1:50 into the video should clear it up <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ghpeshRDE8g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If you can cherry pick what to do by executive order and that which goes through the legislative process. Why even have a legislative process? What you are suggesting would tear apart the separation of powers in a way never intended by the Framers.
Did the framers intend for lobbyists to stick 12th hour pork into bills for our 'elected' to blindly vote on? Don't worry about my hypothetical use of executive power cuz I won't be president anytime soon and instead study the issue WRT that piece of legislation. 'Inflation' is a cop out answer.
oil prices, like lots of other things in this country (08 financial crisis, 9/11) are contrived. this thread will grow how many more pages before everyone realizes we don't really have a good answer to this question? americans are getting screwed by their own clandestine empire.
Inflation is part of the equation, but it sure isn't the entire reason. The oil market is rampant wi speculation and there are some who profit wildly from it.
The price of crude oil is driven by supply, demand , and speculation. As for the refineries, (someone alluded to this earlier) most are set up to refine really heavy and sour crude oils, (at least along the Gulf Coast). The heavier crudes are cheaper than the price you always hear about but the products refined from them sell for the same market price as the ones refined from more expensive crude oils. There are also a lot of logistics that affect oil companies like how to get the oil to the refinery. Every oil company employs a ton of bean counters that are constantly surveying the market trying to find the most profitable crude oils however there are always things to consider like the TAN (Total Acid Number) of the oil in regards to how corrosive it will be to the pipes and columns. Sometimes crude oils with a high TAN are slowly blended into a mix to help offset the corrosive properties.
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There's so much paranoia by the same people who proclaim themselves as rational on things like religion and evolution.
Except for one HUGE exception in the Motiva refinery in Port Author. Technically the largest refinery in North America, depending on who you ask. Others will say it's the ExxonMobil refinery in Baytown which is mostly suited for more heavy crudes. Also most of the refineries in the NE refine light sweet crudes. Due to the fact that there are little to no pipelines in the country that run East to west, the rail lines are making a killing right now transporting entire trains comprised of nothing but tank cars full of crude to refineries and terminals there.
The Motiva Port Arthur refinery is set up to refine heavy, sour crude oils just like most every refinery along the Gulf coast. I know this for a fact. They may not run the heavy, sour crude oils all the time but they can and are set up to run them. Motiva is half owned by Saudi Aramco which I am sure gives them access to a lot of Saudi Arabian oil. I am unfamiliar with Saudi Arabian oil and it's composition. As to the NE refineries, I am not sure which is why I added "(at least along the Gulf Coast)" to my original post.
Yes I know, however the refinery also has capacity to refine light crudes as well; as you stated. I was just pointing out that there is a major refinery in the area that has the ability to refine light sweet crudes, an uncommon trait among many of the other older refineries along the Gulf Coast. I'd imagine that they fluctuate, or ideally would like to fluctuate, depending on which ever type of crude is more economical at the moment. I wasn't at all looking to refute anything in your post.
The supply and demand factor in oil prices is skewed by the fact that it is inordinately controlled by a cartel. The Saudi's can control the price of oil futures at no risk. They can buy at any price and let them expire by just moving money from their left pocket to their right pocket., but, they have still set the market price. The could sell at ridiculously low prices and still make a profit if they decided to crush the WTI, though I can't think of a reason they would. Right now they control the price to earn a maximum return but still keeping the demand up. It's as regulated market as you can get.
lol there is an incredible amount of dumb in this thread. Seriously, why are some of you ignorant folks even allowed to vote, given your knowledge of issues such as this one? Crude oil exports have been banned in the US for the past 40 years. Obama is considering changing that, as we speak. (of course that will put upward pressure on US gasoline prices)
IHS and industry darling Daniel Yergin disagree as far as gasoline prices go. IHS also cited creation of up to one million jobs if exports allowed. The jobs argument is very compelling. At this stage, if Obama is to allow exports of LNG to non free trade agreement countries then lifting Jones Act also needs to happen. I have made the arguments for increased support for cracking and exports. However, oil exports is largely up to congress which has no motivation to put Americans back to work.
when taken by itself, my statement is correct. A new source of demand for US oil will clearly put pressure on US gasoline prices. I haven't seen Yergin's assessment, but I'm assuming that his logic is that the second order effects will serve to reduce the worldwide oil price? Maybe. but my statement stands (that was a very minor point in my post, by the way....we have people in this thread claiming that the US exports more crude oil than we import...that's just way off)
Why would crude exports put more Americans to work since we use more than we produce anyway? It seems it would only change the balance between domestic and imported oil consumed within our borders. Not to mention the positives in the international politics of having the US less beholden to dubious foreign governments by our dependence. It doesn't seem like a very good idea to sell domestic oil only to buy oil from the Saudi's since we know their profits go to fund wahhabi fundamentalism. The US production side is growing full bore right now, the only limits are skilled laborers, the infrastructure to support them in remote locations and the availability of water. I understand the value of exporting refined natural gas products since our production exceeds our consumption and there is great value added to the products by processing it. But crude oil is a different story. U.S. Ruling Loosens Four-Decade Ban On Oil Exports http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-...hipments-of-unrefined-oil-overseas-1403644494 This article reads like PR written BS to me: The Case for Allowing U.S. Crude Oil Exports http://www.cfr.org/oil/case-allowing-us-crude-oil-exports/p31005
