Oil jumps above $100 on refinery outage

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by glatt

The politicians absolutely have some influence on all of this. It's called leadership, and we don't have any right now.

They control purse strings for research into areas that might spawn new technologies and alternative fuels. They pass or don't pass fuel consumption standard for vehicles. They offer or don't offer tax breaks for purchasing Hummers. They offer or don't offer tax breaks for people who spend money making their homes more energy efficient.

You can either try to increase the supply, which this administration has done by invading Iraq and pushing to open wildlife refuges to drilling.

Or you can try to decrease demand, which this administration has fought at almost every turn, going so far as to give tax breaks to purchasers of Hummers. Remember Jimmy Carter putting on that sweater and telling us he was turning the thermostat in the White House down a few degrees? The government can easily pass laws dictating fuel economy of fleets of vehicles.

Or you can pump money into research of alternative fuels in order to think outside the box. Germany, for example has done this a lot. Many farmers in Germany have planted solar panels in their fields instead of crops because of government programs that make it financially attractive. There are many ideas out there that haven't been tried yet. High altitude kites that have wind turbines on them, buoys in the ocean that harness wave power are two that come to mind. Businesses aren't going to risk trying them until the price of oil justifies it, but then it may be too late. You need governments to kick start programs like this, much like the space race.

You can point to the markets and say that it's all the markets' fault, but the truth is that the government has a hell of a lot of influence here, and they aren't using it wisely. There's no leadership.

Originally Posted by lookout123

I'm not twisting or skirting anything. You're the one that wants them to do something but you won't tell us what you want them to do. What do you have in mind?

Where's the throwing up my hands smilie?

lookout, I don't pretend to know science. I can't sit here and tell you exactly what they should do. That's what they are supposed to be paid for. I can read, and I liked what glatt had to say. I said I think someone should say something, even if it's to tell us we are fools to think that we can ever rely on anything but fossil fuels. I can't go all t-dub on you, or even g-dub, but as a voting American citizen I think we deserve, at the very least, to know wtf is being talked about behind closed doors.

(My sis-in-law worked on Capitol Hill on staff for a Congressman. There are things going on that would make our jaws drop. It's like curing cancer: I bet it can be done, but there's no money in the cure. We must keep big bidness happy, right?)