isn\'t much of a nationwide mass transit system.
I am an American. I beleave in helping anyone who helps themselves as well.
Thats good and I\'m not arguing with waht you said in your post it just sparked a thought for me. I have some republican friends who hate social programs. They do not believe that the government should be able to tax them to give money to poor people. They believe anyone who is homeless (or at least most of them) are just lazy - and not that they shouldn\'t be helped but that the gov shouldn\'t tell them what to do with their money - wealth redistributation = bad to them. Its an arguable point. But for one alot of people who are homeless are mentally ill:
Approximately 22% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2001). Despite the disproportionate number of severely mentally ill people among the homeless population, increases in homelessness are not attributable to the release of severely mentally ill people from institutions.
and another factor:
For families and individuals struggling to pay the rent, a serious illness or disability can start a downward spiral into homelessness, beginning with a lost job, depletion of savings to pay for care, and eventual eviction. In 2000, approximately 38.7 million Americans had no health care insurance (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998b). Nearly a third of persons living in poverty had no health insurance of any kind. The coverage held by many others would not carry them through a catastrophic illness.
Homelessness results from a complex set of circumstances which require people to choose between food, shelter, and other basic needs. Only a concerted effort to ensure jobs that pay a living wage, adequate support for those who cannot work, affordable housing, and access to health care will bring an end to homelessness.
The problem is also hypocracy. Alot of people wouldn\'t choose to do charitable things with their money, so the Gov has to use taxes for it or the amount of homelessness and poverty would be even worse.
Just my $70.01 worth
