Guest Post: There Are No Good Outcomes

Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform

There Are No Good Outcomes

The political class and their mouthpieces in the corporate controlled
mainstream media are desperately trying to spin the oil price surge as a
temporary inconvenience that will not derail their phony recovery
story. Brent crude closed at $116 per barrel yesterday. West Texas crude
closed at $104 per barrel. Unleaded gas has risen by 22% in the last
month and 60% since September 1, 2010. I’m sure this slight increase
hasn’t impacted Ben Bernanke or Lloyd Blankfein. Their limo drivers just
charge it to their unlimited expense accounts. Joe Sixpack, driving his
15 mpg Dodge RAM pickup, is now forking over an extra $1,200 per year
in gas expenditures, not to mention more for everything impacted by oil
such as food, utilities, and anything transported to their local
Wal-Mart by truck (everything). Luckily, the Federal Reserve and crooked
politicians only care about their comrades in the top 1% elitist
society, for whom oil is an investment, not an expense.  

               UNLEADED GAS 

The “experts” speak as if they know what will happen, even
though they never saw the rebellions coming in Tunisia, Egypt or Libya.
They assure the masses that Libya doesn’t really have an impact on U.S.
oil supply. It’s as if these shills never took Econ 101 in college.
World oil demand is 88 million barrels per day. Oil supply is 88 million
barrels per day. If 1 million barrels of oil supply are taken off-line,
it doesn’t matter that the U.S. doesn’t get their oil from Libya. The
Italians need their oil. Do the talking heads understand that oil is
fungible? The supplier will ship the oil to the highest bidder.
Presto!!! – $116 a barrel oil.

With Friends Like This, Who Needs Enemies

Let’s assess the probability of things getting better in the near,
medium, long term or ever term. Take a gander at the chart below. These
countries account for 29% of the daily world oil supply. Does it strike
you as a list of stable countries with happy populations of employed
young men?  Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Iran have already experienced
revolution or are on the verge of revolution. Algeria is dead man
walking. The Saudi royal family is trying to buy off the masses to stay
in power. The revolution genie is out of the bottle. It can’t be put
back. Mix 40% unemployment, with millions of young men, no hope, and
some Muslim fundamentalism and you’ve got yourself an out of control
situation. No amount of public relations spin will create a positive
outcome for the United States. The existing world order of despots,
kings, and military juntas was just fine for Washington DC. They poured
hundreds of billions of “aid”, tanks, helicopters and missiles to these
“freedom fighter” despots who diverted the billions to their Swiss bank
accounts and fell into line with U.S. policy. No matter who takes power
when these revolutions succeed in toppling our puppets, the new regimes
will not be friendlier toward America. And they still have the oil. 

	Proven Oil	Oil
Country	Reserves (bil barrels)	Production Per Day
Saudi Arabia	265	8,400,000
Iran	137	3,700,000
Iraq	115	2,700,000
UAE	98	2,300,000
Kuwait	102	2,300,000
Libya	46	1,600,000
Algeria	12	1,300,000
Qatar	25	820,000
Oman	6	810,000
Egypt	4	742,000
Syria	3	376,000
Yemen	3	298,000

One look at the chart of self reported world oil reserves paints a
picture of woe for the United States. Countries in the tinderbox of the
Middle East and Africa control 65% of the world’s oil reserves. Saudi
Arabia controls 20%, Iran and Iraq control 11% each, Venezuela controls
7%, Russia 5%, and Libya 3%. So, countries that can barely stomach our
existence, hate us, or just despise us, control 57% of the world’s
remaining oil. Sounds like a recipe for lower oil prices in the future.
The two countries on our border are the only dependable suppliers for
the U.S. Canada controls 13% of the world oil reserves, mostly in its
tar sands. Mexico controls just over 1% of the world’s oil reserves, but
supplies 13% of the U.S. daily oil supply.

Drill, Baby, Drill

Now for a reality check on the “Drill Baby Drill” propagandists like
Larry Kudlow and the other dishonest Republican shills. The United
States controls a full 1.58% of the remaining oil reserves in the world.
We have 21.3 billion barrels of reserves versus 264 billion barrels in
Saudi Arabia. We are currently producing 9 million barrels per day. At
that production rate, the U.S. will deplete its proven reserves in the
next 6 to 10 years. New discoveries will not be able to keep up with
depletion of existing wells. The good news just keeps coming. Mexico’s
oil production has been dependent upon one giant oil field since 1976.
The Cantarell oil field produced 2.1 million barrels per day in 2003 at
its peak. It is currently producing 464,000 barrels per day. Peak oil
has arrived in Mexico. By 2015, the country that currently supplies 13%
of our daily oil supply will become a net importer of oil. Drill Baby
Drill. 

Based upon the monthly import data below from the IEA, it would
appear that, to paraphrase Chief Brody in Jaws, we’re going to need more
corn. As the Obama administration operates in denial of these simple
facts, they will continue to push ethanol and Chevy Volts to save us
from dirty oil. We are already diverting 40% of our corn crop to the
ethanol boondoggle. I’m sure that has nothing to do with the 98%
increase in corn prices in the last year. Maybe tax credits for solar
panels on SUVs and rubber band propeller cars will save the day.

We know for a fact that Mexico’s 1.2 million barrels per day will
evaporate in the next few years. But, at least we have that solid
dependable 2.7 million barrels per day (30% of our daily imports) from
those stable bastions of democracy Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Angola, and
Algeria. Makes you want to go out and buy a Hummer. The storyline being
sold to the American people is that there is no need to worry. Saudi
Arabia will step to the plate and make up for any shortfalls throughout
the world. Just one problem. Saudi Arabia is lying about their reserves
and their ability to increase production. They’d fit in very well in
Congress and on Wall Street.

