Holding the Key to Gas Prices

[aznyron]

I don't know the answer but it would be a welcome relief to see the oil prices come tumbling down
like 50 bucks a barrel J.M.O.

[Ricohoc]

Friday, July 18, 2008
Energy Woes Could Mean Dems 'Oil' Washed Up
by Donald LambroFriday

WASHINGTON -- Gasoline prices are flattening consumer wallets and hobbling our economy, while the Democrats sit back and play politics with the issue.

Voter surveys show that the economy and gas prices top the list of the most critical issues facing our country. A Washington Post/ABC News poll reported last week that 85 percent of voters polled said gas prices will be either extremely or very important to their vote in this year's elections. And with good reason: Americans are getting walloped with huge gas bills, while utilities, buckling under ever-higher energy prices, are raising electricity rates to historic levels.

Other industries are getting hit, too. Airlines are cutting back on flights and services as higher fuel costs eat into declining revenues. Increased trucking costs are driving up the price of nearly everything that's shipped. Tighter budgets mean consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending. Retail sales barely budged last month, even despite government tax rebates.

Part of the answer to rising oil prices is to boost domestic production. President Bush has been pressing that solution almost weekly, but to no avail among Democrats on Capitol Hill.

While Bush and the Republicans have kept up a steady drumbeat for sharply increased oil production, the Democratic majority has sat on its hands, refusing to deal with the crisis. The reason: Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress are dead set against offshore drilling. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are more than happy to let Bush and the Republicans suffer the political consequences.

"They're running out the clock until November, to the detriment of all of us and our economy, because they think it will help them at the ballot box," said a Republican leadership official.

Last week, Bush lifted the executive ban on drilling for oil on the Outer Continental Shelf that was imposed by his father. The next step must be to end the ban by statute, but Pelosi and Reid apparently have no intention of acting on any energy bill, no matter how critical the situation becomes.

The response in Democratic cloakrooms seems to be "let Bush and Republicans turn slowly, slowly in the wind" -- an apt turn of phrase that fits into the Democrats' rigid energy orthodoxy, which supports biofuel, solar and wind, spurns oil production at home.

The Obama and Pelosi Democrats are captives of their global-warming special interests, who are dead set against drilling. Obama never mentions oil except when he attacks Bush and the Republicans as captives of the oil lobby. He is all solar panels, witchgrass and windmills. The specious argument against drilling asserts that it would have no effect on the supply or price of oil for years. Well, we may not see the full result of cancer research for many years, but that didn't mean we should have given up.

In the last decade, Republicans sent President Clinton a bill to drill for more domestic oil to make us less dependent on foreign product. We would be producing a lot more oil, and prices would be lower if it had become law, but Clinton vetoed it, and that's why we are in the mess we're in now.

Actually, it's another left-wing lie that passing a drilling bill now would have no effect on today's oil prices. Just the act of declaring a pro-production oil and gas policy would "send a message to the market and result in lower prices for oil and gas," John McCain is telling voters on the stump.

International oil traders bet on what the world's supplies will be in the future because supply determines price. Increasing oil exploration and production will drive future prices down. We saw an example of that this last week when crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell sharply by about $11 a barrel in two days after the Energy Department reported that commercial petroleum stocks rose the previous week.

Americans instinctively understand this common-sense axiom of supply and demand economics. That's why polls show that over 70 percent of us support drilling for more oil in wilderness areas and beneath our oceans. But our patience is coming to an end with the Obama Democrats who say no to more oil drilling, no to more refineries and no to nuclear power. Last week, the Gallup Poll said the Democratic Congress's approval rating has sunk to 14 percent. It has dropped below 20 percent only six times in the last 34, years and the Pelosi Congress accounts for four of them.

The conventional wisdom says Democrats will likely make major gains in Congress in November, but they may not do as well as expected if the voters blame them for inaction on the biggest economic issue in the country. The GOP will be hammering them on this for the rest of the election cycle.

There's a way to start digging ourselves out of this deep energy hole, and that is at the ballot box. Remember that the next time you fill up your tank.

[cookie]

Why worry,
according to Mc Cain = Bush, It is only psychology!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lu4dcxl4GY


Don't worry, be happy and simply pay the bill

[cookie]

it seems to me that the technology is there already:
looks really nice with big power

The Lightning Car Company has set out to develop electric technology for a luxury British sports car with a view to creating a super car with outstanding presence, power & performance.

Powered by NanoSafe, the electric Lightning GT, features an impressive 700 bhp, powerful acceleration, and a top speed capability of more than 130 mph. In short, the electric Lightning will be a difficult proposition to beat.

By combining classic, British sports car design with racing car technology and state of the art battery power & electric motor innovation, the Lightning has been designed and developed in the UK with exhilarating performance front of mind.

