$4 Gasoline? It’s News to Bush
When asked about the possibility of the price going that high, president says, ‘That’s interesting, I hadn’t heard that.’ He also says a tax hike on oil companies would drive the price up further.
WASHINGTON - The prospect of sharply higher fuel prices, including $4-a-gallon gasoline, may not have made it into Oval Office briefing books, perhaps explaining why President Bush was surprised Thursday when a reporter mentioned what energy analysts are saying could happen soon in many parts of the country.
“Wait, what did you just say? You’re predicting $4-a-gallon gasoline?” Bush responded to a reporter who said some analysts expect prices to soon climb that high. “That’s interesting. I hadn’t heard that. . . . I know it’s high now.”
The price of oil set another record Thursday, jumping $2.95 to close at $102.59 a barrel in New York futures trading.
But even before the recent surge in oil prices, analysts were predicting that the average price of a gallon of gasoline could reach $3.75 nationwide in the near term and top $4 in states such as California and Hawaii.
Bush’s acknowledged unfamiliarity with the recent cost of gasoline produced some fumes at the pump.
At a Shell service station in the Bay Area city of San Mateo, the price of a gallon of regular had already reached $4.29, well above the state average of $3.42, as measured by the AAA auto club.
“Bush is out of touch with a lot of things we are facing today,” said 33-year-old Marisa Cajbon, who was filling her Toyota Sequoia SUV with the expensive fuel. “I have to buy gas. I need to work. I have two kids. I think it’s unfortunate. I think it’s a crime.”
Not surprisingly in a presidential election year, Bush’s remark provoked comparisons to his father, George H. W. Bush, who took a serious political hit in 1992 after appearing to be out of touch with Americans’ everyday lives.
The current occupant of the White House isn’t seeking reelection, but Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama immediately seized on the gasoline issue, accusing the younger Bush of failing to understand the hardships ordinary Americans are facing as prices rise and the economy falters.
“When I hear George Bush say that he doesn’t think we’re in a recession, when somebody tells him that, you know, gasoline prices might reach $4 a gallon and he says, ‘That’s interesting. I didn’t know that’. . . . That’s a sign we have a Washington that is out of touch,” the senator from Illinois said to cheers and laughter from a crowd of about 2,000 at a campaign stop in Beaumont, Texas.
Obama’s rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, expressed concern about fuel costs during a visit with two families in Pomeroy, Ohio. “We need to give more authority to the government to go after these oil companies to ask the hard questions,” she said.
During a White House news conference, Bush tried to put the best spin on months of bleak economic news. “I don’t think we’re headed to a recession, but no question we’re in a slowdown,” Bush said.
In his second day of congressional testimony, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke repeated his warning that the U.S. economy faces a triple threat of declining growth, recurring credit crunches and rising inflation. But in contrast to his assessment Wednesday, the central bank chief shared a note of optimism on the nation’s odds of dodging the worst of the problems.
Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee that he didn’t see much danger of so-called stagflation, the combination of falling growth and rising prices that ravaged the economy three decades ago.
“I don’t think we’re anywhere near the situation that prevailed in the 1970s,” Bernanke said.
However, he acknowledged that higher food and fuel prices were creating “inflationary stress” that could make it tougher for the Federal Reserve to keep the economy out of recession by cutting interest rates.
Bernanke’s testimony came as the Commerce Department reported that the gross domestic product, the broadest gauge of the nation’s output of goods and services, grew at a weak 0.63% rate in the fourth quarter of last year. Economists had hoped that the GDP number, which the government had estimated at 0.6%, would be revised substantially upward.
Bush said he understood that uncertainty about the economy was hard on American consumers. But he said the answer was for Congress to make the tax cuts he pushed through in his first term permanent. Many lawmakers have balked, arguing that those reductions have led to a dangerously large federal budget deficit.
“If you’re out there wondering . . . what your life is going to be like and you’re looking at $4 a gallon, that’s uncertain,” Bush said. “And when you couple with the idea that taxes may be going up in a couple of years, that’s double uncertainty.”
The average U.S. pump price was $3.16 a gallon Thursday, according to AAA, but higher in many regional markets.
Roy Persinco, who filled up his Ford 250 pickup truck for $3.25 a gallon at a Santa Monica Shell station Thursday, said he spent $125 a week on gas.
