Thank Uncle Sam for

high gas prices




http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/h...RKO_S1.article

August 10, 2007


Dear Mr. Berko: I read your article on Sasol and its hydrogenation process that makes gas from coal. I even bought 150 shares and thanks to you I now have a $5 per share profit. If this company can produce gas and oil from coal at an equivalent cost of oil at $42 a barrel why won't Exxon, Shell or Conoco do the same thing? I just paid $3.39 a gallon to fill my tank and that's obscene. There's no oil shortage and oil is now $77 a barrel.
Can't the government do something about this calamity? Can't the government do what Sasol in South Africa did? Our government is failing us.
N.S. Santa Monica, Calif.


Dear N.S.: You must first recognize that we have the best government that money can buy. When I asked a former member of Congress, whom I've known for 35 years, how he accumulated so much money on a government salary he commented frankly: "I would guess that 70 percent to 80 percent of my colleagues are on the take and ...." So asking "our government" to encourage the oil industry to lower oil prices is like asking the United Auto Workers to encourage lower wages so General Motors, Ford and Chrysler can sell more cars to consumers.
There are two reasons for record high oil prices. The first reason is the one that sounds good. Refineries all over the country are experiencing a record number of leaks, power failures, breakdowns and labor problems. As a result some 50 to 60 of the nation's 150 refineries (in 1985 there were 324 oil refineries in the U.S.) had to shut down or lower production this year. And as the fairly tale continues, these problems have created a severe supply shortage that has moved the cost of fuel to record prices at the pump.
To this I say, tommyrot, applesauce, balderdash and a few choice words in poor taste to print. If we really have a fuel shortage how come there aren't long lines of cars at gas stations waiting to fill their tanks? And why have Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Total and Marathon, which own most of the refineries, continued reporting record profits? Kind of makes one wonder if the refinery breakdowns, leaks, fires, etc. are contrived exaggeration and poppycock and purposefully engineered. And, considering the hundreds of billions of dollars these companies earn, it boggles my imagination that their upkeep is so sloppy. It just gets "curiouser and curiouser."
The second reason is not the one that sounds good; rather, it's the real reason. Remember Vice President Dick Cheney's secret Task Force meeting with oil executives and lobbyists in 2001? Today, seven years later, the administration still refuses to divulge the names of the 33 or so people who attended. Gas prices then were $1.55 a gallon. And be mindful that President Bush's family made their big bucks in the oil industry and that Cheney (the president's wet nurse) was chief executive officer of Halliburton, the humongous oil and gas service conglomerate.
Now, if you remember reading my column on coal hydrogenation and Sasol, you will recall my comment about Standard Oil of New Jersey, now called Exxon. I wrote that Standard Oil and its American management, between 1938 and 1941, helped Germany to build hydrogenation plants to produce gasoline from coal and that gas fueled German tanks, planes, battleships and supply trucks. And you will recall my comments that Standard Oil was a contributing member of SS chief Heinrich Himmler's Inner Circle of Friends even as late as 1943.
While Washington tells us that oil prices are too high, I can't find just one sentence in the Congressional Record that proposes a solution. Fuel prices are high because Big Oil wants them high and they are paying Congress for protection to keep those prices high. Now why would Exxon or Shell want to sell gas at $1.50 a gallon when they can sell it at $3, earning nearly twice as much with little or no increase in cost? The chance that that medicine will find a cure for, cancer, obesity, Alzheimer's, AIDS and stupidity in the next five years exceeds by orders of magnitude the probability of gas returning to $1.50 a gallon. So get used to it. Address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, FL 33429 or e-mail him at malber@comcast.net.

Best, Ed & Drew

I wish gas would get much more expensive, a tax to collect the actual cost of the oil. Including military protection costs, environmental damage mitigation etc.

We could then start to assess and correct the real problems with our current energy scenario.

You and the other oil millionaires.

Best, Ed & Drew

Gas from coal produces twice as much CO2 emissions as gas from oil, since coal is twice as heavy in carbon atoms. Only workable solution is to find an effective way to sequester it which they haven't. If they did, the cost would rise way beyond your $42/bbl scenario. No way will private industry invest in this with CO2 emissions about to be regulated by cap and trade.

I for one am not an "oil millionaire". The appropriate cost of gas from an economic standpoint is roughly $6-$8 a gallon when you factor in the military costs, foreign aid (to countries only b/c they help supply oil and to stabilize oil rich regions), road construction and repair. $1.50 is ridiculous and $3 is really way too cheap also.

I personally drive and use gasoline as if it costs $6 a gallon. When I choose to make a 10 mile trip - I try to think as if that costs me $1.20 instead of the $.60 it really does. Just imagine how few SUVs would be out there if people thought that way....

I've often thought that the best way to help with carbon output in today's political climate would be to over regulate the refineries (or sabotage them....) so that gas prices would rise more. It is too hard to have real political solutions when people are not willing to accept $6 a gallon gas. Cheap gas is the problem, not government conspiracy to raise the price.

It's really sad though, most people could give a hoot about C02 emissions. Instead, they are concerned with their pocketbook. It's "Oh no! Gas prices are $6 a gallon! What am I going to do?" Instead of "We're destroying the planet!"

You guys need a reality check. Gas in the US is less than almost any other country.

Thank your govt. for the LOW gas prices!

Pearl is a
2007 Driftwood Pearl Prius
Package "B" (everything but leather, nav, and rear camera)

I agree with that, but I wish our prices were higher, and the extra tax money going to other government functions. Pain at the pump is the ONLY way to get most people to change their gasoline fuelishness. Mandating higher MPG out of manufacturers is also a good thing, but does not account for all the old cars (like my old MB 560SL!) still on the road. If gas cost $6 a gallon, I'd surely sell it, but at $3, I'll drive it once in a while.

This would be akin to the best foreign policy we've ever had.

Steve

STOP terrorism - Drive a HYBRID

Vehicles:
350 miles a week ------------ 2006 HCH II, Magnetic Pearl, w/NAVI (born on May 25, 2006)
350 miles a month ---------- 2003 Mazda Tribute ES-V6
350 miles a year (for now) - 1986 Mercedes 560SL

You do realize that if you raise gas prices it will also hurt those who don't even buy gas. The cost for using public transportation would go up affecting not only people who choose not to drive and use up gas but also inner city people who make minimum wage, are at or below poverty levels and can barely afford to pay to get to work. If the cost would go up then they probably would be out of a job, thus go on unemployment. From there taxes would be shifted to cover more people on unemployment, crime would go up because people don't have enough to survive on.......the effects of raising gas prises can go on and on and may or may not include what I have suggested. Many people suggest things but they don't truly look at the overall effect.

Even more global - look at all of the goods/services that are dependent upon some form of fuel for energy. It impacts farmers, transportation of goods (including food), manufacturing, etc.

Somebody has to pay to get the goods to market - it's the consumer.

Scott