Whilst its head-turning looks will appeal to the most discerning of drivers, unlike other sports cars the Lightning is also easy on the conscience. With virtually no polluting emissions, this energy-efficient car will use clean technology for the ultimate green rating. Following production of several Lightning petrol prototypes, the electric Lightning GT, Sports and Extended Range versions are now available to pre-order.

Features:

- Ultra smooth 100% electric power (700+bhp) immediately from zero rpm
- 10 minute charge time for over 250 miles of motoring (GTSE model)
- Uncompromising performance with 0-60mph in less than 4 seconds (GTS model)
- State of the art NanoSafe™ battery system and Hi-Pa Drive™ electric motor technology
- Full regenerative braking so the battery receives charge every time you slow down, travel downhill or simply coast
- Commanding presence of carbon fibre/Kevlar hand-crafted bodywork
- Clean technology means no congestion charge or road tax and the ultimate A grade green rating
- Phenomenal economy up to 10 x cheaper to run than petrol
- Safer with no large fuel tank, thermally stable batteries and a bodywork structure similar to that used in F1 to protect the driver
- Luxury spec. interior – incorporating sat nav, ipod interface and virtual engine sound

pictures and more details about the car:

http://www.fast-autos.net/vehicles/Lightning/2008/GT/

.

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* Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008

U.S. charges Dutch company with oil price manipulation


By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

Facing congressional criticism that speculators are driving up oil prices, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Thursday announced that it has charged the Dutch company Optiver Holding BV and its American subsidiary with manipulating the trading of contracts for future delivery of oil and gasoline.

In e-mails and phone conversations released by CFTC, Optiver's heads of U.S. and global trading talk about how they are able to "bully the market" and use similar references like "whack" or "push" or "move" the futures market.

"Today's action lets the marketplace know that the (CFTC's) Division of Enforcement has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to gamesmanship," Stephen Obie, the agency's new acting head of enforcement, said at a news conference announcing the market manipulation charges.

Obie said the agency did not know how much Optiver's actions had caused the price of oil to rise. In a preliminary report issued earlier this week, a Bush administration inter-agency task force led by the CFTC said it believes that supply and demand fundamentals remain the best explanation for soaring prices.

But Thursday's action provides ammunition to critics who insist that the lack of transparency in oil markets makes possible a wide range of practices that drive up oil prices, which in turn drive up the price motorists pay for gasoline.

The CFTC brought charges against Bastiaan van Kempen, a Dutch national who was chief executive office of Chicago-based Optiver US LLC. It also charged Christopher Dowson, a Briton who was head of trading in Chicago at Optiver, and Randal Meijer, who oversaw trading for the main Optiver holding company and all its subsidiaries.

In a series of phone recordings and emails obtained by CFTC enforcement officials, the executives weigh how far they can push their attempts to "bang the close" of market trading and still avoid detection by regulators. They then allegedly sought to cover up their scheme once confronted by officials at the New York Mercantile Exchange and later the CFTC, according to the charging document.

In one conversation, Dowson said the cover-up plan amounted to "a fairy (tale) story."

In another conversation, Dowson and Meijer describe their activities to "bully" the market in the last minutes of trading as "a fun game" and discuss expanding the scheme to other commodities like sugar, wheat or corn.

In yet another conversation, Dowson confides to Meijer that he is trying to build up positions but stay under the radar screen, noting "I’m also not doing it so dramatically that … we're talking about it on CNBC (television) or things like this."

The CFTC alleges that in 19 instances over 11 days during March 2007, Optiver's global and U.S. operations attempted to manipulate the settlement price during the trading of next-month contracts for future delivery of crude oil, heating oil and New York Harbor gasoline. The three executives charged allegedly made more than $1 million from the illegal trading.

Congress has been critical of the CFTC for not being more active in investigating potential manipulation of oil prices and for not seeking greater staffing. Legislation is now moving in Congress aimed at stopping "speculation" in oil markets, so the timing of the CFTC action raised questions of whether the action was political.

Obie rejected the suggestion. "I categorically deny it," Obie said. He said that cases are brought when they are ready, not based on politics. "This is not politically motivated."

Obie called the case _ the first brought since the CFTC announced a national oil markets investigation in May _ significant, even though the agency could not quantify how much Optiver’s alleged manipulation had driven oil prices.

"This case is important for the public to know that this manipulation has an impact on the market. But at this point we are not at a point to quantify that," Obie said.

The CFTC complaint involves civil, not criminal, charges. It is up to the Department of Justice to pursue criminal charges, and CFTC officials would not comment on that possibility.

In the charging document, regulators allege that Optiver's top U.S. and global traders engaged in a practice called "banging the close." During the trading day, Optiver allegedly built up substantial trading positions and then tried to offset those positions in the final minutes of trading before the daily settlement, or close of trading, at 2:30 p.m.

The CFTC alleges that Optiver would try to unload up to 30 percent of its positions near settlement and the remainder over the final five minutes of trading, most often the final two minutes of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, or Nymex.