Crude Oil Imports (Top 15 Countries) (Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country	Dec-10	Nov-10	YTD 2010	Dec-09	YTD 2009
CANADA	2,064	1,975	1,972	2,104	1,943
MEXICO	1,223	1,229	1,140	1,063	1,092
SAUDI ARABIA	1,076	1,119	1,080	870	980
NIGERIA	1,024	806	986	1,020	776
VENEZUELA	825	884	912	772	951
IRAQ	336	340	414	325	449
ANGOLA	307	263	380	266	448
BRAZIL	271	188	254	181	295
ALGERIA	262	379	325	336	281
COLOMBIA	220	489	338	179	251
ECUADOR	192	188	195	86	181
RUSSIA	158	85	252	168	230
KUWAIT	125	170	195	160	180
UNITED KINGDOM	124	80	120	67	103
ARGENTINA	85	35	29	33	53

Lies, Obfuscation, Misinformation & Denial

The late Matt Simmons made the strong case In his book Twilight in the Desert that
Saudi Arabia has been lying about their reserves for years. Documents
released by Wikileaks give support to this contention. Cables from the
U.S. Embassy in Riyadh , released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take
seriously a warning from senior Saudi government oil executive Sadad
al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration at the Saudi oil
monopoly Aramco, that the kingdom’s crude oil reserves may have been
overstated by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%.
The UK Guardian reported:

According to the cables, which date
between 2007-09, Husseini said Saudi Arabia might reach an output of 12m
barrels a day in 10 years but before then – possibly as early as 2012 –
global oil production would have hit its highest point. This crunch
point is known as “peak oil”.

Husseini said that at that point Aramco
would not be able to stop the rise of global oil prices because the
Saudi energy industry had overstated its recoverable reserves to spur
foreign investment. He argued that Aramco had badly underestimated the
time needed to bring new oil on tap.

One cable said: “According to
al-Husseini, the crux of the issue is twofold. First, it is possible
that Saudi reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described, and the
timeline for their production not as unrestrained as Aramco and energy
optimists would like to portray.”

The US consul then told Washington:
“While al-Husseini fundamentally contradicts the Aramco company line, he
is no doomsday theorist. His pedigree, experience and outlook demand
that his predictions be thoughtfully considered.”

A fourth cable, in October 2009,
claimed that escalating electricity demand by Saudi Arabia may further
constrain Saudi oil exports. “Demand [for electricity] is expected to
grow 10% a year over the next decade as a result of population and
economic growth. As a result it will need to double its generation
capacity to 68,000MW in 2018,” it said.

It also reported major project delays
and accidents as “evidence that the Saudi Aramco is having to run harder
to stay in place – to replace the decline in existing production.”
While fears of premature “peak oil” and Saudi production problems had
been expressed before, no US official has come close to saying this in
public.

The overstatement of reserves by Saudi
Arabia and most of the OPEC countries should be abundantly clear to
anyone with a smattering of critical thinking skills. This eliminates
just about everyone on CNBC or Fox News. Essentially, the self reported,
unaudited declared oil reserves from OPEC members are a fraud.
Production quotas for each member of OPEC are dependent upon their oil
reserve amount. When this was instituted in the early 1980s, shockingly
OPEC countries miraculously added nearly 300 billion barrels to proven
reserves in a six year period with NO NEW DISCOVERIES of oil. The chart
below shows the unexplained jumps in reserves in red. Do you honestly
believe any self reported number from Iran or Venezuela? Dr. Ali Samsam
Bakhtiari, a former senior expert of the National Iranian Oil Company,
has estimated that Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates have overstated reserves by a combined 320–390 billion barrels
and has said, “As for Iran, the usually accepted official 132 billion
barrels is almost one hundred billion over any realistic estimate.”

Using some common sense, someone might ask,
“How could Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves remain above 260 million for the
last 22 years despite pumping over 60 billion barrels during this time
frame, and not making any major new discoveries?” Maybe their
statisticians did their training at Goldman Sachs or the Federal
Reserve. The monster Saudi oil fields are over 40 years old. They will
deplete. Oil is finite. They will not refill abiotically like some
crackpots contend. Saudi Arabia’s production peaked in 2005 and it has
been unable to reach that level since. The spin sheiks in Riyadh and
spin doctors in Washington DC cannot spin oil out of sand. Peak oil is
about to choke the American way of life.    

