RE: a rebuttal

["Dave Eaton" <Dave.Eaton@clear.net.nz>]

err avi,

not to let facts get in the way of a good story...

the 1973 world fuel price rise was instigated by opec *quadrupling* the
price of crude.  after the yom kuppur war.  they repeated the dose a few
years later.  as they were perfectly entitled to...

the supply of oil is a fixed.  a given.  whether we have the ability to
access all of it is a moot point. certainly as supply of readily available
commodity decreases and more difficult and expensive exploration is
undertaken (eg. after the 2 oil shocks of the '70's) prices will rise to
compensate.

i have no idea where you get your assertion that in the row, the governments
fix fuel prices. the government is most countries that i know off have no
hand in the regulation of fuel prices.  certainly not in this country.  what
they do, and will continue to do, is to adjust the tax level for every litre
sold.  here in nz, the tax is used to pay for roads, and traffic related
services.  primarily.

i have absolutely no idea where you get the basis for your assertion about
the usa paying the more than the row for gas because they pay by the
gallon???  i am paying about $.85nzd for a litre of premium.  thats about
$.45usd per litre.  so that makes my gas price about $2.15 usd per imperial
gallon, or $1.80 per us gallon.  go figure.  punch the same numbers for
anywhere in continential eurpoe and the difference is even greater.

you need to do some more reading.

dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q
-----Original Message-----

Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 11:57:58 -0800
From: "Avi Meron" <avi@cosmoslink.net>
Subject: A rebuttal    RE: Boo-hoo (Wuz: Great gas out!;

Shaun,

I read your message with interest.......there were a few things there (in
your note) that  caught my eye.

* First and foremost the price of petroleum is totally manipulated by the
oil companies and governments  (and the oil producing nations), it has
absolutely nothing to do with supply and demand.
* The petroleum companies are manipulating the supply of oil in order to
increase their revenues, it is a repeat of the 73 artificial oil price
increase, (blamed on the Arab countries).
* The supplies of oil  are not shrinking,on the contrary, they are the
highest they ever been, and will go higher. The techniques of drilling  and
reaching untapped sources of oil are much improved over the past.
* The problem never have,and never will be  limited supply (with the
exception of Nazi Germany),it is  the simple fact that they (the oil
companies) want more revenues for the same amount of oil sold.
* There are two ways to increase revenues, sell more, or increase the price,
it is not possible to sell more (not enough demand, world economy is very
slow), but it is possible to increase the price (that you and I are paying).
* The price of oil in the rest of the world will not increase in any
meaningful way (unless the governments want that to happen). ONLY in this
market (prices will increase), reason is, we are (the customers) the ones
that pay for the fuel, where in the rest of the  world Governments buy the
fuel (IN BULK) and resale it to customers, it is very easy to screw us over.
* Rest assured that we (US customers) pay THE HIGHEST PRICE IN THE WORLD for
fuel (sometime ,not always) because we buy it a gallon at a time.
* The only reason that alternative mode of transportation will gain
prominence is because petroleum is not as "healthy to the environment" as
some other fuels (a concept that I still have difficulty with!)


I go on for many more pages................but I think that I made my point,

Avi