Stein: Stop Whining And Blaming Oil Cos.

(CBS)  Like many of the rest of us this weekend, Contributor Ben Stein has his eye on the gas pump:

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Topic A on everyone's mind these days is the amazing price rise of oil and gasoline by historical standards.

Herewith, some good news and some bad news.

First, the bad news: Nothing - and I mean nothing - the U.S. government does can stop the rise in the price of oil in the short run.

Stopping buys for the emergency stockpile will have no effect at all. These purchases are less than one-tenth of one percent of daily worldwide demand.

Cancelling the purchases is precisely the same as not paying life insurance premiums when you're worried about money. It is nonsense.

Laws taxing oil speculators will do nothing. Most of the speculation is going on outside of U.S. jurisdiction anyway.

And if we stopped having a free market in oil, it would go back to being an OPEC-fixed price. Do you think they would be kind to us? If so, why?

Taxing the oil companies is the worst possible idea. We should be giving them tax incentives to pump more oil, not punishing them for pumping oil … and their profits have absolutely zero to do with setting the price of gasoline at the pump.

Zero.

Finally, the worst news: Oil has been going up a lot faster than gasoline. That means gasoline might possibly have far more upward movement in price. Be prepared.

Now for the good news: Oil is a commodity. Usually commodity prices go in cycles. That means they usually (not always) go down after they have gone up sharply. It could and probably will happen this time, too.

In other words, it sure looks like a bubble, although a bubble that might last a long time.

But here's even better news: You can get a more fuel efficient car; car dealers are very much in a mood to deal, and they will make it easier than you can even imagine to get a fuel saving car or truck.

And, you can drive less. Once in a while take mass transit. You have it in your power to save money on oil.

If everyone in the U.S. does this, it will affect the world demand for oil meaningfully, and will eventually move price downwards.

Or, we can just whine and blame the oil companies, - which will get us exactly nowhere.

[usbrit-2009]

By normal means (pressure), only around 30% of the oil in a resevoir is removed. There is technology available here and now that could not only allow another 30% of the oil to be recovered from abandoned wells but to double the output of currently operating wells. i.e. to obtain the same amount of oil that the US has recovered throughout history. It''s called Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) - Google it. EOR does cost money. It pays for itself when oil is above $40 - $45 a barrell - at $130 we should be doing this all over the country. Ask your congressmen why.

[usbrit-2009]

What little respect I had for BS went when he made that stupid creationist movie. He knows nothing about anything and his views are as exciting as his voice.

[taus007-2009]

Its idiotic for Stein to say that product pricing has "absolutely zero...Zero" to do with Oil Company profits. And it''s mighty stupid to say that me taking the bus to work, and hoping that everyone else in the world will do the same, will do more to lower pump prices, than freeing up strategic reserves. And, whining about the greedy Oil Company profits and fat CEO payckecks makes me feel better. The fact that they have so little regard for their customers is immoral!

[patriot12436]

Some of you may not remember but when Vietnam was shutting down the oil companies had big contracts with the govt. They realized they were going to lose huge profit margins. In order to keep those profit margins they decided to tell the people there was a gas shortage and our govt let them do it. There was never a gas shortage. WE had tankers bring in gas and oil and we had no place to store it. They were told to dump it into the Gulf of Tonkin. We had directives telling us to use as much gas and oil as we cound. The govt has been helping the oil conglomerates screw the American people for generations. Enough is enough. We have to fight back and we have to do it now. People who have worked hard all their lives are losing thweir homes and jobs daily. This isn''t right.

[patriot12436]

ifred
So you think it is ok for the Arab countries to have cheap gas and gouge us ?

[patriot12436]

dixielatino
I think you are right. He is sitting on a big pile of money just like his rich cronies and doesn''t give a damm about the working class people.

[patriot12436]

cmp271
If bush tries to implement directive 51 i am sure that would start a civil war in our country. The American people are on the verge of having enough and it wouldn''t take much now to push them over the edge. Then we could start the trials for war crimes and clean house.

[patriot12436]

mimick8
I also drive mthru Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas and see oil drilling wells sitting idle because the owners are allowed to only pump so much a day. This is ridiculous with the economic sate we are now in. Our govt is about t collapse economiclly, we have to do something and do it now.

[patriot12436]

mimick8
If we don''t do something now i think we will have chaos in the streets within months. I also agree we need t start drilling in ou own country so we can tell the arabs to go to hell. I like all the ideas about windmills, solar power, nuclear power, electric cars, conversion kits to increase mileage on the vehicles we have now. I am checking into one that is called water4gas.com. It costs about $200 to install and is supposed to increase your current gas mileage up to 50%.

[patriot12436]

brianbwb
Of course not you are just a part of the working class. Do you thik the rich are going to do anything for the people who do the real work in this country ? hailand had a protest yesterday against their new Prime Minister. As soonas he took office food prices doubled overnight and hav been going up steadily. Now he has been forced to resign so we will see what the new prime minister does with the economy.