Declared reserves of major Opec Producers (billion of barrels)
BP Statistical Review – June 2009
Year	Iran	Iraq	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia	UAE	Venezuela	Libya	Nigeria
1980	58.3	30.0	67.9	168.0	30.4	19.5	20.3	16.7
1981	57.0	32.0	67.7	167.9	32.2	19.9	22.6	16.5
1982	56.1	59.0	67.2	165.5	32.4	24.9	22.2	16.8
1983	55.3	65.0	67.0	168.8	32.3	25.9	21.8	16.6
1984	58.9	65.0	92.7	171.7	32.5	28.0	21.4	16.7
1985	59.0	65.0	92.5	171.5	33.0	54.5	21.3	16.6
1986	92.9	72.0	94.5	169.7	97.2	55.5	22.8	16.1
1987	92.9	100.0	94.5	169.6	98.1	58.1	22.8	16.0
1988	92.9	100.0	94.5	255.0	98.1	58.5	22.8	16.0
1989	92.9	100.0	97.1	260.1	98.1	59.0	22.8	16.0
1990	92.9	100.0	97.0	260.3	98.1	60.1	22.8	17.1
1991	92.9	100.0	96.5	260.9	98.1	62.6	22.8	20.0
1992	92.9	100.0	96.5	261.2	98.1	63.3	22.8	21.0
1993	92.9	100.0	96.5	261.4	98.1	64.4	22.8	21.0
1994	94.3	100.0	96.5	261.4	98.1	64.9	22.8	21.0
1995	93.7	100.0	96.5	261.5	98.1	66.3	29.5	20.8
1996	92.6	112.0	96.5	261.4	97.8	72.7	29.5	20.8
1997	92.6	112.5	96.5	261.5	97.8	74.9	29.5	20.8
1998	93.7	112.5	96.5	261.5	97.8	76.1	29.5	22.5
1999	93.1	112.5	96.5	262.8	97.8	76.8	29.5	29.0
2000	99.5	112.5	96.5	262.8	97.8	76.8	36.0	29.0
2001	99.1	115.0	96.5	262.7	97.8	77.7	36.0	31.5
2002	130.7	115.0	96.5	262.8	97.8	77.3	36.0	34.3
2003	133.3	115.0	99.0	262.7	97.8	77.2	39.1	35.3
2004	132.7	115.0	101.5	264.3	97.8	79.7	39.1	35.9
2005	137.5	115.0	101.5	264.2	97.8	80.0	41.5	36.2
2006	138.4	115.0	101.5	264.3	97.8	87.3	41.5	36.2
2007	138.2	115.0	101.5	264.2	97.8	99.4	43.7	36.2
2008	137.6	115.0	101.5	264.1	97.8	99.4	43.7	36.2

The denial, accusations and misinformation have already begun.
Congressional hearings will be called to blame Big Oil and the dreaded
speculators. Americans always need a bogeyman to blame for their
mindless decisions and willingness to be led to slaughter by corrupt
politicians. Big oil companies do benefit from higher oil prices. Big
oil companies spend millions buying off Congressmen. Big oil
companies cut corners, ignore safety procedures, and seek profits by any
means possible. But, they do not control the oil. Nations control the
oil. Many of these nations are led by lying, corrupt, evil despots. That
is a fact. Blustering moronic Congressmen going after oil executives
and phantom speculators is just a sideshow. It will divert the
non-thinking masses from the truth that our leaders haven’t allowed a
refinery or nuclear power plant to be built since 1977. These leaders
have promoted and subsidized corn based ethanol that requires more
energy to produce than it creates and has driven the cost of our food
sky high. We are more dependent on foreign oil than any time in our
history.

The real speculators are the Americans who clog our highways every
morning driving monster SUVs, turbocharged sports cars, gas guzzling
minivans, and pickup trucks that make them feel like salt of the earth
tough guys despite living in their 6,000 square foot energy sucking
McMansions in suburban tracts 30 miles from their jobs, if they have
one. The ignorance of the average American car buyer knows no bounds.
The recent bounce back in auto sales was led by SUVs and pickups. The
green clean cars are nothing but hype and bullshit. GM expects to sell
about 10,000 Volts this year, and Nissan expects to sell about 25,000
Leafs in the United States, a piss in the ocean compared with the
millions of sport wagons and SUVs purchased by Americans annually.
Americans have the attention span of a gnat and are already dazed and
confused by the surge in gas prices to $3.50 per gallon.

When oil prices spiked to $147 barrel in 2008, Americans were
spending $467 billion per year for fuel. By early 2009, the collapse in
energy prices due to the worldwide recession reduced the annual
expenditure to $265 billion, freeing up over $200 billion for consumers
to spend on other items, pay down debt, or save. Expenditures for fuel
had already surged back to $400 billion before the recent spike in oil
prices. Next stop $500 billion. That should do wonders for the faux
economic recovery that has been touted by Obama and the MSM for the last
year. The years of denial, lies, indecision, bad decisions, and inertia
have left the country vulnerable and at the mercy of countries in far
off lands that despise our way of life.

There are no good outcomes, only bad, really bad, and catastrophic.
Take your pick. Could gas prices drop below $3.00 per gallon if the
world sinks back into recession? Yes. But it would only be momentary.
The easy to access supply is dwindling. The medium and long term
direction of gas at the pump is up. There is nothing that can be done in
the next five years to prevent significantly higher oil prices. A full
court press of realistic ideas like converting our truck fleets to
natural gas, a major effort to build nuclear power plants, more
drilling, greater use of wind, geothermal, and solar would take at least
a decade to have an impact. There is no consensus or resolve to
undertake such an effort. Therefore, Americans will suffer the
consequences. Be a good American and take advantage of GM’s no interest
for 7 years deal on their biggest baddest SUVs and buy two. What could
go wrong?

Comments

[Weisbrot]

the SEIU busses them in from all over the country, feeds them, pays them, and even registers them to vote (but then again they also register the dead to vote too!)

[sethstorm]

There is nothing that can be done in the next five years to prevent significantly higher oil prices

Not sure that's entirely true.  There are options to force the oil price down to $80, and make the difference up with the military.

[Highrev]

Maybe someone else has mentioned it, but it's not just oil.

Take into account what these events in North Africa mean in economic terms (non-oil) for their largest trading partner, a.k.a., Europe!

[DaylightWastingTime]

a stuck pedal ruined toyota, maybe we should drive the currency better or at least be honest in our recall.

