The REAL reason for $5 gas

Over the last few years we have all been watching the price of gas in the US basically double.
And like most of you I thought it was counterintuitive to the reality of the world. I mean after all if there were no wmds or terrorists in Iraq, surely we were there to requisition their precious oil.
We've been fed the standard answers: greedy speculators, weak dollar, uncertainty, a growing china etc.
All of that may be true to some extent. But after watching the news for the last couple of days, the real reason has become abundantly clear:
It is all a damn setup by the Bush administration and their Oil baron bed mates to price us into environmental submission and keep us dangling at the teat of fossil fuels.
They waited, in fact encouraged for this to happen so they can drill where they are prohibited. Figuring that if gas gets expensive enough we would capitulate.
Now THIS is a conspiracy, and it is happening right now.
Makes you also wonder what the hell we're doing in Iraq anyway.



edited for spelling

[edit on 18-6-2008 by schrodingers dog]

I think you are right. But I also believe we really are in Iraq for the oil too. The oil companies just want to hedge their bets as much as possible, by inflating prices and by consolidating availible reserves. Condoleeza Rice was on the board of directors for, Exxon, I believe and they even named a super tanker after her. Read the "Exception to the Rulers" by Amy Goodman.

Well don't you look like a smarty pants, coming in here, with all your well thought out theories. No I mean that sincerely. That could very well be the reason. No matter what the MANUFACTURED reason is, it's killing us! But you are on to a good point. Star and flag for you.

to be honest i dont think we are in Iraq for oil. Canada and Mexico are the biggest suppliers of oil to the United States after the 40% of oil that we take from ourselves (Texas, California etc..)

i just dont see how if we were really in Iraq for oil how our prices would be going up. doesn't make sense to me

But if we secure the oil in Iraq then we wouldn't need it from other soucers. See what I mean.

Originally posted by Cowgirlstraitup7
But if we secure the oil in Iraq then we wouldn't need it from other soucers. See what I mean.

You can look at it two ways. They can "secure" the oil and control its availability or "secure" it to control the profits. Either way I think Iraq is only part of the artificial high cost of gas.
If you look at the whole picture from a historical distance, the Bush cronies and their oil salesmen have coordinated and applied a long term plan to get their hands on more domestic oil before public sentiment has completely committed to alternative energy.
The final ambition having been dropped on us in the last few days.

wouldn't it cost more to get the oil from iraq and transport it here rather then transporting it from Canada or Mexico which border the United States? i still see no logical sense for u.s having to be there because of oil. we have survived perfectly fine before the war with out oil. It doesn't make economic sense that we would be there to take the oil from Iraq and have that be the sole producer for our oil consumption.

How Gullible,
if we were in IRAQ for the Oil, trust me oil would not be taken off the market. everytime the Iraqi's get it up, CIA blows another pipeline.

I saw the President's speech on the issue. He said that there was enough oil in the continental shelf to last ten years, at present usage levels. That doesn't seem like much to me. It will take years before any oil can be extracted. And if usage continues to rise by the time any oil comes out of there, it may only last a few years.

Doesn't seem like it will help the situation much but would still make someone a lot of money. Perhaps you could be right on this.

Personally, I think the only reason we went to Iraq is to finish up what George I started. I really think the US thought it was going to be a cakewalk by ousting Saddam and that the Iraqis will cherish us for our good deed. They missed the boat on that one. Gas is high because of supply and demand. Keep your eye on China not just OPEC. China demand for oil is serious. Another reason is that our refineries are old and outdated. Time to reinvest in our infrastructure. Won't help us now but it will in the future.

I think right now, the Iraq war is not affecting the price of oil to a great degree.
As it has been pointed out, we weren't getting that oil before and we're not getting it now.
What I really wanted to point out in the OP was the following:
As you watch the news over the next few months and see Bush and McCain do the hard sell for drilling in Alaska and other protected environments, be aware of the coordinated secret strategy to bring up the price of oil so they can do just that.
They know the alternative energy wrecking ball is coming, they just want to suck all the oil up, make a couple of extra billion dollars before it gets here.

