Oil price 'threatens US economy'

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Sustained oil prices close to $80 a barrel could hit US economic growth, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman has said.

The US economy has never faced such high prices for "an extended period," Mr Bodman warned.

There is concern about whether oil supplies can meet global demand and Mr Bodman urged oil producing nations to increase output to avoid shortages.

Oil prices have fallen back slightly after hitting a record intraday high of $78.77 a barrel on Wednesday.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6928818.stm

[Deja Q]

1. Since most of it is used for transit,

would it hurt too much to work on telecommuting, light rail, bicycling, busing, walking, et cetera? Especially for telecommuting, the internet makes a lot possible.

I think things could successfully change.

[Baby Snooks]

3. Not that simple...

The produce in the grocery store can't be walked there, carpooled there, delivered via the mass transit system, or telecommuted.

The effect on the economy is the cost of transporting consumer goods including everything you buy at the grocery store. And as the price of oil goes up, so does the price of diesel and as the price of diesel goes up, the cost is passed along to the consumer. Which is why everything at the grocery store is already higher than it was a year ago, two years ago, three years ago.

Something else the Democrats in Congress weren't thinking about when they voted for Bush's "energy bill" several years ago which has not served the public interest at all. Just opened up ecologically-sensitive areas to further oil reserve development which will only ensure profit for the oil industry. Nothing in the bill, or any bill, has addressed the need for alternative fuels apart from ethanol which is a scam according to some and the need for development of ecologically-friendly sources of power generation besides coal and nuclear plants.

Reality is the price of oil will continue to go up since we are faced with the beginning of depletion of most of the reserves. Mexico's largest reserve is expected to be depleted within the next couple of years. Their production is expected to be at 40% by the end of this year. And we import between 15-25% of our oil from Mexico depending on whose figures you use. Or believe.

And when we are faced with not only higher prices but actual shortages which will create even higher prices the Democrats will blame the Republicans and the Republicans will blame the Democrats when both are to blame for quite a few Americans not being able to afford gas for their cars or electricity for their homes. And not everyone in this country has access to mass transit systems. So many will just simply become unemployed and unemployable unless they can find a job that will allow them to become urban residents of a city rather than a rural resident.

Many commute simply because they have no choice. They cannot afford to buy or rent close to their jobs.

It is indeed all about the oil. But the part of the equation that the politicians have completely ignored is the American people who have, out of necessity, become oil dependant.

[hogwyld]

5. Excellent analysis

Unfortunately, what's going to need to happen, is that population will need to be moved out of their selfish suburban, rural lifestyles, and relocated to higher density housing closer to urban centers. The government will then need to control who gets the oil such as for food, critical transportation, etc.

[Auggie]

9. Right on! Besides transporting food to supermarkets,

an enormous amount of petroleum is used in producing food. From transporting cattle from ranches to feed lots, to planting and harvesting grain -- even in growing organic produce. Oh -- let's not forget air transportation so we can have Chilean peaches in February.

It's ironic how as late as the 1940's everybody lived in high density urban centers while the suburbs supported many local farms.

[Deja Q]

10. Plenty of Republicans won't like that...

:shrug:

[nebenaube]

12. I know this won't work for everyone...

but every bit of food I consume is produced within twenty miles of where I live. The beer travels a bit farther but it's still produced in-state. We accomplished this by opening a food co-op that only purchases from local organic producers. Sure it's expensive but at least the coop works to avoid GMO contaminated products, verify organic farming techniques, soil-testing etc. The carbon footprint is smaller and the money stays local as well.

[ryanmuegge]

17. That's fucking awesome...

seriously.

[poverlay]

21. I'm jealous...Between "Crude Awakening", and "It's Not Easy Being Green" that I saw last night,

I'm a bit paranoid about where my food is coming from in a couple of decades. Such as.

[nebenaube]

25. tell me about it...

After all, it's just a coincidence that my wife became allergic to wheat glutin four years ago. Or that a friend of mine has developed allergies to glutin from any source (including corn) and is also having reactions to rice.

[poverlay]

27. My kids have been raised since day one on all things Trader Joe's. My wife has been ahead of the

curve on hormone free chicken and milk, organics, and everything else you could think of. They/we probably eat twice the fruits and vegetables most people do and fast food rarely. As a result, (I believe, and I know it's anecdotal.), I have two of the healthiest kids I know. This country needs a massive paradigm shift, and I don't think they're going to get it. Maybe the rich, but if you're poor it's very hard to eat healthy.

