Astromart

June 15, 2022 03:26 AM Forum: Politics

Idaho & Busted White Supremacists

A few days ago in Idaho, police intercepted a U-Haul truck full of white supremacists traveling econo-style, like a bunch of migrants stuffed into the back of a truck while attempting to cross the border. They were reportedly on their way to riot in a pride parade when they were arrested and, as can be seen in the picture, brought to their knees by law enforcement:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61773358
Watching CNN last night, it became evident from comments from the mayor of the town and the local police that the response on the arrests is running 50/50 in that 50% of the calls from people identifying themselves approved of the actions of law enforcement while 50% of the callers who wouldn't identify themselves hated what the police did and some threatened to kill police in retaliation for the arrests. Gee, I wonder who the latter voted for...

June 16, 2022 12:58 AM Forum: Politics

Bannon On Barr" "We're Coming For You, Bro"

Posted By Rod Kaufman

Bannon eats another one in court! Note the judge rejected the Kevin McCarthy clan complaint that the January 6th committee is illegitimate:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/15/politics/steve-bannon-hearing/index.html

June 15, 2022 09:41 PM Forum: Politics

Bannon On Barr" "We're Coming For You, Bro"

Posted By Rod Kaufman

Steve Bannon is pissed at Barr for telling the truth to the Jan 6 committee that Trump's election fraud claims are "bullshit" and that Trump became "detached from reality":
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3524170-bannon-rips-barr-over-jan-6-testimony/
It's how today's Trumptoids continue to "think"...

June 16, 2022 05:08 AM Forum: Politics

So you tell us what to do Democrats

Posted By Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll
There are a number of reasons as to why oil/gas prices are so high, but let me side with Richard on at least one thing: The Biden administration's approach to fixing it sucks ass.

Here is a President who wants to accelerate the demise of the oil industry in his own words yet now needs them. What does he do? He yells at and threatens them for making money and demands they risk more capital to go get him out of political hot-water. I, like any other investor who has to be called on to fund these risky ventures have two words for Biden, and their initials are F and U. Go get your own f'ing oil wells, pipelines and refineries, jagoff.

The Oil and Gas industries are the ANSWER to our problems, not the creators of it. The level of economic incompetence displayed daily by Biden is sickening.

"The Oil and Gas industries are the ANSWER to our problems, not the creators of it."
If that were true, don't you think they would have shared that answer with Biden in his letter to the oil execs today, not to mention the stockholders in their companies?
To wit: They should have anticipated the need for more refinery capacity since demand was expected to go way up post pandemic instead of waiting until it did and then sit back and watch prices go up due to supply and demand. Afterall, that IS their business...

June 16, 2022 08:09 AM Forum: Politics

So you tell us what to do Democrats

Posted By Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

It is the POLICY of the Biden admin to get rid of the carbon energy business in the US. Only when this crisis showed up have they advocated for "help" from them.

We have not built a refinery in the US since 1977. Nobody wants one in their backyard and the regulatory burden is crazy to try and build one anywhere in the US. We don't have enough capacity and refineries are running at 100% capacity today, and losing the battle of keeping supplies up. Demand has to come down.

Building a new refinery requires new wells and pipelines to feed it. Fat chance. Keystone is just symbolic of the problem, but it is an example. Who in there right mind would start a project like this only to have these nitwits turn on you the moment they can.

Every part of the oil and gas industry has been under attack for decades by the green movement in concert with the left/democrats/environmentalists.

Even if you are sympathetic to climate issues, which I am, you can't just wave your hands and switch to renewables. It will take decades.

This problem is the result of years of underdevelopment of the infrastructure needed to keep up with demand for oil and gas products in the US. Fixing it will take years.

Republicans want to deny there is climate change, which isn't productive, but Democrats want to deny that there is a need for a rational long-term transition to renewables. There is a middle ground, but we need to admit it will take decades, not years, to move to renewables.

The last thing we need right now is to demonize the industry. We need to be giving them incentives, not speeches or punitive taxes and regulations, to create more supply.

"It is the POLICY of the Biden administration to get rid of the carbon energy business in the US"
That's FALSE. The expressed policy in this regard is specific to overseas ventures but does not get rid of them:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/biden-orders-us-stop-financing-carbon-intense-overseas-fuel-projects-2021-12-10/
The refineries are only now close to 100% capacity and could have been supplied much earlier if the oil companies chose to do it. They chose not to. They could have also acted on the thousands of leases they have for land to drill on but haven't acted on this, either.
I'll remind you that the oil from Keystone would have been fined for export and not consumption in the USA so your argument isn't valid for our needs.
The Republicans have a simple mantra that works for them politically: "drill, baby, drill" and it appears that you more or less agree with it...

June 16, 2022 10:31 AM Forum: Politics

So you tell us what to do Democrats

Posted By Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Mel Maki

You might have missed some of what Russ said about why big oil, "...chose not to." They would need to spend a lot just to get that far. Then they are at the mercy of the feds that could pull the rug out from them, costing them a small fortune. They need assurances the feds won't change and how likely is that?

It is so stupid to go to the M.E. hat in hand when normally we could turn up the domestic production.

It says a lot that the "Woke" do not like being number one. They claim it is smarter to lead from behind! What complete nonsense!

Russ, great post.

