We have all see the email messages and groups who talk about boycotting gas companies to try and get them to lower their prices. Articles on snopes.com and other places have disproved any positive effects from doing such things.
Now that gas prices have gone above $4/gallon I hear a lot of moaning and complaining. However, I do not hear the same people who are moaning and complaining coming up with any solutions, at least that are not completely childish.
Moaning about gas prices is a very 6-year-old thing to do. How about if we act like the adults we think we are and start coming up with helpful solutions. The whole “our gas prices are too high” mind-set is a good example of entitlement. Low gas prices are not a God given right. If you don’t like the price of gas, call up the oil companies and offer solutions. Better yet, tell congress to stop listening to environmentalists and start letting us drill our own oil and build more nuclear power plants.
In my opinion, there is no “energy crisis”. This planet has plenty of energy for us to harness.
We have abundant energy reserves, but efforts to provide for our needs end up in court because of the environmentalists. Congress has shirked its responsibility! Our families need relief!
Watch this short video and see if you agree with what is said:
I watched that video and found that I agreed with everything that Newt said.
If you agree with Newt said, you should send a letter to congress. The American Family Association has made doing just that very simple. Just go to their site and look for the “TAKE ACTION NOW!” form at the bottom of the page.
If you do not agree, please leave a comment and let me know what your take on this is.
AMEN!
I personally LOVE the fact that gas prices are so high finally. I wish this would have happened long ago. I think we need to wake up as consumers and start demanding alternative energy solutions and more fuel economic vehicles we know we have the technology to have created. Continuing to depend on fossil fuels is madness as is demanding to perpetuate the status quo by simply digging elsewhere.
I also think as consumers we need to be smarter and consume less. I think this “energy crisis” will help us be smarter.
I agree there’s much we could do to to help alleviate the problem, but I think that even with a larger supply, given what we use (about 20 million barrels per day just in the USA) and how long it’d take to get our production up to make a dent with that, its certainly not a quick solution.
Besides, this fact remains: Oil costs as much as it does because people are willing to buy it at that price. If your home is worth 200K, would you sell it for half that? Of course not, and while your home price may stagnate its not likely to drop alot, even if someone comes in and builds a bunch of new houses around you. If it does drop, its going to be a long slow process.
So it goes with oil too I’m afraid. Other countries are subsidizing the oil their people buy… governments that will pay whatever they have to. And really, so do we, at least to some extent. Short of finding a way to saturate the market – which would be difficult to do given the 82 million barrels of oil the world uses per day (a number that keeps going up), I don’t think the supply is going to influence the market that much.
Now, rabid environmentalism upsets me really — but I have no problem with being smart about our resources. And we already HAVE technology that could reduce our non-renewable fuel consumption dramatically. Without taking corn off our plates
I am completely against forcing or even guilting people into energy efficiency, but I am all for making energy efficiency affordable and attractive. I think we’re innovative enough to pull that off, and if we did it’d boost our sagging economy too. Again its no quick solution, but I think it would help us more in the long run.
Andy and Velda, I agree with everything you have said. Thank you for adding your thoughts.
One comment on the drilling of our own oil. The only reason I agree that we should do that is so that we can be self-sufficient and discontinue putting US dollars in the pockets of those who are not necessarily our friends.
As with Andy, I do not care if the price of gas stays the same or even goes higher. I have been wishing it would go higher for years. This is a dream come true. America needed this wake-up call. Let’s hope we don’t hit the snooze button!!
Folks, there is no energy crisis. Just idiot left wing environmental wack jobs that have sold the world a bill of bad goods.
Gas is at such prices, as I already stated in Jonathan’s previous post about EVIL BIG OIL, because the american people let themselves down.
They believed those that said the world was moving into global freezing back in the late 60′s/early 70′s. Read up on why Earth Day was started, who started it and the “radical” scientists stating we had 10 years at the most.
Now, we have the similar “socialists” having their strings pulled by the radical left concerning global warming. And, everything must be done for the good of all, as in everyone in the world.
We have enough oil, coal and natural gas resources to become energy independent (for the most part). Problem is, it won’t happen with the environmental wack jobs and the brainwashing they have nearly pulled off.
Until the American people unite and “force” the government to:
- Drill here, drill now
- Drill in ANWR
- Build more oil refineries
- Extract oil shale in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and other locations
- Help BIG business facilitate alternative fuels and the inftrastructure to bring the alternative fuels to market
- Stop moving more into socialism (taxing privatly held businesses because of a large dollar profits with low profit margins)
- Using Beck’s mental picture of pitchforks and torches to take our government back
Until then, we have no one to blame but ourselves (and the evil environmental wack jobs)
There are several things that need to be done.
1> Big Oil is not the enemy. The goverment here is. They are partially to blame for this price hike. They do not allow better fuel economy to be developed, and then point the finger at the Oil Companies and tell us it is their fault. They pander to the Mid East and do not play hardball to make them lower the price and/or pump more oil.
2> It is our faults as consumers. We drive around great big SUV’s that get 12 miles to the gallon, and then whine about the cost of gas. I drive a car and a truck that both get over 30 miles to the gallon and a motorcycle that gets 50 miles to the gallon. Problem is, that is still not enough. How many of us have Bikes that sit in a garage and collect dust. How many public tranportation options go 3/4 empty because we refuse to use them?
