Oil Man

Cash for Clunkers May Cost Up to $45,354 Per Vehicle

The new cars for clunkers is just another temporary short sighted inefficient stimulus to the economy. The country needs a permanent energy policy for conservation. No one talks about higher fossil fuel taxes for one, or a sales tax that is charged based on the engine size and efficiency for each class of car and truck, thus rewarding buyers for buying fuel efficient cars and trucks, and rewarding manufactures for producing the most efficient ones. The tax money can be earmarked for the much needed repairs of the transportation infrastructure and for mass transit systems, and not adding anything to the national debt. This has already been proven effective all across the EU.

Obama Insists Cars Improve Fuel Efficiency by 40%

I agree. I am a US citizen who has lived in Europe since 2001. I spend about 40 euros a month in deisel for my Audi A4 1.9 even though the gas tax in more than 40%. I work about 1/2 mile from my home. If I don't want to drive I have a choice of subway, trains, electric trollys and busses that reach even the smallest town at a reasonable price and time. All types of stores and services are accessable within a walking distance of my house. There is even a US style mall a few miles away, also accessable by mass transit. My house is made of cement and brick and doesn't need central heat or AC. Everyone here uses efficient gas instant warter heaters that don't use a tank to store hot water. European society is totally different than US. Change can only happen over long periods of time, not overnight, which is what everyone in the US wants. It will take decades to solve the problems. Knee jerk government policies will only lead to more waste and instability.


On Jan 28 11:25 PM ariel1935 wrote:

> Europeans live on much less of almost every material thing than Americans.
> Their countries are the size of our states. They drive short distances
> and their auto companies did not buy up and shutdown their public
> transportation. They have stick shift diesel cars that get 40 mpg.
> They walk and bicycle a lot which makes them healthier so they save
> a lot on medical care and get less of it because they have a government
> run health system. They live in cooler smaller houses and take better
> care of what they have, most of which is not disposable. Their auto
> unions are by and large not a group which makes substantially more
> than the public who buys their cars. But their socialist governments
> add enough taxes to make them more expensive than our cars. They
> save more of what they earn so thay can afford their higher prices
> when they NEED something.
>
> It is very difficult to compare anything European to us.

Atlas Pipeline: As Dividend Continues, Why Is Stock Falling?

Check out this blog for a great explaination:seekingalpha.com/artic...

If You Think Oil Will Recover, Consider Atlas Pipeline

I bought APL ,my first MLP purchase, recently. Great article and explanation of the processing of gas liquids. I am confident that APL will continue prospering and the price of oil and gas liquids will recover.

The Electric Car Battery Battle

Here is one simple idea. take one lane of a highway and install electromagnetic strips similar to what is used in mag lev trains. The forward motion of the cars is achieved as is on mag lev trains via magnets. Basic and cheep existing tec. No high priced batteries, fuels, co2, just simple electricity. The "electric only" commuter lanes could also be used for wireless power transmission to EV's when developed. When the oil runs out the rest of the lanes could be converted!

The Electric Car Battery Battle

More than 100 years ago Nicolas Tesla produced the first wireless power transmission, in 1899 at Colorado Springs by transmitting 100 million volts of high-frequency electric power wirelessly over a distance of 26 miles at which he lit up a bank of 200 light bulbs and ran one electric motor. To me this seems to be the answer to batteryless EV's. Allready proven just waiting to be developed. Check out this site: home.earthlink.net/~drestinblack/wireles... or just google wireless electricity. Why are the obvious solutions totally ignored by bloggers and the press?

Oil Price: $100 Before $150 - But $200 Before $50

FIREBALL. I came to live in Portugal for romantic reasons but I am staying for economic reasons. America is declining rapidly. "The bigger they are the harder they fall". The minimum wage here is only 350 euros a month! This was a shock to me as well as the average wages for most proffessions, but we don't have the expenses and excesses of the US. Mass transit: no need to own a car, and if you do own centralized cities short distances, less gas consumption, temperate climate: no need for central heat or air. Nationalized medicine: no need for medical insurance (I recently had a hernia operation and it cost 20 euros!) Cheap power from hydro electric and alt. energy.

