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POPSThe Group Of Eights' Empty Rhetoric With rising gas costs, Americans in a variety of polls have shown by a majority they now want to explore offshore drilling, so this move will be popular among that majority and John McCain has been pushing for it as well. Reported on June 26, 2008, the InsiderAdvantage/Poll, asks "Do you favor or oppose increased exploration and production of oil and natural gas off the coasts of Florida?” Favor (61%) Oppose (32%) No opinion (7%) Rasmussen- June 17, 2008: "67% Support Offshore Drilling, 64% Expect it Will Lower Prices." Zogby- June 26, 2008: "74 percent support offshore oil drilling in U.S."
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POPSPut A Stop To Cut-Rate Gas: International Monetary Fund Governments that try to create a false economy for oil are not revealing the truth to their people. About half of humanity, from India to Chile, now benefits from cut-rate petroleum prices. In 2008, these countries will account for all the growth in world oil demand, or an additional one million barrels a day, according to Deutsche Bank. Their consumption will be the highest in eight years. In China, oil demand is estimated to rise 5 to 10 percent this year, but the government has resisted calls to end price controls. A few other countries – Chile and South Korea – are now moving toward subsidies to appease political pressures. In Congress, bills to combat global warming would raise costs for oil users, even possibly adding a dollar to gasoline prices. But proposals by lawmakers to relieve those costs with subsidies to consumers would only defeat the purpose of reducing oil demand.
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POPSFlooding Spurs Ethanol Backlash But others remain strongly in support of biofuels. "Abandoning our commitment to ethanol and biofuels, as some would suggest we do, would do nothing to provide meaningful relief from high grain prices today or in the future," said Bob Dineen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. "It would absolutely force the price of gas through the roof and require the import of more record-high foreign oil."
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POPSFlorida Gov.Crist Calls For End To Feds Moratorium On Drilling
Public opinion started to move in favor of oil drilling off Florida after Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 forced many Floridians to wait in long lines for gas, said David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, a lobbying group. Jeanne and other powerful hurricanes that battered Florida in 2004 and 2005 left millions of Floridians struggling to fill their gas tanks because of a lack of electricity to pump the fuel and difficulties getting fresh supplies into Florida. A business group that supports oil drilling release a survey on Thursday saying 61 percent of Florida respondents support increased exploration and production of oil and natural gas off the Florida coasts. "Public opinion is supportive .... t's time to give it a try (drilling) and watch it very closely,'" Mica said. Environment Florida, an anti-drilling advocacy group, said it got an unprecedented response from supporters to a write-in campaign after Crist changed his position.
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POPSBarack Obama's Answer To High Gas Prices ........He's just full of good ideas, ain't he?......... In the little land we like to call reality, our economy runs on oil. No matter how many green initiatives we sponsor, there will be significant time required to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. Ignoring the shortfall puts our entire economy -- and, by extension, our national security -- at risk.
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POPSIsrael and Oil Prices--"Geopolitical" Factors Ignored Israel threatens Iran, oil sets new record high. See the pattern? It happens every time they threaten, or the US does. All these articles show on google search and are dated June 2008, now oil prices are up to $140 per barrel. Yet no one is talking about war-mongering as a factor in high oil prices, even though Iran is the 4th largest exporter in the world. As some would say...Duh! It is not a supply issue. Repeating for the upteenth time, high gas prices are due to: 1. speculative trading 2. dollar devaluation 3. geopolitical issues (war, rumors of war, US war policy, Israel) 4. government debt, increased money supply, war spending. These all tie together and started oil's price surge when the Iraq war began, and not before. War policy drives oil up on the trade floor.
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POPSSolution? $2 Gas in 30 Days if Congress Acts Tell them to do it! Legally limiting financial speculation (oil future's trading) by government regulation would send oil prices down to levels based upon physical supply and demand they claim. One only wonders if this would overcome the devalued dollar which also drives prices up. But they should do it immediately! The argument of these financial analysts says that the propaganda about needing increased supply is wrong and that OPEC and Ahmadinejad's analysis is correct that supply is not the problem.
