In a 1998 interview, Osama bin Laden — the terrorist organizer of 9/11 who still roams free — listed as one of his many grievances against the U.S. that Americans “have stolen $36 trillion from Muslims” by purchasing oil from Persian Gulf countries at low prices. The real price of a barrel of oil should be $144, bin Laden demanded.
Ten years ago today, the price of a barrel of oil was just $11. Heading into this holiday weekend, the price of a barrel of oil rested at $144 — a thirteen-fold increase.
One month after 9/11, the New York Times wrote of possible “nightmare” scenarios that would deliver bin Laden’s goal. Neela Banerjee warned that among the “misguided decisions” that would put oil supplies at risk would be “that the United States attacks Iraq.”
I’m guessing Osama is sending a big bouquet of flowers to George W. Bush, without whom none of this would be possible.
Well Bush-family friend Osama bin Laden won long ago. When he attacked New York – his aid, George Bush used the occasion to destroy our Constitutional rights, eliminate our sense of security and destroy our world standing.
Bin Laden has been the best thing that has happened to Republicans in a long time.
No way they want him dead. As long as he makes tapes, Republicans can spread fear and keep people in line.
McSameOld one time said he’d follow bin Laden to “the gates of hell”. Heh. Indeed. McSameOld long ago sold his soul for his “precious”. If keeping bin Laden alive and making tapes means the White House, bin Laden will stay alive.
Period. End of story.
I made lots of money on Oil Stocks.
So did my furry little Liberal Friend Rog.
Seems like folks like ByeBye, YLB & Goldy missed an investment opportunity….hence, SOUR GRAPES!
Oil Company profits are such a small % of the price of a gallon of gas. Hard for the hateful Atheist Progressives to grasp the facts. Need to drill our own oil…now. Need another major refinery…now.
Shop locally! Ain’t that the Progressive thing to do??
Is chimpface the radical muslims’ Manchurian candidate? He couldn’t have served them better if he had tried … so maybe he did.
3 – More right wing myths. Oil companies are sitting on piles of leases they haven’t bothered with. When they start producing them, then we can talk about more.
Gas production keeps climbing with the same number of refineries – it’s called technological and productivity advances.
Oil companies would happily build more refineries if it meant more money but apparently it doesn’t make sense right now. Doing what they’re doing now seems to be working just great for them.
@3 Why doesn’t it surprise me that an ossified old fool who plunked down $90,000 on a bank stock thinks a shortage of refinery capacity* is causing $145 oil and the U.S. can drill its way back to cheaper oil?**
* U.S. refinery capacity has grown steadily since the early 1990s, and there is no shortage of gasoline in U.S. markets.
** U.S. oil production peaked in 1971; if estimates that off-limits coastal areas hold up to 18 billion barrels of crude proved true, that would supply U.S. consumption for only 2 1/2 years.
@5 You nailed it.
“Oil companies are sitting on piles of leases they haven’t bothered with.”
To be exact, they aren’t drilling on 85% of the federal offshore leases they currently own, where no environmental prohibitions stop them.
“Gas production keeps climbing with the same number of refineries – it’s called technological and productivity advances.”
Exactly. Although the U.S. has fewer refineries today than in 1993, domestic refining capacity has been steadily increasing since then. Why? Because oil companies have been closing old, small, inefficient refineries and adding capacity to existing large refineries to capitalize on economies of scale. They don’t want more refineries, and nothing except economics keeps them from adding to the large refineries they already have.
“Oil companies would happily build more refineries if it meant more money but apparently it doesn’t make sense right now. Doing what they’re doing now seems to be working just great for them.”
True! Why would they spend billions to make their product cheaper? When you look at independent refiners — those whose business is strictly refining as opposed to the big integrated oil companies — you see low profits and weak stocks. Refining is a low-margin business. They make about 10 cents on a gallon of gas. The real money is being made by Arabs who sell oil for $145 that costs them only $2.50 to $5 to get out of the ground.
