The Executive Ban? It's Gone! <sniker>

[CAP1]

Or we do something even easier: REDUCE!

As stated the recent $10 decline in oil per barrel is due to demand forecasts for next year remaining steady with this years demand.  Hmmm... so if we reduce our usage we reduce the pricing.

BRILLIANT!

.
you don't seriously thing gas will drop back into the $2 range, do ya?

[bongaroo]

Couldn't care really, with my lifestyle and travel methods $2-4 gas prices only affect a very small percentage of my budget.

[AKIron]

Cool, your opinion not mine.  I'd like to be FREE of the TVA clogging up my air up by dragging their feet on their cleanup act.  FREE of polluted air and FREE of our dependence on foriegn influence.

At least the high energy prices are finally making some people step back and reconsider their choice of vehicles and lifestyles.  Maybe they aren't doing it for the environment or well being and just their wallets, but its still a change for the better.

Free from huge government handouts to oil companies reporting record profits?  That'd be cool too.

Freedom from foreign influence is good, we agree. Let's not trade a foreign dictator for a domestic.

[avionix]

Couldn't care really, with my lifestyle and travel methods $2-4 gas prices only affect a very small percentage of my budget.

Lucky you.

[Rolex]

The US market is unattractive to me too, Toad. There is too much volatility for my taste. I've pulled back and reduced my debt to almost zero. You might want to look into the medical equipment industry. I'm not a fan of health care staffing, service, software or IPO/new companies right now, but mid-cap medical equipment could be a nice harbor for a while.

[bj229r]

Bush's comments had little if any effect. Nothing he said or did will put more oil into the global supply.

OPEC said global demand for OPEC oil in 2009 would be less than the demand for 2008. Lower demand, lower price. Another reason was the fed hanging a temporary window dressing for the US economic condition.

Those are the sorts of things that rightly convince speculators to bet that the price will go down, so the afore-mentioned count in that column, but Bush pledging to do something (7 years too late) that can increase supply by a few % doesn't? Went down again today.....I can't wait for 77-odd days, when the congressional ban is up for renewal....will be right before the elections too....bet we see a lot of 'present' votes on this one

[Rolex]

Speculators are not the cause. That is a calculated campaign to deflect blame.

Oil prices are global, bj229f. Perhaps you might be a little US centric in your thinking?  I'll say again that it will not put more oil in the global supply. It will stay in the US and be only a tiny blip in global prices. Another thing I would caution is that you might be trying to frame this too much on internal US bickering, cough, politics.

[bongaroo]

Lucky you.

With the right lifestyle choices you could be "lucky" too you know.

[rpm]

With my "lifestyle" it affects my utility, transportation, and food bills. What is your lifestyle Grizzly Adams?

[Chalenge]

Its funny to see this environmental booby trap set by George Sr and sprung on his own son. I think he also got hit with the mercury-in-the-water trap set by Clinton and sprung not even a year after George Jr took office.

[avionix]

but Bush pledging to do something (7 years too late)

So it's Bush' fault.  What about the lame brains that sit in Congress.  Why are the Democrats still hemming and hawing on the issue.  At least Bush did something.  Now, you cannot place all of the blame on him when Congress has done the most to stifle growth in refining, drilling and exploration. 

[Hornet33]

You know what pisses me off. Right now ALL the politicians are doing NOTHING but blaming all the other politicians about this crap. I could really care less about who did or didn't do something last year, 5 years ago, 20 years ago. I'm not paying the politicians to bicker about the past, I'm paying them to DO SOMETHING right now. Right or wrong I really don't care but DO SOMETHING. If it ends up being screwed up we will fix it in the future but blaming someone for what they did or didn't do is NOT what I'm paying them for. Like the old saying goes, "Chit or get off the pot!!!" Right now ALL of them are sitting on the pot in their own stick while we, the Americian public, are ignored.

[bongaroo]

You know what pisses me off. Right now ALL the politicians are doing NOTHING but blaming all the other politicians about this crap. I could really care less about who did or didn't do something last year, 5 years ago, 20 years ago. I'm not paying the politicians to bicker about the past, I'm paying them to DO SOMETHING right now. Right or wrong I really don't care but DO SOMETHING. If it ends up being screwed up we will fix it in the future but blaming someone for what they did or didn't do is NOT what I'm paying them for. Like the old saying goes, "Chit or get off the pot!!!" Right now ALL of them are sitting on the pot in their own stick while we, the Americian public, are ignored.

Kinda hard to get anything done with a congress who won't send Bush the legislation he wants and anything they want he will veto. 

[Toad]

Here's an idea for the dumbaxes in Congress.

Remember the idea to suspend Federal gas taxes from Memorial Day to Labor Day?

The 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax and the 24.4-cents-per-gallon diesel tax would equal about $9 BILLION.

OK, here's the plan... we DON'T suspend the taxes, that would only make the deficit worse. However, we do take ~50%, let's round it at $5 Billion, and divert it into an award fund.

We give $500 million to the winner of the 100 MPG car X-prize contest.

Another $500 million to anyone that can come up with a design to double solar panel efficiency in the next 5 years.

Another $500 million to anyone that can double wind power efficiency in the next 5 years.

Another $500 million to anyone that can get a Fischer-Tropsch process coal plant going that produces fuel at $75/bbl and can meet a realistic output while avoiding damage to the environment.

Another $500 to anyone that can get ethanol out of agricultural waste (see Iogen) at a competitive price.

There's more... that's only $2.5 billion. I'm sure we can think of other areas to push using incentives like this.

That would be DOING something. Right now, we're stuck on stupid in DC.

[Hornet33]

You know, that's legislation I could get behind. Of course that makes too much sense so it would never happen