We can't afford "Kyoto" dammit!

[salinen]

But we can afford a trillion dollar war. And a dozen or so bases in Iraq to become the new demilitarized zone. Are oil prices artificially raised by OPEC to punish America? Should we draft more young to fight in wars for resource and control thereby taking more potential money out of the system?

Way to fuck up junior.

[Deep13]

1. Kyoto will immediately force this country into neolithic conditions!

And if that is necessary to save the Earth, so be it. Unless Dubya knows where we can get a deal on another planet.

[justinsb]

2. No oil prices aren't artificially raised by OPEC

demand is going through the roof. Oil/Gas prices aren't coming back down anymore. There may be little dips but on the whole it will keep going up and up.

[salinen]

3. One day soon America

may be an oil exporter?

[justinsb]

4. How do you figure that will happen?

[TahitiNut]

6. When people in the US no longer have the ability to pay ...

... for all the oil produced in the US itself, the privatized oil industry will sell to the highest bidders ... overseas.

This could be the eventual consequence of the bankrupting of the U.S. by private profiteers. The declining value of the dollar (balance of trade) coupled with the decimation of the working class (lower 90%) can lead to such a condition. Profit has no loyalty to other than money.

[TahitiNut]

5. "Demand" does NOT increase the costs of production.

"Demand" is an opportunity for monopolists/oligopolists to profit from a shortage. It's exploitation. It's part of the propaganda of capitalism that such profits are justified - but only under the theory that the increased revenue opportunities translate into increased production and increased competition.

Neither increased production nor increased competition is possible, however, in a market that's controlled by a cartel (OPEC) for a commodity (oil) that is a limited resource. (Oil "production" is a geological process taking eons.)

What's ethically bankrupt about this is the degree to which a public (natural) resource is privatized. In a "just" socioeconomic system, allocation of such a resource would be controlled by other than the means to pay. "Need" and ability to pay are rarely congruent.

[justinsb]

7. Demand increases prices

when supply is no longer sufficient to meet it, and that seems to be the case. From what I understand anyway, everyone is operating at full capacity and demand just keeps going up. That is what is affecting the price.

In any case I believe it's a good thing. People have known about the economies vulnerablility to oil prices since at least the 70s, and nothing has changed. The US wouldn't sign Kyoto, no significant steps toward alternative fuels have been taken. Personal conservation hasn't really happened on any large scale. As oil prices continue to go up there will be no alternative but to actually begin addressing the problem.

[Oversea Visitor]

8. Serious

Just some research need you can replace petrol with corn oil hey.
In Malaysia we did it with palm oil. Dont see why it cannot be done with corn.