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POPSGas Prices Are Changing Americans’ Priorities would make developing the oil shale profitable at $20 a barrel. Are liberals in Congress anxious to see this oil help American consumers? No. Just last week they voted to extend their ban on oil shale development. The other liberal objection to increased domestic energy production is that the additional supplies will not affect prices for a decade. We will let Jay Leno respond: “Democrats said it would not do any good because it would not produce oil for 10 years. You know, same thing they said 10 years ago.” Just last week liberals in Congress rejected a proposal to allow drilling for oil 50 miles of the U.S. coast. The U.S. Minerals Management Service estimates that 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas can be found along the U.S. outer continental shelf. The typical liberal response to calls for more domestic oil production is that drilling will not help lower prices significantly.
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POPSNot Dead Yet Apparently people are actually starting to use the Segway. But does a couple really need three?
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POPSCould this be the reason for higher gas prices? If this is actually the true voting record of these ELECTED officials who are supposed to be doing the peoples work then I have to wonder how many people of the governed actually support the majority opposing views?
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POPSBush Defends Saudi Friends on Oil Output In this article he paints their decline to increase oil output as an increase, and increase which was prior to his visit. This was a politically motivated visit and photo-op for a forgone conclusion. Bush's own experience with his own Arbusto oil company--with a bin Laden for a partner--means that he understood in advance that his visit would make no difference. Calling on increasing refinery capacity when the oil companies have deliberately reduced theirs to increase efficiency and profits, as well as pretending that an increase in domestic production would bring down price, is hypocritical and inaccurate. Presently refineries profits are declining. The decline of the dollar and war-fears on the trading market has led to the increase in price per barrel.
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POPSOil Prices Require More Than Congressional Accusations He was correct to remind Americans that if we want to lower the cost of energy we must be willing to use our own resources, whether they are natural or those we can build, rather than rely upon others to provide for our needs. After all, isn’t self-reliance part of the American spirit. We should not recontributely on foreign governments, many of which are volatile, to supply our energy needs, nor should our large farmers rely on Federal Government handouts to prop up their financially lucrative businesses. President Bush was correct to note that Congressional support for farm subsidies will do little other than contribute to the rising prices of food. He was correct to remind Americans that if we want to lower the cost of energy we must be willing to use our own resources, whether they are natural or those we can build, rather than rely upon others to provide for our needs.
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POPS Analyst Warns of $200/Barrel Oil* *One barrel of crude oil is 42 gallons (or $4.76 per gallon) In the Cato-at-Liberty blog post "Is There an Oil Price Bubble?" Cato senior fellow Jerry Taylor writes: "The most recent Fed actions to combat the deteriorating state of the macroeconomy added even more fuel to the oil price fire. With market actors increasingly convinced that the Fed is willing to entertain inflation in the course of injecting liquidity into the market, investors are looking for investments to hedge against inflation. And what do you know? Returns on commodities have historically been better during inflationary periods than during non-inflationary periods. Ben Bernanke thus sent another strong infusion of cash into commodity futures -- again, largely into oil and gas futures.
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POPSHow Government Regulation effects oil prices at the pump
As is usually the case with government intervention into private enterprise the unexpected results are usually far worse than the original problem congress set out to solve. Doesn't anybody study history anymore? It was not that long ago that the same ideas were floating around congress during the Carter years. Anyone remember the odd even gas days and the long lines at the pumps because of the government forced oil shortages of the 70's Among other mistakes from that period, the government increased the taxes levied on domestic oil producers, as if that would somehow help. The result was “reduced domestic oil production from between 3 and 6 percent, and increased oil imports from between 8 and 16 percent.” The government also instituted price controls, which only served to create the notorious gas shortages of that era. Yes, price controls meant consumers could get cheaper gas — but only after waiting in long gas lines and only if stations didn’t run out first.