3> Why does the government agree to pay $150 a barrel of oil, but we still sell wheat and corn at low costs to the mideast and other areas? If we raise the price of corn and wheat the way they raise the price of gasoline, then I guarantee, they will do what it takes to lower gasoline prices. You can’t eat oil, but you can make corn into gasoline or eat it.
4> The government needs to demand the lowest mileage allowed by any large vehicle to be 35 miles to the gallon, and every car needs to be 60 miles to the gallon plus.
5> Get a move on hydrogen cars. One of the Japanese car companies is rolling out a line of hyrdrogen cars (I think it is Honda) but you can only use Hydrogen in 4 states. This is an outrage.
I am not a huge fan of big oil, when they post billions of dollars in profit and we pay for it, but they are not to blame here. We need to stop whining, get out of our vehicles, and ride bikes/public transportation/electric alternatives (i.e. The Segway) to work and play. We need to stop buying SUV’s and big trucks. We need to force the car manufacturers to give us better options.
The government is about 50% to blame, consumers are about 30% to blame, and oil companies are about 20% to blame.
I dunno Geoff, we ARE the government in a way, aren’t we? Mandates might help, but there’s usually lots of extra cost involved to make the mandates work, to the public as well as the private sectors. The technology is there.. we just need to find a way to make it happen. The companies that do the best job of implementing energy saving technologies will have their reward. And I dare say that should be more effective than a mandate, but if we have to get the government involved, why not use the resources to reward innovation instead of doling out more red tape?
For now, MY reward goes to Toyota. So long as I take care of it and drive it conservatively, my little ’03 corolla rewards ME with close to 45mpg. Look at all the Corollas out there, and know that if Detroit could make something better, I bet I wouldn’t be the only one all over it.
And as for whether or not the energy crisis is real? Even if its a hundred years from now, fossil fuels are eventually going to run out. And even if our use of those fuels isn’t causing global warming, I’m all for better air quality, especially during inversions.
I dislike the sort of environmentalist that runs around bullying, snubbing, blaming, and scaring people green. I’m annoyed by the Greener than Thou hypocrites. And I really can’t STAND the sort that tells my kids things like “If your family uses a stove, car, washing machine, or computer during Hug the Earth week, you don’t love the planet!!” — and yes my kids have come home with that.
Those sorts of people need opposition. But that doesn’t mean that the direct opposite point of view is any more right than theirs. Crisis? Probably not. But it wouldn’t hurt us to make some smart moves to avoid one.
Sorry to ramble
Holy cow, but are we appolgizing for being human or what? I drive a fat truck, 13 mpg, Love it! Sometimes I even drive fast and stomp on the pedal! Gasoline is the greatest thing ever. I plan to try and use as much of it as I can in my life time. Cars, motorcycles, air conditioning motorboats, and oh ya… electricity is great to. We live well and there is no need to appologize for it. When the oil really does run out the economics of the world energy market will change and as the next fifty years we slowly finish it off we will be able to engineer our way into other ways of doing things. Until then oil is cheap, plentiful and found all over the world. I want and expect the best lifestyle that can be had, life is not fair, but it can be enjoyed. Why worry about the falling sky? Surely we have better things to do, I know I do.
Did I mention that I love to overwater my lawn as well.
Just in case you are still reading and not planning my early death here is a bit of philosopy. Most people believe in a “religion” of scarcity. They believe in limited supply of everything and worry about running out. I believe in a world of abundance. There is enough and to spare. What keeps me up at night is wondering what we could accomplish if we trippled human population and really went to work trying to do great things like we did during the space race. Billions and billions spent solving problems, creating new things never before possible. That is the human race I want to be a part of. Instead of trying to make Americans guilty for living well, lets help the rest of the world live as well or better. Instead of trying to get everyone living in caves or teepees lets embrace the next stage of human potential. No problem we cannot solve, no need so great we cannot fill it.
Wow, thanks for all the excellent feedback on this topic.
Tyler, good job playing devil’s advocate. Specific to this topic of oil and energy, I think that even though we have plenty on the earth, it is still a good idea to be good stewards of what we have. Reckless abandon in the name of living life to the fullest is a hedonistic view. Moderation in all things can still lead to prosperity, even though such a thought initially seems to be contradictory. I am all for continuing to use and enjoy gas, so long as we stop thinking it is the only fuel for us. It has worked well for us for this long, but I think it has always been a stepping stone on our way to better fuel. Somehow we got complacent and have stayed at this level for too long and now we are stuck in the rut of thinking that we have an energy crisis because our fuel supply is becoming painful to consume. Our own faults and certainly something we can change without the need for all this frantic talk of energy armageddon.
I agree completely about scarcity vs abundance. The universe and even just this planet has plenty and to spare for all of us. Scarcity is comfortable and prosperity is taboo in our culture. We could all live like kings, if we really wanted to. Most people do not realize that what they have is largely determined by what they want. It is a hard concept to grasp and a harder one to change, especially with the world around us preaching everything but prosperity.