“I can’t believe that an ex-oilman could be so unaware and ignorant of what is going on around him in the real world, but I’m sure his old buddies in the oil industry can tell him they’re doing just fine,” Persinco said.
Another motorist, Grant Reese of West Los Angeles, volunteered to help the president keep in touch during his remaining days in office, lest he be caught off guard by the Washington press corps again.
“I’d be happy to send him all my credit card receipts for gasoline from now on,” Reese said, watching the pump top $40 as he filled the tank of his Nissan Altima at a Sam’s Club station in Long Beach.
Energy analysts have offered motorists little solace, saying that the rules of supply and demand for gasoline and other fuels are apparently being overridden, and commodity prices are continuing their run.
The Energy Department’s most recent weekly petroleum report said gasoline inventories were more than 8% above their five-year average. Gasoline demand is about 1% shy of its level of a year ago.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey, said the situation was likely to get worse. He expects retail gasoline prices to hit record highs between $3.50 and $3.75 a gallon nationally and that $4 gasoline in California won’t be considered a rogue price.
“I can’t see [the average] hitting $4, but then I also couldn’t see oil hitting $103 a barrel,” he said.
Reynolds reported from Washington, Quinn from San Mateo, Calif., and White from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Peter G. Gosselin in Washington, Mark Z. Barabak in Beaumont, Texas, and Scott Wilson in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
© 2008 The Los Angeles Times
The clueless Bastard of a president is really living on Mars!
Why the surprise? Didn’t bush expect his armies to be welcomed into Baghdad with flowers? He didn’t expect anyone to attack america on 9/11, he didn’t expect that a hurracane could do such damage to New Orleans, he doesn’t expect the crashing of the banking sector and housing market to cause a recession.
The man seems to try to project the image of being newborn each day.
Maybe the world has simply misunderestimated Prince Pissy Pants.
Remember Poppy Bush, after he lost his last election in part for looking at his watch during a debate and wishing “this democracy crap” was over? He went into a Maine convenience store and started complaining about the price of milk. “Where the fuck have you been?” was the national reply….
Washington is clueless of the real world because the residents of our government offices don’t pay for their utilities and daily expenses. We the people are paying for it.
The only winners in the $4 price tag is the oil oligarchs. Watch for Exxon Mobil to top $15 Billion in the first quarter this year. They claim that the demand is high because people are not driving less. This shows their clueless attitude as the majority of the US folks have NO OTHER MEANS OF GETTING FROM POINT A TO B. These same oligarchs were busy running negative ads all over the major cities in the US when there is a proposal for new mass rapid transports and such.
The oil oligarchs are the 21st century robber barons…
yet another bush bankrupt$y in the making?
Just curious, do you think cheney gives bush any real information or purposely keeps him in the dark, away from TVs and papers? I once heard people say that bush is smarter than most of us think — he’s just playing dumb. If you watch any news conference when he’s done reading from cheney’s script, anyone can tell the guy is not just playing dumb. He’s an absolute embarrassment to this country.
What is more of an embarrassment is all the dumbed down Americans that voted him into office not once but twice! And even if he stole the elections, there are still millions of dum dums and elite with vested interests that voted for him.
However Maria doesn’t have to have a SUV…If you’re worried about gas prices trade it in for a fuel efficient small car, ride a bike, walk…now there’s a concept, car pool… Stop driving except when it is absolutely necessary.
I like the caption under the image…”Nobody’s Fool…”
Yeah-sure …
Wanna tell me again how the monkey evolved into a human? This is indisputable evidence of the stupidity and regression of mankind.
Is the Chimp constipated? It looked like he did a do-it-yourself home hair dye job with parts of his hair around the neckline looking darker. Was he drunk when he did it?
He said something to the effect that he wants us to be able to “put money on the table.” Not in our wallets but on the table. I thought food was supposed to be on the table. Seeing him and hearing him talk always provides a laugh. Hopefully our next president will do more than that.
