$5 a gallon!

[dogday]

As oil soars toward $100 a barrel, it's likely, experts say

Tight petroleum supplies amid soaring demand could drive crude oil prices above $100 a barrel by this winter, energy experts warned yesterday.

That could translate into gas prices of more than $5 a gallon at the pump and spike home heating oil an additional 30%, analysts said.

Iran's deputy oil minister, Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, fueled the paranoia yesterday by predicting that crude could hit $100 a barrel by the end of the year - $26 above even yesterday's near-record price.

The problem is that Iran, the world's fourth-largest producer of crude, is just one of several hot spots in danger of boiling over, experts said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/414383p-350211c.html

[BlueEyedSon]

1. "in danger of boiling over"??? Whose hand is on the temperature knob?

[AndyA]

2. I think if gas gets close to $4/gallon, people will change their driving

habits and conserve fuel, which will cause a drop in demand.

Some people are on the brink already. I know of several people who are riding with friends to work to get a car off the road and conserve fuel.

Plus, I think the Republicans are going to try to pull a Rabbit out of a hat if gas goes up much more. As the price of gas goes up, down goes Bush's approval numbers, and he's taking the Republicans down with him, because everyone knows they're in charge, even if they do try to blame it on something or someone else.

$5 gas this Fall will be death to all Republicans. They will not allow that to happen. I have no idea what they will do, cut a temporary deal with their oil buddies perhaps, but they will not allow it to go that high.

Until after the elections, of course... :eyes:

[acmejack]

3. The problem is the dollar keeps losing value! And FAST!

It is exploring new depths of devaluation daily. This morning finds that it has plunged to $672.60 an ounce of gold, I had thought it would take at least till midweek next to reach $675/ounce. The Pesoization of the USD proceeds unabated, it will be a third world currency before you know it!

http://www.kitco.com/

[lectrobyte]

10. That's the bigger long term problem. Since we import over half our

energy needs, and don't seem to export much of anything except debt, expect it to get worse.

[enid602]

11. Bingo

The US price for gas is not only dependant on the worldwide price of gas, but also on the price of dollars used to pay for it. A 30% increase in the worldwide price of gas, combined with a 30% devaluation of the dollar would translate into a 60% increase in what we pay for gas.

[paparush]

4. Great, my little 2003 Toyota Corrolla ( 11 gal tank/ 40MPG )

will cost me $50+ to fill up. Great. Focking great. When I bought the car, I could fill it up for under $15 bucks. Thanks Bush**. Thanks for fucking up my world and that of my 10 yr old son.

[kahleefornia]

9. corolla is a great car though

I had my '94 corolla up to 211,000, and just gave it to a friend who needed a car when I bought my new(er) one. It had no major mechanical problems (needed new spark plug wires at last check-up) and looked and ran great. I have no doubt it will keep going for a few years at least. It never broke down on me. THe most expensive repair I had to do was when one of the power window motors broke. The rest was routine maintenance. 40mpg is sure better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, too...

[AnneD]

17. People are coming up to hubby

and offering to buy his 97 Corrolla cash on the spot. I have a Honda that gets 34mpg so we are in great shape. As of next month-we will be within walking/biking distance from our jobs. Rent will cost more but will save time and gas.

[seemunkee]

5. 30% rise in heating oil!!

We're facing a 35% rise in electric rates next month. Guess next winter is going to be a lot colder in my house.

[Frustratedlady]

6. I can't get much colder than I did last winter.

I tried to keep the thermostat at 51-54, but even the dog got cold. The more pressure we exert on this admin., the higher our gas/utilities will go and the lower my thermostat.

What really smarts is knowing he is toasty warm in the WH on our nickel!!!

