Pop!

  The rally that drove oil to a record $139.12 a barrel last week surpassed the gains in Internet stocks that preceded the dot-com crash in 2000. Crude rose 697 percent since trading at $17.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in November 2001, and reached 28 record highs this year. The last time a similar pattern was seen in equities was eight years ago, when Internet-related stocks sent the Nasdaq Composite Index up 640 percent to its highest level ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Bespoke Investment Group LLC.

  The Nasdaq tumbled 78 percent from its March 2000 peak, erasing about $6 trillion of market value, as investors concluded that prices weren't supported by profits at companies such as Broadcom Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. Billionaire investor George Soros and Stephen Schork, president of Schork Group Inc., say oil is ready to tumble because prices aren't justified by supply and demand.

  "There's nothing different between this mania, the dot-com mania, the real estate mania, the Dow Jones mania of the 1920s, the South Sea bubble and the Dutch tulip-bulb mania,'' said Schork, whose Villanova, Pennsylvania-based firm advises the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Wall Street firms and oil companies on the outlook for energy prices. "History repeats itself over and over and over again.'' Pop

   It's an in depth article that warrants careful reading. I think it is inevitable that there will be a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. The result of that action may very well be another oil embargo by Arab nations in sympathy. However, despite what you may believe, we are actually burning less oil now as a ratio of our overall economy - significantly less. Despite what you might assume - America IS on the path to reducing the importation of oil from hostile OPEC nations. We are increasing our imports from Canada and Mexico. The current 'oil crisis' is much over-hyped and while it may be painful at the pump for us now, the crisis has drawn the attention of the voter to the issue of domestic exploration and refining. The Democrats, long thwarting every effort to increase our own capabilities, will not be able to hide from scrutiny any longer. Things are going to change and any politician who even appears to be standing in the way of real energy independence will lose office. Even if the oil market collapses and crude returns to realistic levels, consumers will not stand for Congress setting the scene for yet another spike.

Any politician who ignores that reality does so at their peril.Spread the word!

Comments

[Uncle Fester]

Hmmm...

Makes sense and it wouldn't surprise me if you're right. Things do seem to be "falling into place" so to speak.

[Steel]

The price of oil and energy independence will be the driving issue of the next decade.

Those idiots who insist we develope 'alternative' or 'renewable' energy in lieu of domestic exploration and refining are in for shock.

They've had a free ride in terms of public perception and the token support of Democrats.

Everytime a person pulls that nozzle out of the gas pump the first thing that comes to their mind is the obstructionist policies of the Left.

The reaction will be historical in its proportions.

[Bomb-a-rama]

Everytime a person pulls that nozzle out of the gas pump the first thing that comes to their mind is the obstructionist policies of the Left.

IMO, you're being way too kind. Gas could go up to $10 a gallon, and it's unlikely that leftists and their sympathizers would ever realize, let alone admit, that opposition to domestic energy development and production by them and their comrades are what helped to bring things to that point.

[Steel]

This issue will cleave the blue collar voter away from the Democratic party.

It will solidify independents.

The Left is about to be marginalized back to the 50's.

[Bomb-a-rama]

I'm not convinced. It's too easy for the Left to blame their traditional bogeymen - the conservatives and the "evil" corporations they support - instead of entertaining the possibility that their own doings are the problem.

[Steel]

The 'Left' is about to deprived of that carte blanche with blue collar workers and independents.

If Obama becomes the 'face' of the party - even more so.

There will always be a pissed-off poor welfare class that buys that crap, but they do not constitute a substantial voting bloc. Nor do they contribute to campaigns.

There will always be a greeniac moonbat elitist demographic within the Democratic party, but they do not constitute a large bloc either and are notorious for failing to appear.

The price of gas will force the issue. As much as the everyday Joe, who votes a straight Democratic ticket loves his party, he cannot help but realize why it costs $100.00 to fill up his rig.

The Left cannot spin their way out of this.

It'd be nice if McCain was onboard but I prefer Obama be elected.

THAT will be the last straw for the workin' dude.

I can't say if this will happen within the confines of this election cycle.

Maybe not.

But the next dozen elections will favor those who reject the moonbats and demand domestic energy.

If I were in charge of PR for the GOP, I'd be buying all those little ad spaces on gas pumps and gas nozzles - nevermind the cost.

Americans are waking up to the simple fact that we DO have all we need and do NOT need to be held hostage.

Bleach-blonde waitresses in Waterloo Iowa and big-bellied Bubbas in Baton Rouge get it.

The Dems may win this next round, but they are going to lose for years after.

It's going to be a rough few years.

In 2012, we will be well on our way to total energy independence, no thanks to Democrats.

[Oldcatman]

Perhaps the oil companies should release the patents on the many gas saving devices they have bought up over the years!

With today's technology, if we can't produce engines that get super mileage, then the oil companies are screwing us again...again....again!

And Exxon is getting out of the 'gas station' business.....

[Uncle Fester]

LOL, OCM, I like you but you really need to put down the Kool Aid jug.

We were on our way out of the retail business prior to the merger because there is no way for our company run stores to make a profit on gas due to our inherent overhead and we really don't want, as an energy company, to be in the C-store business. The merger merely delayed the inevitable as you'd know if you were paying attention to what the other majors are doing. We're actually at the tail-end of the move to go to a straight distributor chain.

Also, we're not suppressing any "super mileage" technology; why would we? If peak oil is true (and I don't think it is) wouldn't it be in our interest to avoid depleting the very resource our business depends on?

Anyway, if there's one thing I've learned in this business is that if one man can make it and patent it another man can figure a way to duplicate it without violating that patent. I'd be talking to the folks at the automakers who decide what goes down the production line if I were you.