[bb5]

to pretend that speculators are "phantom" and a sideshow is just plain ignorant. The speculators are the banksters and they are anything but phantom. Demand is the main factor but it didn't fall from $140 into the $30's based solely on demand. This reminds me of Bernanke and Paulson telling congress that speculation was not involved in $140 oil while the banksters had ships loaded with oil and on ground storage (as seen on 60 minutes.)

[JR]

+100. This is the whole debate in a nutshell – priceless, even in petrodollars.

[Bicycle Repairman]

+$200/bbl.  The banksters use the peak oil myth to cover their tracks.

[Waterfallsparkles]

I say HOGWASH. Fear propoganda to get the price up.

There are many ways to heat our homes and fuel our cars without oil.  The Government just does not support them.

What about Geothermal?  What about Mirror eneregy?  What about Battery motors?  Too many alteratives that the Government wants to hide for some reason from the public.

I believe that someone in Government wants higher Oil prices and refuses to look at alternative sources of energy.

[velobabe]

i heated my house of 30 years with wood. you have replace the stupid fireplace, which is only for the visual, with wood stoves. like a

Wood Stoves from Jøtu

[Waterfallsparkles]

I am going to have to break down and buy a Wood Stove insert soon.  I have lots of dead wood and trees in my back yard that could heat my home all winter.

My only reason for not buying is the cost of the insert and the installation costs.  About $4,500. here in Md.

[DaylightWastingTime]

geothermal is a brilliant concept in terms of efficiency but if you harness it from something like yellowstone the cauldara of that energy forge is pushing a lake inches every year. should we tap that keg? i think h3 or cold fusion is more practical, why wake sleeping giants unless you are afraid of a suntan. i guess the world should stop planting incandescent bulbs. cfl is a heavy metal light, light emitting diodes have the switch to discipline the world. efficiency is the best titration.

allegedly an italion duo cradled the cat that is cold fusion, their conjecture is that 400 watts will make 1200. and did a few demos at scientific forums. but their word is as strong as their polydactal government.

[Waterfallsparkles]

Geothermal has been used here in Md. successfully.  Some of the larger buildings down town have converted to Geothermal heat.  I also could probably get Geothermal heat thru pipes throught my yard as I have enough land space.

The drawback again is the cost of drilling the wells.  Probably would need three wells at a cost of about $4,000. and the cost of the furnace.

You do not have to live near Yellowstone to use Geothermal.

[Seer]

Fundamentals!   Start with passive solar.

Regarding incandescent bulbs, I wish people would lay off blasting them.  In the winter there isn't any waste, as the excess heat is used to warm the living space (not to mention better light spectrum).  Now then, using them in the cooling months while running AC I'd take a different view...

[DaylightWastingTime]

what if gas prices choke you, consider it a humanitarian effort. sigh. but green technology will leave you cyanotic, america was made to bleed the earth black. but the flame is as bright as the stripes that fan it. consider yourself priveledged if you live in the perimeter. if you don't appreciate it, more than your car will be hungry.

[equity_momo]

Im starting to find Ferfals blog about living in Argentina post-default-hyperinflation more useful than the average post on ZH.  That is not to knock ZH , i think its head and shoulders the best financial blog out there. But its old news. All of it is ooooold news. We are going round in circles.

Collapse is coming - time to start reading TEOTWAWKI books.

[DaylightWastingTime]

collapse is merely a lapse of judgement and america picks the jury, the grapes of wrath hang low. strange fruit to those who can't taste the sweetness of dominance.

[DaylightWastingTime]

and secondly, i wish i held the patent on a solar powered tank, just because the absurd is a beautiful fetish. maybe canada's oil sands will stop our erosion. golden cufflinks on that refinement.

[DaylightWastingTime]

what kind of club is this durden? nerfed for white collars, contrasted for the palate of suffocation? maybe these readers should wear the plastic collar i pulled a 6 pack off of.

[velobabe]

hey TIME, what you calling durden out?  is this your first night in fight club?

i will fight you† i don't drink no beer that comes with a plastic six ring collar, and i know my man tyler, don't either. go to some cheap blog, that drinks coors or something to find this kind of collar. you have to fight if this is your first night.

[DaylightWastingTime]

let me bait your hook because you aren't throwing it right.

[no cnbc cretin]

Great article. Thanks.

[no cnbc cretin]

Whoever junked me is some Hummer douche bag. That's okay. Those folks will be taken out of the gene pool soon enough.

[AN0NYM0US]

just filled up $3.86 for premium  $3.56 for regular

[Bicycle Repairman]

Dealing with the cult is tiresome.  Peak oil or peak energy is BS.

Go back to the oil drum mofos.

[Jim Quinn]

Tricycle Boy chimes in with another worthless post. Didn't your mother tell you that if you have nothing to say, don't say it? Instead you want the world to know how ignorant you are.  

[Bicycle Repairman]

This is ZH, children.  No extra points for ad hominem attacks.

[snowball777]

'cult'...'mofos'...uh huh.

Whatever, bunboy.

[DavidPierre]

SmokeyQuinn chimes in with another worthless post.

Didn't all your EWE LOVERs @...

www.TheBestialityPlatform.com

...tell you that if you have nothing to say, don't say it? Instead you want the world to know how ignorant you are.

Just more of the same BS from another 9/11MORON... reused, recycled, regurgitated and well documented inanities. 

Chafe thrown into the web to divert attention and waste resources debating fringe and pop culture issues. 

Cribbed ... cut-&-pasted off Wiki-peed-on-ya, BLS lies, other people's charts and graphs, and off of other more honest and competent sites. 

Quinn serves His  Master's Voice,(PNAC).

