Gas prices are too low.

[Aerows]

Last edited Fri Oct 30, 2015, 08:27 PM - Edit history (1)

It threatens the economy of MENA countries.

We absolutely have to send people in there, because what would happen if they dropped even further and poor Saudi Arabia started feeling the effects?

Saudi Arabia has done SO MUCH for us in the past. We must do something to stir up the Middle East so that gas prices can rise again.

Dozens of us on DU know exactly where we are headed and why we are headed there. This is a "soft" war. It is absolutely designed to warrant gas prices being raised.

[CJCRANE]

1. I'm not sure that's the reason.

Saudi Arabia has the lowest extraction costs and the biggest foreign reserves, so they'll be the last man standing.

They could increase the price at any time by cutting output.

[Aerows]

3. They won't

because now that sanctions on Iran have been lifted, they know they have to get rid of a hell of a lot of oil in a hurry to have *anything*.

Getting a handful of dimes is better than getting a handful of pennies or nothing at all.

[CJCRANE]

5. Whatever the reason...

I'd like to know who's pulling the strings, because it isn't we the people!

[Aerows]

8. No, we are not the ones pulling the strings

And it's disgusting. We are about to send yet another generation of American bodies to come home shattered, in tatters, and the ones that orchestrate it will decide that they don't matter.

Look at the VA. If you can't help the soldiers fighting for your country, don't send them off to die in one.

[TexasBushwhacker]

62. They have to pump it while they can

even at a lower price. Because of global warming, much of the ME will be uninhabitable in 50 years, due to higher temperatures, less arable land and less available drinking water.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/global-warming-may-mean-stifling-heat-for-middle-east/

"In late July this year, for example, a major heat wave combined with astronomically high humidity to send the heat index in Bandar Mahshahr, Iran—near the northern coast of the Persian Gulf—to a mind-bending 163°F."

[Fred Sanders]

2. Saudi has no debt. Even at current burn rates, with a fully funded war, they have five years of cold

hard good old American cash to burn through before even having to issue government bonds....nice problem to have.

[Aerows]

4. It is a great problem to have

Up until that it becomes a real problem, which is what they are headed for.

[Warpy]

6. Not only that, but they've been snapping up gold for decades

All they have to do is hock Mama's jewelry and they'll be solvent for many years.

[Aerows]

25. Pride.

You don't hock Mama's jewelry. Doing so is admitting weakness, something that the House of Saud would die before doing.

[cherokeeprogressive]

57. Enough for Saudi princes to buy every hooker in the Western Hemisphere.

[NickB79]

7. You are actually 100% correct: gas prices are far too low

Cheap gas means more gas consumed globally, which means more carbon emissions driving climate change.

The drop in gas prices is already visible in American auto purchases, as we buy more trucks and SUV's, and fewer hybrids: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cheap-gas-fires-up-big-suv-sales-slows-electric-cars-hybrids/

In reality, if we REALLY took climate change seriously, one of the first things that would have to be done is to establish a lower limit on how far gas prices could fall. $4/gallon seems about right (though it would have to be increased over time to create even more carbon cuts). Whenever gas fell below $4/gallon (such as now), the difference would be put into a fund for building mass transit and subsidizing hybrids and electric vehicles.

[yeoman6987]

11. Yeah no thank you

This is the only break we get this year with everything else increasing the elderly, poor and working class need a break and this is it. Perhaps add a large climate tax to new SUVs would be more beneficial.

[liberal_at_heart]

14. Well if we coupled investment in mass transit and tax breaks for fuel efficient cars with

higher gas prices then that might be enough to get people to stop driving cars so much. We are stubborn when it comes to driving. We love the freedom and independence that comes with driving our own car when we should be using mass transit more.

[yeoman6987]

19. Well get some mass transit going and maybe it would work

Where I live it is close to impossible to use public transportation. It doesn't go past my job, mall or anything. It does go downtown which does nothing for those in the suburbs. So until that changes I'll take the cheap gas.

[liberal_at_heart]

20. It's the chicken and egg. You have to get voters to be willing to invest in mass transit and

because most don't use it they don't want to pay taxes for it.

[yeoman6987]

24. Yeah I live in a democratic stronghold and when Annapolis was asked to

Extend the subway to extend from new Carrollton to Annapolis, everyone screamed no. So they let it go.

[Travis_0004]

29. Mass transit will never be an option for everybody.

I live in a suburb, and commute to another surburb.

I could take a bus downtown, then go to the correct surburb but that is a long trip.

If there was a bus there would not be enough demand to fill it. Plus, I just dont want to ride a bus. I like that I can run errands after wok, leave work at lunch time to relax.

We need better mass transit in cities, but i dont think mass transit will ever be a solution for a lot of people.