[WePurrsevere]

15. We're in NNY & sure can empathize with you on that. Thermostat at 55...

and we combined our office with our bedroom and supplimented the heat in there during the day with electric set just enough to keep the room at 65. For the furkids that aren't in our room we set up a small elect heater, kitty condos, boxes and folded fluffy ccmforters here and there... during the day we opened up the drapes because we get some good passive solar heat through our big bay window and that actually helped quite a lot. One good thing was that cats and dogs that had barely been civil to each other learned to become really close buddies... literally. :D

Anyway.. it was all we could do to get through last winter without freezing and we're still recoving from the financial strain. We're both very worried about next Winter so as we can we're going to be adding insulation/chaulking/great stuff to this "new to us" old house over the summer, buying e-heat panels, using a ceramic additive when we paint, using passive solar even more and stocking up on wood while it's green and cheap so it will be dry for woodstove backup. If there was a way to get alt energy installed that we could afford on our fixed low income we'd love to switch. We've always wanted to go off the grid for the environment's sake but now even more for the wallet's sake. ::sigh::

It really does bite that the people that are the CAUSE of/and not doing anything to stop this BS are all toasty and warm and not worried about how they'll stay that way. :grr:

[seemunkee]

16. Never heard of ceramic paint additive

Wish I had known about it a few months ago, painted a major portion of the first floor.

[Frustratedlady]

20. I've never heard of it, either.

I just painted several rooms. Does that paint improve insulation?

I might suggest that the radiators (with mineral oil) are great for heating small rooms. In fact, I have one in my workroom in the garage and even on below zero days, it maintains the heat beautifully and isn't expensive to run. Once the oil is heated, it holds the heat and only kicks on when needed. They aren't expensive to buy, either.

I also live in an older home (over 100 years old) and found that you can place a piece of foam rubber under the window sash bottom, close and lock the window, and you basically shut off all air flow/drafts. Don't forget the crack between the upper and lower sashes. They also make plastic electrical outlet covers for those outlets that aren't being used (also good to use so little fingers don't stick something in the holes). It's amazing how much air you can get from those little slits.

I have my house super insulated and it really makes a difference. My neighbor refuses to invest in insulation. Last winter, their utility BUDGET payment rose to nearly $350/month, so you can see he's paying through the nose (and, we had a mild winter).

[WePurrsevere]

21. I ran across the ceramic additive paint a while ago watching HGTV...

it doesn't add much insulation but with prices as they are every little bit helps especially if you're going to be painting anyway as we are. It also helps with sound proofing and is fire retardant. What I found interesting and grabbed my attention was that it (Hy-Tech Thermal Solutions, LLC, of Melbourne, Florida at least) comes from NASA research and NASA actually has a write up about it HERE.

There are a few places that carry the additive. You can add it to your paint or you can buy it in paint already. Here are a few I have bookmarked to check into (mostly in no particular order):

http://www.insulatingpaints.com/ <~ this is the one I saw used on the HGTV show
http://www.hytechsales.com/ <~ This one also sells insulating roof paint... we may try it on our old house's roof to see if it works at all
http://www.koolcoat.com/
http://www.cerama-tech-int.com/

Here's the tiny url of the Google search as well... there are many others that carry it... even on eBay. B-)

As for the rest... our house is a composite... part, an addition, is from the 1970's and part was built in 1850. The e-heat panels are a silcone type that we read about in DUs Energy area. They are supposed to be as good for heating AND use about 1/3 the watts. B-) I really like the idea of cleaner fuel anyway and wouldn't miss all the extra blowing dust we get with forced air heat.

As for the outlet plugs... those are great aren't they? I got in the habit of having them in outlets when my girls were little and kept them because they also protect silly cats from getting zapped. :)

I had however forgotten the foam thing... thank you very much for reminding me. B-) We also have decent guage clear plastic we put over most of the windows. It's from the fabric store and although a bit more $$ it lasts longer and we can still see out pretty well. We have all kinds of drafts we've found over our first full winter here. Some we've already blocked with Great Stuff/Dap... we'll be buying a case or two to go around the foundation over the Summer... my legs had to be covered sitting at my desk not just from theroom being cold but the freezing draft on my legs... brrr. The funny thing is.. if we had actually gotten a normal snowfall amount it wouldn't have been so bad.. snow is actually a pretty good insulator. (We had to get plowed out ONCE and we're in northern NY on the border of Canada where we usually get oodles of the while stuff.)

