$2 Gasoline ($0.52/liter) - Michele Bachmann Was Right

[WIP]

The GOP fanciers have only straws to grasp , Michele is their straw today.

There never seems to be a candidate who is too stupid to be put up for public office by these tea party types. But, apparently even they have limits....if this article from Daily Beast in the fall can be taken at face value. According to the story, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas raised the stupid meter so high that most Tea Party group officials started telling him to just retire...and don't even think of running for president.

[bush_cheney2004]

In the long run, we don't have a choice about ending the petroleum age. It will end one way or another...whether the prices are too high or too cheap. And it would be smart to start planning for the future. Too bad consumer capitalistic economies are not designed for long term planning. Some way, somehow, it will all need a complete overhaul!

No...it would be very very dumb to abandon hydrocarbons when they are still economically viable. When this is no longer the case, more expensive solutions will displace gas, oil, coal, etc. Energy economics is driven by supply and demand, not feel-good tree hugging for the future.

[BubberMiley]

Praise Obama! The second coming of Michele Bachmann!

[bush_cheney2004]

This graph depicts the folly of Bachmann's critics...they assumed that the only way back to $2.00 gas was by way of a similar 2008 recession:

Edited January 6, 2015 by bush_cheney2004

[On Guard for Thee]

There never seems to be a candidate who is too stupid to be put up for public office by these tea party types. But, apparently even they have limits....if this article from Daily Beast in the fall can be taken at face value. According to the story, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas raised the stupid meter so high that most Tea Party group officials started telling him to just retire...and don't even think of running for president.

The latest I hear is now they want to throw John Boehner under the bus. Keep the infighting going and maybe they won't get around to doing too much damage with their new powers in the congress.

[WIP]

No...it would be very very dumb to abandon hydrocarbons when they are still economically viable. When this is no longer the case, more expensive solutions will displace gas, oil, coal, etc. Energy economics is driven by supply and demand, not feel-good tree hugging for the future.

All I can say is the costs involved in economic restructuring can be very high, and the longer they are delayed, the more the costs go up.

A good example would be high speed rail. If you believed the Popular Science articles of the 70's, you could have expected North America to be chris-chrossed by high speed - magnetic levitation trains on special elevated or buried tracks by now. The technology was there in the 70's to build a rail system that could deliver travelers faster and more efficiently than air travel.

BUT, the capital costs were deemed too excessive. But, even the more modest high speed rail lines were never built, as they have done somewhat in Europe, or right now in China, they are far ahead of the rest of the world already, with thousands of miles of light rail lines. If you wait until oil is too costly in both economic and environment terms to justify continued exploration and recovery (we're getting pretty damn close to it now!), the needed wealth to build the system has already been used up....and your future transportation network is a return to horse&buggy!

[WIP]

This graph depicts the folly of Bachmann's critics...they assumed that the only way back to $2.00 gas was by way of a similar 2008 recession:

Fasten your seatbelt! All indications from declining stock and bond markets, declining capital investment in the oil fields and an expected spike in federal debt, indicate another recession is on the way. Rather than declining, the latest projection from the year end was that the Federal Debt (not including unfunded liabilities) grew by 790 billion dollars, instead of the expected decline that had been forecast back in the fall.

[WIP]

The latest I hear is now they want to throw John Boehner under the bus. Keep the infighting going and maybe they won't get around to doing too much damage with their new powers in the congress.

I think they have always been suspicious of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell also, as being fake conservatives, who are just trying to play along and pretend they are leading the way. The voting records of both while in Congress, have shifted to keep up with the direction they perceive the Republican Party going in. So, I guess we can expect to see them wearing white hoods in torchlight marches before long!

Both the right and the left in any country you happen to be in, will have politicians and prospective politicians who are only there to advance their own interests. They all have to pretend to be acting on principle and for the benefit of the nation as a whole; but that likely only fits a minority of politicians in the best of times.

The situation for real democracy in America today is getting worse and is likely much worse than in Canada and many other representative democracies, after throwing the doors open to unlimited amounts of money to be used to finance campaigns and reward politicians after retirement. Under America's present regime of pay to play politics, real social activists from any political side have a hard time getting in the game in the first place. Most of them are already hand-picked by backroom operators before they start moving up the political ladder.....like a certain community organizer from Chicago a few years back.

[bush_cheney2004]

Fasten your seatbelt! All indications from declining stock and bond markets, declining capital investment in the oil fields and an expected spike in federal debt, indicate another recession is on the way. Rather than declining, the latest projection from the year end was that the Federal Debt (not including unfunded liabilities) grew by 790 billion dollars, instead of the expected decline that had been forecast back in the fall.

Nope....a recession is defined as two or more consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. The U.S. economy may actually be growing too fast and the Fed will need to cool things down to prevent inflation. That's why the rate hike is coming. Fasten those seatbelts in Canada when your central bank follows the U.S. action.

[On Guard for Thee]

Obama on his way to a very significant legacy. Ending two wars and making the economy grow at the same time. Too bad he can't run for a third.

[Michael Hardner]

Too bad he can't run for a third.

Actually, all it would take would be an executive order and we'd be blessed with just another 4 years...

[GostHacked]

Actually, all it would take would be an executive order and we'd be blessed with just another 4 years...

And that can be done at anytime.

[Big Guy]

For every dollar I save when purchasing gasoline at the new prices I lose 3 dollars on my investment portfolio. Time for another war. That usually gets the market and oil humming.

[overthere]

Fasten your seatbelt! All indications from declining stock and bond markets, declining capital investment in the oil fields and an expected spike in federal debt, indicate another recession is on the way. Rather than declining, the latest projection from the year end was that the Federal Debt (not including unfunded liabilities) grew by 790 billion dollars, instead of the expected decline that had been forecast back in the fall.

K Wynne has a plan, don't despair.

[GostHacked]

For every dollar I save when purchasing gasoline at the new prices I lose 3 dollars on my investment portfolio. Time for another war. That usually gets the market and oil humming.

If a nation needs a war to boost it's economy, then it's not a nation that needs to be invested in anyways.

[overthere]

For every dollar I save when purchasing gasoline at the new prices I lose 3 dollars on my investment portfolio. Time for another war. That usually gets the market and oil humming.

The biggest destabilization may well be in Saudi Arabia. The power elite in the Royal Family is restless and radicalized. The current leader is sick, and the transition is not as clear as in the past. Worst of all their greatest friend-USA- does not need their oil anymore. Is a US retreat from military support far behind? What happens then?

The Gulf could easily explode into some serious ugly soon enough. The price of oil shoots up again, and guess who is the new kid on the block with export capability? The absolute worst case for the Saudis is unfolding, and it will affect everybody.

The world is changing and the stakes are high.

[Bitsy]

And that can be done at anytime.

The Constitution’s 22^nd Amendment states that no person can be elected to the presidency for more than two terms. The Constitution is protected from Executive Order.

[bush_cheney2004]

More kudos to Michele Bachman as unleaded gasoline plummets in price....now down to $1.82/US gallon ($0.48/liter) in my neck of the woods.

Might be a disaster for Canada's loonie, but Michele sure wasn't worried 'bout that !

[ironstone]

I think you have missed the point yet again. Environmentalists don't want cheap gas, that just allows people to burn more of it. Boom and bust energy prices just destabilize the economy. Developing renewables makes the air you suck up every breath much healthier and the economy a bit more predictable.

Environmentalists don't want any fossil fuels,period.I'm ok with the lower gas prices now,but they will soon be going up with the progressives promising carbon taxes.