Having fun with YOUR oil money...

???

I'

 

???

I'm so confused.

 

Well I hope they enjoy the nice cars now but eventually, the wells will run dry. Then they will survive on their wise investments they made when times were good. Sand does not sell very well.

He mentioned the program "Top Gear". That is an excellent program from the UK and seen on the Discovery Channel. They showcase fast exotic cars and unusual cars. They run them around a track for lap times; try different things like getting better MPG in a car by not using AC or cruise etc. They raced a Volvo station wagon around a legal street race course in Germany; raced a Ferrari from the UK to the French Alps against a commercial airliner - and the Ferrari won.

 

The huge oil reserves in the Middle East are proof that God has a sense of humor.

 

What I want to know is why did God put OUR oil in the middle east!

 

My fellow Americans, your petroldollars at work. Thank God Iam getting a Prius.

 

Well, it's only our money. If the average pickup/SUV driver doesn't care, perhaps we deserve a declining standard of living. Ironically all those petrodollars help fund terrorists too.

 

Some of those sheikh dudes make Bill Gates look like Fred Sanford. It's hard to be around them when they're attending our universities.

If the terrorists succeed in overthrowing one of these "family businesses", guys like the ones pictured will be the first to go. Maybe they can be buried in their Ferraris.

 

I would imagine billions. Enough for everybody - especially the oil companies - to sit up and take notice.

Much like our current supply shock. It's not a true "shortage" if it was the oil companies would be in the red. Instead they're enjoying record profits.

It doesn't matter if the sky-high prices are caused by a true shortfall, price fixing, supply-fixing, or taxes. A fuel effecient vehicle makes sense.

jay

 

Why is there always so much talk about how "bad" the oil companies are, and that not using fuel for one day would hurt them so much?

Oil companies happen to be in a very peculiar position: They have to buy most of the product they sell to us from nations that support terrorism (or have in the past), because that's just where the stuff is. They sold us oil for decades that was priced cheaper every year on average, as based on inflation. Said another way, inflation drove up prices on almost everything except oil. We got away for for a long time on really really cheap oil. We got spoiled.

Finally, when the 90s rolled around, the Ford Explorer kicked off the rise of the SUV. SUVs lead the way in new vehicle sales. So-called "light-trucks" are also immensely popular. When you consider what people were driving prior to their first SUV purchase, often it was a more fuel-efficient vehicle.

Fast forward to recent events. China suddenly has an economy that demands more oil, so they eat up the 16-18% of supply overhead OPEC had. Americans continue to park gas-guzzling vehicles in their driveways as some kind of status symbol. Hurricanes lash the gulf coast, destroying a significant portion of our oil infrastructure.

All of these events have driven up the cost of oil, because demand has actually risen, but supply did not (for a short time, it did, until the overhead ran out. Add the hurricane destruction and the supply actually went down by something like 5 million barrels in the US).

Now someone please explain to me how this is the fault of the oil companies. They aren't allowed to build more refineries here in the US to feed our growing demand because of environmental and zoning laws. Are people so blind they can't see the truth? It's not oil companies ripping us off, it's commodities traders seeing what global events are occuring and adjusting the price accordingly, with oil companies taking the profits.

Don't want high gas prices? Better stop China from buying all "our" oil. Better stop SUV and truck sales. Better clamp down on the plastics industry. Better stop the hurricanes while you're at it. Not driving for one day ain't gonna happen unless someone BIG gets behind it.

Now, why I drive a Prius: I saw the rising price of oil when i returned from Qatar in the service of my country in 2004. What was almost the same price for years, gasoline suddenly approached $2 a gallon. In July I saw the spike in prices even more. In response, I ditched my AWD, turbo car and bought a Prius. Rollin' with the punches.....when gas hit $3 in most of the country, I was still barely paying $20 a tank to go over 400 miles.

High gas prices wil eventually change the landscape that pains me every time I see it.....one person in 6500 lbs. of steel flooring it as they pass me, only for me to catch them at the next light. Europe was like heaven for me.....small cars everywhere.

 

You might want to do a check on where the oil we consume in the US comes from. 60% of our crude oil is either domestic or imported from Canada or Mexico.

Those that believe in the peak oil theory would say the oil companies wouldn't build more refineries even if they were allowed to, because they know they won't be able to supply them with crude oil long enough to recoup their investment.

 

Here, check out this website:

http://www.thefrown.com/frowners/becomerepublican.swf

This will show you what your oil money can do...

 

I re-read the thread - thanks for pointing that out!

 

Please, please, go re-read the thread. Although it did start with a group of Arabs with hot cars, it very quickly re-aimed at oil companies. Remember, this board is populated by a group that has a general distaste for the consumption of oil. Believe me, it would really not have mattered who was pictured with those cars. Its really more what the cars themselves represent. They are the use of oil without reserve. It is not to dispise the drivers because they are Arab, but because they have the money to buy such cars and we (generally) don't. Replace the pictures with a group of Hollywood attention-junkies, and the thread would probably have been just about the same. Show us "W" in an Enzo, and we'll likely verbally take him to shreads, too.

 

So it's ok to bash the Arabs for being lucky enough to occupy land sitting atop oil reserves that have made them wealthy, and for consuming a tiny fraction of that oil?

In that case, would it be ok to bash obese Americans, who have taken advantage of our rich farmland and stuffed their faces full of supersize McDonalds Extra Value Meals until their asses were as wide as refrigerators? Seems like the same thing to me.