Oh, sure, the value of a dollar is going to keep plummeting until it’s only worth 1/4 gallon of gas. And it will keep on plummeting. Some progressives would really like conservatives to hear what Nader has to say. And I would really like more progressives to hear what Ron Paul has to say. You may think capitalism sucks, but that won’t help you as the printing presses whip up currency on an upward parabolic trajectory, driving it’s purchasing power to zero. Folks complain about “tax and spend” policies - try complaining about “counterfeit and waste” policies. There’s lots of stuff that needs to be addressed, but everyone, except Ron Paul, pretends that this elephant in the room simply isn’t there.
“He said something to the effect that he wants us to be able to ‘put money on the table.’ Not in our wallets but on the table. I thought food was supposed to be on the table.”
No, food goes on your family, not on the table.
But don’t get too mad at the oil companies. If you want to identify the problem, look in the mirror.
Move closer to work! Ride a bike or walk! Grow your own food! Starve the beast!
The price of gasoline won’t be high enough until it actually starts to affect the habits of the people. $4.00 gallon gasoline probably won’t change anything. As much as we would like to, we can’t blame idiot Bush for all the moronic choices we make as individuals. Bush and the guys that complain about the cost of filling the SUV are living in the same filthy camp; Camp delusional. But, but, but, we deserve and earned our comfort and speed….
Obama has the right idea.
Serve Bush and all his cohorts and hangers on with daily doses of ridicule.
It may not be the world’s most powerful weapon, but then again it may be.
High gasoline prices are only one factor in the ongoing energy squeeze. This recent online paper about the Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) for Canadian NatGas is quite important and under the radar as usual, http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3673 Be sure to read the long commentary discussion as it’s as important as the article itself.
There’s also a very good paper, and discussion, revisiting the Olduvai Gorge Theory, http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/3565
Last year while traveling I observed $4 gas in several remote locations–Death Valley National Park and at a small community just west of Yosemite.
The demand picture for gasoline is seasonal and continues to trend upward Y/Y, as the graph below this table shows, http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip_gasoline.html#demand
The Corporate Media Complex is doing all it can to hide the overall severity of the coming crisis so that BAU can continue. The two best sites I’ve found as fundamental informatione nodes are theoildrum.com and energybulletin.net and they link to many others.
Tip of the iceburg, and our ship is full speed ahead, straight towards that huge hunk of ice. The depression is dead ahead and if you don’t wish to believe it,___ don’t.
Jan Steinman — Absolutely, the best short “taker” on Geo the inferior, Andy Dick is priceless as the official “Prez speachalist” — I love the ‘food on the people’ and putting dreams onto one’s wings.
People across this great country so love this type of thing, that we continually recreate it — and out pop the bestiest bu$hyne ever brewed anywhere under or over the moon-like thing down yar.
We’ve all got just the prez’dented we dizzy’sir
Yes and watch…Roger Clemens will be investigated by the DOJ for perjury about his steroid use and the oil company execs that lied to Congress about the Cheney energy bill once again get a free pass!
The stupid sonovabitch has no business STILL being in the White House! He has about as much knowledge about “real” Americans as do the Aborigines in the outback.
Hey Texas!!! Why don’t you came and take this M$%^&^* F%&* back to his ward???!!!
I recognize the expression on George W’s face. He has gas.
Lucky stiff.
Hehe- hey republinazi amerikkaners, that’s YOUR bush!
oil is sold in euros now and clueless bush has known that for a long time now. Do you think he cares about the average american? He could care less if you are half dead and need medical attention and have no insurance just ask any of the 70 million americans who are in that position
Gas purchase has gone down 5% in So. Florida. People are trying to conserve. So how can demand be up? How can they claim that it is demand that is causing record breaking profits? I think that shows we are being gouged!
$4/gallon is unimpressive. Americans are still finding diversion in the Hillary vs. Obama charade.
But I subscribe to a market letter that predicts $9 gasoline. Maybe $9 will make an impression. Maybe $9 will give Americans something to ponder besides gay marriage and ’support the troops.’
Well ~Nader4prez~, the oil companies hired economists, have their private “theory of economics” concerning the supply and demand theory.___ Here it is.
“If demand goes up __ the price goes up.___ If demand goes down, __the price goes up.”
That’s actually a very good economic principal and a proven economic theory, for it maintains annual billion dollar profits.
