Science Forums 2

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Zythryn

Supply is not keeping up with demand. That is the basic reason. While demand in the US took a small dip, increases in worldwide demand make that a very minor point.
While Mexico's production is in decline, it is also consuming more each year. Estimates are that Mexico will no longer be exporting any oil around 2012 as their demand reaches the level of their production.
What I am doing to alleviate the pump prices? Nothing I haven't already done. Bought a Prius (2 actually if you count my wife's car) last year. This cut my gasoline bill in half. So until gasoline goes north of $5 - $6 I am spending less than I did prior to my Prius purchase.
I do limit my driving and combine errands when I can. However, that is not due to pump prices. That is just because I wish to use less oil.

Lucky you Zythryn, If all of us could buy a hybrid or an electric the world would be a much better place. At this point there is no shortage of oil that is not man made. OPEC keeps it production low enough to keep the prices very high. Theoretically that would be illegal in the US but of course we don't control the world. It's a shitty idea but think about how the world would react if there was a consortium of FPEC (food producing exporting countries) that keep the supply of food low to jack up prices. Yes we need to move away from oil as an energy source, we need nuclear power, solar power, geothermal power as energy sources. but crippling the economy by keep everyone from being able to live isn't going to help the world get there. We live in a large country, it take lots of energy to transport people, raw materials, and finished goods over this and any other country for that matter. I think we are already engaged in the third world war and it doesn't have a thing to do with shooting people or dropping bombs no matter how hard some try to convince the world it is. It's called economic warfare and in the long run it is as damning as any other type of war can be. to win it we need to be flexible and self sustaining in our energy needs and uses but the whole idea of controlling energy prices and keeping them high prevent us from doing the very things we need to do to win or even bring about a stalemate.