Shell reports record profits

Food is a necessity because we need it to survive, and there aren't any alternatives.

Gas is not a necessity because it's not the only alternative. It just happens to be the cheapest alternative, and the other alternatives aren't close enough to compete.

 

True story: I don't know how to ride a bike.

And three years ago (post-Katrina) and two years ago, everyone was convinced we were heading to $5 gas immediately and we'd never see cheap gas again. Both years saw sub-$2/gal (at least here) by the end of the year before going back up. Last year we didn't get that drop. But I'm not quite on the ZOMG PEAK OIL THE PLANET IS DOOOOOMED!!!!!1 trolley just yet.

 

Uh, yes.

I'd like to start gutting oil execs like fish as much as the next guy but the fact is, unless we're going to nationalize all the oil companies, they can pretty much charge whatever they want.

If we want to change the demand then it's up to us to change our habits. And that's not going to happen in any measurable way anytime soon.

 

What do you view as the alternatives to oil/gas use for the average person?

In the home, you can certainly go with with a wood stove (my parents heat their house exclusively with one), electric heat or natural gas. You could even go solar (I did a story a few years ago about a coach who's house is "off the grid."). So there are plenty of options there.

Travel: Get a bike -- a great idea (and one more people should take advantage of), but not great if one has to travel far, has to bring more than a backpack worth of stuff with them, or if the weather is foul. A good alternative at times, but not by any means one that can offset one's use of gasoline to acceptable levels.

Get a horse -- not sure how expensive they are to feed, care for, etc., but again, only viable in certain areas (Pennsylvania?) and for all I know, they might cost as much as a year's worth of gas.

Get a hybrid -- Helps out, but one still has to buy gas.

Go with biodiesel -- I actually know someone who uses biodiesel in his old Mercedes. The amount of time he spends finding restaurants to give him canola oil and then collecting and filtering it probably offsets most of the savings he gets. It's worth it to him because he cares about the environment, but for the average person, this is not a viable option.

So where is gas not a necessity, outside of adopting an Amish lifestyle and never traveling outside the borders of your town?

 

Uh, yes.

I'd like to start gutting oil execs like fish as much as the next guy but the fact is, unless we're going to nationalize all the oil companies, they can pretty much charge whatever they want.

If we want to change the demand then it's up to us to change our habits. And that's not going to happen in any measurable way anytime soon.
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But no matter how much we change our habits, as of right now, we still need oil/gas.

And, yes, oil companies can charge what they want which is why they're taking advantage and running up record profits. My point is that, since it's a necessity, they shouldn't be gouging the consumers the way they are.

 

The wealthy can afford the price abuse.

The remainder of the economic scale isn't so fortunate.

Isn't that too bad.

(tossing cake out of the window . . . )

 

Until somebody can prove they're gouging, they aren't. It'd be nice if Congress would look into that.

It'd also be nice if we had a few more refineries to process the oil we do have and get more gas into circulation.

 

There is no viable alternative, which is exactly what I said. That's why the oil companies can charge so much and we keep paying it. They sell gas, that's their business. It's up to someone else to come up with a better alternative.

I think we're talking semantics here. You can survive without gas. You can't survive without food. That's what I mean by necessity.

 

Cheney and the rest of the boys are just sitting back, waiting for the bulk of the population to beg for the further exploitation of Alaskan oil reserves, at whatever fiscal and environmental price.

Keep waiting, Penguin. Keep waiting.

 

Last time I checked the GOP wasn't running Congress.

 

See, that's the myth. You don't have to go from driving to a horse drawn carriage.

If everybody just take an alternative to driving twice a week, you're using 40 percent less gas. That would cripple the oil industry.

Hell, let's use an alternative to driving just once a week, that's 20 percent less gas. (working on a five-day work week) even that would be enough to cripple the oil industry.

We don't need a radical overhaul of our driving habits. One day out of your work week could change everything.

Of course, then gas prices would drop and we'd go back to driving more, bigger cars, etc.

 

During his presser this morning the fucking Moron in Chief said we could solve our oil problem by opening up ANWR to drilling.

Good to know he still has no fucking clue.