Your post is wrong on so many levels: First, even if US oil companies ramped up drilling, it'd take years to see the benefits. The Saudis can significantly reduce the global cost of a barrel of oil now by ramping up their production if they chose to do so. So, there's no equivalency between the two. One is immediate and the other is not. One can reduce costs now, ie Saudis opening the spigot whereas the other(more US drilling) can not. Even if the US oil companies ramped up drilling, the refinery capacity isn't there to accommodate it. Reduction in the global cost of oil reduces the cost of gasoline. That's how the prices come down...

June 16, 2022 10:54 AM Forum: Politics

So you tell us what to do Democrats

Posted By Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer
I find it informative that you say the Saudi's can ramp up production but the US cant.....If the will were there to do it then we could do it. The 1st step would be to clear some of the obstructions to greater production that the US has been piling on the oil industry..... Funny how we got to being energy independent under Trump and even raising our exports, lowering pump prices. Then all of a sudden that all turned around and you claim we cant reverse it? 1st thing is finding the will to do so.....and this administration isnt the least bit interested in that.

Again, the cost of a barrel of oil is determined by the global market. If the latter decreases, the cost of gas decreases. The Saudis can ramp up their production now without the need for new drilling so they are in a position to lower the global cost of oil whereas the US can not. The global cost of oil has skyrocketed because of the war in the Ukraine and that is independent of additional drilling in the US. It is the global cost of a barrel of oil that has to come down in order to reduce gas prices significantly. I think both you and Mel subscribe to the drill baby drill mantra but that doesn't address the global cost of a barrel of oil that subsequently reduces the cost of gasoline.

June 16, 2022 09:28 PM Forum: Politics

So you tell us what to do Democrats

Posted By Rod Kaufman

"Wind and solar power are 'bailing out' Texas amid record heat and energy demand"
Fox news ran a story on how well the Texas electric grid was doing a day before CNN ran the above and left the above fact out when it extolled the virtue of living in a energy independent red state...

June 16, 2022 10:50 PM Forum: Politics

So you tell us what to do Democrats

Posted By Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll
Guys, oil production needs constant improvement to keep it at the same level over time. 2M barrels of oil per day came off-line at the start of the pandemic, so naturally the explorers and drillers did not do any development over the past 2+ years. We are now far behind the curve now that demand is back up. It will take some time to restore production. It will also take a significant investment to do that. Why would investors (like you and I) put money into the very industry that needs to develop new sources of energy if our investment dollars are just going to be rewarded by a "windfall" profits tax or some other confiscatory scheme by the Government?

"Coal, oil, and natural gas received $5.9 trillion in subsidies in 2020 — or roughly $11 million every minute — according to a new analysis from the International Monetary Fund."
"Explicit subsidies accounted for only 8 percent of the total. The remaining 92 percent were implicit subsidies, which took the form of tax breaks or, to a much larger degree, health and environmental damages that were not priced into the cost of fossil fuels, according to the analysis."
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/fossil-fuels-received-5-9-trillion-in-subsidies-in-2020-report-finds#:~:text=Fossil%20Fuels%20Received%20%245.9%20Trillion%20In%20Subsidies%20in%202020%2C%20Report%20Finds,-An%20open%2Dpit&text=Coal%2C%20oil%2C%20and%20natural%20gas,8%20percent%20of%20the%20total.
"The United States provides a number of tax subsidies to the fossil fuel industry as a means of encouraging domestic energy production. These include both direct subsidies to corporations, as well as other tax benefits to the fossil fuel industry. Conservative estimates put U.S. direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at roughly $20 billion per year; with 20 percent currently allocated to coal and 80 percent to natural gas and crude oil. European Union subsidies are estimated to total 55 billion euros annually."
https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subsidies-a-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costs
So please Russ, stop pleading the poverty argument on behalf of big oil...

June 16, 2022 11:02 PM Forum: Politics

So you tell us what to do Democrats

Posted By Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Mel Maki
Yeah, let's teach them big oil bastards a lesson. Who needs them? Let us tax them until they beg for mercy! We gotta get tough! Show them who is boss. If we let Schumer have his way there would be no stopping this great nation!

Coal, oil, and natural gas received $5.9 trillion in subsidies in 2020 — or roughly $11 million every minute — according to a new analysis from the International Monetary Fund."
"Explicit subsidies accounted for only 8 percent of the total. The remaining 92 percent were implicit subsidies, which took the form of tax breaks or, to a much larger degree, health and environmental damages that were not priced into the cost of fossil fuels, according to the analysis."
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/fossil-fuels-received-5-9-trillion-in-subsidies-in-2020-report-finds#:~:text=Fossil%20Fuels%20Received%20%245.9%20Trillion%20In%20Subsidies%20in%202020%2C%20Report%20Finds,-An%20open%2Dpit&text=Coal%2C%20oil%2C%20and%20natural%20gas,8%20percent%20of%20the%20total.
"The United States provides a number of tax subsidies to the fossil fuel industry as a means of encouraging domestic energy production. These include both direct subsidies to corporations, as well as other tax benefits to the fossil fuel industry. Conservative estimates put U.S. direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at roughly $20 billion per year; with 20 percent currently allocated to coal and 80 percent to natural gas and crude oil. European Union subsidies are estimated to total 55 billion euros annually."
https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subsidies-a-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costs
So please MEL, stop pleading the poverty argument on behalf of big oil...

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Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

Idaho & Busted White Supremacists

Bannon On Barr" "We're Coming For You, Bro"

Bannon On Barr" "We're Coming For You, Bro"

So you tell us what to do Democrats

So you tell us what to do Democrats

So you tell us what to do Democrats

So you tell us what to do Democrats

So you tell us what to do Democrats

So you tell us what to do Democrats

So you tell us what to do Democrats

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