Zardoz wrote:And we have the nerve to think of ourselves as an "intelligent species".
Well, considering most of them including Saudi Arabia think Saudi Arabia will increase their production to 15 mbpd in the near future, No, I do not think they are not taking this as serious as it is. I have a feeling Mexico is aware of their fate though.
According to the NY Times, the economies of many big oil-exporting countries are growing so fast that their need for energy within their borders is crimping how much they can sell abroad, adding new strains to the global oil market. Experts say the sharp growth, if it continues, means several of the world’s most important suppliers may need to start importing oil within a decade to power all the new cars, houses and businesses they are buying and creating with their oil wealth. Indonesia has already made this flip. By some projections, the same thing could happen within five years to Mexico, the No. 2 source of foreign oil for the United States, and soon after that to Iran, the world’s fourth-largest exporter. In some cases, the governments of these countries subsidize gasoline heavily for their citizens, selling it for as little as 7 cents a gallon, a practice that industry experts say fosters wasteful habits. “It is a very serious threat that a lot of major exporters that we count on today for international oil supply are no longer going to be net exporters any more in 5 to 10 years,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, an oil analyst at Rice University. Rising internal demand may offset 40 percent of the increase in Saudi oil production between now and 2010, while more than half the projected decline in Iranian exports will be caused by internal consumption, said a recent report by CIBC World Markets. The report said “soaring internal rates of oil consumption” in Russia, in Mexico and in member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would reduce crude exports as much as 2.5 million barrels a day by the end of the decade.
Realpolitik!Twilight wrote:...
I view the historical role of subsidised fuel as governments fulfilling their part of an informal understanding with their subjects, namely that while revolt will have harsh consequences, there are other reasons of rational self-interest to acquiesce. Subsidised fuel is appeasement. It is a pragmatic response to local conditions, and it works. However much proponents of free markets dislike it, this status quo has been maintained for a long time to their benefit. Pragmatic thinkers understand that the world contains too many inconvenient facts for a truly free market. Simply put, the first revolution would kill it.
...
They could destroy the world with one carefully crafted announcement on that subject more thoroughly than they could with a nuke test - and for free. The fact that they have not done so suggests they are not in fact evil.
Subsidised fuel is appeasement. It is a pragmatic response to local conditions, and it works. However much proponents of free markets dislike it, this status quo has been maintained for a long time to their benefit. Pragmatic thinkers understand that the world contains too many inconvenient facts for a truly free market. Simply put, the first revolution would kill it.
MC2 wrote:Beijing.
Even the commies are drunk on dyno...
efarmer wrote:"Taste the sizzling fury of fajita skillet death you marauding zombie goon!"
RedStateGreen wrote:MC2 wrote:Beijing.
Even the commies are drunk on dyno...
I was in Beijing in 1982. NO ONE had a car.
That is really shocking how things have changed.
Chinese banks have a junk yard full of people defaulting on car loans than they can't pay.
The bad debt on car loans has reached 100 billion yuan ($12.5 billion).
BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- China will collect more than 60 billion yuan (8.1 billion U.S. dollars) in special funds from oil producers to offer subsidies to public service sectors and low-income families feeling the pinch of increasingly higher prices.
Why can't anyone learn from our mistakes?
The only thing that distinguishes us from beasts and machines, is our capacity to indulge in luxury, playfulness and excess.
Waterthrush wrote:Why can't anyone learn from our mistakes?
The only thing that distinguishes us from beasts and machines, is our capacity to indulge in luxury, playfulness and excess.
We also have the unique ability to observe the world around us and change our behavior, which individuals and societies have done in the past and are doing today.
We either learn to comprehend and deal with the inherit contentions that come with what it means to be human, or Gaia will do it for us.
You've contradicted yourself. This statement implies that we can learn through observation and "deal with the contentions." Some people obviously can change their behaviors. Just look in the prep section of this web site.
The economies of many big oil-exporting countries are growing so fast that their need for energy within their borders is crimping how much they can sell abroad, adding new strains to the global oil market.
Experts say the sharp growth, if it continues, means several of the world’s most important suppliers may need to start importing oil within a decade to power all the new cars, houses and businesses they are buying and creating with their oil wealth.
Indonesia has already made this flip. By some projections, the same thing could happen within five years to Mexico, the No. 2 source of foreign oil for the United States, and soon after that to Iran, the world’s fourth-largest exporter. In some cases, the governments of these countries subsidize gasoline heavily for their citizens, selling it for as little as 7 cents a gallon, a practice that industry experts say fosters wasteful habits.
“It is a very serious threat that a lot of major exporters that we count on today for international oil supply are no longer going to be net exporters any more in 5 to 10 years,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, an oil analyst at Rice University.
-snip-
New York Times
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