Two proposals making their way through Congress appear to be working at completely cross purposes to each other. One would force oil companies to raise gas prices, and one would allow them to lower gas prices. Given this crazy Congress, it’s entirely possible both will pass.
First, H.R. 4004, introduced by Rep. Ron Paul, L-Texas, would reduce gas prices by — get this — increasing the supply of refined petroleum products!
Many Americans understandably are upset with the sharp spike in gas prices since Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast in August, and are concerned by reports of oil company profits. But we must understand that high oil prices are not the result of an unregulated free market. On the contrary, the oil industry is among the most regulated and most subsidized of U.S. industries. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves whether too much government involvement in the oil markets, rather than too little regulation, has kept the supply of refined gasoline artificially low.
Consider Marathon Oil, which operates a refinery in Texas City. Marathon recently announced the construction of new refinery that will bring several hundred thousand barrels of oil online every day- which is exactly what the nation needs. But building a new refinery is a daunting task that requires billions of dollars in capital investment. The process of obtaining federal permits alone can take several years. As a result, we won’t see a drop of refined gasoline from the new Marathon facility until 2009.
Federal subsidies and regulations are largely responsible for limiting the supply of refined gasoline in this country. The demand for gasoline has risen dramatically in America due to population growth in recent decades, but virtually no new refining capacity has been added. Basic economics tells us that rising demand and a fixed supply will lead to higher prices. No amount of congressional grandstanding about price gouging will change this economic reality. We must increase domestic exploration, drilling, and refining if we hope to maintain reasonable gas prices. We need more competition, which means we need less government. — Texas Straight Talk (Via Hammer of Truth)
The proposal would also suspend Federal fuel taxes when gas prices go too high.
Now on the other side of the coin is S. 1809, the Recapture Excess Profits and Invest in Relief Act, which would impose a temporary “windfall profit tax” on oil companies and redistribute that money to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, H.R. 4203 and S. 1631, the Windfall Profits Rebate Act, which would also impose a “windfall profit tax” and redistribute that money directly to American taxpayers on their tax forms, and H.R. 3664, the Consumer Reasonable Energy Price Protection Act, which would impose a “windfall profit tax” and distribute that money into the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Now the really frightening part of all of those proposals is that they would all cause gas prices to go up.
Nevermind that the Republicans pushing these measures are calling them “not taxes” (go read the bills; they all say it’s a tax), it remains true that oil companies will have to raise prices for the rest of us to cover their shortfalls, and the money we’re talking about isn’t going to help that much anyway.
What we should be doing is lowering prices — not to mention regulation — for everyone.
And the way to lower prices is to get the government out of the picture. It’s doing much more harm than good already, and these wealth redistribution proposals will make things much worse for everyone — including the low income consumers that H.R. 3664 is supposed to help.
Contact your representative, if you think it will help, and urge him or her to oppose H.R. 3664 and H.R. 4203 and support H.R. 4004 for lower gas and heating bills for everyone.
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Nov 04, 2005
Gassholes [ Tempus Fugit | TxFx.net ]
WC Varones
Nov 20, 2005
Why not a windfall tax on homebuilders?
I. Lastdance
Jun 08, 2006
Why is it, that people think : that oil is needed to run a combustible engine.
Most Likely – because the American people, have been indoctrinated to think this way.
Why is it : that the formula for gasoline, has always been considered an : Industrial Secret.
Why is it : A government agency doing an investigation. Into the possible illegal activities of the oil industry.
Concluded the investigation saying : ” They had found nothing wrong.”
What they didn’t say was : ” Since the formula for gasoline is an : Industrial Secret.
They could not make a competent, intense and complete investigation.
Therefore : They could not come to a conclusion.”
That government investigation committee : Did nothing more – than to echo.
What they had been instructed, to say.
(Telephone conversation with a junior oil executive – 2003)
Question : Why are oil prices so high?
Answer : I don’t know. We don’t set, the price of our oil. A committee in Texas, tells us the price, we will charge for our oil.
If we don’t charge the price we are told to. The big guys, will put us out of business.
Question : What is the cost, to refine oil?
Answer : The cost is very minimal.
Question : How much does it cost, to pump oil, out of the ground ?
Answer : Oil is not pumped, out of the ground. They use steam, to force the oil up, out of the ground.
Question : I don’t understand, what do you mean – ” force the oil up, out of the ground?”
Answer : Steam is forced – into the ground. The steam – being as hot as it is. Turns that oil sludge, into a thin liquid.
