It’s basic supply and demand.
OPEC tries to set the supply (in order to control the price) of its members’ exports. Its members account for almost 2/3rds of the world’s reserves, and about 50% of exports. So by adding more supply (or taking it away), the price goes up or down accordingly.
Canada (and other non-OPEC nations) are just along for the ride. Sure, we could try an manipulate the price by varying our exports, but it wouldn’t have much of an influence.
thanks Mig, clears that up…our future is set then…we are going to hell in a handbasket…
with the current supply and sale situation Alberta gets a nice chunk of that $5 or $10 a barrel increase. That led to the last 7c increase you have to pay per litre, of which almost 4c goes back to BC and Canada in taxes. Partly contributing to these huge surpluses, a rising dollar, and more funding for programs (or should I say less cuts than we’ve grown accustomed to)
So you can’t expecgt the gov’t to ‘do’ anything about high oil prices, because they are the biggest profiteer.
On the other hand, we know what alternative fuels cost, and we’re now in the ball park.
So there are some good things about it. Like Chinese car example, the demand for better living standards is there, the supply of services is growing, but the supply of oil is dwindling. The technological potential to fill this gap could be unprecedented since the cold war/space race leap in technology. The challenge is really to keep people focused upon this rather than allowing the ignoroids to steer us into another round of nuclear terror to ‘protect our own’ supply and ‘deny to others’.
We’re lowering electrical demand by switching to flourescent, and giving LED to the 3rd world where there’s lower demand. We could all go LED and export our surplus, and more money flows IN to our economy.
[quote=“steph”]What I was really getting as is that if Joe public can’t afford gas then he’ll be able to afford a better fuel. The main problem with gas is that it’s too cheap. That’s why we’re not switiching over to a renewable. Renewables are too expensive in comparison.
s.[/quote]
Another factor is that the development of alternative energy sources and technologies for automobiles has been actively ‘suppressed’ by the corporations in power as they have so much invested in existing ones. Some conspiracy theories even suggest that in the past they have gone as far as to purchase patents and fund research and development of alternative technologies in order to secure and suppress ideas to ensure thier monopoly of the market place. North american oil companies and automobile manufacturers have been in bed together for decades, most ‘new’ technologies could / should have been available years ago. But this is only one small peice of the puzzle.
Don’t people with integrity hold the reins of power anymore? 
)
People in power don’t have the word integrity in their vocabulary. 
Therefore, anyone with integrity cannot come close to power.
I very much disagree.
quitargrrl qoute: Don’t people with integrity hold the reins of power any more.?
Certainly from what we’ve seen recently integrity seems like one of those qualities that gets compramised in the process, no matter how well intentioned. Having said that, there are always exceptions, although I can’t think of any recent examples. But I’m sure corrupt file will give us some examples, given his response to this??
I think the summation that all people with power don’t abide by a moral, political or ethnical code is wrong. There are always exceptions for every arguement. Many authority figures do abuse their position and take advantage of the resources or whatever for personal benefit. In the contrary, many more don’t. For example, there are many more good cops then bad cops out on the streets bring justice rather than corrupting the system.
Cops are not ambitious lawyers or tax-evasive businessmen. Don’t kid yourself, there are as many or more bad politician than good ones. And if they are neither lawyers nor businessmen, they are there because they worked hard for years for the party ideology and are thanked by getting a chance to get elected in a riding. Believe me, I went to school with a minister in another province who never had another job than being a suckup to whoever was the party MLA from his riding and finally, the party did exactly what I said above. The guy is still a twit influenced only by whoever has money. The same thing happened here in B.C. too.
However, in the defence of politicians, in our media age, they can’t make a move without being scrutinized. They are coached on how to talk to the media and try not to stir the pot too much. Left wing media seek fault in right wingers and vice-versa. Many a good candidate elected and respected in his/her own riding has gone to the legislature and been imposed a gag order. There was something about that on the morning news just today about a NFLD MP.
I still think that our electoral system is one of the best in the world. But that’s not saying much!
I am not arguing the fact that most politicians are corrupt. Goobylicous stated that anyone with integrity cannot come close to power, which I disagreed with. Politicians are not the only powerholders in the world. But I do agree with your description of politions BigThumb.
Ok, what I meant was, most people with integrity can’t come close to power. I mean, look around yourself. The world could be a much better place if it wasn’t for so many power hungry, and greedy people. I know there are some people in high places that have good intentions, but not as many as there should be, unfortuntely.
Most of the best qualified people to be effective political leaders have no ambition to do so.
yep. Plato was right.
s.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
explosions!
The reality is that the politicians are not really the ones in ‘power’ anyway. The true leaders and power brokers remain anonymous and prefer to work from behind the scenes and therefore avoid the media attention. The house of Rothchilds, the Rockefeller family, the Morgans and Carnegies, to mention a few are still the ones manipulating the strings of whatever puppets are on the political stages of the world. Accomplishing thier own personal political aspirations, while at the same time fulfilling the globalist ideology toward the ‘new world order’.