It's now official: The Great Odd-Year Energy Steal!

[tom_paine]

I have said it almost from Day One that the Busheviks when they seize and control a notion, are not very different (if not as extreme) from Nazis in that they are terribly predictable.

Freedom, you see, is a turbulent sea which often defies prediction. Free people act independent-mindedly and are known to modify our beliefs after new facts are reveled.

The authoritarian/totalitarian, as most all Busheviks are, are completely opposite of this, and because of that they fall into predictable lazy cycles. Why? because they can get away with it, and the totalitarian Busheviks, like those that came before them, waste as little money and energy as possible lying to their helpless subjects. Why bother, it's not like they/we can do anything substantive about it.

I say all of this because now that they have been in control for 7 years, the pattern is firmly established and, I suspect will continue to be so.

Here it is: Odd years, between the semi-sham elections which are only the barest reflection of the Will of the American People, are the years in which Great Energy Thefts will take place. Like the Phony Enron Energy Crisis of 2001, which first spiked our prices artificially in what would become the template for all the rest.

Even, "election" years, when the need for the people to feel better about their Rulers, so they can make the elections close enough to steal or at the very least control the flood tides, the prices drop preciptiously.

Then the election is over, and the Great Odd-Year Energy Steal begins again! I'll bet the citizens of the Former Soviet Republics or Saudi Arabia, could tell stories of similar predictable cyclic corruption embedded in various industries. Nowadays, America is so much more like those nations than we ever could have imagined.

Now, the hard data...

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?time=24

2003, 2005, and now 2007.

You can't see the Phony Enron Energy Crisis of 2001 because it is just before the beginning of the graph.

In 2006, crude prices skyrocketed, but you'll noticed they dropped the prices like a thermomenter in a deep-freeze when they had to.

The only exception: In 2001, I believe that for the first time the Bushevik Oil Co.s, in a fit of post-9/11 "patriotism" (translation: to keep the economy from tipping into a Great Depression, which would endanger their profits and their Chimperor) they stopped stealing briefly and for that short window in late 2001 and early 2002, we were actually paying what we would be in a relatively non-corrupt nation less like ours or Saudi Arabia.

Now comes the The Great Odd-Year Energy Steal of 2007. Is it just me or are the thefts getting more blatant and costly every cycle they get away with it?

Also, get ready for 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015...

[radfringe]

1. more historical data: gas/oil/profits charts and links

http://inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Rate/Historical_Oil_Prices_Table.asp

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb1107.html
Table 11.7 Crude Oil Prices by Selected Type, 1970-2006 (Nominal Dollars per Barrel)

just using average for Saudi Arabian Light-34° API for purposes of this post, other "flavors" are listed on the chart. Presidents are listed by year they officially took office, prces are per barrel

Carter 1977 - 12.09

Reagan 1981 - 32.00

Poppy Bush 1989 - 13.15

Clinton 1985 - 29.00

Dubya 2001 - 20.30

2006 - 50.86




http://zfacts.com/p/35.html





http://zfacts.com/p/196.html




http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/articles.cfm?ID=13912


Skyrocketing Gasoline Prices and Record Oil Company Profits: No Coincidence

Since George Bush became President in 2001, the top five oil companies in the United States have recorded profits of $342.4 billion through the first quarter of 2006:

ExxonMobil: $118.2 billion
Shell: $82.3 billion
BP: $67.8 billion
ChevronTexaco: $43.1 billion
ConocoPhillips: $31.1 billion

Oil Profits vs Gas Prices
http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/13317043

[mrcheerful]

2. You forgot to mention that the last oil refinery was built in 1976. The excuse? They are tricky to

build, cost lots of money and people don't want them in their back yards. Yeah right, theres a laugh, when was the last time a Wal-Mart have troubles building in someones back yard? The bull shit is so deep and so controled that finding Saddams WMD's would be easier then finding out whats going on with oil. Btw, There are no WMD's so that shows what we are up against.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Refinery Capacity - Another Myth

A couple of notes on this chestnut. First, US refinery capacity in the 90's was at all time record highs and never was there a problem with those refineries cranking out enough gas...or the proper blends at the proper time. Refineries that were taken offline were old and inefficient, while the rest were upgraded and capacity increased. For example one area refinery more than tripled its capacity after a nearby refinery closed...in essence refining more than previously, not less.

The dirty secret is corporate consolidation and how the borrom line and a complicit regime in Washington has created artificial shortages and has slowly risen the US tolerance level for prices...spiking then dropping, then spiking a little higher, then dropping...the opposite of the dead cat bounce. Right now many here would be very happy with $2 a gallon gas...$1 higher than what it was when boooosh grabbed power. Be sured prices will drop with the first hint of a real congressional investigation or some other action. Then we'll get another "crisis" or spike. The supply problem is pushed by companies that see the profits of keeping production low...but not too low to create too much scrutiny. For example, we don't see gas lines or shortages as that would cross that line. Instead, selective refinery closings or failures do the trick to justify the price rise and then the "lack of refineries" and the NIMBY excuse is thrown out as though every single inch of this country is populated.

The oil companies know as long as booooshie remains, they have little to worry about as far as manipulating prices and supply.

[zbdent]

4. the NIMBY is real ... you consider that refineries cause pollution and

odor problems ... so first thing, the people who use the excuse that there aren't any new refineries usually don't want their high-end homes to have their values go down because of the havoc it would cause ... and also, the land prices are prohibitive.

[mrcheerful]

5. Yet just recently people were having fits about a pig farm being built in their back yard

guess what? The pig farm won and people either moved or put up with the smell. Then whats really going on here isn't the people, its the oil companies picking lands that they know will get the most reaction from people so they can throw their hands up and say see its not my fault.