He is just another bitch that comes to his trainer's whistle.  His verbage just one of many broken records, skipping in place... repeating over and over and over...

Sound and Fury... Signifying Nothing!

[cosmictrainwreck]

c'mon, Dave... tell us how you really feel. Don't be mincin' words...

[DavidPierre]

You have not been around long enough to even begin to understand...

Try this on for some W/E research on SmokeyQuinn.

#780454

Learn how I really feel... and who Quinn really is.

..........................................................

cosmictrainwreck
on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 22:59
#781133

I'm new here...my first encounter with Mr. Q, but sure seems like a touchy little bitch. Go back to page one and look... it's hilarious. He just gets hotter and hotter at every exchange - hope he doesn't blow a gasket. Well, I guess if you put all that work [approx 75% too much] into something and it's not appreciated....waahhh

.....................................................

Mia Culpa!

[cosmictrainwreck]

WOW. Mia culpa on me, DavidPierre. I sit corrected. Seriously, dude, I apologize for jesting in an inappropriately familiar manner. My bad; meant no offense. Am a little confused, though, at the jab, seeing as how we appear to be on same page re Mr. Quinn. PS: thanks for pulling up my comment. I'd forgotten that one....one of my better ones, I must say. ha!

[DavidPierre]

cosmic:

NeoNazis... 9/11LIARS litter the web with their regurgatitated posts and useless blogs.

The SmokeyQuinns of the ameriKlan empire are only the tiny branches connected and only slightly removed from the basic root and trunk of the problem... blood thirsty Racism and never ending quest for empire which has infected the USSA since its formation.

  They run wild... almost unchecked on the web, unaware and unwilling to learn, that they are just mopping up behind the elite's MSM propaganda machine... herding the stragglers in... corraling the bewildered sheep who fancy themselves as free thinking contrarians.

Unable and unwilling to see or even consider that they and their quest for web fame, and a delusional Internet based monetary bonanza, are playing straight into the game of 'smoke and mirrors' played be the plantation masters... the TPTB... hidden, and for now, safe in their palaces.

Even ZH seems to be drifting... somewhat rusted and tarnished by success... using volume of articles and the many useless comments... the braying of keyboard Asses... as a substitute for, and instead of, substance and quality.

Common web noise... drowning out the music of Truth.

.................................................

Sorry for misreading you.  I appreciate your response.

[Smokey1]

David Pierre chimes in with another hit piece on Quinn. GFD, DP, why don't you give it a rest? Everybody on Quinn's blog knows that he and I are two different people. You look like a damn fool by insisting we're the same person.

I'm surprised you found time to comment here. I thought you'd be beating off while watching videos of those planes hitting the towers.

I'll let you return to screwing your sheep now.

[DavidPierre]

SmokeyQuinn:

You were outed over a year ago, by your own webmaster, who openly and publicly published the grim facts.

He dumped your sorry, Liar's ass from the free website he gave you, documenting that you used many and various aliases on your blog. 

You and yours are a public joke on ZH to anyone willing to do the simple research .

#780454

.................................................

Return to your pathetic blog where only your sheep will respect you in the morning.

[trav7777]

dipshit...

http://truecostblog.com/2009/07/14/is-peak-oil-real-a-list-of-countries-past-peak/

[Flakmeister]

 You are a sucker for punishment... Just like a stupid dog that keeps returning to a master that beats him....

[captain_menace]

Totally agree.  Energy is meaningless.

All that matters is that I am in tune with my inner imbecile.

[rich_wicks]

I don't feel sorry for J6P driving his 15 MPG Dodge RAM.

The Model T from 1910, got 21 MPG.  J6P drives that gas guzzler because J6P likes to waste gasoline.

[Bicycle Repairman]

When J6P was finally offered the 60 mpg Prius, he jumped on it.

Smart cars that get 80 mpg in Europe magically only get 35 mpg in the USA.

[Jim Quinn]

Jumped at it my ass.

Annual vehicle sales in the US are 10 million and 130,000 are Priuses.

[Bicycle Repairman]

I live in New England, and I see them everywhere.  SUVs have greatly deceased in numbers.  We must have all the Priuses and Subarus.

[Bicycle Repairman]

I guess I wouldn't mind seeing some information.  Fleet sales versus non-fleet.  Trucks versus automobiles.  Your data seems to be skewed to me.  Source?

[Jim Quinn]

Google annual Prius sales. I'm sure you are capable of doing your own research.

[Bicycle Repairman]

While hybrid vehicles are currently 3 percent of the market, they are the fastest growing segment.  If you added in new higher mileage conventional gas vehicles the market share would be much higher, and the growth would also be high.

The American people want and have wanted affordable high gas mileage vehicles.  Finally they are getting that choice

[Jim Quinn]

Bike Boy

Why would we need priuses and hybrids if Peak oil is bullshit led by cult leaders?

Can you at least be coherent in your argument?

[Bicycle Repairman]

Like I said, temper, temper, jimbo.

[rich_wicks]

I wish you were correct.  I live in Silicon Valley.  I see more Hummers than I do see Prius'.

I think we need a good old fashion starvation to get people to think about their consumption a little more carefully.

[New_Meat]

rich_w: probably 'cuz the SV crowd are a) more concerned with their safety on the 101 (do unto others before they do unto you) and b) because they intuitively understand battery life, nickel mining effects to produce said batteries, and disposal costs of same.

Best Prius I ever saw: largish American Flag flying and bumper sticker: "Drill-Baby- Drill."