Rog–
At least I didn’t ride BOOM from 43 down to 30!
Ooops, excuse me down to $28.91!!
@8 I didn’t buy it at 43.
It’s interesting that Mr. Cynical included “atheist” in his screed. (“hateful Atheist Progressives”)
Therefore, we learn today that good Christians are oil company fans.
But I digress; I am waiting for Smirky McFlightsuit to write an executive order undoing Bush 41’s 1990 executive order putting vast areas off-limits to drilling.
So Smirky doesn’t have the balls to undo Daddy’s executive order. He could open hundreds of thousands of acres RIGHT NOW but won’t.
9. Roger Rabbit spews:
@8 I didn’t buy it at 43.
Doesn’t matter where you bought it Rog…??
Don’t you get that???
You still road it down….leaving massive profits on the table/down the toilet.
Seems like you are wanting me to lose money Rog. I don’t feel that way about you.
It’s bad karma to wish ill-will towards others.
Try being more positive you old fart!
YLB and others have proudly proclaimed they are both Atheists & Progressives.
I’m honoring them by calling them what they say they are.
What’s wrong with that??
Better to keep that Atheist thing in the backroom, huh Jim?
Remember how the Bush regime lied to us about the Iraq war paying for itself with all the oil profits? Exactly when is that going to happen Monkeyface?
Well, Mr. C…unless you’re a retiree like Roger fiddling with his investments and never going anywhere, you must be putting a lot of the money you’re making on petro-stocks right back in your gas tank.
That’s a little like eating your own doo-doo, isn’t it?
12 I can’t speak for the “others”, but I’m a progressive/liberal/leftist and I’m definitely not an atheist.
Personally, I get the impression that a lot of people on the right use their professed “Christianity” as a cover for their actual religion: slavish worship of the Almighty Dollar. This, even as their very actions make the dollar less almighty with each passing day.
13 Try “never”.
What we’re seeing now is the final action of the lame-duck regime and its pals ripping off the last of everything of value in America that isn’t nailed down.
Remember all that whining (and it was probably another pack of lies anyway) about the Clintons supposedly packing up the hand towels from Air Force One? Well, this gang has spent the last seven and a half years emptying the federal treasury, but it wasn’t enough for them. Now they’re using a carefully orchestrated manipulation of the price of oil to stick their greasy paws right into all of our pockets and extract every dime.
ArtFart-
Made more money on Oil Stocks than I’ll ever spend on gas…even $10/gallon gas.
The LEFTISTS on this here Blog are green with envy of those of use who actually INVESTED properly when we saw this coming.
So you aren’t an atheist.
What is your faith?
Please don’t tell me it’s Unitarian Universalist. The joke about those guys is when they pray, they start out,
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
17 Nope. Roman Catholic.
Not that we “mackerel snappers” are exactly known for being students of scripture, but I know there’s a passage where Jesus says, “You cannot serve both God and money”.
More left-wing ignorance being passed off as fact.
Gas production keeps climbing with the same number of refineries – it’s called technological and productivity advances.
8.6 million barrels in 1971 compared to 5.2 in april 2008.
HAHAHAHA. Of course it would mean more money, they could refine more oil and sell it. Duh. They make a little profit on a gallon of gas MILLIONS of times over which turns out to be billions.
You didn’t mean to imply the oil companies are free to build more refineries and choose not to were you?
Why aren’t they drilling for oil on the other 85%? Is it because it’s not economically feasible to drill in the other 85% for any multitude of reasons.
Wow, the business is making less profit per gallon than the government “earns” in taxes.
$.10 cent profit on a $4 gallon of gas. How much cheaper can they make it?
Is it only because they contribute democrat that you aren’t complaining that Google has around a $.24 profit margin, over double that of the oil companies.
20 “Why aren’t they drilling for oil on the other 85%? Is it because it’s not economically feasible to drill in the other 85% for any multitude of reasons.”