Nader4prez–did you click on the link I posted for gasoline demand? Did you see that demand is seasonal? Do you understand that the USA isn’t the only user of oil? Did you know Chindia’s growth rate is over 10% Y/Y and that their demand growth is similar? Did you know that C+C (Crude plus Condensate) peaked in 2005 while global demand has surged? Did you know that so-called Big Oil (IOCs like EOM and Chevron/Texeco) did NOT replace 100% of their reserves last year through new exploration?
Now, I’m not defending the IOCs, but as I’ve said many times in posts on this subject, it’s VITAL that folks LEARN as much as they can about energy supplies, for our Comfort Culture–including the internet–wouldn’t exist.
Bush’s father was fascinated with a scanner in a super market; was not aware such things existed. Warren Buffet predicted four dollars a gallon some months ago. If the war monger John MCain is elected, we will probably start hearing about $5.00 a gallon gas. McCain is undoubtedly going to push Columbia to allow contras to attack ‘Venezuela, a la Reagan’s use of Hounduras to carry out a proxy war against Nicaragua. Iran, too, is going to be a target of McCain. These clowns do not recognize that when they make threats, the price of petroleum goes up. When Bush invaded Iraq, the price of petroleum was $23.11 a barrel. Despite the fact that Obama or Hillary are very great candidates, we had better make sure that we all get out as many people as possible in November.
The depression will put an end to these discussions. $4 or $9 a gallon for gasoline will not be an issue then. Any available food will be.
With all the stag-flation that we’re not having (Bushspeak) all I can afford to do is to stay home and starve. Why is that?
Our corporations are getting filthy rich serving SOS to our school kids and those not minding the store get paid vacations.
Union officials say the US Department of Agriculture has placed three employees on paid leave of absence amid the agency’s investigation of the largest meat recall in US history.
Hi Ghawar–The price you posted is about that of Europe and shows just how wasteful the USE is when it comes to transport fuels. Did you read Matt Simmons’s book that relates to your handle?
KEM–Too bad the price and demand graphs at the links I posted disprove your attempt at humor. Unlike Europe and much of the rest of the world, the USE is NOT prepared for the coming energy squeeze; it’s a very serious problem without any easy solutions.
i propose what i think mahatma ghandi might call simple justice (actually revenge): starting january 21, 2009, bush has to take off his shoes and be wanded before entering any motorized conveyance for the rest of his life. at random intervals, let him be strip searched. see how long he lasts before he decides to go for security instead of intimidation for travellers.
(i realize this is about bush’s lack of familiarity with how the “simple folk” live.) (in camelot, they simply make a law that there will be no more war.)
Bush finds $4 gasoline interesting? Hmmm…maybe he’s got a plan for designing a very efficient car?
Can you imagine driving the Bushmobile? Imagine a car that just couldn’t hold the road, a car that, no matter how you struggled to maintain control of it, kept heading for the ditches and running into trees—and that was IF it worked at all between long stints in detox.
Our Robber Baron in Chief feigns clueless again.
The bastard never went a day in his life with a doubt about how to pay tomorrows bills. He can suck my #$@#*(^@#$%^!!@#.
The last time Bush actually paid to fill up his pick-up out of his own pocket, gas was 50 cents a gallon.
He needs to stop reading the sunday comics during the week and focus on the real news - news that’s affecting the “Have Nots.” He is so out of touch with reality of what is really going on around him - pathetic!
Why do they quote one person with an SUV and another with a pickup? Please check the loan documents and the bill of sale for those vehicles and show me where you find the guarantee of $1.39 gas forever and ever. Bush is clueless but so are people that don’t realize that this dependence on oil must start to diminish.
After recently slowing down traffic by driving only 65 in a 55 zone, its obvious the market isn’t reacting to $3.15/gallon gasoline. Not to mention all the weaving, passing on the right, passing in the merge lane, slamming the brakes and flooring it I saw.
Well the new GM hybrid trucks get 50% better city mileage! Is that 15 vs 10 mpg, 18 vs 12? Whatever. It will help a little.
One has to wonder what most families will end up “giving up”, in our massively propagandized material world.
The lady with the SUV and 2 kids might eventually consider trading in for something light weight and low mileage, but more likely she’ll cut other non-essentials out of the budget, like volunteering for the PTA, or sending contributions to worthy organizations.
The face lock that this multi-legged materialistic “alien planting its seed into my stomach” is providing us — is more than just suffocating — it’s going to come ripping out of our guts soon.