Because the steam, is heavier than the liquid oil. It forces the oil up out of the ground.
Have you ever seen a news clip. Where a valve is opened and water runs out?
That’s – the steam condensed back into water.
Question : Then what is the real cost, of getting oil, out of the ground.
Answer : The cost is next to nothing. Think of ocean oil riggs – plenty of pressure – plenty of water – plenty of natural gas.
Free for the taking – The cost is next to nothing.
Question : On the news media. Why do we always see, these Texas oil riggs pumping oil?
Answer : That’s just propaganda. Given to the news media. In order to be feed, to the American people.
This makes people think, that there is a high cost, to get oil of the ground.
The real cost is next to nothing.
Question : Is there really an oil shortage?
Answer : There is no oil shortage or crises. They got more oil, than they know – what do with.
The only oil shortage occurs – is – when they turn off the valves.
As far as I’m concerned : There never – has been a oil shortage.
There never will be – an oil shortage.
——–Read On ————-
In 1917, John Andrews approached the US Navy with his claim that he could convert fresh or salt water into a fuel with the same power as gasoline. The chemical costs were about 2 cents/gallon.
Andrews was allowed to demonstrate his invention at the Brooklyn N avy Yard, where a motor boat was fitted with a dynamometer for the test. Commander Earl P. Jessup, who was Captain of the yard, said:
“We gave Andrews a bucket of water drawn from the Navy Yard [fresh water] hydrant by one of the yard attaches. He got into his car with a gallon can which we inspected and found to be empty and a little satchel he carried with him. In about a minute he handed out the filled can which I personally carried to the open fuel tank. While pouring the liquid into the tank, Andrews held a lighted cigarette close to the liquid, which did not ignite. That showed it was not gaseous or inflammable at that part of the demonstration, which to me was most important. The engine caught just as quickly as it would have done with gasoline, and after a moment’s adjustment of the carburator, it settled down to its work, developing 75% of its rated horsepower, a remarkable showing with any fuel with so slight a readjustment of the carburator”.
In a second test, Andrews was put in an empty room with no possible way to get rid of the bucket of salt water with which he had been supplied, except to empty it into his one-gallon gas can. Commander Jessup said:
“In a minute he emerged with the can filled, and the engine again used it up, no difference being noted between the salt water and fresh. Besides myself, Rear Admiral G.E. Burd, the Industrial Manager of the yard, was present and with the precautions we had taken — our own Navy engine, tank and carburator and our own men supplying the water — there was no possibility of deception.
“From a military viewpoint, it is almost impossible to visual”ze that such an invention means. It is so important that we have hurried an officer to Washington to make a report to the navy Department. It is obvious that Andrews has discovered a combination of chemicals which breaks down water to a form that is inert until mechanically vaporized by the carburator, when the spark causes it to burn as gasoline burns”.
Walter Meriwether, the Navy editor of the New York World, met with Andrews at his home in McKeesport, PA. Andrews was extremely paranoid. He said:
“Somebody poisoned my watchdog last week. The only reason my dog was poisoned was so somebody could get at me more easily. I am being followed everywhere, day and night. A lot of people know about my invention — how it will put every oil company in the world out of business. Two cents a gallon for a substitute as good as the best they can refine? I tell you, my life is not worth that [snapping his fingers]! Think of what my invention means to nations at war”.
Meriwether offered to arrange for a thorough test of his invention with the Navy Department in Washington DC, and Andrews accepted his help. Meriwether managed to arouse the interest of Secretary Josephus Daniels, who said:
“Tell the man to come on at once; I will have a submarine and airplane detailed and ready for him on his arrival”.
Meriwether telegraphed Andrews, but received no reply. He returned to McKeesport, but Andrews could not be found. Meriwether then accompanied the police to Andrews’ home, where they found signs of a violent struggle in the ransacked house. No trace was found of Andrews.
But Andrews had not been kidnapped or murdered; he had simply reported back to his seaman’s post in the Canadian Navy. He returned to the USA in the 1930s. In 1942, a reporter named James Kilgallen found Andrews living on a farm near Library, Pennsylvania. Andrews said that he had forgotten the formula.
Another version of the Andrews mystery states that he was found murdered in his home in 1937, and all of his notes and supply of green powder were missing. His sister allegedly took the notes and fled to Scotland, where she too was murdered only a year later. The eminent journalist Tom Valentine, who has written numerous articles about suppressed technologies, once received a phone call from a man who claimed to be John Andrews, Jr. His innuendos could not be proven, of course:
“My aunt was killed and then some of my relatives suddenly got rich and I believe the process for making the powder is known and the people who know are the Phillips Petroleum Company”.