So we find out today that in response to the high gas prices and under the specter of the US drilling for more domestic oil, the Saudis are finally taking action to reduce the price of crude.
cnn money
This is a fascinating game being played out for all oil producing countries to sell as much oil as possible to a. slow down the alternative fuel momentum and b. to sell as much oil as possible before they get run over by the global green movement.
It seems that only Dubai has seen the light of what's to come and have completely changed the focus of their economy.

Originally posted by 420prajna
I think you are right. But I also believe we really are in Iraq for the oil too. The oil companies just want to hedge their bets as much as possible, by inflating prices and by consolidating availible reserves. Condoleeza Rice was on the board of directors for, Exxon, I believe and they even named a super tanker after her. Read the "Exception to the Rulers" by Amy Goodman.

Oil companies do not set the prices of oil.

It is not just the US having the higher Oil prices. It is a Global Issue. In fact, many other countries are paying more for their gas than US citizens are.

The primary catalyst spurring higher Oil prices is the booming Chinese economy placing stress on the world's Oil supply. Demand increases, so prices go up relative to the current supply chain. India's economy is booming to, but nothing like China's economy.

Don't blame everything on Bush because it is easy to do so. Learn about the larger picture first, and then draw some conclusions that are more infomed.



[edit on 20-6-2008 by jetxnet]

Originally posted by firepilot

Originally posted by 420prajna
I think you are right. But I also believe we really are in Iraq for the oil too. The oil companies just want to hedge their bets as much as possible, by inflating prices and by consolidating availible reserves. Condoleeza Rice was on the board of directors for, Exxon, I believe and they even named a super tanker after her. Read the "Exception to the Rulers" by Amy Goodman.

Oil companies do not set the prices of oil.

Whilst you are technically correct, this is a very naive view of the market. I worked for one of the richest (capitalised) international hedge fund out Bermuda for several years. The head of the fund would routinely (once or twice per year) meet with Greenspan, the heads of Oil companies, heads of brokerage firms, heads of state of OPEC, etc. There is very little that goes on that is not coordinated by all interested parties except the consumer.
Since the collapse of the British Pound from when the Bank of England tried to take on the hedge funds and especially after they collapsed the South East asian currencies in the same fashion all governments not only cooperate with these speculators, but in fact often take advise from them.

reply to post by jetxnet


What do you suppose the reason is? It's not just market speculation... there's more behind it than that.

Sure, money is being made off of market speculation. However, gas companies have also quadrupled their Net Incomes.

So you tell me. Seems like everyone is raking it in at the expense of the lower and middle class.

Heya Dog. Gas is $5.15 here. The reason for OUR high price is the shipping companies. Now, outside of that...... I don't believe there is any shortage, in spite of the fact that the U.S. produces less than it consumes. I think the high cost for fuel is somewhat contrived.... I mean, if various countries have the goods, what is their incentive to undercut the others? So on and on it goes. Meanwhile, what is the average American doing to cut their own usage? I don't know the answer to that question, just posing it as a semi-rhetorical question.

What we did: We bought used Japanese cars for a pittance, because Japan makes it prohibitive for their own citizens to re-register their cars as they get older. I bought a '92 Mazda van with 32,000 miles on it for $U.S. 900. Yep, cost $1500 to ship it here. It gets about 35-40 mpg. We walk and bike to many places, and if TSHTF, we'll just stop driving. That's a good part of why we moved here. Our power -- the whole island is run by 3 giant diesel generators. Yah, we're used to power outages, and you know what? sometimes we dont' even notice.

I think the U.S. needs to drill offshore -- the Gulf, Alaska, other places previously thought to be less than favorable places, until a better form of power comes down the pike. We have added a lot of solar stuff in the past 5 years, but we're still on the grid. Grid down? We're still running our water pump and fridge.

I personally think it's kind of hinky to think that the U.S. went into Iraq for oil. It's not shaking out that way is it? Are there any hints that it will change? I don't see it.

I think we all need to pony up the duckets to provide as much of our own personal power as we can afford to, and RIGHT now. I don't think it's going to be long before we won't be able to afford fuel -- I'm talking now about us down here in the Caribbean, but y'all are close behind, IMO. Think about power one day just stopping. We didn't depend upon it when I was a kid in northern Idaho. We could make it without it. I think the worst thing is those that are amassed in the city centers. They're very vulnerable.

cheers