[Temperedoil]

This would be an admission on the part of Bodman that the President's proposed solution to the problem of future oil supplies not meeting demand is unworkable. An admission, as far as we are likely to get from the White House, of the desperation of the situation. A warning to the American people that all is not well, and will be even worse in the years ahead.

In that sense, Bodman may perhaps be seen to be advising the American people that the times of profligate oil use are over. If the USA cannot find a quick solution, then what warning does that give for the rest of the oil dependent world?

[DantesPeak]

delete - wrong thread!

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', '
')
AND raise the price of food in yet more third world countries. I'm never going to use ethanol. I'm not comfortable driving on some starving person's food.

[Dreamtwister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', 'H')igher food prices is more beneficial to developing states.

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dreamtwister', '
')
Yeah, it's great for Mubulu, the African corn farmer. Until Mubulu's neighbors can only afford $2 per bushel, and ADM's ethanol division swoops in and buys up everything at $4. Then Mubulu's neighbors drag him out of bed in the middle of the night, hack his limbs off, stuff the pieces into the trunk of Mubulu's Mercedes and burn his house down (with his family inside).

[Dreamtwister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', 'b')ut don't just think the have-nots will kill the haves.

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dreamtwister', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', 'b')ut don't just think the have-nots will kill the haves.

[eXpat]

Interesting article in Reuters today about Energy policies , Reuters

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')Energy security is inextricably linked to our national interest. Period. Full stop," Bodman said. "And this is true for all the nations of the world."

[No-Oil]

But the big question when it comes will be "Are the American public willing to kill their sons to feed their cars" ? If Iraq or Nam or any other US war since WW2 is anything to go by, then the answer will be a resounding NO.

Not to mention that the US is in HOC up to its eyeballs to the rest of the world & the FED is controlled by foreign bankers, who WILL get their money & if that means killing the US economy to do it then they will. No more money supply = no more smart bombs or planes or ships etc & thus the grunt on the ground will carry the can with rifle in hand.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eXpat', '.')..That was pretty clear: Give us our resources that happen to be in your soil, or else....

[turp182]

I don't think things will work out the way the US hopes. This is a veiled threat to oil producers, that's for sure.

But once the threats start it's time for oil exporters to take control (which is easy).

The US isn’t in a position of power to ask for access to other countries resources. We come from the position of the largest user and largest "EDIT - importer", a position of incredible weakness (our specialty is exporting our wealth via huge trade deficits). About the only thing going for us is our military (not to be discounted for even a second, but streched at this point which everyone knows).

Oil exporters can take control by claiming to be in depletion (that's the key, make the fight over dwindling resources, it's a Catch-22 as any fight uses immense amounts of those resources). All they have to do is slow down their extraction operations (easy to do if nationalized without transparency).

At that point prices rise, and oil exporters reap the wealth benefits. Controlling flow rates guarantees more wealth over a longer period of time.

High oil prices would cripple the US’s ability to respond (economy at home would start cracking, military operations become more and more expensive).

So threats should be met with "but we are running out!"

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('turp182', ' ')All they have to do is slow down their extraction operations (easy to do if nationalized without transparency).

At that point prices rise, and oil exporters reap the wealth benefits. Controlling flow rates guarantees more wealth over a longer period of time.

[jdmartin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('No-Oil', 'B')ut the big question when it comes will be "Are the American public willing to kill their sons to feed their cars" ? If Iraq or Nam or any other US war since WW2 is anything to go by, then the answer will be a resounding NO.

Not to mention that the US is in HOC up to its eyeballs to the rest of the world & the FED is controlled by foreign bankers, who WILL get their money & if that means killing the US economy to do it then they will. No more money supply = no more smart bombs or planes or ships etc & thus the grunt on the ground will carry the can with rifle in hand.

[neocone]

Now oil... tomorrow food supplies.

I do believe a large portion of Africa is slated to grow the ethanol required by North America, as well as the food. Nevermind the people dying outside the heavily fortified complexes and the corpses on the barbed wires.

Iraq is a case in point: Bodies are dumped in sight of the gates to the "green zone".

At this point the concept of fighting for the iraqi freedom, as much a joke it was, is now blatantly ignored even by the politburo cheerleaders... and this is totally frightening.

Soon the political discourse out of Washington won't even bother any lip service to "freedom" and "democracy".

This is where the turn to despotic fascism will happen: We are the chosen race, the rest can die, or their well being is of no interest to us, and for every american dead we will execute 50 "terrorists" to make an example. We need the lebensraum for the prosperity of the master race, and enough ressources for it to roam free and every master race family to have 2 SUVs and a house, etc...

[grabby]

Don't worry, be happy.

[eXpat]

Sam Bodman has apparently decided that Resource wars is the way to go, looking for previous enterviews of him, he has always forecasted that there are difficult times ahead.

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jdmartin', '
')You don't know us Yanks that good, my friend. I have no doubt that oil shortages, real or imagined, will have us expeditioning across the globe. Americans are not going to put up with $7 gasoline without blowing the shit out of someone.

[I_Like_Plants]

I believe Americans are indeed willing to sacrifice their sons and daughters to feed their cars.

Especially since the class that makes the decisions and the class that goes over and gets killed are very separated in the US.

Especially since the the class that signs up and fights and dies has been conditioned very well to hate itself. The working class in the US is a very brutalized class, a class of people who have learned to consider themselves as having little value, most of them have been "latchkey" kids and basically treated like shit from a young age, it's one reason they make great soldiers. There's actually a pretty high rate of US soldiers signing up for more stints of duty over there, since while Iraq is an awful place to be, they're actually being treated more like human beings, there's more social connectedness, in the US Army than in US life for them.

Know this: US'ians are very willing to sacrifice their sons and daughters to feed their cars. Vietnam was not about cars.

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesertBear2', ' ')For most Americans, reality consists of a mixture of cyber-escapism and Hollywood imagery.

So most people here will probably support extreme violence in a bid to escape a future of energy shortages. Americans have truly turned to the dark side.

[KevO]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON (Reuters) - Near record high crude oil prices have put the U.S. economy in the "danger zone" and the world's producers must boost supply to prevent shortages, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Thursday.

Sustained U.S. crude oil prices near the $80 level could harm the U.S. economy, and both OPEC and non-OPEC producers should "look at what the facts are," Bodman told reporters.

"We're in a ... danger zone right now, so that's why I hope that both OPEC and non-OPEC nations will look carefully at the facts," Bodman told reporters.

It was one of the strongest warnings from a Bush administration official to date on the impact of high crude oil and gasoline prices, which are already starting to take their toll on U.S. consumer spending.