corner of Fullerton and Ashland Aves.
I mean, gas prices are ridiculous and the big story on the morning and afternoon news in Chicago is that we now have the dubious place of being first—yes, we have the highest average gas prices in the country at $4.07 for regular gas.
WTF?!?!?!
So that means when I head to my glorious internship this week that I’m going to have to fill up paying over four bucks a gallon for a 14 gallon car. THIS IS RIDIKULUS!
Last night on ABC World News NOW, the late night ABC news program, one of the reporters did a story on the top 1% of rich people, and the guy they interviewed was so friggin rich that he was blunt enough to say that gas prices didn’t really affect him. A typical day for him was flying in his jet to the Islands for a two hour business lunch on his private jet and fly back home. The reporter asked him what would his advice be for someone who just randomly had $50 and he said “Go skydiving.”
And I went like “WOW!”
In real life that guy was serious about not really worrying about money. I wish I could have it like that but alas, I don’t. I’ve SEVERELY limited who I’ve visited since I’ve been back in Chicago as a result of gas prices, and general flat-brokeness. But I’m quite aware of how far a destination is or how far I must go. I received $40 once to fill up my tank, and I was quite thankful, but I was still perplexed when the individual was shocked that it didn’t fill up my tank…meh, I guess.
What further astonishes me is that President Bush and his fruitless trip overseas. I mean, he’s going to come off smelling like roses. What fool, literally, what fool would expect someone to produce more, or in any shape form or fashion decrease their profits. I was an accounting major, and we had to take our fair share of finance and business management classes and I’m here to tell you, it’s ALL about profits. Here’s a clip from the Chicago Tribune’s article about Bush’s very quick, and laughable meeting with King Abdullah.
Regular gasoline goes for less than 50 cents a gallon here in the capital of the world’s largest producer of oil, pumping out 9 million barrels a day.
But, after a visit with the Saudi monarch here, President George W. Bush has found little hope of bringing any significant relief back home, where Americans are paying about $4 a gallon.
The Saudis have agreed to a modest boost in oil production, announced in the midst of meetings Friday with King Abdullah over tea, lunch and dinner and an overnight stay for Bush at the palatial horse farm where the Saudi ruler keeps 150 Arabian stallions in air-conditioned stalls.
But, for the second time in five months, the Saudis have rebuffed the Bush administration’s request for significantly stepped-up oil production to ease rising oil prices. The Saudi oil minister said the Saudis already had marginally boosted production by 300,000 barrels a day, as of May 10, to meet world demand, as they see it. This will boost output to 9.45 million barrels a day in June.
The Saudis have made clear they see no great world demand for increased production, Stephen Hadley, the president’s national security adviser, said after private meetings between Bush and Abdullah at the king’s ranch. And they are not bowing for one customer, albeit the world’s biggest consumer.
Shareholders like profits–the more the better. ExxonMobil has ZERO, lemme repeat ZERO incentive to do anything but what they’ve been doing, bringing in $36,000,000,000.00 in profits, and $11b in the 1Q of this year. Come on now Bush, this was totally pomp and circumstance. I doubt they really expected anything meaningful to come from it.
I mean wtf?!?!?!
Bush is a business man, and as dumb as he sounds, he’s surrounded himself by smart people, and I doubt honestly he’s thoroughly as aloof as he comes off. But then again, this IS GWB we’re talking about. Be that as it may, that was Bush’s only reason he needed to go off drilling in the Artic Refuge in northern and remote Alaska.
Honestly, I’m a tree-hugger as much as the next one, but…um…$4.00 gas is a big no-no and having access to oil like that would severly limit our own dependence on foreign which I’m all for. Secondly, it would force those knuckle-heads over in the Middle East to stop gouging our eyes out because they KNOW that we’re going to continue buying it because they know we NEED it. We’re just waiting to see what the official point of diminishing returns is going to be. Once quarterly profits begin to go down, then we’ll see gas prices go down. But, the messed up thing is that by that point, our lives will have adjusted to a $4.00+ average.
I mean gals and guys, we’re surviving with gas at this price. The economy has not fallen, no major econominc disaster has been linked to soaring gas prices. I mean, I remember when we all came to the conclusion that we could say good bye to $2 a gallon gas, hell, we can say good-bye to $3 as well, and frankly, since it isn’t the 4th of July yet, I’m HOPING that we won’t be saying good bye to $4 a gallon gas as well.
Drilling in the Artic Life Refuge is the easy answer, and the business part in me is saying go for it–couldn’t think of a better plan. But, in real life, I think we need to consider the environmental impact and what kind of carbon footprint doing all that drilling would leave.
Ultimately, oil on this planet, and other fossil fuels will run out.
I hope that sinks in–it will be depleted one day. No more. Fin. Finis. Zilch. Zero. Nada. NO MORE.
I don’t know when that is projected to happen if we continue down this slippery slope, but honestly, the planet is getting warmer and we’re taking a John Hagee approach acting as if it’s not happening. I mean if the Department of the Interior placed polar bears on the threatened species list as a direct result of the melting of ice, due to global warming–a Bush governmental agency–then I believe we DO have a problem.
So what do you think needs to happen in order for us to reduce our dependence on oil period–be it foreign or domestic? And also what do you think it would take for gas prices to come down to an affordable price?
Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL
Joshua Lawrence Lazard 
LOL you have a problem with paying 4 dollars a gallon which is about a dollar a liter? In Denmark, EU we pay TWICE the amount, 8 dollars a gallon in your money.
If you want cheap energy there is only one way forward and that is nuclear fusion. If the american government spent the same amount of money on perfecting nuclear fusion as the Iraq War, it would be fully developed within 10 years.
Once nuclear fusion is possible and efficient, energy and food prices will drop to nearly zero….
I would soooooooo be on public transportation and have to focus my life in a small area if gas even got near $8 a gallon. I’d use my car for “special occassions” lol.
But yeah, U.S.’ priorities are really messed up.
Drilling in the Artic Life Refuge is the easy answer, and the business part in me is saying go for it–couldn’t think of a better plan.
That’s not the easy answer. It isn’t even an answer at all. As of 2006, the U.S. consumed about 20.7 million barrels of oil per day.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/quickfacts/quickoil.html
(Twelfth or thirteenth line down). Today it’s closer to 21 million barrels.
But the ANWR estimated oil production is estimated to start flowing by 2013 and to top 876 thousand barrels per day.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4542853/
Even today, this would only be a drop in the bucket and would only delay the inevitable: conservation, green construction, and alternative sources of energy.
BTW, gas prices are not coming down ever again (except for minor seasonal variations). The sooner we realize this, the better since only then we will dive head on into finding alternative sources of energy.
Be that as it may, I still stand by the claim that drilling for oil in our own backyard is still an option–and a viable one at that. Whether one likes it or not, it still reduces our dependence on foreign oil which all believe is a positive thing.
However, a vote in favor of that would still make us dependent on oil in general and I think our first move away from oil is the best thing. Honestly, it would be best because then OPEC would be forced to lower the gas prices because we weren’t buying it. But Oh wow…could you imagine that happening?!?!?
Yes, gas prices in Chicago are HORRIBLE. It cost me $60 to fill up a truck that used to be fine with just $35!
WE NEED RELIEF!