POLITICS: White House Wants Oil Prices Cut in Half

Allan Hubbard, director of the White House National Economic Council stated that he would like to see oil prices fall to $25 a barrel, nearly half the price of the hovering $50. The White House has shied away from giving a preferred target oil price in the past. This is the first official target response given by White House officials.



Alan Hubbard states that the only way America can achieve this goal is if the public begins to become conscious about the current environmental problem and 'Peak Oil'. He suggests that Americans should start buying more Electric Hybrid cars.

Gasoline is still expected to stay over $50 a barrel throughout 2006.

This is an interesting news story.

They want people to start buying hybrid cars, yet not everyone is as rich and as cool as alot of other people. I dont understand how they want this to go down if alot of people cant go out and buy one of these new car.

I drive a 87 Plymouth Turisimo or however you spell it. Point being is I am not going to go pay 30 or 40 grand on a car that i dont have money for.

Is this April 1st?

What a joke. Like Bush doesn't know why prices are what they are now and - - -

Get real

Good story- lots of spin

Bush wants lower oil prices.

And I want a pony!

Seriously Bush is a moron.

The point about hybrid cars is important---yes, it's way too expensive for most people to change cars now. Something like 80% of the new vehicles are purchased by the 20% wealthiest part of the population. Given that cars last longer (but with more expensive maintenance) this isn't surprising.

New cars, do become *used cars* with time, and that's what the rest of the people drive.

Cars and vehicles have useful lifetimes of at least 10 to 15 years now.

As a result, it is very very important that the average efficiency of new cars being sold today is increased, because in 5 to 10 years that's what the fleet average will look like.

But Bush and the idiot republicans are unwilling to increase the fuel mileage standards.

Yes, this is a case where people doing what they individually want is very bad for society as a whole.

The richest people who buy new cars can afford higher gas prices. The rest of the people who drive used cars can't, and when oil hits $100-$150 within 5 years (more likely than going to $25), they will be really screwed.

The only way to lower oil prices is to consume less---production is effectively maxed out because we're not discovering anywhere near enough new oil to make up for production declines.

To get $25 oil we need to use a whole lot less, and we can get that by ramming down CAFE fuel efficiency standards ASAP, so that the average of cars on the road actually burning gasoline and diesel is much higher.

It is essential to do this to make sure that higher oil prices do not seriously reduce future prosperity.

The current insane republicans seem unwilling to do anything about the future. Maybe they think Jesus will be coming to pick them up rapture-style. Don't you think that Jesus might be ticked off at us screwing up the planet pretty bad?

It can be done.
Just simply get rid of all the Democrat wacko environmentalists, allow drilling off the West and East Coasts, in the Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska, all Federal owned lands, and get rid of all the EPA regulations that restrict the building of new oil refineries.

Then again, maybe the oil fairies will grant a few wishes while we are at it, too....*poof*





seekerof

.
Bush is a moron.

What you want to do is get more use/milage/bang-for-the-buck from oil.

Burning up a finite resource even faster is just insane.

This is essentially equivalent to seeing a looming cliff ahead and stepping on the accelerator in your sports car to go off the edge sooner.

You want to get better use of the oil there is, using better/more-efficient technologies. If you want to seed the future economy you want completely independent energy sources and methods.

Well, I guess we can see seekerof agreeing with Bush again.
Maybe someone will give you points for being consistent seekerof.

[edit on 13-5-2005 by slank]

Originally posted by Seekerof
It can be done.
Just simply get rid of all the Democrat wacko environmentalists, allow drilling off the West and East Coasts, in the Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska, all Federal owned lands, and get rid of all the EPA regulations that restrict the building of new oil refineries.

Then again, maybe the oil fairies will grant a few wishes while we are at it, too....*poof*

The untapped oil is now mostly off shore, deep sea drilling is pretty much where we will find most of the oil available. There is no oil in the east coast of the US.

We are already drilling in Alaska and the west coast of the US, the Rocky mountains and parts of the south, but we must continue making sure we take the outmost care when drilling is done. There is no need to have no disregard for the environment, when we can actually continue drilling and make sure we make the least damage to the environment as possible. Directional drilling is the key to this.

With directional drilling we can improve, and increase production from older fields that were thought were depleted years past, and with the proper training, we can use directional drilling to avoid disturbing any natural areas on the surface of the Earth.

Some people don't seem to understand that oil is used in pretty much everything that is done to keep most people alive in this planet. We should continue trying to find new ways to find a better source of energy, but right now not only the world's economy depends on oil, but the lives of billions of people depend on it too.

jesus people, oil prices go up, bush gets bashed for high prices, he wants it down, hes bashed for expense of hybrid cars staying high if oil gets cheaper, what do you people want, cheap oil or cheap alternatives? cant have both people.

Originally posted by namehere
jesus people, oil prices go up, bush gets bashed for high prices, he wants it down, hes bashed for expense of hybrid cars staying high if oil gets cheaper, what do you people want, cheap oil or cheap alternatives? cant have both people.

It was not president Bush who made the prices of oil go up despite what some people keep claiming, but people are always going to blame someone for all the problems in the world...and for the past 50+ years many people in the world keep claiming all our problems are because of the presidents of the US...which is total bs.

How about a better solution, reduce americas dependancy on foreign oil, or at least reduce the overall dependacy on oil. And it is not jsut cars, but Airlines, and shipping. REDUCE THE DEMAND instead of increasing the supply and prices will go down.

How about giving car owners a $1000 rebate if they buy a hybrid car, and $500 if they buy a car that gets over 30 MPG City and Highway. And give dealers incentives to sell those cars... instead of ones to make people secure in their masculinity

To make people secure in their masculinity?...

There are lots of people, including women, that depend on their big trucks to do their jobs and to be able to move in rural areas where a hybrid car, or a sedan couldn't go through....it has nothing to do with people being unsecured by their masculinity.

Yes, there are some people that prefer big trucks and they don't really need them, although we could also argue that big trucks are a lot better to have in many places in the US, such as South Florida. When we get flooded down here, all hell breaks lose, and we get quite a few sedans and other regular cars stuck in the streets because they get flooded.

BTW...I have a pontiac grand am, but soon, if I get a job offer in this company i applied for I will probably have to get a company truck or a jep, because I will probably be going to remote areas of the US to check on electronic equipment for certain companies, and a regular sport/sedan car will not last long, and will not take me to these remote areas.

Lots of people rely on their big trucks for their livelihood.


[edit on 14-5-2005 by Muaddib]