[Screwfly]

16. Yes, but

telecommuting doesn't allow people go out on the town to lord it over others, or travel to a resort city and play the big shot.

Never under estimate the price people will pay, or the lengths they will travel to put other people down so they can feel good about themselves.

[Earth_First]

2. CONSUME, AMERICA. CONSUME!!! n/t

[Ilsa]

4. Gas was $2.52.9 on Tuesday. It was $2.69.9 today. Up 17 cents in two days. nt

[Thor_MN]

8. Try $3.099. It's been hovering there for a couple weeks in MN

According some conservatives I know, public transportation is welfare and is funded 70% by taxpayers... :eyes:

[riverdale]

13. Try $3.24

We really get fucked in MI for some reason.

[Javaman]

26. your lucking it shot up 27 cents here over night. Austin, Tx. nt

[Possumpoint]

6. Government Lies

CPI is officially at 2.4% through August. Reality is between 10 and 15%. Government has for several year used funny numbers to adjust the CPI so it wouldn't look bad. Until we re-gain control of the government lie machine we cannot know the truth behind what is happening.

[tom_paine]

11. Exactly, we have a Soviet-style government of all lies all the time

I did not think such things were possible in what was once the Old American Republic.

But now I see how easily it was accomplished and how it still works so well even after it has been exposed (but now we ALL know, if a tre falls in the forest and it isn't on TV, it never happened)>

[saigon68]

20. Like "Gangster" Cheney and "Puppet" Petraeus Neocon Liars all

They lie continuously about everything

[Massachusetts]

30. The truth shall set you free!

The "house" is completely infested with termites, time to fumigate.

[hatrack]

7. Well, gee, shouldn't we go and bomb someone then?

Oh, wait, that didn't work either.

[democrat2thecore]

14. It's bad now? Wait until Bush attacks Iran!!

Life as we know it in this country will change - drastically.

[superkia]

15. When Bush took office, wasnt it like $19 a barrel? $1.17 a gallon?

I know that at some point the world will dry up of oil but I refuse to believe that its as desperate as everyone acts. If it were so bad the prices would be even higher but then it would hit so many people that our government would have to change something to get us off of oil, so instead, they just rape us as much as they can without it causing too much of a problem. Bush takes office and all of a sudden everyone drives more. They just report on the news oh Americans drove allot this holiday so there higher or high winds caused problems or sometimes they say nothing at all. Before Bush I don't remember the insane fluctuations in price because of storms and traveling and such.

I think we should curb what we do mainly because of global warming but I don't think we can do anything to ever control gas prices. They are playing a game and we lose.

[fed-up]

18. the headline is only a few years too late-economy has been already affected by high oil prices nt

[Deja Q]

22. And by offshoring...

Replacing high paying jobs with low paying ones, assuming some remain for said fields going out the door, kinda puts the kibosh on being able to spend more for items to help one's career and leisure.

[tabasco]

19. It's threatening my economy.

And I'm part of the US.

[Toots]

23. I guess Exxon's Net Profit of over a hundred million dollars a day is not enough

Over One Hundred Million Dollars a Friggin' Day and price of gas continues to go up. This is Net Profit after all expenses are paid. In the pocket money. $100,000,000.00 per Friggin' DAY...

[modrepub]

28. Friend Claims

Oil profits are being recycled into US treasuries to keep the government afloat. Maintains if oil falls there will be a crisis since a number of countries are getting away from the US $. Don't understand this but seems to make some sense.

[Javaman]

24. No Duh.

we use 1/4 of the worlds daily supply and only have 5% of the worlds pop. It doesn't take a fucking genius to understand that as the price goes up, everything that is manufactured via oil products will go up as well. And since we buy so much plastic garbage in this plastic based nation, of course it's going to effect our economy.

on top of that, because our entire transportation system is based on fossil fuels, is it any wonder why the price of food, clothing, basic items, etc are also going up in price???

god, the colossal disconnect is just truly staggering.

[NickB79]

29. Two words

Peak Oil.

Ah, what am I talking about? Americans refuse to grasp the the simple concept that oil is a non-renewable, finite resource. Drive on, sheeple, drive on.....