The price of gasoline in California at the beginning of 2001 was $1.60 a gallon. That was the highest in the nation and motorists in other parts of the country were paying in the neighborhood of $1.39 a gallon. We are approaching $5 per gallon now, but what did you expect when we decided to put someone from the oil industry in the White House?
We were using a lot of gasoline at the time in 2001. SUVs were the vehicle of choice and we never thought gas would hit $2 a gallon, let alone 5 bucks. Then the 9/11 terrorists attacks occurred, we went to war, first in Afghanistan and then Iraq. The gas price creep broke into a full run, and the president had no idea of how to control prices -- if he really wanted to.
The problem is, he's been out of touch on energy policy. The president would default to the standard Republican talking points: Gas would be cheap if we drilled in Alaska or off the shores of California and Florida. But he never made that part of his energy policy. In fact, he's never had much of an energy policy. That's probably because his pals think everything is fine.
Bush was stunned at a press conference in February when he was asked what he thought about gas prices approaching $4 a gallon. He was unclear on how to answer, finally saying this, according to the AP: "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that. . . I know it's high now."
There are many non-market reasons for high gasoline prices in California -- environmental restrictions, including reformulated gas; limited mass transit in most parts of the state; high gas taxes. But we had those same issues in 2001, yet gas prices have tripled. In addition, the high prices have reduced demand (just ask car dealers with SUVs on their lots). But that hasn't slowed down the price increase.
The weak dollar is a factor. Read this story in the Chronicle.
But Bush hasn't done anything to fix that problem either. So if the weak dollar is a contributiing factor to high gas prices in the United States, the president has been AWOL there, too.
Gee, how can we blame the president for high gas prices, a depressed economy and failed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? It's got to be the Democrats' fault.
Marijuana can produce several different kinds of fuel. In the 1800's and 1900's hempseed oil was the primary source of fuel in the United States and was commonly used for lamps and other oil energy needs. The diesel engine was originally designed to run on marijuana oil because Rudolf Diesel assumed that it would be the most common fuel. Marijuana is also the most efficient plant for the production of methanol. It is estimated that, in one form or another, marijuana grown in the United States could provide up to ninety percent of the nation's entire energy needs.
Source: Schaffer Library of Drug Policy
Hemp is 4 times more efficient than corn as biofuel. Hemp pellets can be used to produce clean electricity.
... all people connected with or interested in improving the quality of life on our planet should be aware of it... so powerful it could replace every type of fossil fuel energy product (oil, coal, and natural gas).
... grow biomass (biologically produced matter). This plant is the earth's number one biomass resource or fastest growing annual plant for agriculture on a worldwide basis, producing up to 14 tons per acre. This is the only biomass source available that is capable of producing all the energy needs of the U.S. and the world...
Hemp will produce cleaner air and reduce greenhouse gases. When biomass fuel burns, it produces CO2 (the major cause of the greenhouse effect), the same as fossil fuel; but during the growth cycle of the plant, photosynthesis removes as much CO2 from the air as burning the biomass adds, so hemp actually cleans the atmosphere. After the first cycle there is no further loading to the atmosphere...
Source: USA Hemp Museum
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I just read an interesting piece on the "Information clearinghouse" site, that shows rather convincingly, that the "futures trading" on oil has bumped the price. Ironicly, the money flooding into the futures market is the bailout money from the Fed. The money our children gifted to the poor mortgage bubble victims. Morgan, Stanley,Bear,Sterns, et al...and yes, Hemp could solve many of our problems overnight, jsknow didn't mention it, but hemp seed is also one of the finest sourses of protein known,with nearly all of the essential amino acids, and unlike GMO-corn, it doesn't make livestock, and humans sick, and it's good for the soil, air and the watershed...my hemp granola is packaged in Manitoba, it can't be grown here legally because in the 1930's, somebody confused Hemp with Marijuana...(sorry, hippies, it's not smokeable.)
