A frightening prediction of our oil crisis

[DaveinOlyWA]

yep... know a couple that split a lottery jackpot 5 years ago. they opted for one time pay out and got 600,000. in less than 3 years they were broke and had only one car left to show for it. couldnt afford to keep the house they had bought... or the boat... or the cycles... the hubby kept his job the wife did not (she worked for the state and made very good money)

[Robert Taylor]

yep... know a couple that split a lottery jackpot 5 years ago. they opted for one time pay out and got 600,000. in less than 3 years they were broke and had only one car left to show for it. couldnt afford to keep the house they had bought... or the boat... or the cycles... the hubby kept his job the wife did not (she worked for the state and made very good money)

Jayman & Dave,

There are two kinds of lottery losers, those who do not win and those that win big. Define big by whether or not the winner changes their lifestyle any. Some dude who wins 20 bucks isn't going to change his lifestyle.

The ONLY guy to win multi-millions in a lottery and come out of it well that I know of was a guy who gave every red cent of it away immediately to a charity that gave out university sholarship grants in his name. He did not spend a plug nickel on himself.

By the way, I am one of those who voted against the vice of a state lottery and there still is not one here.

[Frank Hudon]

I predict a hollywood movie will be created to portray such a scenario. It'll be one of those world disaster type films. I can picture it now.

Scientists discover that their calculations were wrong and that there is just 1 year's worth of oil remaining, cost of gasoline spikes to $50/gal, people start hording food, unrest spreads across the world.

Then in some secret underground government facility, a new technology for clean energy creation is near completion. During the year it took to finish the project, the world is in ruins. Small groups of people have survived by working together. Group/clan wars erupt frequently to obtain any remaining resources.

After completion of the clean energy project and it's release to the world, we realize what we've done. We were our own destructive force. Pushing our ugly destructive sides behind us, we move forward to rebuilding civilization using clean energy. The End!

Hollywood...call me 8)

actually there is two movies, the first is Three Day's of the Condor, and the second is Mad Max Road Warriors.

[jayman]

I know of was a guy who gave every red cent of it away immediately to a charity that gave out university sholarship grants in his name. He did not spend a plug nickel on himself.

Robert:

A very wise man.

Jay

[prius04]

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Many economists have come to the conclusion that easily aquired great wealth does terrible damage to a nation, and easily pumped oil fits that bill.[/b]

You've just made the best explanation for why the Estate Tax needs to stay just the way it is that I've heard in a long time.
Bill Gates has said that he will only leave each of his kids no more than 10 million dollars. He knows how badly he will hurt them if he gives them all of it.

[prius04]

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... but bush invading iraq just stems the flow of oil money that was ignoring a nation of impoverished people and was primary source of income to fund terrorism... [/b]

Where did you get that information? Everything I've read over the last few years concludes that Saddam gave no more than lip service and a few hundred thousand dollars to terrorists of the last 5 years or so of his reign. HIs big support of terrorism was over a decade ago.

The country that has clearly been the biggest financial backer of terrorism in the last 20 years is Saudi Arabia. It's run by the guy Bush was walking with the other day, in that photo- op that was in all the papers.

[yoda]

Gates will only leave each kid 10 million?

Oh my! They'll STARVE!!!!

[prius04]

You are right in that 10 million is a ton of money. But he has the potential to give each of them about 40-80 billion each.

That's about $40,000,000,000 to $80,000,000,000. Of course, it Gates and his wife died prematurely, the affect on MS would be such that his worth would be closer to the lower figure.

40 billion dollars is 40 thousand million.

40 thousand million is a lot more dangerous than 11 million.

[jayman]

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The country that has clearly been the biggest financial backer of terrorism in the last 20 years  is Saudi Arabia.  It's run by the guy Bush was walking with the other day, in that photo- op that was in all the papers.[/b]

You won't get any argument from me on *that* point.

We have this fantasy of a "growing" economy based on the myth of "cheap" oil from the mideast. In essence, it's a Faustian Agreement (A deal with the Devil).

By the time you factor in all the hidden subsidies (Constant military presence, loss of American lives to "defend" the oil, financial support of terrorism, low fuel prices encouraging improper consumption habits, etc) that "cheap" oil from the mideast suddenly becomes very expensive indeed.

It's just like shopping at Wally World: in the long run you can't afford the "savings" of that cheap source.

When you consider that most of the oil in the mideast is out of the ground at $1-$4 a barrel, and with a barrel around $55 spot market, that illustrates the margin that countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait enjoy.

That's plenty of money left over to funnel into all sort of nasty side ventures. How ironic that we're happily funding the very agent of our destruction!

It's not just Dubya that has on industrial knee pads sucking up to Saudi Arabia. Clinton did too, so did Reagan. Carter and Ford found out what happens when you really piss them off.

Look, to me its just a numbers game. I'm good with Calculus and Statistics. When you make a half-a** effort - or better - to figure out the cost structures, that mideast oil is actually too expensive for us to consume.

But as long as we continue to subsidize that black s*** at the expense of increasing our debt and increasing our body count, then folks will still happily but ignorantly buy a giant SUV that gets 12 MPG.

Soon we won't be able to continue this magic subsidy, as a new wealthy and powerful competitor has entered into the equation: China. We certainly can't drop hints of military involvement with China, as they have a *proven* stockpile of WMD and probably aren't afraid to use it.

I'm hopeful a dramatic increase in crude oil will spur development of new and even novel energy sources. But I'm not going to sell my mostly self-sufficient hobby farm anytime soon.

[Danny]

As soon as jayman posts I know it's time to move it to the Pancake House

Moved to OT in FHOP.