Hopefully all the tricks and improvements we'll be doing slowly over the Summer will help this Winter. We're not willing to go through another Winter like this past one and will do whatever we can to help ensure we don't... we sure can't count on the OIL owned/run Government under BushCo to help at all.

[Frustratedlady]

23. Thanks for the links

I am going to ask the guy who paints for me if he has ever used it. Sounds like a miracle product, but I'm wondering about long time results. Suppose it crazes like glaze on porcelain? I'd hate to have my house look like a broken dinnerware set. <grin>

[WePurrsevere]

24. If he has used it I'd like to hear his experience as well. As for crazing

... although after having "inherited" a few generations of family "packratitis" I've sold (on ebay and local) a few pieces (both china and old furniture) with it to people that were thrilled to own it I'm personally not into the "shabby chic" or "rustic worn" style.

Last year when I was in Lowes or Home Depot they were selling, in large cans for wall treatments, stuff I'd seen in craft shops, in small bottles, to make the crazing/crackling thing happen on purpose... as I said it's not my thing at all but my eldest daughter (28) actually thought it sounded "cool" and seems to like a lot of that type of thing. B-)

[WePurrsevere]

22. Please see my reply to post below (Reply #21) :-) n/t

[BiggJawn]

7. I think it's more like $8 a gallon.

Of course, I used a very un-scientific formulae wherein I figured out the corolation between the pump price and the barrel price at $69 a barrel, then extrapolated that out to $100 a barrel.

About $8 is what I came up with.

Still not enough to make SUV Murka notice.
Enough to make me homeless.

[Rosemary2205]

8. It's the techs all over again.....

also posted in the duplicate thread

Hold your nose and read this -- obviously any excuse will do to keep the mainstream from realizing the big money guys are doing with oil the way they did with the Techs in the late 90's.



http://www.newsmax.com/fir/oilbust.cfm?PROMO_CODE=1EAD-...

For those who can't hold their breath that long

"In fact, the U.S. government admits that crude oil inventories are at 7 year record high -- with 343 million barrels of oil stockpiled in the U.S. alone!"

"Oil prices have been severely exaggerated through manipulation. We have been pounding the table stating that there is plenty of supply to meet worldwide demand, and soon those hedge funds that are now driving up the price of oil will be dumping their oil contracts like there is no tomorrow."

[Warpy]

12. We're not going to see $100 crude

not unless Stupid actually does start boming Iran. Then the sky is the limit, and $100 may be cheap.

On the bright side, this article came out a few days ago: http://www.newtechspy.com/articles06/oildiscovery.html

Don't expect to see a break at the pump, and kiss that dollar a gallon gas we had during Clinton's presidency goodbye forever. It's just not going to happen again.

[SidDithers]

27. That article was pretty thoroughly discredited in its thread..

See here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=364&topic_id=1092772&mesg_id=1106536

Sid

[converted_democrat]

13. This is such utter BS.. The reason things are the way they are is

because of our dumb ass leader.. It isn't Iran's fault, it's ours.. We have no business trying to dictate how the rest of the world acts.. If we'd have left their asses alone, we'd not be in this mess.. If we attack Iran gas will go to 10.00 a gallon.. The first thing they will do is block the Strait of Hormuz, and gas will skyrocket.. Our "leader" is crazier than a shit house rat, and it's going to wreck what's left of our economy..