America is in big trouble, at least for the middle and lower classes. Many poeple in the US are going to have very difficult times ahead. Things that were once taken for granted will become difficult (buying a home, driving to work, cheap fast food, etc.)

I still vote though and hope that some day the intelligent and resourcefull Americans will find changes and solutions for the problems. The current adm. certainly is not either of these. All info is available on these subjects with just a few clicks on google. Americans have to stop searching porno and celeb. sites and get informed. Stop watching the national news and slanted cable news. Make desicions about their future based on conclusions from the facts and not what there neighbors, friends or politicians think. We must tell our politians what is needed, not them telling us! Don't follow the heard. Be a bull and lead. That is what made America strong. Creativity, thinking outside the box, hard work and going against the norms made America a great country, not acting like a bunch of sheep, and just doing what everyone else does.

Oil Price: $100 Before $150 - But $200 Before $50

"Oil Price: $100 Before $150 - But $200 Before $50" ! What a joke! How about Mexico, the third largest importer of oil to the US. (1.2mbd)Their production is declining rapidly and will probably stop exporting to the US in 3-5 years. Many other countries are in the same boat. The remaining oil that these countries have is being pumped out as fast as possible using pressure injection extraction techniques. (The Saudies are using this to increase output!)The US is in big trouble. Oil is its lifeline. New technologies (liquid coal, and gassification) are at least 10 years away from commercial production. There is no money in the US budget for mass transit or tax credits for fuel efficiency since the war has emptied its coffers. The US citizen has two choices. Suffer and put up with the consequences of increasing prices (shortages are right around the corner) or leave the country! I left in 2001 and have no plans on returning. I live in Europe. Europe can get along with less oil and higher prices, (accessable mass transit, centralized cities). We don't need cars to have a good life and prosper! The US is in for a big shock. The US will be a very different place at the end of the next decade, or sooner!

Can Big Oil Balance Shareholder Interest Against National Interest?

Very informitive. I always suspecrted some colusion about batteries for EV's. The SEC should have done something about this. This is clearly monopolizing.
As far as imported oil goes I think there should be a large import duty on imported oil. This would encourage both conservation and development of domestic sources (oil sands, deep water gullf drilling). It is a no brainer. The higher percentage imported oil we use would drive up the price and reduce the profits of the oil refineries that are run by big oil thus encouraging domestic production and alternatives. No one ever talks about this. This method is used to protect many US industries and produts!

Does Big Oil's Apathy Justify Proposals to Tax Windfall Profits?

Proven reserves are a falacy!

Does Big Oil's Apathy Justify Proposals to Tax Windfall Profits?

Why not tax only oil that is imported? This would discourage oil importation, which is the big problem in the US, encourage domestic oil exploration as well as conservation. Why isn't anyone talking about this? It might seen like protectionism but China and India both have price controls on fuels which is basically a form of subsudies for there industries.

1,238 Billion Barrels of Oil Reserves: Is This an Oil Price Bubble?

How can these figures be acurate? Most of the middle eastern countries have not had any independent assesment of oil reserves since 1979! Aramco was onced US owned and in 1979 the reserves we scientifically estimated at 80 BBLs! After they kicked out the US the figure magically rose to 200Bbls and has stayed there since 1980! If you guestimate the middle east's actual reserves it should be between 150Bbls to 350Bbls no way near 755.3 Bbls. World reserves somewhere between 600Bbl to 800Bbl. No one really knows! We are using around 31Bbl per year. This only gives us about 20 to 30 years before we run dry at current levels! Also to consider is that this is not all Light sweet crude. At least 30% or more is heavy sour crude which has very few refineries and is not cost effective to refine. I think we are in big trouble if we don't get off our oil addiction ASAP!