[liberal_at_heart]

47. Mass transit actually can work very well in suburbs.

My mother in law loved the mass transit that would run her from her apartment to the Fred Meyer, Target, QFC, library, doctor's office, and other places in the last place she lived. Now she's in a place that doesn't go to as many places so she doesn't like it as much. But it can work and work well. It just has to be well planned out.

[former9thward]

59. "We love the freedom and independence ..."

Obviously to you that is a bad thing. To most of us freedom and independence is a good thing. With the exception of a few old large cities America is not built for mass transit. If that is you thing then live where it works.

[liberal_at_heart]

60. I'm not saying we should take the freedom away. What I am saying is if we are going to

survive global warming we as a country have to decide if we are going to invest in mass transit and alternative energy or not. Luckily the majority of Millennials are passionate about global warming and even if we aren't willing to do anything about it they will. the question is will it be too late by then?

[former9thward]

61. Being in a large college town I am around Millennials day and night.

And very few of them are passionate about anything, least of all global warming. But maybe we run with different crowds.

[liberal_at_heart]

63. As I said the majority of Millennials are passionate about global warming and yes they are

passionate about all kinds of things. My daughter is a Millennial. She and her generation have used social media to bring attention to all kinds of important issues such as public access to clean water, rape, police brutality, income inequality, and many other important issues. They don't identify with organized religion or establishment political parties. When they see injustice they don't make excuses for it like some party loyalists do. They just fight it, no matter which party is to blame for it. I am very proud of my daughter's generation and I can't wait to see what they do. I'm actually more ashamed of my generation for sitting back and making excuses for why their party hasn't changed things.

[NickB79]

54. Global warming, left unchecked, will kill billons by the end of this century

Even with immediate, draconian measures enacted TODAY (FAR beyond something as simple as an SUV tax on the wealthy), we MIGHT be able to hold warming to merely horrific instead of catastrophic by 2100.

But we're clearly not going to do that, since the latest climate accords they're working on would still allow CO2 levels to rise for decades to come, locking us in for 3C or more of warming and massive polar ice melt.

I'm not trying to sound dismissive about the struggles of the poor and elderly, but we're facing the largest mass extinction event since the dinosaurs were wiped out with precious little action being taken to address it.

[PoliticAverse]

16. Poor people finally get a break on something and someone wants to put a stop to it. n/t

[yeoman6987]

22. Yeah and it is the ones that have a huge income and healthy investments who scream

Stop helping the poor with the one item that is on their side for the moment. Unbelievable!

[The2ndWheel]

48. Is he right or not?

Will cheaper gas add more carbon emissions? Poor people, rich people, doesn't matter. Will it or won't it?

[NickB79]

53. What break do the poor in Bangladesh get when the rising seas flood them out?

Or the poor in Syria who are fleeing their homeland due to a civil war kicked off by a climate-change-derived drought?

Either we put a stop to our use of fossil fuels, or Mother Nature will do it for us.

[bigwillq]

55. Right?!?!

unreal.

[Mosby]

9. I paid $1.89/gallon yesterday

[oberliner]

12. Where do you live?

We are over a dollar higher than that.

[Mosby]

35. Phoenix, that's the current costco price as of yesterday

[Kali]

51. 1.999 lots of places in Tucson yesterday

still 2.29 in Benson.

[bigwillq]

56. Good for you! Still paying around $2.50/gal for reg in CT

We have such high taxes in my state. Everything is so expensive here.

[SammyWinstonJack]

58. I paid $1.78 for mid grade today but I had 30 cents off a gallon with my Kroger plus card

Just outside of Nashville.

[GoneFishin]

10. Could be. It definitely would not be the first or last time that thousands or millions were killed

to enhance oil profits.

The playing board is too complex for me to understand all of the players and motives, except for one aspect. I am paying 50% of what I was paying for gas at the pump a couple of years ago, and I doubt that the production and transport costs have fallen by half. That means that the profit stream of some rich and powerful people has fallen off sharply, and they will be highly motivated to do WHATEVER is necessary to re-inflate it.

[TransitJohn]

13. As an environmentalist, I wish prices were a lot, lot higher

High enough to make alternatives competitive against the energy miracle of gasoline.

[liberal_at_heart]

15. Yes but we need to find a way to do that without going to war.

[KamaAina]

21. As an environmentalist, I wish alternative energy prices were a lot, lot lower

Low enough to make alternatives competitive against the energy miracle of gasoline.

There are signs that both wind and solar are getting there. Solar in particular appears to be going mainstream; several different solar companies nag me while I'm slogging through my Publishers Clearing House entry each evening. (Yeah, yeah, I know. ) One is called "U.S. Solar Department" and words its ads in a way to make the gullible think it's a government agency. This would explain why ALEC is crusading to get solar banned -- in Arizona, among other places.

