I fully agree that there is no way our fuel/energy costs are going to go down. Once they start making the profits they are making - they don't care. You would think that the price of gasoline would have some sort of effect on travel these days - but it has not done a thing. The only ones that are cutting back and going without are the ones on fixed incomes.

And if the cost drop a few pennies - some politician comes up with another TAX to increase the price once again - we can't win.

In NY our governor is getting a lot of grief over the toll roads that were only supposed to charge thruway tolls for 15 years to pay for the thruway being built. It's been about 40 years now. Well the tolls have done nothing but increase and we have a lawyer who is now taking on the state in a lawsuit to sue them for this. (Like he is going to win!!) So our lovely governor mentioned that the thruway should be free and that toll booths should really be put up on the interstate highways! I really don't think that if I am traveling on Route 5 or 20 I want to have to pay a toll to go from once town to another.


Let's face it - we can't do a thing about it. The "powers that be" are running everything and making money off us.

Here's a fact - just think about this - it's true - a customer goes into Mc Donald's, Burker King, etc. and orders a large fountain drink. What's the cost of that now - about $1.89 for a large one??? It is costing the fast-food restaurant (or any restaurant) about 5 cents to fill that cup. Well - it's the same thing with this oil/energy thing.

We are getting ripped off. Can't do a thing about it either.

Up here our cable bill has gone up 7 times in one year - no one is regulating it.

Banks are being "absorbed" left and right by other banks. Ditto with insurance companies. (DON'T GET ME STARTED ON INSURANCE COMPANIES!!)

Even major sneaker manufacturers are buying each other out.

Ditto telephone/cell phone/media companies.

What is biting my buns on this - NO ONE IS REGULATING THIS!

It's just a free-for-all among the rich and powerful who do nothing and make everything. Tell me - why should someone make hundreds of millions as a salary for a year and get all kinds of perks???

I have been saying this for years and I will tell you - if someone doesn't stop these companies from merging/consolidating the whole world will be owned by 12 people. One insurance company, one food store, one gas/energy company, one telephone company, etc. and we will have to pay through our noses for everything. We are getting there very fast.

Is there a politician anywhere - in any state - that will speak up and try to stop what is going on?? Were we actually that "spoiled" by not having to pay the high prices from the beginning??

Everyone is out for the buck, and it's us little guys they're after.

I was at the beach a couple weeks ago, and a local city (Berlin, MD) there has it's own power plant and has been made an offer by two power companies (the ones increasing the rates 80%) to buy it. So I'm thinking that's a municipal function, and how great it is for those that live there to be left out of the mess of deregulation (and could sell at a profit on the grid thus making it cheaper for the local citizens), and then I read that the town hired a consultant to appraise the plant.

I say, that appraisel will leave out the cost of siting a new powerplant, and all of the legal battles in courts to stop it. That's worth $1 Billion Dollars itself. But they're politicians, so they'll sell that asset that's really the property of the people of Berlin, MD for $10 million to finance some project that's not needed but will have their name on it like the Casper J Harkell Ampitheatre (name made up). I thought of writing a letter to the local paper, but I don't live there so it's their problem.

Mamma - you're right, gas prices ain't going down. They never do. I do think the peak oil thing is worth thinking about since it's bound to happen one day. I hope that day is in the 2040's and not the 2010's.

hey expatgirl!
Trinidad is warm! You get around the world. So are you guys working on new finds, finding oil in old fields, or just maintaining the fields? I read on the official Kazakh website that that oil is flowing to China now through a new pipeline, and to the Mediterranean Sea through another, and they have lots of oil. Maybe that will relieve some pressure from the world supply which we hear is caused by China.

That's awful that the oil companies like BP only patch leaks. So why don't they just do that in Alaska, or is it that they've done patched the patches and can't patch no more? They must be loaded with cash and ought be be able to buy some pipe. The Alaska thing smells of the Enron manipulation of power supplies in California in 1996. I was paying $0.05/kw and PG&E was paying $10.00/kw. And no one did a thing about it.

The company is working on new fields and negotiating with the government to fund and operate more---- and putting a lot back into the country itself. For example, we're helping to finanace a huge orphanage and giving scholarships to deserving graduates from the school. Also, we're funding a group that helps entrepreneurs get established in new businesses by providing a "business incubator" whereby they receive computer assistance, financial support, places to work, etc. I visited this place in Uralsk and it was AMAZING--it's estimated that this one project alone is benefitting over a thousand people who otherwise would live in poverty. This takes LOTS of $$$$$$$$$$.

I don't know about the Alaska thing but I saw on the news the other morning that the last time they inspected their pipes was in '99???????????? They have the means to inspect them (it's called a smart pig) but "99 was the last time they checked things out. The pig might be smart but BP sure insn't.

Don't get me going about energy bills. Our electric bills in Houston (land of a/c) jumped over $100 just like that because of rate increases. How people on fixed incomes manage is frightening.

Well, I gotta go

---

my nephew is graduating from A&M today and it's a two hour drive. He's getting an economics degree---I'm going to bend his ear and see what he thinks about everything. Check with y'all later.

I came across this article yesterday linked to from an article just published in a New Mexico newspaper. It's from Feb 2005, and is probably what inspired Roscoe Barlett to talk about the issues of peak oil.

Robert Hirsch Report on Peak Oil PDF (1.2 MB)

My view is that the basic statement in the article is that the United States needs to begin a crash program of coal liquification now or there will be trouble in 20 years. That's because to make changes in fuel sources require 5 years or so in development, and another 10 years to build and begin distribution.