Namaste
… … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … & … ML King … … Inspiration … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed »
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — MLK
Check some of the financial pages, speculative dealing in oil futures has taken the price of oil out of the realm of supply and demand almost completely.
The English language is news to Bush. Are you surprised?
From the ’school of hard knocks’ I learned long ago never to argue with fools or idiots, so I’ll likely never have one with Bush. He’s as out of touch with the people (and reality) he reminds me of a past president, when visiting a grocery store, wasn’t aware of bar code scanners, despite the fact they were in use in almost all grocery stores & more. What planet are these people from?
I gained a bit of hope when I saw a pundit (or person in congress; can’t remember) come right out and suggest Bush should READ THE DAMNED PAPER once in awhile. Truer words never spoken, but it’s a shame it took so long for me to hear someone say it outright on the TV. It also amazes me someone would glory in, even brag about, being a completely ignorant buffoon, especially in a position so vital to the needs of literally hundreds of millions of people. Maybe his trip to read “My Pet Goat” was actually a remedial reading class, and the reason he sat like a bump on a log for 7 minutes after the news of airplane strikes is his teacher hadn’t dismissed the class yet. ;=)
Good one Paul, LOL. Except actually I guess it really isn’t all that funny. It’s tragic to honestly realize, we have a fool for our president.
Of course even if he stole it in Florida, or Ohio, or both, he still garnered enough votes from other fooled fools, to allow that to be the end result.
BBB, you’ll be standing in a line tens (hundreds) of millions long waiting for the hangman’s privilege.
Remember, Bush and his entire family are what? OILMEN.
Do you HONESTLY believe that he just woke up this morning, and the dynamics of the oil market just suddenly dawned on him?
Please. He is counting on you thinking he is that stupid. If you believe that he just suddenly realized that the price of gas would be what it was, and that it was either suprising or “interesting” to him, then you are buying what he’s selling.
On some things he’s totally clueless, that’s for sure. But when it comes to his family’s fortune, don’t bet on it for a second.
Even fools can be sly.
Surrender…I assure you that this Texan would like nothing
better unless we could carry him some place else, like Iraq
for instance, armed with a BB gun. What amazes me is that
30 percent of Americans still think he is the greatest thing since paper cups.
19 percent
“Bush is out of touch with a lot of things we are facing today,” said 33-year-old Marisa Cajbon, who was filling her Toyota Sequoia SUV with the expensive fuel. “I have to buy gas. I need to work. I have two kids. I think it’s unfortunate. I think it’s a crime.”
Um, Marisa…the price of gas has been steadily rising for years. Global warming is real and we’ve know about what contributes to it for years. SUVs are the worst guzzlers and polluters and we’ve known that for years. And you say that Bush is out of touch?
Not saying that you’re wrong about Bush, but you seem to be wrong about many things. The very worrisome thing is that you seem to be an example of main-stream American disconnect. You just can’t see the role you play in all of this. That’s too bad, because you’ll be driving your Sequoia right off the cliff, with the rest of us in it.
Like father, like son. This clueless bastard is just like Poppy-went into a store and was amazed at the barcode scanner and the price of milk. Now Dumbyah is surprised that gas may hit $4.00/gallon. Milk isn’t far from that price now.
This Texan didn’t vote for that dumbass for Governor, and certainly didn’t for Prez. Only good thing was we didn’t have him in Austin fucking things up anymore. Too bad he went to DC and proceeded to do the same, only on a much larger and tragic scale. Wish he’d find another state or country to claim he’s from. I can’t wait until they open his library at SMU in Dallas so I can go piss on the floor.
“Wish he’d find another state or country to claim he’s from.”
Can’t we pretend Texas is another country? I do - North Mexico!
Washington is clueless. Politicians, reporters, economists, and bureaucrats are working with fake numbers that have been manipulated to the point of meaninglessness. The cash starved poor and middle class can no longer take the risk of financial loss heaped upon them by the wealthy and corporations. There is a serious structural income and debt problem in the bottom fifty percent of the population. The top fifty percent refuses to acknowledge it. On the day of the crash they will all sing, “who could have imagined this?”