[Tommy2Tone]

31. I wish you would band with like thinkers

and send those of us who can't afford $4.00 a gallon gas a few bucks. We are just barely holding on out here.

[TransitJohn]

33. Sorry,

you're collateral damage sacrificed to the greater good.

[Tommy2Tone]

34. Greater good and collateral damage?

Sadly you haven't a clue.

[TransitJohn]

36. Sadly you're tone deaf.

cheers

[Tommy2Tone]

50. Okay..I'm old and sometimes forget things

I also struggle to make ends meet. Could you explain to an old man what you are talking about?

[TexasBushwhacker]

64. I agree

There is a documentary about Wal-Mart called "The High Cost if Low Price". Maybe Greenwald should make a doc called "The High Price of Cheap Gas",

[KamaAina]

17. Said no one, ever.

Except oil co. execs and perverted Saudi princes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141243230

[Rex]

18. Funny thing, I was reading that the MENA nations will be broke in 5 years if gas prices don't go up.

I cannot believe we are now in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan...not to mention the hundreds of other places around the planet we have a 'conflict' on going.

You called it, not fooled one iota.

[Aerows]

23. Indeed, my friend.

You would have to be daft to not realize why this is happening. Energy companies panic when prices get too low, but don't give a damn when the Gulf of Mexico or the Alaskan sound get contaminated.

I *DARE* folks to come back and say "Gee, Aerows, you were wrong 4 months ago that this will cause a price hike for oil."

I'll just mark it on the calendar, and wait for the petty excuses why oil and gas prices went up. It will have nothing to do with this, at all.

[Capt. Obvious]

26. The price of oil is too low

I don't work in oil but it's ravaged my company. We're a shell of what we were a year ago. Over half of our employees laid off this year.

[roamer65]

37. Blame lies in Riyadh.

The Saudis are using oil as a weapon right now against the Russians and Iranians. Only way prices will go up is full scale war in the ME.

[valerief]

27. Cuz why have health when a handful of people can have boatloads of more money? nt

[KansDem]

28. Isn't that why Bush lied us into Iraq?

To keep Saddam's oil off the market thereby keeping the price high?

[CJCRANE]

65. It was a smart strategy...

Keep the price high during the Bush era to build up foreign reserves and a surplus to last several years.

Then drop the price low to take out the competition.

[Tommy2Tone]

30. Well they own Fox News

but the rest of your post is well...

[Aerows]

40. I find it anything

buy funny.

[Tipperary]

32. I find your post alarming. And I thought wrong.

But crap I think you may be right. Gas is under 2 bucks here, and I cannot help but wonder why.

[roamer65]

38. It will end when the Saudis and Iranians start head to head war.

Ras Tanura in the KSA and Kharg Island in Iran will likely be the first targets in the conflict and oil markets will go berserk.

[GGJohn]

39. I'm sensing some sarcasm here, LOL.

We absolutely have to send people in there, because what would happen if they dropped even further and poor Saudi Arabia started feeling the effects?

Saudi Arabia has done SO MUCH for us in the past. We must do something to stir up the Middle East so that gas prices can rise again

Please tell me I'm right.

[Aerows]

42. I thought it was so patently obvious

that it was sarcasm that I didn't use the tag. I'll fix it, so people don't think I've lost all of my marbles.

[GGJohn]

45. I was 99.9% sure it was sarcasm,

but lately on DU, you just never know.

[Aerows]

46. Rap me on the knuckles.

I deserve it for violating Poe's law

[meow2u3]

41. What about the poor?

Forget about thinking of the children. Think of poor adults instead. Forget the ideology of keeping gas prices artificially high for the sake of being green--poor people cannot afford to pay the "green tax."

I strongly disagree that gas prices are too low. I think they're still too high

[Aerows]

43. I edited to include the sarcasm tag.

I thought it was pretty obvious, but I guess not.

[jamzrockz]

44. Watch as Saudi

Increase oil production to drop prices even further. I think the goal is to weaken Russia and sadly I think Saudi can sustain the low oil prices longer than Russia?

But if the really wanted to raise oil prices, they ease up with the oil extraction. Heck they run a carter in OPEC, they have the means to rig the market to a certain level and make good profit from it.

[That Guy 888]

49. Didn't gas prices drop similarly last year?

I thought it had to do with letting us non-one percenters have some more cash or credit on hand for black friday "the holidays".

[Travis_0004]

52. Probably

Summer driving season is over, so demand for gas is lower.

Also, we are now on winter blend gasoline which is cheaper to make than summer blend.