The Associated Press analyzed 36 years of gasoline prices and domestic oil production and found absolutely no correlation. Increases in domestic production (it’s up 15% from three years ago) do not result in decreases in price. Based on this model, if we increased domestic oil production by 50%, best-case we’d see a 10% reduction in gas prices. If there was a correlation, then a gallon of gas would cost $2/gallon right now. But that’s life in a global market. We can drill all we want in the U.S., but producers are going to sell oil where it’s most profitable to do so, and charge as much as they can. →
Tag Archives: oil
Links for May 5th
- Snopes: Obama Lends $2 Billion to Brazilian Oil Company
Heard the one about how the President Obama is spending billions on offshore drilling…in Brazil? Snopes rates it “mostly false.” This is another case of conservatives getting riled up about something that's not true and dates from President Bush's time in the White House. - ThinkProgress: Exxon Makes $30.5 Billion, So GOP Votes Unanimously To Give Them Tax Breaks
All the Republicans and 7 Democrats in the House voted to block a bill that would cut $1.8B in annual subsidies to the oil industry. Republicans voted unanimously to keep them in March, too. Remember, kids: welfare is bad, unless it's going to the world's most profitable industry. - NASA: Results of Epic Space-Time Experiment
I love theoretical physics. Albert Einstein came up with all of these ideas about how space and time should work, based solely on doing math on paper, and as science catches up with him, we keep finding that he's right. In this case, Einstein forecast that mass should curve spacetime. For instance, the mass of Earth should cause the very fabric of the universe to twist and warp around it. By launching some gyroscopes into space seven years ago—containing the most perfect spheres ever made—and observing how their spin drifts, it was observed that Einstein's calculations were spot-on. NASA's work on the project began 47 years ago, culminating in this magnificent confirmation of how the universe works.
Links for March 2nd
- The Gavel: 0—Number of Republicans Who Voted To Cut Taxpayer Subsidies for Big Oil
Whether we should continue to subsidize big oil companies (the world's most profitable businesses, let's remember) came to a vote in the House. Republicans voted unanimously in favor. - IT World: Asus motherboard box doubles as a PC case
Asus is going to start shipping one of their Mini ATX motherboards in a padded cardboard box that can double as a case for the computer. They figure it'd only last for about a year. Whether or not anybody actually wants a cardboard box as a computer, I have no idea, but it's definitely clever. A cardboard box computer is sort of the anti-Apple, to a degree that I have to admire. - Supreme Court: Snyder v. Phelps
Good for the Supreme Court for ruling in favor of Westboro Baptist Church. While Phelps and company are wretched human beings who behave in outrageously awful behavior, they have every legal right to do their thing. What's notable about this decision is that there was a dissenter—Justice Alito.
“Americans are addicted to oil.”
George Allen: “Americans are not addicted to oil. Americans are addicted to freedom.” Who was it, again, who said that Americans are addicted to oil? Oh, right—President Bush, in his SOTU address. Of course, Allen is just being consistent with his support for legalizing drugs. a smug hypocritical dope.
No-bid oil contracts in Iraq? Whhhhhaaaaaa???
Remember those crazy lefties who said that President Bush and Vice President Cheney — oilmen both — only invaded Iraq so that American oil companies could take over Iraq’s oil fields via no-bid contracts? Hey — whaddya know? — they were right. Let’s all practice our surprised faces.