Justice for Bush will finally come when he leaves office and goes back to Texas. Bush will not be able to hide from his ill-begotten policies and his legacy will be one of infamy. More than likely he will need protection ’round the clock from various nut hatches and yahoos who finally realize how profoundly they’ve been betrayed by Bush and his neocon cohorts in crime. None of us will want to be in his shoes, not for all the money in the world. If Bush did most of what he did out of ignorance and not deliberately, he is really more pitiable than contemptible, and others that clearly knew better–like the cynical Cheney–are more to blame. However, that will probably not be much consolation to him.
All you evil demidumbs need to stop calling our glorious leader names. He’s a godly man with a godly plan. He’s exportin democracy to the middle east, so stop complainin if we have a shortage here. God is on W’s side, so I’m gonna be on that side…the winning side. I just hope all yall git caught up in the domestic survalance plan our glorious leader has sit up to catch unamurikin turrists like yall. He went to a ivy leage skool. you gotta be smart two go thar. go dubya! we luv u! i fear fir the country if obama gits the white house. he’ll open the boarder to turrists and make us all muslums! is dat what yall want!? all you demidumbs need to shup up and thank gawd that we have a president like George W Bush. He’s awesome!
The true terrorists are the CEO’s of these giant corporations. The Texas Turdball and his little dick (Cheney) are nothing more than employees of the corporate terrorists. Global capital has declared war on the working class. Don’t listen to their words, instead watch their actions. What we need is a war on the real
terrorists. Like the Frenchman said in Micheal Moores movie Sicko “the government has to be afraid of the population.”
Considering old man Bush had a similar moment during the 1992 Presidential campaign when he was amazed by supermarket scanners, is it any surprise that the members of the Bush crime family are a corrupt bunch of out-of-touch aristocrats? What is surprising is that a significant number of Americans actually bought his “average guy” routine in 2000.
what iceberg?!?
The failing economy of America is one iceburg. Perhaps you are unaware ~SATR9~ that actual ocean iceberg are named by the Coast Guard and navies of several countries. So it may be appropriate to name an “iceburg” __ “the looming depression”. Ya get it now?
High gasoline prices are a fine thing - in the UK gasoline is the equivalent of about $8.00 per gallon - higher on the continent.
But, you can also buy cars that get 50-70 mpg (and they not expensive gimmicky hybrids). Most of the time you don’t deed a car because their communities are largely still built around walking, biking and public transit.
Anyone that hasn’t seen Sicko…should.
Bush doesn’t know anything that isn’t being fed to him by the power structure. LOL
The Air Car
———–
I think that the future of the motor car is one of cars driven by
compressed air. Dont scoff, there will be a million compressed air
driven cars in india in two years time manufactured by TATA. (link1)
Compressed air vehicles are safe, non polluting, very reliable and
CHEAP! (link 2)
I think the oil companies will fight this tooth and nail because it
has the potential to drastically reduce their profits. I understand
that they have challenged the main wikipedia article on compressed air
cars. I would not be surprised if they purchase the rights to a highly
efficient compressed air driven engine (link 3).
I posted a very similar posting on this thread at this time yesterday.
It was not published but awaited “moderation”. Now it has disappeared.
I dont know why, but I dont think CD like a lot of links. So now I put
up a single link to a page on my own pathetic site, which contains my
previous links.
http://web.aanet.com.au/webspace/BloodForOil/Postings/aircar.html
Thanks for the ‘air car’ link,braithwa842, and if the air could come from electricity generated by tidal, geothermal, wind, or solar we’ll be back in the game again. I can well understand why the oil companies will do everything they can to obscure the story about this technology…same as they did with the 200 MPG carburetor that reputedly came out decades ago, the Newman engine, or even the thousands of electric cars destroyed in California.
Sorry to say, but thew will NEVER be a sustainable way to propel a one-to two ton machine that carries a payload of at most, a few hundred pounds! Such vehicles are, by their very nature inefficient.
But the links in the article admit that an air car is only 1/3 as energy efficient as a battery-electric car.
But better yet, 90% of car daily car usage could be eliminated with proper urban design and public transportation.
But if you replace the current pnumatic engine with the enginair engine (links above), and you double that efficiency. In any case it is STILL much more efficient than the internal combustion energy.
The battery powered car uses batteries that:-
* Are very polluting to manufacture.
* Are very polluting to dispose of.
