Do as we say, not as we do: gasoline edition

Tim Swanson, July 15, 2008

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Earlier today President Bush said “people should conserve and be wise about how they use gas and energy.”

This is ironic in part because the US military is a large player in the oil economy. If the US military was a country it would be the worlds 38th largest consumer of oil. Yet despite its large appetite and soaring crude prices, its operations will continue unabated.

Every year untold quantities of jet fuel are dumped into the ocean by Naval aircraft prior to landing due to weight restrictions. Main battle tanks are notorious gas hogs, with a thirsty M1 Abrams getting about .56 mpg. The Humvee doesn’t fare much better, cruising at 4 mpg in the city, or 8 mpg on highways. And according to SDUT, “an F-16 warplane consumes more fuel in one hour than an average car does in two years.”

Plus, threatening to attack the petroleum infrastructure of another country would certainly not help conserve gas and energy — even if someone plans to siphon the crude off the killing fields.

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Comments to “Do as we say, not as we do: gasoline edition”

Michael S Harris
July 15th, 2008 at 9:53 am

Technically its called a Positive Feedback Loop.
We are in the endgame of petroleum and will
witness acceleration of demand and the corporate
behaviour that leads to more war.

Skulz Fontaine
July 15th, 2008 at 9:57 am

Okay say it with me now, war good. People expendable!

liberranter
July 15th, 2008 at 11:52 am

The complete collapse of the dollar will put an end to this waste at some point in the near future.

Steve Hogan
July 15th, 2008 at 11:58 am

This is yet another indication of how detached from reality the political class is. And if Bush had one iota of economic education, he’d know that it’s the price itself that acts as the signal to consumers (and producers). Since he works in the public sector and does not feel the cost of his own decisions, no such feedback exists.

We’re being led by morons.

andy
July 15th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

“untold quantities of jet fuel are dumped into the ocean”,,, Nice. Real nice.

Tim R.
July 15th, 2008 at 4:29 pm

Both the Republicans and Democrats have failed us on this issue.

Every time we fill up our car at the gas pump we are helping to prop up and support the disgusting Saudi Arabians and other supporters of Islamo Terrorism. At the same time we are helping to slowly destroy our wonderful planet through global warming.

Solution? In the short term we need to drill more. Yes, that is correct. Drill more here in the United States. But that is only a temporary, emergency measure. It will not solve the problem. Secondly we ought to demand that the bastard Saudi govermnet increase the supplies. We have done a lot for their dispicable little country and it is the least they can do. (in fact, what we really should have done would be to have declared war on them on September 12th 2001 since 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi and Bin Laden is a Saudi. and then we should have just taken their oil as payback for 9/11)

In the long term, We need to develop, as quickly as we can, alternative energies. Wind power, solar power, bio fuels, hydo-electric, maybe even a little more nuclear (althouth that has its own dangers). We need to invest billions of dollars into this and to get our nation’s brightest minds together to get it down. If we can put a man on the moon and use money and sciece to develop the Atom Bomb, we can and must do it for this good cause as well. We will have save the environment, stop global warming, and stop giving money to our enemies all at the same time.

andy
July 15th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

More drilling won’t do any good Tim. Oil is a finite resource and declining. Oil production in the U.S. has been declining since 1970 just as Hubbard predicted (and was mocked for saying so) in 1956. I wouldn’ t count on our “friends” the Saudis doing us any favours. With “friends” like Saudia Arabia we don’t need any enemies. It is also in their interests to have oil prices as high as possible. Only a prolonged sustained effort to wean America from oil and unto alternative energy resources holds out any promise but I see no political will there at all to bring about such a sea-change. Nothing will happen until we hit rock bottom.

Will Blalock
July 15th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

Ok, it’s expensive, but it’s cool being the world’s badasses, right?
So my kids grow up stupid and underweight, who cares when you can
literally blow up the whole f***ing world, ten times over!
That’s what matters, in the end, when it’s over, ten times over, right?

darryl
July 15th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

there is no peak oil we have more oil in alaska than saudi arabia and iraq combined the oil companies discovered the mother of all lodes when the alaska pipeline was being built but the us government prevented them from accessing it they were only allowed to drill on a tiny part of this enormous find they also prevented the oil companies from reporting this discovery to the american public the reason oil from alaska could be delivered to the us for less than a dollar per gallon

Lear K
July 15th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

Hadn’t been for those disgusting Suadi Arabians who continue to prop up the worthless dollar the US economy would have collapssed by now.They are the ones who have prevented the OPEC from using other currencies to price the oil.The problem is not the suuply of oil ,but the collapsing value of the dollar due to the US government polcies.Stop looking for scaprgoats for every problems that are mostly of your own doing.

anti-neocon/anti-neolib
July 15th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

Thanks to Tim Swanson in this piece pointing out what those awful so-called reporers and journalists at Bush’s press conference failed to do, although they had ample opportunity to do so and the attention of the whold world. Gosh, I despise them!

