Government, rich people, little people, and business

[€uroMeinke]

As for refineries, I'm not sure building more of bigger/better is really going to do much about the price of gas. It's a limited resource and world wide demand is on the increase. We still have it cheap - (I read an item yesterday that pegged the cost at $7 a gallon in France right now). Furthermore I don't see why the refining process has to take place here - do it on the cheap elsewhere and ship gasoline instead of crude

But I agree the simplistic notion that corporations are evil, leads to many unfavorable outcomes. I've personal experience in how California's reaction to degregulation has created numerous disincentives to build more plants when we know more are needed. That's not likely to change until a Summer of Balckouts forces the issue. Politics is almost always reactive and seldom proactive.

As for Ballparks and eminent domain, yeah what a sad waste, though I suppose they can be used as emergency shelter in the event of a disaster - as long as the roof doesn't leak. I rarely go to ballparks so, it's not something I'd support - though I am a big fan of public spaces. Turning out people to create them though just doesn't seem right even if it does happen all the time.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

Furthermore I don't see why the refining process has to take place here - do it on the cheap elsewhere and ship gasoline instead of crude

I have tried to find a definitive answer on the shelf life of gasoline. Estimates I've seen are from a year to as little as a month. If it is closer to the latter, that might explain why it can't be shipped.

Again though, the numbers vary pretty wildly. You would think someone would actually know.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

As for refineries, I'm not sure building more of bigger/better is really going to do much about the price of gas. It's a limited resource and world wide demand is on the increase. We still have it cheap - (I read an item yesterday that pegged the cost at $7 a gallon in France right now).

We're in a disturbing in-between state right now.

We're seeing an increasing number of short-term issues due to the fact that refineries are running at capacity. In times of emergency (from things as major as Katrina to as minor as a small chemical fire that causes one refinery to shut down for a few days), there's no way to pick up the slack. So every little disruption in refinery output casues pretty immediate upward fluctuation in pump price. Some of it is real, some of it is paranoia, and some of it is the companies taking advantage of the situation. So from that perspective, more refineries seems to be a good answer.

But I think that only works if those refineries exist now. If it's going to take, what, 10? 20? years, not so much. Most likely, by then, crude supply will be the limiting factor, and if there's any intelligence left in this world, alternate fuels sources will start erroding demand for petrolium. In that case, if they start opening shiny new refineries with no rude to refine and no customers to for the product, we're going to look pretty stupid.

So we're kinda screwed either way for a little while, the way I see it. There's not quick bandaid for the refinery capacity problem, and any long-term solutions will take so long as to be obsolete once they're ready for prime time. So we're just going to have to suck it up and deal with it for a while.