We won't have an alternative to oil until the group profiting from oil figures out a way to monopolize the next energy resource.
not saying your wrong. but when we have had mr. ford's engine for over a hundred years. seems like we could have had something that would work just fine by now
Look at semiconductor industry. That technology has advance a 100x in the last 20 years. Oil has not because there are very power people who don't want it to. Brazil doesn't even need Oil. I think it isn't due to a lack of technology.
It's not just cars, so much of the economy uses oil and there isn't anything we have to replace it right now. And there are other technologies for cars, like battery technology, but they are expensive right now.
I guarantee you Brazil uses plenty of oil. And people talk about using biofuels, but prices of those are skyrocketing also.
but do you have any idea the impact it would have if we just started with cars?? and, as has been pointed out, the combustion engine has been around for a little while. distribution is obviously an issue.
Ever heard of it? The commodities markets are where the prices are set. Millions of people world wide trade future delivery contracts. Most never possess the actual commodity but just speculate in price movements. As stated earlier, the US dollar's value is relative, relative to how the currency markets set their values and relative to what amount of any commodity it will buy. If the general trend for the dollar is lower on the currency exchanges, then it takes more of them to buy a set amount of a commodity. A very simplified example: $1 = 2 Euros = $90 a barrel oil but if you change the value of the dollar to the Euro then it takes more dollars to buy the barrel of oil so if, $1 = 1.8 Euros = $99 a barrel oil, assuming no change in supply and demand of the oil. The real formulas to this are so vast and fluid every major player employs rocket scientists and super comupters to try to get a 1% edge on the markets but the factors of perception and psychology exert a an influence to that keeps the movements uncertain. In my own little world of paranoia, I can see how these commodity markets can be manipulated by the oil producing cartels. It seems to me that they can bid whatever price they deem acceptable since they are bidding on their own assets. Just like rigging your own Ebay auction, you keep bidding up your own merchandise and if you end up the high bidder you only have to pay the comission, you don't have to pay yourself for the item. The trick is to bid it up to the highest point someone else will still bid and then beg off. For the oil cartels the trick is to get all the currency they can for their commodity but not charge so much that people get serious about alternatives to oil.
It would have an impact...but the other stuff (battiers, biofluels) costs a lot of money too. And all the government subsidized demand for ethanol as an energy source is pushing up food prices.
Jewelers buy diamonds. There aren't millions of jewelers. That doesn't mean that the guys at DeBeers don't know how many people are buying diamonds and keeping the price artificially high. It's the same concept. The few sellers know the large number of end consumers, and price their product as such in an effort to artificially maximize their profits. That's what oligopolies do. That is their function in life. I expected far better out of you T_J than the simplistic view you apparently have of this market.
Oil Prices Pass Record Set During ’80s Energy Crisis http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/worldbusiness/03cnd-oil.html?hp the previous peak was before i was alive, but this record set today just seems dumb. atleast in the 80s it was due to interruptions in the flow of oil.
I gotta wonder why the MSM makes it look like a good move when the Fed lowers the rates even further. Sure it means more liquidity, but it puts people who don't own large asset classes in a vice of worthless inflated money and overpriced goods.
It is time the government did something about this. Drill in Alaska take out chavez, take out iran whatever it takes to get cheap oil. That is the life blood of this nation and having 3 dollars a gallon aint going to work. We aren't europe we shouldn't be paying 6 dollars for gas. Fire Bernake. All he seems to care about is bailing out big greedy crooks. Most solid companies are still making a ton of money. Pumping the market should not be the feds job.
I'd like to extend a collective "I told you so" on behalf of all Republicans who have been advocating this for years You have to lower rates to keep us out of a recession in which tons of jobs would be lost. You guys are leaping to the conclusion that inflation has already reached horrible levels, which is not correct. If this continues over the very long term (and continued budget not being balanced), yeah, we'd be in trouble, but that's over the very long term, not right now. We ran big budget deficits in the past and have brought them back in line, and can do it again. You guys are just trying to stir up hysteria when the problem you're moaning about is a long ways off.
No you don't. Look at the Japanese and where they are. Cutting rates is helping no except to try to pump the markets for a little while before it tanks hard. You would know that if you have been following it. Unemployment hasn't really gone up. Certain sectors have got hit hard but those are mainly the financials which where stupid. Let them suffer for it.
or what if...instead of positioning for war...we positioned resources at our disposal to be able to move further and further away from our dependence on oil. that's a long-term solution. with HUGE foreign policy implications. then we're not beholden to nations that pump oil.
