[edgeywood]

JHeath, also consider that the larger car is safer if someone hits you. Safety is the trade-off for small, high-mileage cars. We do the same thing.

edgy, get it fixed!

It's getting fixed!

But...smaller is more maneuverable. It's unlikely that my Talon is going to roll over if I take evasive action. But, I'm used to being the little car amongst the behemoths. I've never owned anything bigger than the Talon. My advice....don't fixate on that grill you see in the rear view mirror and drive defensively.

[Ang]

Well, we finally went over the $3.50 mark today. Yesterday gas was $3.46 and today it's $3.56

[Roger Kaputnik]

Welcome to the club!

[Ang]

Thanks, but I'm not sure that's a club I want to be in.

[Beachgirl77]

Thanks, but I'm not sure that's a club I want to be in.

It isn't, Ang!
Did anyone catch any of the footage of the "discussion" with the oil moguls?
I just caught a glimpse of it on the news yesterday morning.

[Southsider2k12]

It isn't, Ang!
Did anyone catch any of the footage of the "discussion" with the oil moguls?
I just caught a glimpse of it on the news yesterday morning.

The amount of grandstanding that is being done on this issue is just disgusting. They don't call any of the other CEOs before Congress when they are making record profits at the expense of American's. As a matter of a fact with record food prices, Congress just approved an INCREASE in farmers subsidies and over-road a Presidential veto to do so. I don't think I have ever seen them call the CEO of Toyota before Congress for somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 straight quarters.

If they really want to do something about energy prices, they could do a few things that didn't involve mugging for the cameras, such as fixing the American transportation infrastructure, investing in mass transit and it a system like Europe to move people around.

[Roger Kaputnik]

The gov't of the US has been off the clock as to energy policy and infrastructure. But bear in mind that a people 'gets the gov't it deserves.'

When a quarter of the eligible population votes in bad gov't, the problem of ill-educated electorates is thrown into sharp relief.

[Ang]

In Europe, they have a system called Euro-rail. It is a rail system that goes all over the continent with stops in every country. You buy an open ticket. It's good for so many days and you get on and off where and when you want.

[edgeywood]

In Europe, they have a system called Euro-rail. It is a rail system that goes all over the continent with stops in every country. You buy an open ticket. It's good for so many days and you get on and off where and when you want.

Anyone see "Who Killed the Electric Car?".

The premise of that movie is that the oil companies are in bed with the auto manufacturers. Hence, there was little interest in developing and promoting alternatives to gas engines. The movie is available at the local movie rentals.

[southyards]

Anyone see "Who Killed the Electric Car?".

The premise of that movie is that the oil companies are in bed with the auto manufacturers. Hence, there was little interest in developing and promoting alternatives to gas engines. The movie is available at the local movie rentals.

Here’s part of a quote on the movie “Who Killed The Electric Car”: It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert?
General Motors rounded up every EV car that they could find and crushed the final 78 of them, despite the EV drivers' offer to pay the residual lease value ($1.9 million was offered for the remaining 78 cars in Burbank before they were crushed). There is, of course, much more to the story which makes viewing “Who Killed The Electric Car” worthwhile. These cars were “phased out” in the 1990’s, which would logically mean that if they were still in production, they would be significantly improved over the earlier models. Unfortunately, it appears that special interest groups and big business had other plans for the EV1.

[Roger Kaputnik]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7255447.stm






Who knows why oil prices are so high?
By Anthony Reuben
Business reporter, BBC News


Various reports have attributed the recent record breaking rise in oil prices to different reasons, but who is correct?



New York oil prices have hit record highs this week Some say it is because the Opec cartel is unwilling to boost its supply levels.

Others say it is because of fears about supplies from other countries such as Nigeria and Venezuela.

But the truth is, it could be something completely different.

The fundamentals

"Why did it happen on Tuesday? Nobody really knows for a fact what's happening or where it's going," says John Hall from the energy consultancy John Hall Associates.

So what is it that moves oil prices up and down?

"It's the fundamentals, stupid," says Mark Lewis from Energy Market Consultants.

The fundamentals are factors that influence the supply of, and demand for, oil.

Things such as the increasing demand from China and India, as well as fears that a stand-off between the US and Iran could interrupt supplies, have been raising oil prices.

Alternatively, financial factors may be at work, such as a hedge fund having to sell a particular oil contract so it does not end up receiving a tanker-load of oil - or a trader deciding it would be fun to be the first to trade oil above $100 a barrel.

The problem is, much fundamental information is not freely available.

No sense

"We really don't know what the fundamentals are doing at any point in time," Mr Lewis says.

"The markets are looking for signals from the fundamentals. Some of them are irrelevant, some of them are wrong, some of them are meaningless, but they affect prices nevertheless."

When the New York oil price broke through $100 a barrel for the first time at the start of 2008, one of the factors cited as being behind it was the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan on 27 December 2007.



It's like the dotcom boom in the 1990s
Mark Lewis, Energy Market Consultants

"That didn't strike us as making any sense at the time," says Sean Cronin, editor of Argus Global Markets.

He says that people are too keen to attribute market moves to geopolitical factors.

He attributes rising prices to over-optimistic expectations of oil production by non-Opec countries - and also to signs that Opec members appear to have a greater tendency to stick to their output limits.

'Can't sit around'

These long-term trends are all very well, but oil traders have to make quick decisions.

"You can't sit around a day or two and see what happens," says Mr Hall.

"So the rocket testing in North Korea [previously cited as a reason for rising prices] or the assassination of Benazir Bhutto turned out to have no real effect, but they might have done."

Some of the factors that are more likely to influence oil supply and demand, such as figures of oil demand from China, are not available.

That means that minor news of fundamentals, such as the output of a single refinery, may be given too much weight.

"Little changes in insignificant parts of the fundamental picture, if they're visible, can have a substantial impact on the oil price - substantial in the sense of several dollars," Mr Lewis says.

Dotcom boom

So there appears to be a distinction between the factors that raise the oil price because they affect sentiment and the ones that genuinely affect supply and demand for oil.

And it may be that rises due to the former are vulnerable.

"It's like the dotcom boom in the 1990s," says Mr Lewis. "It was overinflated, but as long as everyone kept believing in it, the price went up."

"When they stopped believing in it, the price went down. And that's a warning."