- Ned

{please let all of us know your opinion of Uranium storage long term vs. Nickel storage over same period.}

{{not that there's anything wrong with (the bank) owning the prius and u driving it.  That's your choice, just don't be too much of a prig when you bring up the subject.  Thank u very much.}}

[Bicycle Repairman]

I never see Hummers anymore.

[Hulk]

I have never seen a hummer either...but she sure did have a pretty forehead!

[nmewn]

Badum bump (sound of cymbals crashing)...LOL.

[snowball777]

Gotta work on those abs, then.

[aerojet]

You shouldn't feel anything, either way, since you aren't paying for their gas!  The Model T was a remarkably slow, fragile vehicle compared to a Dodge Ram, btw.

[10kby2k]

Fuck Bernanke, fuck O'Bama, fuck 'em all FOR NOT TELLING US THE STRAIGHT UP TRUTH about things. Its the deceit and double talk that enrages people.

[newworldorder]

Sorry to disapoint you - but it only enrages those us reading ZH and similar blogs of interest. The vast majority and asleep or confused by these detaisl.

[New_Meat]

10kx2k: Yes, it is March, so we will be inflicted with O'B's opinions on Saint Paddie and March Madness.  But really, do you think that POTUS and TOTUS have a sufficiently mature relationship where TOTUS can actually express THE TRUTH?  Really?  After all, they've only been together like 3 years.  And there were times when TOTUS was not invited, disaster ensued, and, well, I have on good authority that TOTUS was nonplussed.  Resentments grow, Saul taught POTUS this, but TOTUS really knows.  Michelle appears to be jealous, so is lecturing all and sundry on not eating too much--as she demonstrates the reason for her lecture.

So, well:

"Fuck Bernanke, fuck O'Bama, fuck 'em all..."

As the old saying goes: 'not even with YOUR dick."

- Ned

[cosmictrainwreck]

"not even with...." LOL.... good one, Ned

[DaylightWastingTime]

in terms of economy the best privations keep their teeth.

[Agent 440]

If the US was to do to food what OPEC does for oil, we'd be way ahead of this game. But whenever someone misses a meal somewhere in the world... the media is very quick with the  'World's Richest Nation' schtick...

[Milton Waddams]

Entertaining to watch the proles desperately grasp for enemies while the global elite align to permanently affix a boot to their collective throats.

[10kby2k]

Oil for blood. Plow entire military budget into securing oil by any means possible.

[cosmictrainwreck]

hmmm.... let be see what I can do with the Appropriations Committee; still have a few chits out

[snowball777]

You mean again?

[DaylightWastingTime]

the world will edit for credit, shamless in bifocals

[10kby2k]

Did you see Bernanke in the BIG guzzling SUV he gets driven in to the FOMC meeting. It was an Armada of guzzlers. Sheepish BB in his big SUV. What a pansy.

[John_Coltrane]

Unfortunately, the solution to any scarce commodity is high prices (i.e. the solution to high prices is high prices).  Then alternatives such a direct coal liquefaction to produce hydrocarbon fuels, gasses and other chemicals will dominate instead of crude oil refining.  When America dominated world steel making at the turn of the last century, our entir fossil fuel cycle was coal based.  Only, the discovery of cheap, near surface crude, changed this picture.  Instead of burning coal directly, we simply refine it (hydrogenated and crack it) as we do crude-and we can modify current refineries to do this.  SASOL in south africa already does this to supply their entire economy.  Like France and Japan, we could set a goal of supplying 80% of our electricity generation from nuclear (we already get 20% based upon plants built 20-40 years ago).  A huge construction boom will follow the provision of low costs goverment backed loans and expedited permits.  The only barrier is political not technical as the above examples of countries which have already done this show.  Burning coal directly is the most wasteful application of its unique chemical structure and properties.

[10kby2k]

Now the next pressing world problem......how can we get BB to grow hair and look tolerable?

[the PTB]

Fear and chaos serve the PTB who are intent on a world gov't and currency, the bancor.  Oil "scarcity" is foundational to such plans.  

The submitted discourse does not consider that oil has been and is created through an abiotic process.  Maybe the Zero's could devote a piece to that "alternative" theory to provide proper prospective to the current oil "crisis".  

Remember that money power controls most of the media and NGOs such as the universities and so-called think tanks who midwifed the "fossil fuel" hypothesis for which there is no evidence to support.

[Raphio]

 the "theory" of abiotic oil creation is to biotic oil creation as the "theory" of creationism is to evolution..... ie..backasswardism

[trav7777]

uh...plant fossils in coal are so common as to be unexceptional

[snowball777]

We'll get right on that, just after the article on the cost of infrastructure for compressed unicorn farts.

[Bicycle Repairman]

We are now drilling for, and finding, oil below 10,000 feet.  No organic life of any kind has ever lived at that depth.  The "fossil fuel" myth can now be discarded along with the "flat earth" myth.

[RichardP]

When land masses pull apart, is it possible that cracks would be created into which fluid could drain?  And what large-scale studies have ever been conducted that proved no organic life of any kind has ever lived at that depth?

I assume you are familiar with the concept of subduction?  Great amounts of organic material can be carried quite deep in this process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subduction

[Bicycle Repairman]

Nice try.  10,000+ feet.  No way.

Whether it's alien remains on Titan or the Earth swallowing large amounts of organic matter, you guys will make up any BS to serve your masters.

[Flakmeister]

  Umm. do you know what sedimentary rock is?

Here is a question. If 0.01 mm of material per year is deposited on a layer, how many years gets you 10,000 ft?

[Bicycle Repairman]

More 8th grade earth science.  Glad to see you made it most of the way to your GED.  You got some arithmetic, too?  Sweet.