* Can be used only a few hundred times before replacement is neccesary.
I am not certain that battery power is better from an environmental point of view, than our internal combustion engines. But I am certain that compressed air cars are.
The only problem lies with the power generation in the first place. Coal may be as dirty as oil, but the wars for coal have not begun. Peak coal has not arrived. We have 100 years + remaining of coal. Scientific American recently published a proposal to develop solar power, enough for USA and its transport for $500 billion.
You might say that the US could never come up with that sort of money. Well, there are no potential invaders really. No defence needs for the USA per say. But we spend well in excess of that quantity on war (For oil). Now, if we decide to run the country on compressed air, we dont need the oil, so we done need the war, and we can spend it on solar, and store the energy as compressed air.
No argument regarding public transport, etc.
Iceland has begun moving to a hydrogen econmy, but they have no military and easily can afford such a big transitioning process.
Germany also is making big moves away from oil/coal etc based poer sources and reducing usage per capita, but they too dont spend very much on the military.
What could America do with trillions of dollars?
Finland is cracking sea water using geo-thermal energy to produce hydrogen for less than two dollars a gallon. As they increase production, the cost will come down. Hydrogen is totaly clean and gives equivelent energy and horsepower as gasoline or diesel. In other words, the big SUV owners can have their cake and not pollute the atmosphere when eating it with hydrogen fuel.
The air car is excellent transportation for hundred, to 150 mile trips and the compressed air fuel cost is very low with absolutely zero pollution from the vehicle. I believe they have NO air conditioners. I do have a bit of a problem, sitting on a very high pressure air tank. Have you ever seen a commercial sized oxygen bottle go off?___ KA-BOOM. Scary and very deadly.
Andorra has no military and has survived well for 700 years in that way, Costa Rica and several other countries eliminated their militaries because keeping them was economically unfeasable, and are not protectorates of any other country.
I suspect George Bush would need help finding those countries , so they are still safe for a while longer.
I wonder how much fuel is used each day in the many wars America is currently in? If I was a Yank I’d be upset in a few years that I cant use my car because fuel rationing to support the troops is back in style. I suspect Even George is smart enough to ensure that if the water boils slowly enough that no one will fuss until its too late.
The tanks are made of carbon fibre, and they can be punctured or split, but they will not explode. Mythbusters tried to explode them by firing bullets at them.
These cars have no gearbox, and no differential. The engine can be made small and light.
“I can’t believe that an ex-oilman could be so unaware and ignorant of what is going on around him in the real world
Never underestimate Bush’s ability to be ignorant beyond belief.
As air expands, it cools. The “exhaust” from the engine, is therefore cold air. That, Kem, will be your air conditioning, even if the current models dont use it.
Heating, though, will be a problem. With the internal combustion engine, all we had to do is capture some of the waste heat. With compressed air, there is none to be had. I can see some people wanting a gas powered heater for the passenger space.
I didn’t quite catch the exact number, because of an interruption, but it was between 50-100,000 barrels PER DAY that Bush is putting into the Strategic Oil Reserve. That’s right, we’re sucking oil OUT of the ground then pumping it back DOWN in the ground to store. What the hell does this do to the supply/demand equation? Drives price, of course, and the price is further ratcheted up by Wall Street speculators in energy futures markets. As the article states supply is up 8%, and demand down 1%, so something else is artificially driving up price.
Don’t be fooled again by Bush’s feigned ignorance about the price at the pump. Haven’t we had enough proof yet he’s a devious person (I hesitate to call him a ‘man’), and compulsive liar? If he isn’t aware of how Americans are suffering then his advisors are as incompetent as he, and they all need the big boot from positions affecting us so drastically. Don’t be fooled for a minute. Bush likely knows exactly how much treasure will directly find itself into his pocket with each penny’s increase at the pump. Our hard earned treasure in his, never worked an honest day in his life, pocket.
Jim Morrison sang lyrics in a song, “We want the world, and we want it now!”. Our new lyric is, “WE NEED A COUP, AND WE NEED IT NOW!!!”
That’s very good about the air tanks. How about an electric heater? We had those for years when I was a kid, they worked fine and instant heat for defrosting the windshield also. The air engine must drive an alternator for powering the head and tail lights. That’s a good thought about using the exhaust air for an AC.