http://wcco.com/local/energy.efficiency ... 26003.html

It's believable. Do you have any contrary figures?

I think he's assuming that 100% of oil becomes gas. And I don't see a number in his link that defines subsidies. It looks like he picked a site with a lot of numbers and assumed nobody would crunch the numbers.

"America spends more than $200,000 per minute on foreign oil" doesn't mean it's government subsidy money.

Huh? I suspect this is fantasy as well. My understanding is that gasoline is a cash cow for the government, not the reverse.

I could not find where those numbers came from either.

I'd like to see his first. Oh that's right, he doesn't need any, he just spouts out whatever pops into his head.... he's a journalist.

I wouldn't call him a journalist, Kessler is more of a propagandist.

What's the difference?

I have heard that Saudi Arabia (?) has to subsidize their gasoline because the people can't afford it otherwise.... [sarcastic tone] That's why they only pay .40 a gallon[/ST] Didn't really make sense. Unless it was because they don't have any refineries...

Gas could well cost $5 a gallon here, were it not for hidden subsidies. Look at what it costs abroad, except in producer countries.

Even Canada, which is a net exporter of petroleum, has considerably higher prices at the pump than we do. Britain, which is able to get most of its own crude, has far higher prices than us. Norway, a big exporter, the same.

Naturally, importer countries, like us, have even higher prices, such as Germany, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, and France.

I have to have at least some suspicion that government policy(s) plays some role in these facts.

The real market value would likely be best obtained by looking at poorer, non-petroleum producing countries, whose governments cannot afford to provide any subsidies, and are too weak enforce taxation efficiently.

Natrually the subsidies he's talking about are the missing 75% to 80% taxes that goverments levy in Canada, Britain & the rest of Europe!

What can people be smoking to believe Pat Kessler?

He is showing us all a shell game. Oil producers, those who pump it out of the ground, or have it delivered in a tanker from abroad, to those who process the oil in refineries, make a profit and pay hefty taxes for their efforts. What Kessler is telling us is that the taxes should be even higher, gobs and gobs higher, and not assessing those taxes amounts to a "subsidy".

Can you imagine the state government telling you that they are subsidizing you because they are not taxing you at 100%?

This is socialist (communist) tripe at it's best. What a sick SOB that balding hack has become.

I was pretty sure that is what he was alleging. I just wanted somebody else to say it.

When I was in the United Arab Emirates in 2001, their pump price was the same as ours (if I was converting liters to gallons and dirhams to dollars correctly)

He links to this site:

http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/aoilpolicy2.asp

I didnt' bother reading that page once I saw which organization wrote it.

Of course, none of the subsidies=lower price concept takes into account that simplest of economic principals.

If you sell more of something, you don't need to make as much profit on it. The total profit can still be huge.

$.10/gallon profit x 1,000,000,000 gallons = $100,000,000

which equals

$1.00/gallon profit on 100,000,000 gallons.


I think the United States rate of consumption is astronomical compared to the rates of consumption in European countries or elsewhere in the world. Therefore, we don't need to have as high a profit margin per gallon to equal what is charged in other parts of the world for profit per gallon.

And that's Reality Check, Without the Liberal spin.




MM