Lear K
July 15th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

Why Oil Prices Are So High :

“How to explain the oil price? Why is it so high? Are we running out? Are supplies disrupted, or is the high price a reflection of oil company greed or OPEC greed. Are Chavez and the Saudis conspiring against us?
In my opinion, the two biggest factors in oil’s high price are the weakness in the US dollar’s exchange value and the liquidity that the Federal Reserve is pumping out…
The run up in oil price coincides with a period of heightened US and Israeli military aggression in the Middle East. However, the biggest jump has been in the last 18 months.”

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts06112008.html

“In an ironic twist, the major price determinant has moved from OPEC (having only 40% of the world production) and the oil companies to the speculators in the commodities markets. What goes on in the essentially unregulated New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX)—without Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) enforced margin requirements, and, unlike your personal purchases, untaxed—is now the place that leads to your skyrocketing gasoline bills. OPEC and the Big Oil companies reap the benefits and say that it’s not their doing, but that of the speculators. Gives new meaning to “passing the buck.”

http://www.counterpunch.org/nader05282008.html

Lear K
July 15th, 2008 at 6:24 pm

What’s Really Driving the High Price of Oil?

http://www.counterpunch.org/nader05282008.html

Why Oil Prices Are So High
the two biggest factors in oil’s high price are the weakness in the US dollar’s exchange value and the liquidity that the Federal Reserve is pumping out.”

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts06112008.html

“

Lear K
July 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

Oil and Racism

http://www.counterpunch.org/fiyouzat06132008.html

richard vajs
July 15th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

Tim R,
The majority of our oil doesn’t come from Saudi Arabia – it comes from Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela. So why this hatred towards the Saudis. I guess it just some more of your Zionist anti-Arab racism. That is what Zionism is – Jewish racism. Listening to it reminds me of when I briefly lived in Mississippi 50 years ago. The same language to describe blacks and deny them civil rights, we now hear from folks like you spoken to justify stealing land from the Palestinians. The proceeding of AIPAC might as well be from a convention of White Citizens Councils of some 50 years ago. Israel is (or should be) an embrrassment to fair minded Jews.
As to what to do about oil, we need to move on now from oil. As an electrical engineer, I keep up with solar power advancements. Every year, the cost to generate a killowatt of electrical power by solar declines about 20 %. In 5 years, there could be a cross-over. Several months ago Scientific American presented a working plan to convert America’s power generation from fossil fuels to wind/solar. Nuclear power has so many problems with disposal as to be a non-contender. Anyway, it was estimated that for a $400 B investment, generation and distribution to adequately meet America’s energy needs could be built. Will it happen? Not as long as big oil can hold things up until they liquidate their investments and gain control of the new energy it won’t. Big oil won’t sit there like IBM while guys like Gates and Jobs eats their lunch. And which side will our government be on. Well POTUS and McInsane are touting more oil exploration and nuclear power. Several weeks ago, an electrical engineering trade journal reported that the BLM announced a moratorium on solar research on BLM land until “the environmental impact can be studied for the next two years”. The levels of scientific outrage were so loud that now BLM denies their own announcement. But expect more of this Luddite stalling.

liberranter
July 16th, 2008 at 5:19 pm

And of course the fact that this is being done by the enforcement arm of the Amerikan State while attempting to expand the Empire’s power exempts these polluters from scrutiny by or sanction from Leviathan’s enviro-nannycops.

justaguy
July 17th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

But, but, but Timmy, those nasty Saudis (the Bin Ladens in particular) are the Bush family’s best buddies and long term business partners.

Bill K.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:40 pm

The Romans had a saying:
“Si vis pacem, para bellum” – if you want peace prepare for war. That is something the US Generals say they believe in.

But that is only half of it. The Romans prepared for war, and then waged war for centuries non-stop and even against their own, until they began encountering enemies that also prepared for war. And then all their warmongering led to defeat and collapse.

If you only prepare for war, then you will see potential enemies around you all the time. If you are the hammer then everything else is a nail from your point of view. That is all you hear from the Pentagon “enhanced warfighting in the future battlefield” et cetera. They seem to fantasize more about bombs blasting orphanages to rubble than little boys playing war. The US Department of “Defense” no longer remembers what that last word means. Wars of Aggression against weak foes are not called “defense”.

I agree with the first poster. War will only contribute to the problem and make more war for fewer resources “necessary”.

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