Gas prices are rapidly going up in China and the people of the People's Republic aren't happy. China Car Times has a list of just a few of the [printable] comments made in various Chinese publications about the situation: "Socialism is great – prices rise, but our wages don't!" "I hope it goes up to 10rmb a liter, this way we'll all ride our bikes again and loose weight." And the aforementioned "Lets go to the Middle East and steal their oil!" In other news related to the Chinese fuel crisis, some areas are reporting short supplies resulting in fuel rationing with long lines, and at least one person has been killed in fighting over line jumping at a fuel station. The situation is bound to get worse as auto sales continue to outpace China's refining capacity.
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You have to thank the Chinese to help deplete our finite amount of natural resources. We’re gonna run out of oil sooner or later. Guess this will be a little sooner.
I have not seen my wages rise either, even though gas cost more, even though I live in the Land of the Free.
I guess it’s time to go mine for hydrogen.
The difference is the Chicoms will very well go to the Middle East and “steal” the oil.
Very interesting, with Washington and Europe doing nothing to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
“Lets go to the Middle East and steal their oil”!
To bad we got there first and it does not seem like we will be going home anytime soon!
The difference is the Chicoms will very well go to the Middle East and “steal” the oil.
There’s the answer to the quandary of an exit strategy!
1 – Sell house in the suburb
2- Buy house close to work
3 – Sell car
4 – Buy bicycle & walking shoes
5 – Loose weight
6 – Save money
7 – Get fit
8 – Reduce waste
shiete. sounds like something i should do.
@ tms1999
If by “our” you mean “everyone on Earth”, I hate to break it to you but that includes, uh, everybody. No matter how much you zoom in with an electron microscope, you will not find a little “Property of USA” tag in crude oil. Instead, there is this thing called a “market” wherein one trades money for stuff. Those yahoos in the 70s and 80s with their “Nuke their Ass and take their Gas” bumper stickers might as well have said “I am a murderous thief”.
I have read elsewhere that a lot of 3rd world nations (or at least their leaders) like doing business with the Chinese because unlike the US the Chinese don’t care about human rights, etc. While this will make them popular with the leaders, I predict that in the next couple of decades this will produce a lot of ill will for the Chinese, much as US backing of anti-Communist authoritarian governments in the Cold War period produced bad feelings against the US among the people living under those governments who saw the US as propping up the hated leaders.
What if we gave Iraq to the Chinese in exchange for our national debt? Not that Iraq is our colony/territory for us to sell or anything. It would just be transferring a tar baby peace-keeping duties to a neutral party. Honest.
Why don’t they start making immitation oil?
This is what socialism and price controls hath wrought. Next time politicians want to do something about the price of energy, thank them and allow the rope around their necks to tighten.
Well, China is full of US, European and Japanese carmakers doing their utmost to lengthen those lines at gas stations …
I’ve been accused of being depressing here before, but we’re fast approaching a tipping point when it comes to how much oil is available and how many want a healthy helping. And when the general acceptance dawns, you’ll find the producing nations cutting back on the exports, accelerating the downslope.
What’s particularly worrying is that a number of emerging nations consider they were cheated out of the party, by us getting there first. And they want to taste the joy of double mortgages, three cars and McMansions, dammit.
And if you follow James Kunstler and his dire predictions (author of The Long Emergency) then this will soon not be a matter of choice, but of necessity:
1 – Sell house in the suburb
2- Buy house close to work
3 – Sell car
4 – Buy bicycle & walking shoes
5 – Loose weight
6 – Save money
7 – Get fit
8 – Reduce waste
Boy, hope they don’t find out Canada has oil too!
Maybe they can invade ANWR. Libs don’t seem to care about PRC’s environmental impact…they are enlightened socialists vs. evil capitalist oil companies. Maybe they could get the oil out, freeing the MidEast oil for us.
A little off topic, but interesting article on oil shale research. Seems like some of the greedy oil companies are putting their record profits into research rather than their pockets…who would have thought?
http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/30/magazines/fortune/Oil_from_stone.fortune/index.htm?section=money_latest
1996MEdition :
That is very interesting. Shell sent me a DVD explaining how they can now pump oil out of previously unpumpable areas due to a “bendy straw” like drilling system.
Well sure, as the cost of oil goes up, the feasibility of difficult oil sources goes up too. Doesn’t really make prices go down all that much, unless the extraction methods drastically improve.
It must be annoying to be able to afford a car just as it’s getting expensive to run one.
Libs don’t seem to care about PRC’s environmental impact
Where did you get that completely incorrect idea? I might think that cons are never afraid to spew malicious strawman arguments whenever it suits their political purposes.
Oil shale dudes: this is nothing new. The question is the cost of extraction.
If China was in Iraq, woe to any neighborhood, group, etc. that even has a hint of support for those that would oppose them. It would make the current involvement of the United States in Iraq seem like a tea party.
Of course, China would have crushed the insurgents and terrorists in about 6 months, but the only thing left in Iraq that would not be a smoking ruin would be Chinese military bases, and the oil fields.