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POPSUndoing America's Ethanol Mistake Expanding biofuels while refusing to take other measures, such as lifting the ban on oil and natural gas production in Alaska and the Outer Continental Shelf, is counterproductive. We should be tapping into a broad portfolio of energy options, including clean coal, nuclear power and wave energy. By taking these measures, we can enable biofuels to be part of the energy solution, instead of contributing to the energy problem. Restraining the dangerous effects of artificially inflated demand for ethanol should be an issue that unites both conservatives and progressives. As a recent Time cover story pointed out, biofuel mandates increase greenhouse gasses and create incentives for global deforestation. In the Amazon basin, huge swaths of forest are being cleared to meet the growing hunger for biofuels. In addition, relief organizations are facing gaping shortfalls as the cost of food outpaces their ability to provide aid for the 800 million people who lack food security.
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POPSOil Consumption by Country and Gas Prices source: CIA. This refutes the talk radio propaganda that China's demand is the cause of increased gas prices. China, despite its population, consumes 1/3 of what the U.S. does. Bear in mind also the "European Union" is not a country, so if it is deleted, its makes clear just who dominates global oil consumption, with no one else even close. Here the impartial observer can see that the U.S. consumes over 25 percent of total global demand!
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POPSGas, Oil Prices Record New Highs, Demand Finally Responds When will everyone demand change? It is now so high that demand finally fell from consumers, people are altering their consumption. Make no mistake, the problem is easily corrected. (No, it's not due to demand in China). Draw back U.S. military forces from the middle east, which war fears are directly responsible for driving the psychologically driven futures market, and oil and gas prices will immediately drop. WAR is the cause, as historically it always has been , for the high price of oil. Americans are paying in effect a WAR TAX through increased gas prices, which is inflating all consumer goods prices.
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POPSUK Inflation 2.1%? That is Sick With gas up 17% today, electricity 13%, food prices at 5% over the year, petrol up to over £1 a litre, mortgage payments rising.... where do they get the figure 2.1% And who is hit most by the huge increases in basic necessities?
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POPSEconomic Crisis Looming: Bank woes, Stocks Drop, Consumers Pinched as Prices Up
Yet only one presidential candidate has been predicting this, and has criticized the Fed (and Congress for not managing the Fed) for printing more money, devaluing the dollar, which leads to price inflation, increased retail fuel prices, and the war-mongering against Iran increases crude oil prices to record highs. Consumers with higher oil and grocery prices (due to fuel and shipping costs) are left with less discretionary income, which WILL effect retails sales. These articles reflect that and report consumer confidence is down. Technically, by the numbers, there is no recession (2 qtrs of negative growth) but the military-industrial complex is keeping growth alive. Hint: This could be a sign of war with Iran...war (government spending in the defense contractors) drives economic growth (e.g. 1940s). (Then the FBI issues a statement and ABC says terrorists threaten to hurt economy, attack malls. Will that be the excuse for a drop in retail sales this winter?)
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POPS Study Hypes Biodiesel, But Analysis Is Incomplete A new study has found that the world could produce vast amounts of biodiesel fuel -- but is that desirable? Assuming that agronomists figure out better ways to plant and manage crops, say researchers at the University of Wisconsin's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, global biodiesel production could soar to 400 billion liters a year -- more than twice the amount of diesel fuel burned each year in the United States
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POPSLiving paycheck to paycheck gets harder Gas prices hit a record nationwide average of $3.23 per gallon in late May before receding a little, though prices are expected to soar again later this year. Food costs have increased 4.5 percent over the past 12 months, partly because of higher fuel costs. Egg prices were 44 percent higher, while milk was up 21.3 percent over the past 12 months to nearly $4 a gallon, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. something's got to give
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POPSBurma, Chevron, slave labor, Rice and more The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military. The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal. Chevron’s role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.
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POPSCheap Fuel Or Pricey Food Something has to give. It should be travel and global trade. Telecommuting lifestyles and local self-sufficiency. It's better than going hungry.
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