Political Opinions of the Left and Right
From the LeftBy: David Phillips (David Phillips is the publisher and editor of the online political magazine YodasWorld.org. Please send questions or comments: oneyoda@aol.com)
BLACK GOLD, TEXAS TEA, OIL
Gasoline prices across the country are rising so fast that most gas stations are now changing their prices daily. The average cost of a gallon of gas in the United States is $3.07, and in parts of California it has already topped $4.00. With the summer driving season still ahead of us, it seems that there is no end in sight to the rising prices.
We are told by the so called experts on Wall Street and from our own government that the driving habits of Americans will have to change before we will see a downward trend in the price of gasoline. We also are hearing from these same experts that Americans are not changing their driving habits, which they say, indicates that Americans are willing to pay these exorbitant prices.
Well, excuse me when I say that what our government and these experts are saying is a bunch of malarkey. First of all a large portion of the American public live in the suburbs, and work in the cities, which lends itself to longer drive times. Most families these days have at least two cars and both parents are working, so now each have to drive to their jobs.
Until the jobs move out to the suburbs, or Americans move back to the cities our consumption of gasoline will continue on the pace that it is currently on.
So what is behind the rising prices at the Pumps?
Well, if you believe the Oil companies such as Exxon, they will tell you that the world is consuming more gasoline, which is creating shortages and driving up demands.
Or as your business or economics teacher would say: Supply Vs. Demand. Sounds straightforward, less supply creates a larger demand and more supplies equal less demand. Simple right?
The Oil corporations are making record profits, in fact last year Exxon made over 59 Billion dollars, and they set the record for the most profits by an American corporation, ever.
So now you might be saying that their record profits, are because the demand for gasoline is out pacing the supply, and you would be partially correct. We do have shortages in gasoline here in the United States because we do not have the refinery capacity to produce enough gasoline domestically that Americans use on a daily basis. To fill the shortages, Oil companies have been importing gasoline here to the United States, from refineries in other countries. The Energy Information Agency has said that their data shows that the demand for gasoline here in the United States is 2.3 percent higher than the same period a year ago.
So why not build more refineries here in the United States so we can increase the supply, stop the imports of gasoline from other countries and lower the prices?
President Bush a few years back gave billions in tax breaks to the Oil companies such as Exxon for the sole purpose of building more refineries right here in the good ole USA. Exxon and the other Oil companies said no thanks to building new refineries, because they know that more supply equals less profits. The United States has not built any new refineries since the 70’s, more than 30 years ago. Some of the reasons for this are: no one wants a refinery in their back yard, environmentalists have placed road blocks with the courts, and the Oil companies know what will happen to their profits.
Over the last six years, President Bush and the Republican Party have been pushing to find more sources of Oil closer to home. There have been calls for more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and more drilling in Alaska in an area called The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
The House of Representatives has recently approved more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, but further drilling and exploration in ANWR is still on hold. According to the Department of Interior's 1987 resource evaluation of ANWR's Coastal Plain, there is a 95% chance that a 'super field' with 500 million barrels would be discovered. DOI also estimates that there exists a mean of 3.5 billion barrels.
While the exact amount of Oil at ANWR is not known, there has been a strong push by the Oil companies and President Bush to find out. April of 2005 Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens urged his colleagues to support drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “Do it to boost our domestic oil supplies”, he said. “Do it to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
What Stevens did not say to his colleagues on the Senate floor that day, was that the Oil from ANWR would be sold to Japan and Russia. The Democratic Party has done all they could to prevent any further exploration and drilling at ANWR. In 2005 the democrats did offer to allow more exploration and drilling at ANWR if President Bush would keep the oil here in the United States to be refined here and sold to American consumers, but President Bush said no.
But why sell our domestic oil to other nations, when we have become so dependent on foreign oil? Greed.
The Saudi’s and OPEC along with Bush and Cheney want to keep us dependent on foreign oil for as long as possible for profits.
In 2001 when Bush took office the price of a barrel of oil on the New York Stock Exchange was approx. $19.00…In July 2006 the price of a barrel of oil on the New York Stock Exchange reached a high of $78.00…Source The New York Stock Exchange…
Our friends the Saudi’s have made a fortune under President Bush’s reign.
What Can Be Done?
So what can be done to lower the prices at the pumps?
There is not much to hope for in the short term, but in the long run there is plenty we can do to get the prices at the pumps lowered.
We can demand that domestic oil stay in the United States and replace the foreign oil that is refined at our plants if we are going to increase our domestic drilling. We can push our representatives to build more refineries. We can demand more money for the development of alternative energy sources. We can demand cars that are more fuel-efficient, and cars that can run on alternative fuels. We can demand that our elected officials stop the gauging being conducted by Exxon and the others.
The months leading up to the 2006 election we miraculously saw the prices at the pumps come down, not because all of a sudden there was an increase of gasoline, but because they could.
There are some little changes that everyone can do to help offset the high prices we face today at the pumps, such as car pooling, maintain tire pressures, clean air filters, and tune-ups. But it will take you, the American citizen to speak out to your politicians, to tell them to build the refineries, and then drill for the domestic oil, which would make us no longer dependent on OPEC or other oil producing nations.
The policy of Stay the Course, must change.