This Chinese dude who said, “Lets go to the Middle East and steal their oil!”… Did he say that because he’s pretty sure that’s what WE are doing?
whitenose:
November 1st, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Libs don’t seem to care about PRC’s environmental impact
Where did you get that completely incorrect idea? I might think that cons are never afraid to spew malicious strawman arguments whenever it suits their political purposes.
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I guess we wouldn’t get such an incorrect idea if China had signed on to the Kyoto Protocols. But they don’t get any flak on that and other issues of pollution. Strawman indeed.
KixStart: This Chinese dude who said, “Lets go to the Middle East and steal their oil!”… Did he say that because he’s pretty sure that’s what WE are doing?
Seems to me we’re paying $94 a barrel for the stuff. That’s not what I’d call stealing.
Last I heard China was busy trying to “steal” the oil in the vicinity of the Spratley Islands. Whatever happened with that? I read a lot about it in the 1990’s. China, Vietnam and the Phillippines all claimed the Spratleys supposedly because of oil there.
@ taxman100
Yeah, just like the Soviets crushed the Afghans!
Oh, wait…
You are right, though, the only way to conquer a country is to kill, well, not all the inhabitants, necessarily, just enough to scare the rest. Of course, you have to worry about the people who border the country you are “pacifying”, since they may realize that you are in a precarious position and may decide to liberate the oppressed peoples from your rule, especially if you were at the end of a long logistics tail.
However, since Mao was one of the foremost practitioners of People’s War – against the Japanese Army (not known for the qualities of restraint, mercy or humanity) – I suspect the PLA would be hesitant to under take such a measure unless they were able to supply enough troops to put a squad on every street corner – at least.
“Lets go to the Middle East and steal their oil!” So the Cheney energy task force has found work in China. I wonder if it was a no bid contract.
Get ready for interesting times!
Ryan Knuckles :
November 1st, 2007 at 2:32 pm
1996MEdition :
That is very interesting. Shell sent me a DVD explaining how they can now pump oil out of previously unpumpable areas due to a “bendy straw” like drilling system.
Are you talking about directional drilling (drilling at angles, going down vertically then turning horizontally, etc), or something new?
rpn453 :
The call it the “snake well”. The video about it is called Eureka, which you can see here:
http://www.shell.com/home/PlainPageServlet?FC=/aboutshell-en/html/iwgen/shell_real/app_shell_real_welcome.html
I suppose you can speculate about the countries China *might* invade or you can look at the countries the US *has* invaded. Truth is the Chinese have the $$$ and are happy to invest and buy oil from Sudan, Iran, whoever, no need to invade anyone.
“Lets go to the Middle East and steal their oil!”, they are planning that in Africa. Oops..sorry hope those Africans don’t read TTAC!
1 – Sell house in the suburb. Whose gonna buy it?
2- Buy house close to work. Would that be in China or Bangladesh?
3 – Sell car. See #1.
4 – Buy bicycle & walking shoes. Both are made exclusively in China now.
5 – Loose weight. The way the economy is going, that may not be a choice.
6 – Save money. You talking about Euros? Saving the vanishing dollar hardly seems worth the effort.
7 – Get fit. Tough to do on 1200 calories a day — see #5
8 – Reduce waste. Reduce waste? Hell, most of us will be digging through garbage dumps looking for our old waste. Thank God I live in New Jersey. Now stay the hell off my trash heap or I’ll kill you.
# Kevin :
November 1st, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Boy, hope they don’t find out Canada has oil too!
Don’t forget about the billions of oil trapped in oil shale under Utah!
As if selling your house and moving into the city is a cakewalk, or am I the only one who’s noticed that the price of a house in the suburbs is nowhere near the price of a condo in the city? And if we all move into the city, how much more do you think that condo will cost?
hal:
November 1st, 2007 at 10:22 pm
I suppose you can speculate about the countries China *might* invade or you can look at the countries the US *has* invaded.
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Well, if China invaded countries like the US “does” then today Tibet would have it’s own government, free elections, and control over it’s own resources (and the Dali Lama would be living there, instead of abroad) – but they don’t, do they? History is a bitch, no?
hal: “or you can look at the countries the US *has* invaded.” japan, germany and south korea didnt fair too badly after we rebuilt them and made them elect there officials.
I’m absolutely shocked that anyone was allowed to actually voice their opinion in a Chinese publication like that.
@ windswords & stuntnun
I know my history. My simple point was that invading countries is expensive and messy and you risk getting bogged down. Only an idiot would invade to secure oil when you can buy the stuff anywhere.
But since you bring it up:
How many times has the US invaded or intervened in Haiti?
The place must be richer than Switzerland if being invaded by the US is such a boon to a country’s inhabitants. No doubt Somalia is still enjoying the boost to prosperity from the US intervention in the 90s.
“japan, germany and south korea didnt fair too badly after we rebuilt them”
Western Europe, Korea and Japan rebuilt themselves, in fairness with some aid from the US but that was before the US was run by munchkins who couldn’t even rebuild NOLA.
Well said, hal.