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Originally Posted by dyna mo
then why did you direct it at me?
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That's the thing... I didn't. You're losing it man.... Read my first post again. No mention of you whatsoever.
Like you, I'm thrilled that a couple of governments will finally to take (baby) steps towards fixing the problem. That's it. You attacked me for no reason. What you think you read in my post, came from your own imagination. Now once again, leave me alone. I don't want to be your BFF, ok?
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Originally Posted by Robbie
Yep the market does control the price of energy.
And so do the TAXES placed on that energy. And the exorbitant LICENSING fees:
"Oil and natural gas production royalties on federal lands are one of the largest sources of income to the federal government, delivering $86 million in rents, royalties and bonus fees every single day."
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Ok, maybe you have a point when it comes to the taxes. Here in Montreal, taxes on gas are right around 50% of the total cost.
What I think would help the situation is to let the consumer pay less taxes at the pump, AND raise taxes on big oil. I heard somewhere that they pay no taxes at all, and Salon reports that they pay only 11%
Effective Tax Rates of Oil & Gas Companies: Cashing in on Special Treatment | Taxpayers for Common Sense. Since they are already the most profitable industry on the planet, wouldn't raising their taxes make sense?
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Originally Posted by Robbie
All those added on costs drive the price up even further than it would be otherwise. Not to mention that IF the federal govt. were to stop blocking new drilling on federal lands...the supply would go up and the prices worldwide would come down.
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Ack! No you're got this one wrong...first drilling is already way up in the US and oil production is very high (
Continuing a Winning Formula for 2014 - U.S. Global Investors). . Next if your government opened up drilling on federal lands, gone would be tens of thousands of acres of wildlife refuges, national forests and other lands. Right now the US has over 650 million acres according to
The National Map: Small Scale . Did you know that places like the rock canyons of Utah, Appalachia and other awesome places could be drilled, polluted and destroyed if it weren't for for the federal land management service?
It makes no sense to me to drill and destroy so much land, when there are potentially so many alternative energy sources that at least deserve to be explored.
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Originally Posted by Robbie
You and I both know that the U.S. federal govt. has openly said that it is doing this to keep Green Energy competitive in the market place in hopes that it will "catch on".
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Not just in hopes that it will catch-on.. It is catching on... the US may be a little slow to adopt the change but many places in the rest of the world is already far ahead when it comes to cleaner energy.
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Originally Posted by Robbie
In the meantime, poor people can't afford fucking food because the price is so high thanks to energy costs. You're talking social issues like education...I'm talking about the daily REAL world effect it has on people. Cost of clothing, cost of keeping warm in the winter and cool in the summer, cost of driving a vehicle to and from work or out to job interviews to find work, cost of FOOD, cost of every last thing you buy in the store.
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You're talking as if the entire country is poor, which it isn't. What you have is economic disparity. Entire towns of people lose their jobs when the factory they gave their lives to move overseas. The town struggles for years, even decades, to catch up. Families grow up poor, and kids drop out of school to try to earn money but end up getting nowhere. Low education means low paying jobs means less money to spend means less stores, etc etc.
Sure reducing fuel costs may help but it doesn't fixes the many other problems that create and keep economic depression.
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Originally Posted by Robbie
In case you never watch business networks...they have been incredibly optimistic because the overall economy has improved and people have more money in their pockets over the last several months as fuel prices went DOWN.
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The economy has been improving since the housing crash, and the price of fuel has been increasing right along with it - only in the past few months have gas and oil prices dropped.
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Originally Posted by Robbie
The opposite happens when they go up.
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While fuel prices can have some affect, it is not the only thing that drives the economy. Of course if there were a drastic shortage of fuel then the economy would suffer like crazy, on that I would agree with you... but in this case, high fuel costs don't cause all people to become poor.
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Originally Posted by Robbie
We have the ability to turn the spigot "on" or "off" of U.S. production. But we never do.
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I'm not sure, but I'd venture to guess that this is probably a good thing....
peace.