“Economically feasible” is a relative term. As a matter of fact, the LA Times reported last week on a tempest in a teapot of sorts going on where there’s a rather upscale residential neighborhood on a bluff overlooking an old 100-acre oil field. Up until recently, the grasshopper pumps bobbing up and down were a quaint addition to the views enjoyed by the homeowners. Now that the field’s present production is earning over a million dollars a day, all of a sudden they’re drilling a bunch of new holes. Some of these are right at the base of the bluff, and the vibration is starting to cause damage in the houses ranging from cracked plaster to falling crockery and broken windows. The oilmen no doubt realize that what they’re doing is going to lead to a few lawsuits, but the way things are going it’ll be no biggie even if they have to buy out some of the homeowners.
Now, it seems it wouldn’t have taken a PhD in economics to realize that the price of oil was going to go up, and to maybe have done some more prospecting and drilling in such obvious places a few years in advance. However, that doesn’t match up with the current business “ethic” to go after the fast buck, first and foremost.
Marvin, I discussed the 9.5 cents profit by oil companies months ago. It was Goldy’s NorthWest Division of Lunatic Moonbat!s schreech over high oil company profits. Notice most level headed Donkey are not talking about oil company profits except the NorthWest Division of Lunatic Moonbat!s . When I explained oil companies don’t set prices but NYMEX, most said who’dat?
Their ignorance never ceases to amaze me!
Puddy–
Goldy’s Northwest Division of Lunatic Moonbats get all there “facts” from the Daily Kos and other unreliable sources.
The fact is Oil Companies due make profits of less than 10 cents/gallon while the Feds charge
18.4 cents/gallon AND in the People’s Socialist Republic of Washington, they grab an extra 37.5 cents/gallon with future increases guaranteed!!!
Only Goldy’s Northwest Division of Lunatic Moonbats would have difficulty digesting the truth.
There whole political posturing relies on Bush/Republicans/Oil Companies robbing us.
Sheesh….KLOWNS!
22/23 Oh, the horror! How the poor, unfortunate oil companies (and their shareholders, like Roger and Cyn) are suffering! Ah, the humanity!
We’d have violins playing at the moment, except Puddy and Cynical are probably blacklisted by the musicians’ union.
Poor, NOT
Unfortunate, YES.
Unfortunate because a section of society has decided oil corporations are bad in order to cover up the fact that a gallon of gas has almost doubled since the democrats took office. It’s already 67% for drilling, as the prices go up the demand for drilling is going to skyrocket.
The Democrats took what office?
You can’t possibly mean Congress two years ago?
What have they collectively done, other than taking turns on their knees under the desk in the Offal Office?
ArtFart:
Is that your best comeback? Waaaa haaaa haaaa haaaa haaaa haaaa haaaa haaa haaaa
OMGn – You are truly a moron. I told you all many moons ago who gets what. The US consumes approximately 400MM gallons of gas a day. Approximately 140MM gallons of diesel are used each day. Add to that all the other petroleum products. Now figger out how much US tax is on each of those values ArtBrainFart.
You all are in a tizzy over what? Call your buds at NYMEX!
27 Puddy,
Just what relationship does the drivel you posted in #27 have to do with what I asked in #26?
If you’re trying to step in and cover for Marvin “I-Blow-Something-But-It’s-Not-A-Trumpet”, you’re doing a lousy job.
What “profit”, exactly, are we talking about? The profit of the division of any major oil company that contracts with the Saudis (or whoever) to pump it out of the ground, or the profit of the division that runs the tankers, or the division that does the refining? Apparently, the division that sells fuel to the customer ain’t much, because the biggies are bailing out of that business. Curious, because the last couple of times we had a big oil hiccup, they were running the independent dealers out so everyone had to go to company-owned stations.
Exxon Mobil Royal Dutch British Tessoro Upyerass ain’t doing badly, dude. Otherwise Rabbit and Cynical would be crying the blues over their stock holdings.