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Originally Posted by WTF
You know what they say about assumptions. You have gotten both wrong in this case.
First I'll say the price of oil/gasoline has a huge effect on my level of prosperity and it appears others too. In my case it is a huge net positive. Which will be the basis of our lesson today.
Let me explain my actual point to dispel your assumptions. First the erroneous assumption that energy independence = low oil prices in this country. This is akin to believing that lowering tax rates always increases tax revenue.
We are basically energy independent now....yet oil prices are through the roof. Why some of you might ask? Because oil is a world wide commodity. A war say in Ukraine can decrease the world wide supply much more so than this country could make up for. Economics 101.
So while our production levels matter in the overall scheme, they are not the driving force. Like tax cuts , many of you Reagan/Trump worshipers are mistaken.
Oil Prosperity. Do you believe this country's oil prosperity is net beneficial to all? It does not appear so when prices are high! And it is not so when the prices are extremely low. High prices may benefit fewer of us but it does benefit those invested. The high price at the pump is more than offset.
So what you and others should have learned is that "energy independence" (God I hate that misleading term) has nothing to do with the price of gasoline in this country. The price of gasoline in determined by WORLD WIDE SUPPLY AND DEMAND.
That world wide supply and demand can effect folks differently in this country depending on their investment positions.
There, I've explained my actual position which was not in line with your assumption. Hopefully that clears up your confusion.
I'm leery as it has been years and you have not grasped the erroneous tax cut assumptions! 
I'm not even going to go in detail about rig counts and oil prices here but one should invest on those things and not wtf Bernie Sanders has to say. Had you, you too may not be negatively impacted by these high gasoline prices. |
Yada Yada. We all know that oil prices are set by worldwide supply and demand, and OPEC + Russia has the ability to affect supply through quotas.
I'm sure people were poo pooing Karl Marx for many years before 1917. And Hitler for years after he wrote Mein Kampf. Ignore Bernie Sanders at your own peril. Or the fact that the moderate majority of the Democratic Party is now the moderate minority.
Before we started to take advantage of our unconventional resources through hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, U.S. production was 5 million barrels a day. Now it's 12 million barrels a day. What happens if you ban fracking? We head back to 5 million barrels a day and below. Given the decline rates for shale wells, we'll get to 5 million again a lot quicker than we got to 12 million. What happens if, as proposed by Biden, we ban drilling on federal leases? Well, about 23% of USA oil production is from federal leases, so that will ultimately disappear as wells deplete.
The USA has been described as the world's swing producer. That's because if you've got the rigs (which we do) and the manpower and other equipment (which we're a bit short on right now), we can ramp up production capacity a lot faster than other places. In a matter of months, less than a year, USA production can increase by 1 million BOPD. Compare to 10 years for someplace like offshore Brazil or West Africa where lead times are much longer.
You fail to appreciate positive effects of higher revenues from oil and gas for anyone except the investor class. As Lusty Lad has pointed out, some states rely heavily on severance and property taxes from production. The federal government raises more in tax revenues, royalties and lease bonuses from domestic production. Oil workers spend their earnings here in the USA. Owners of U.S. oil companies, like you, and owners of royalties, like farmers and ranchers, benefit. This is all good for the USA.
As to your mistaken assumptions, I've most likely benefited from higher energy prices more than you have. And sky high federal taxes, taking money from a productive private sector and feeding it to an inefficient federal government, is not wise. More money should be raised and spent at the local and state level and less at the federal level. The bozos in Washington mostly just fuck things up.