The uses of hemp are hardly my metier. But my education included some semesters of botanics and pharmacology. Hemp, indeed has many practical uses and is commercially cultivated in many places in Europe and other areas in the world. There are several methods of retting and preparations for its diverse uses. India cultivates hemp for its narcotic properties. It can of course be smoked.
But I cannot believe that the United States prohibits the commercial growing of hemp for a thousand and one legitimate uses for moral reasons. American commerce never was and never will be on the side of morality. Profit is its engine.
It is the same with poppy seeds. All of European cooks bake poppy seed strudels and desserts. Roll noodles in poppy seed sprinkled with sugar, and so many other dishes. And those millions are not opium addicts. There was delicious poppy seed strudel sold at the Serbian Food Carneval a little while back. Where they got the poppy seeds I don't know. I can't buy them.
Just got in from Italy...Gas is @$8.40 equivalent. Mostly small cars carrying 1 person, getting 30-45 mpg. Travelled on buses, viewed over 800 miles of Autostrada and urban streets, scooters and motorcycles weaving through traffic like it was a slalom course, and only saw 2 accidents. One was a merge error, the other was solo into a wall...no injuries. USA Myth #1: My little car will get me killed, USA Myth #2: I'm too big to fit in a small car....Get used to it, and have fun. Maybe if the small car helps get you re-connected to the road, you won't be asleep at the wheel. Drive defensively at ALL times.
I've seen it. Those Italiens drive like maniacs, but hardly ever have a serious accident.
But with stiff joint (conditions) getting in and out of a small car, being a hardship, is not a myth. Crawling in and out those small cars is for the young and hale.
And Italian drivers are the nightmare of traffic cops north of Italy. I have seen cops actually turn their heads away from having to stop cars with Italian plates.
I'm sick of this lie being perpetuated. The price of gas was stable for the first 6 years of Bush/Cheney. The rapid upward spiral did NOT occur until democrats took back congress. This is reality. Unfortunately, there are plenty of Americans stupid enough to buy the lie, which is why democrats keep spewing it.
Actually, if my memory serves me right, I remember paying $1.00 / gallon for gas when GWB became president. But in less than a month or two it jumped to about $1.60 / gallon. I still complained that gas prices were too high, but nevermind, I complained when gas went from 35c / gallon to 50c / gallon way back when!
Roxanna, where are you getting your "facts" (and venom) from? Just google "history of gas prices in U.S." (or something similar), and you'll see that gas prices have been marching steadily upward since Bush took office (with some seasonal fluctuation), and particularly since we invaded Iraq. Unless you can point to one single thing the Democrats did or didn't do since they took partial control of Congress in 2006, it seems silly to place all the blame on them.
Is the comment signed "Roxanna" to serve as the devils advocate, or an exercise in hating the Democrats. Because contemporary history cannot be changed. We were here.
...that was Rush's daily memo...
Just remember it was George Bush who ask when he became President to start drilling in Alaska. If they had started then Gas would still be at $1.60 a gallon. So don't blame Bush, blame the inviornmentalist.
I'd like to see where your figures come from, Mr. Wheeler. Bush's own energy department estimated a few years ago that drilling in ANWR, at full production, might lower the price of oil by about 0.50 per barrel. With the cost of a barrel of oil around $140, that's not going to make much of a dent at the pump.
And that's aside from the fact that Bush had a friendly Republican majority in Congress when he took office, so you can't blame it on the "inviornmentalist."
The problem is that the U.S. has only about 3% of the world's oil reserves, but we consume about 25% of total world oil production. There's no way in the world we can drill ourselves out of this problem. We've got to learn to use a lot less.
Since the Blog is still here. My daughter just send me an email (photo) of a plane accident 8 years ago. Southwest Airline flight from Las Vegas to Burbank overshot the runway and came to stop at a Chevron gas station. The gas prices are listed: 1.59 9/10
1.69 9/10
1.79 9/10
According to the post signed Roxanna, all cameras
of that time must have stupidly malfunctioned, like us stupid Americans.