[TahitiNut]

14. A war machine consumes a LOT of fossil fuels - and that's not coal.

"Remember the Maine!" (It was coal-fueled.) :evilgrin:

The US military oil consumption

by Sohbet Karbuz

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest oil consuming government body in the US and in the world

“Military fuel consumption makes the Department of Defense the single largest consumer of petroleum in the U.S” <1>

“Military fuel consumption for aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and facilities makes the DoD the single largest consumer of petroleum in the U.S” <2>

According to the US Defense Energy Support Center Fact Book 2004, in Fiscal Year 2004, the US military fuel consumption increased to 144 million barrels. This is about 40 million barrels more than the average peacetime military usage.

By the way, 144 million barrels makes 395,000 barrels per day, almost as much as daily energy consumption of Greece.

The US military is the biggest purchaser of oil in the world.

<snip>

... then there's Air Farce One and its entourage. :eyes:


How much would average vehicle fuel economy have to improve to make up for an increased 40,000,000 barrels per year of oil consumption?? When light crude oil goes from $40/barrel to $75/barrel, how much more does that cost the taxpayer annually in just DOD fuel costs?

Fuel & Energy Issues Continue to Get Spotlight in US Military
Posted 28-Mar-2006 12:18

Following our reports today covering the USA's recent purchase of $3.15 billion worth of various fuels and almost $230 million worth of electricity over the past week, it seems like a fuller picture is in order. A CNN online article notes that according to the Defense Energy Support Center, the U.S. military consumed 144.8 million barrels of fuel in 2004, spending $6.7 billion. In 2005, it consumed only 128.3 million barrels, but spent $8.8 billion. For 2006, the energy support center estimates the military will need 130.6 million barrels and pay more than $10 billion.

<snip>

[JNelson6563]

18. The Bush quote:

BUSH PROMISES TO FORCE OPEC TO LOWER PRICES..."What I think the president ought to do is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots...And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price."

...BUSH REFUSES TO LOBBY OPEC LEADERS With gas prices soaring in the United States at the beginning of 2004, the Miami Herald reported the president refused to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders to change their minds."

I'd like to show you some numbers that are posted on DU's very own Stock Market Thread in LBN every business day:


AT THE CLOSING BELL WHEN BUSH TOOK OFFICE on January 22, 2001

Dow - 10,578.24
Nasdaq - 2,757.91
S&P 500 - 1,342.90
Oil - $27.69/bbl
Gold - $266.70/oz.

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON MAY 3RD, 2006

Dow... 11,400.28 -16.17 (-0.14%)
Nasdaq... 2,303.97 -5.87 (-0.25%)
S&P 500... 1,307.85 -5.36 (-0.41%)
Gold future... 668.50 +1.10 (+0.16%)
Oil.... 72.28/bbl

More here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2262981&mesg_id=2262981

Julie

[partylessinOhio]

19. We need to quit making excuses for the idiot running the show!

Bush is the problem! He is doing NOTHING about the rising cost of gas at the pump, heating oil, and higher and higher utility costs. N O T H I N G!

He needs to stop making war and enemies. This is doing nothing positive for the average American. In fact it has a very detrimental impact on all of us except the purveyors of war and the oil companies.

He instead needs to make friends with the countries that have the oil. (Where are his Saudi friends now? Where is Kuwait?) He needs to negotiate with those countries for a fair price for their oil for Americans.

We don't need to be told that it is OUR FAULT for using oil. We don't need to be told what we should be doing. We don't need big brother preaching to us like we are idiots and have not already made adjustments in our usage and our lives. I have already cut as much as I can just to stay afloat financially. I cannot cut any further and still maintain my health in regards to heating and running fans to keep cool.

I need the prices lowered and I'm sure most other Americans do too.

We cannot wait until this nut leaves office, we need something done this week! In fact it should have been done last week.

The jerk needs to park AF1 and cut out the extravagant wastefulness he exhibits almost daily in these unnecessary jaunts.

[lonestarnot]

25. yeppers $5 will be the cheap stuff.

[formernaderite]

26. Great news....since oil has spiked more people are using public

transportation. Europe pays double and the people clamor for public investment in transit. I realize that it hurts some people, but in the long run it will help us convert to a more frugal lifestyle.