[Flakmeister]

  Can you even do the calculation?

I will ask you flat out. Are you a Creationist?

[Bicycle Repairman]

No.  You'll have to find another "tar brush" to hit me with.

[Flakmeister]

  Well, do the simple arithmetic. Give me the answer. It is not a geology question, it is a 5th grade math question. Also tell me what sedimentary rocks are? A simple question.

How old is the Earth? How old are the rocks we find in the Texas oil fields?

[Bicycle Repairman]

Useless trivia.

And who the 'f' are you to make demands?

[Flakmeister]

Not a demand, a simple question that can answered without a calculator.

How old is the earth? How old in the Universe?

Given the amount of drivel you post, 1 extra post with a few characters is hardly a demand....

[Bicycle Repairman]

Apologize for the "drivel" comment.

[Flakmeister]

Answer my simple questions and I may consider it.

[Bicycle Repairman]

I think we're done here.  No sense wasting my time with the permanently hypnotized.

[RichardP]

It is obvious from your response, Repairman, that you are not familiar with the material presented at the link I gave you.  Subduction action can carry surface materials all the way down to the point where rock melts.  Are you claiming that we are pulling up oil from below the point that rock melts?

[Seer]

Are you as stupid as you appear to be, or is this just an act?

[Bicycle Repairman]

Don't hate the player, Nostradamus-wanna-be.

[snowball777]

Exploding dog troll has exploding dog syndrome.

[Bicycle Repairman]

Wow.  You really nailed me there.

Nice avatar, "snowball".

[masterinchancery]

Obviously the author has little knowledge of geology or the actual oil environment in North America. For example, "proven reserves" is a term invented by the SEC during the 1930s and bears little resemblance to oil in the ground recoverable with modern technology, which can be hundreds of times more over time.  Furthermore, he doesn't seem to have heard of tar sands and shale oil, currently imprisoned by the EPA and its idiotic regulations, but which holds many hundreds of billions of barrels of oil that could be produced if the nanny state allowed us. Nor does he seem to credit the enormous amounts of shale gas being developed, despite the efforts of the Soros-- paid Regime. North America contains at  least 200 years of fossil fuels; the only problem is a Regime that wants to destroy American energy production.

[no cnbc cretin]

Amazing all the denial here on ZH. Oh wait, I forgot most America's are dumbasses. Though, maybe these folks are trolls. Because they have learned nothing from this site.

[Japhy Ryder]

Some of the dumb asses appear to be in high school (or college at best).

To all the dumb asses:  stfu, read and think (in that order).

Start with this.

http://www.feasta.org/documents/risk_resilience/Tipping_Point_summary.php

"Credit forms the basis of our monetary system, and is the unifying embedded structure of the global economy. In a growing economy debt and interest can be repaid, in a declining economy not even the principal can be paid back. In other words, reduced energy flows cannot maintain the economic production to service debt. Real debt outstanding in the world is not repayable, new credit will almost vanish."

[max2205]

What could go wrong??...what could could go right? Truth and transparency are Govt only enemies. BTFD.

[digitaldorobo]

One good outcome--Utah government now accepts gold and silver as money. Pay silver at pump soon?

http://decaybyproxy.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/utah-house-passes-bill-reco...

[digitaldorobo]

accidental repeat.

[aerojet]

"The ignorance of the average American car buyer knows no bounds. The recent bounce back in auto sales was led by SUVs and pickups. The green clean cars are nothing but hype and bullshit."

Wow, is that self-contradictory!  The primary argument is that Americans are too ignorant to make smart vehicle choices, but then the writer goes on to acknowledge that the current current crop of green cars are just hype, which they are!  The Prius is a wildly expensive vehicle to operate and it doesn't even manage to do that well on gas mileage for a car its size. 

The real truth is that Americans derive value from the cars they own, and while some people could downsize, most people need their minivan, pickup, or whatever.  The price of gas is not the only factor in these decisions--having several kids, or work, or trying to live in the snow belt, or attempting to stay safer from all the terrible drivers. 

[linrom]

The writer of this puff piece is a pure propagandist. His main goal is to deflect the real blame for fleecing of Americans by the corporations. All his articles blame the Americans themselves, but foremost they blame the ephemeral entity so called the government, yet he always obfuscates the real causes. For example, in his another "puff piece"  about income inequality, job outsourcing and dismantling of America's manufacturing sector, he ends up blessing global trade and distorting the truth about Smoot-Hawey Tariff legislation in 1930 by blaming it for causing The Great Depression. Here he holds Big Oil blameless!

Yet we know that there is no independent government!  Government as it exists today, is a body that is made up almost exclusively of corporate interests. All legislative decisions are first vetted and then written by corporate lobbyists. Government exits to protect not the individuals but the corporations.

After reading this article, you would think that there is no such a thing as oil lobby whose interest lies in keeping everyone addicted to oil. Big oil is not benevolent behemoth: it is as much a blood sucking SQUID just as Goldman Sachs. If you want to blame something for America's energy situation, you don't have to look further than Big Oil.

[DavidPierre]

"The writer of this puff piece is a pure propagandist."

You nailed SmokeyQuinn exactly, but I might also add...

He is an outed LIAR and Plagiarist, a total, closed-minded 9/11Moron and a self-confessed RACIST who is also obsessed with gutter sexual obscenity, and frequently with juvenile bestiality.

see... #780454

The ameriKlan empire thrives on people like him.  Those who plumb the depths of the most base of human nature to try and elevate themselves, in the short term: as he openly admits, in an effort to promote his blog @...

www.TheMoron'sPlatform.com

[Bicycle Repairman]

+$4.00/gal.

