September 13, 2005

• Reading another’s blog today, whom I’ve not had contact with in ages, I learned that Katrina victims have moved into her area. Now they’re facing another storm only 2 weeks later (Carolinas).

  
  

  The effects of the disaster wrought by Katrina will be felt for many years to come. Not only are our fuel prices going up, but this will have a ‘trickle-down’ effect, because so much of what IS America is connected to fossil fuels.

  
  

  However, let me enlighten some newer readers to something I’ve been harping on for years… concerning oil & greed.

  
  

  
  
  • Oil ‘shortages’ take 6 months to have a REAL impact on price & availability. This is because of the refining process & available fuels already refined & stored at the refineries & holding tanks.
    
  • Media has been harping on the per-barrel prices of crude over the last few years, threatening in recent months that “…they could get up to $75/barrel soon at this rate (BEFORE Katrina).” Hell, I bought my first car in 1974… a high-performance gas hog (10-15 mpg) & was filling it with Premium at 35.9¢/gallon. I remember hearing the price of crude jumping to $75/barrel in the EIGHTIES (with the supposed gas-shortage), but the price at the pump then jumped to $1.199/gallon. The price of crude lately has NOT hit that mark, yet, but the price at the pump has been higher than that for years (since 9-11)!
    
  • I said “supposed shortage” because no real shortage of refined fuels actually existed. This is a ploy in the corporate world, called “The Law of Supply & Demand.” You see, if they tell their consumers they’re short of the product, they then have the means to raise the price of the commodity. How many of you are old enough to remember the paper shortage, which caused the price of toilet paper to go nuts? Shortage, my ASS (pun intended)! This fuel shortage falls along the same lines.
    
  • Proof? I have a friend in Texas who owned a high-volume well that was capped off in the 1980′s, at the time of that decade’s ‘gas shortage.’ I also met a former tanker truck driver (you know, the guys who deliver fuel from the refineries to the gas stations) who was ordered to drive truck loadS of refined diesel to the desert & pumped the diesel into the sand! WTF??? He did this just prior to the media announcing the diesel shortage & the price jumped from 25.9¢/gallon to $1.259/gallon! Why had the shortage occurred? Because people were tired of getting hit in the wallet at the gasoline pumps, so many were buying diesel-powered vehicles, so the oil industry hit another profit crunch & created the diesel ‘shortage’ to open the doors to increasing the price of diesel at the pumps. Also, I ran a local gas station in Texas in the late 1970′s. We sold 3 grades of gasoline & diesel. Station owners/managers do NOT make a profit on fuel. They get 5-10¢/gallon for each gallon pumped. This isn’t enough to pay overhead costs. They make money on the other stuff they do &/or sell there. Prices at the pumps are set by corporate headquarters. If individual stations charge more, they are violating corporate policies & Federal laws. Also, Saturday, I spoke to a fellow DAV member who worked in the oil industry for over 20 years. He confirmed everything I’m telling you here in this blog.
    
  • Incidentally, diesel is a BY-PRODUCT of refining crude for gasoline. So why did it take so long after the ‘gasoline shortage’ for the ‘diesel shortage’ (much more than 6 months!) to materialize?
    
  • It is illegal by Federal laws to price-gouge. Unfortunately, with those in political power lining their pockets with the increased profit margin on the prices of wholesale commodities, do you really think they’d step in to stop it? The worst are the ones we’ve ‘given’ our nation to! “The Iraqi War isn’t about the oil,” as I was continuously told when Bush first proposed attacking Iraq. YEAH, RIGHT!!! Get your heads out of your asses, fools! Those in power are making $billions, at taxpayers’ expense with the costs of that war. Bush stated at the end of “Shock & Awe,” “Iraqi oil is for the Iraqi people.” If that’s true, Mr Bush, why aren’t THEY making the profits on the oil from THEIR country (instead of the US using its profits to rebuild what WE destroyed)? Also, why doesn’t American oil belong to the American people, not just the elite few connected with the oil industries? Why aren’t ALL Americans profiting from the extraction of crude within our nation & our national ocean waters?
    
  • Why has Haliburton (VP Dick Cheyney still a major shareholder!) increased the manufacturer’s suggested retail selling price of the hydrogen from water-powered vehicle, after securing the patent rights upon the scandal of ENRON? Whereas ENRON planned to sell this vehicle (base price) at $35k, Haliburton jumped the MSRP to $125k! HELLO??!!! Could this be a way to keep it out of the general consumers market, forcing people to yet rely on FOSSIL FUEL-powered vehicles? DAMN, RIGHT!!
    
  • The Katrina disaster in the oil corridor fit right in with oil magnates’ goals. Another excuse to price-gouge (which has shown up IMMEDIATELY, not 6 months later as it should)! This is going to affect EVERY aspect of Americans’ lives, because the cost of fuel has a direct effect on every product or service we so heavily rely on. It costs employees more to get to work, so they need higher salaries to cover that, which the employer passes on to their consumers (wholesale), who pass it on to the stores, who pass it on to the general consumer. Additionally, it has a double-fold effect, since it costs each part in the producer to consumer chain more to get it there. Perhaps even more than that! This will also affect consumers in heating/cooling/powering their homes, since the ‘overhead’ costs of the suppliers goes up, so they pass it on to the consumer. This becomes a vicious cycle, which has increased the national cost of living over 10k% in my lifetime, with it going up about 1k% in just my son’s. I’m basing this upon the price of things needed for survival (food, clothing & shelter). I’m probably off in my figures, but I know I can’t trust the ‘official’ statistics of the GNP. I do know what it costs just to make it from one day to the next, without much in the way of ‘luxuries’ (luxuries includes, by public assistance calculations, owning a car!).

  
  

  It would be very difficult, indeed, to find even ONE thing in the lives of Americans that won’t be touched by the corporate greed of the oil industry. If you can think of one, please let me know. I haven’t come up with anything, short of sitting at home, doing absolutely NOTHING, with no power. But still, one has to eat, & this will even affect the price of a packet of vegetable seeds. Besides, how many people can WALK to get them? You need shoes & clothes, which will also be affected. HELP!!!

  
  

  
  
  • If you don’t believe me, do your own financial research on the profit levels of the corporations involved with fossil fuels. Very few, even going back 30 years or more (except those run by GW & a few others who’re poor money-managers) haven’t shown a sizeable profit in all that time.

  
  

  Time to get our walking shoes on or do more ride-sharing, or perhaps get a horse & cart/buggy?!

  • 12:36 am
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