The next person to demonstrate the conversion of water to fuel was Guido Franch, a former coal miner who tried for nearly 50 years to find financiers for his product. He too used a green powder to turn water into 105-octane fuel. He called it “Mota”, which is atom spelled backwards.
Franch demonstrated Mota hundreds of times, but never produced it commercially. He did, however, sell about 3000% of his rights to interested investors. In 1973, Franch was subpoenaed to appear in Chicago’s Federal Circuit Court “with any records relating to the purchase or the proposed purchase of any fuel, fuel powder, or fuel formula in your possession”. He demonstrated his Mota transmutation in the presence of judges William Bauer and Philip Romiti, who believed what they saw, and Franch was acquitted of charges of fraud.
The fuel is produced with one pound of the reagent in 50 gallons of water. It burns clean and leaves no residue. In one demonstration with a lawnmower, it ran for about 15 minutes on a small amount of Mota-treated water. An equal amount of gasoline lasted only 3 minutes. Mota fuel is very sensitive to sunlight, which will turn it back to water with a white powder residue.
Gary Bolz, a consultant on carburetion and fuel engineering, was able to test Mota with the help of chemists at Michigan State University and Havoline Chemical Laboratories. Bolz stated:
“The granules are dark olive green. As they enter water, they dissolve in a string of green, which begins to spread fiber-like throughout the water. As the water begins to react, there is a swirling effect. Reaction is complete in a few minutes. If the crystals are mixed in 1:1 ratio with water, the resulting fluid is highly explosive and can be detonated by a small shock. But it isn’t shock-sensitive when mixed at a normal ratio of one ounce of powder per half gallon of water. The finished fuel is lighter than water”.
Franch claimed that the manufacture of Mota was taught to him and others in 1925 by a German scientist named Alexander Kraft, who died in 1941.
Franch received about $100,000 from small investors over a period of 40 years. He used that money to live on, and never manufactured any Mota. He received several serious offers from major investors, but his financial demands were unreasonable and nothing practical ever came of his demonstrations and negotiations.
It appears that we are obliged to continue burning gasoline until some genius rediscovers the secret of extracting green crystals from coal.
Anonymous
Oct 26, 2006
sercilouley when is gas prices goijng to go down? At least 75 cens to
a doller I mean now days not alot of people can get out and go places
cause of gas prices being to hight he gas is litke 2 dollers and somehing t
big guy
Nov 16, 2006
this doesnt answer the question
Anonymous
Mar 07, 2007
I hate the class Econ
Frank Flowers
Jan 03, 2008
Just had to write a comment about the phone conversation with the “junior exec” that is posted here…..it was so absurd I just had to comment. This guy doesn’t have a clue what he is talking about!!!!!!!!! First of all the oil prices are set by OPEC and supply and demand, the best,and only way to drive prices down is to simply NOT BUY ANY!!!!!!
Don’t buy any gas for just one day and the price WILL drop…I guarentee.
Second of all that idiot has no frickin idea how oil is brought to the surface. Those pumpjacks you see in Texas and elsewhere are doing JUST THAT>>>>PUMPING OIL out of the ground. And another thing you might not know…the slower they are moving up and down ….the MORE OIL THEY ARE MOVING!!!!!!!
And there are also Oil and Gas wells that are freeflowing….meaning the pressure of the gas brings it to the surface naturally.
This Guy’s ignorance just keep’s on going and going and going…sort of like the energizer bunny…lol. ” the cost of refining….next to nothing”….lmfao!!!!!!!! “the cost of exploring and drilling for oil……next to nothing…..who in the hell you trying to bullshit? You think Roughnecks work for free? You think pipewelders and pipefitters work for food? It costs BILLIONS to drill for transport and refine oil…..give me a break!!!!!!
As for”Propaganda” you are spouting alot of it….sad thing is that most of the public is just as ignorant and idiotic as YOUR “JUNIOR OIL EXEC”and will believe your unresearched and unfounded claims!!!! That is the REAL tragedy!!!!
And just one more thing before I go……OIL is a NATURAL RESOURCE……just like trees or water or coal…..if you think it will “Last Forever” I pity you.
So…with that being said …how am I to believe anything ELSE printed in this article???????