[gwar5]

Drill, baby, Drill. The US is the Saudi Arabia of coal and gas and oil. 

We have 1.5 Trillion bbl of oil in shale. At current rates that's enough oil for 300 years. We can extract it. The technology is there. When oil gets high enough it will be practical and will be done (if we get the current jackass politicians out of the way). It takes just $2 bbl to pump it out of the ground, but 12-15/bbl to get it out of oil sands or shale.

Over the next 20-50 years we can replace and pay for the transition to whatever is next. We can be exporters of energy.

[Japhy Ryder]

Repost when you come back to reality.

Please educate yourself, you come across like a simpleton.

[snowball777]

Current extraction rates from shale: 200k bbl/day (i.e. 1% of current US consumption)

But it's energy density is on par with a nice bowel movement so...it's really more like 20k/day. How quaint.

Max projected rate...by 2050: 10M bbl/day * 1/10 density == 1M bbl /day or < 1% of projected US consumption in 2050.

EPIC FAIL!

[Flakmeister]

Naw, its worse than that...He is talking about Kerogen in Green River.

[JW n FL]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYuLjGQQ-jg

The world is not running out of oil... the world is running out of conventional / afordable oil.. thusly the entire world economic model is wrong... transportaion costs are 400% - 500% lite... no trade equals protectionism which equals war... it is just the way it is.

figure it out and get ready or ignore it and enjoy the last minute shopping, your choice!

[cosmictrainwreck]

OK - (for the old guys).... raise your hand if you remember Club of Rome disaster scenarios published in 1970's...OK, for those who raised their hands: (two-part question).... (a) what was the computer-generated target YEAR for total collapse, catastrophe, etc.? and (b) why are we still limping along 40 years later?

[Bicycle Repairman]

Exactly.  This isn't just BS.  It is old BS that gets trotted out every time TPBT f'up the economy.  It is a fairy tale they use to cover their malfeasance.

[Seer]

Logic, fail!

Just because something has yet to occur does not mean that it will not occur.  Further, expecting anyone to tell the future (other than myself) is stupid.

You're nitpicking on 40 years, humans have been around for how many years?

I agree that it's silly to try and nail some precise moment, but that doesn't invalidate the idea/concept (that's why you get a big fat FAIL).

[Bicycle Repairman]

"I agree that it's silly to try and nail some precise moment, but that doesn't invalidate the idea/concept"

Well if that is the standard, then I regret to inform you that someday the sun will go out.  

[RichardP]

Is $85-a-barrel oil creating problems for the world that wouldn't exist at $35-a-barrel oil?  If the answer is yes anywhere, then you cannot legitimately call this conversation BS.

Forget all the negative comments about your posts for the moment.  Forget the arguments about Peak Oil.  In the quiet of your own mind contemplate the effect on the world as increased production continues to be less than increased demand.  Reasonable people conclude that situation exists now.  Reasonable people conclude that increased demand for oil will continue to grow faster than increased production of oil as China and India come on-line.

Increased production < increased demand = problems.  Period.

I used to buy gas for my lawnmower for 30 cents a gallon.  I have seen with my own eyes the problems that have come about because of the increase in the price of oil and gas.  That is not BS.  You embarass yourself when you claim that it is.

[cosmictrainwreck]

grateful for the interchange, but not sure anybody stepped up to the question(s) yet. BTW, it was a naive post - not provacative. So far, the Seer, per usual, is waaaaaaay out there, RichardP points out, I think, that things are getting worser & worser....OK. Here's another Q: what was the world-wide per capita income in 1971 vs 2011 (inflation-adjusted)?

I fully realize the killer argument (legit) is the one-last-grain on the sand pile, or a sudden, major, not well-predicted systemic FAIL. Nevertheless.... can I stretch things out a few more years yet?

[Waterfallsparkles]

Government fear propoganda again.  Looks like they want all of us to hate the Middle East so they can start World War III so we can get cheep oil.

[Seer]

There isn't any more "cheep" oil.  Not, unless one places little value on human lives (blood for oil).  But, most of this predates any of the current office holders or others in positions of power.  And I believe that many of our popular religions contain references to massive die-offs.

Not that it should be so hard to see what happens when an expanding population reaches overshoot.

[WallStreetClass...]

All of these insider trading charges and SEC "bonus tax" ideas are smoke screen and change of attention tactics.  The same goes for the White House's recent push for "settlement" with "robo-signer banks". In the colossal cluster fk that banking has become, where does one place the blame? The industry itself had contributed over $10 BILLION over the last decade on "contributions" to both parties, as to continuously disband and repeal all meaningfull and structurally important regulation.  Conspiracy to commit fraud, strict liability for failed financial products and instruments, wire fraud and obstruction of justice, RICO - all come to mind. At http://www.WallStreetClassAction.com we organize a class action against the banks, the ratings agencies and other financial institutions involved in staging the colossal securitization fraud and subsequently crashing the economy and resulting in over $5 Trillion in asset losses in the US alone. We realize that our own government is effectively a captured entity, so no criminal indictments will be forthcoming. But WE THE PEOPLE will hold the fraudsters accountable.  Sign up on our site, we already have more than 3,000 users within last 2 days. UNITED WE STAND www.WallStreetClassAction.com

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For a while, I was sure that this was a post by Spalding.

[DavidPierre]

Nope...Just SmokeyQuinn, using one of his many aliases... desperately needing to get in the last word on how buildings turn into dust by the forces of gravity.

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