The Devil's In The Details--Part III

Continuing along the path of dissecting the ineptitude and bias of the liberal mainstream media, it is with great pleasure (and limited fanfare) that I offer my third, brief installment of “The Devil’s In The Details.”

This reoccurring theme in my writings is a result of my constant amazement at the level of stupidity exhibited in the news products delivered to the American public by so-called professional journalists. Direct lies and misrepresentation of truth by omission of relevant facts and data are the rule rather than the exception. I am personally insulted by much of what is represented as “news” and wonder why more people don’t demand fundamental changes in our nation’s print and broadcast media.

Since many people are not as proficient in mathematical concepts as I am, I like to look at news stories that involve financial and statistical concepts and try to relate background information that might help put the story into an understandable context. Take gas prices, for instance.

I’ll admit that gasoline prices are high right now. If you listen to the media, you probably won't be suprised to learn that we have record gas prices.

“NEW YORK (Reuters) - Record pump prices won't cool America's love affair with the open road, although drivers are starting to fuel their passion with smaller, more efficient vehicles, an auto group says.

"Our historical experience tells us Americans will not give up their travel plans due to high prices of fuel," said Geoff Sundstrom, spokesman for U.S. auto group AAA. "But we think we're already starting to see consumer backlash against high fuel prices in car sales, and that trend may continue."

Average U.S. regular gasoline prices have spiked more than 15 cents in one month to $2.05 a gallon, matching last spring's record, and are expected to keep climbing in the coming days due to soaring costs for crude, AAA said. “

The only problem with this story is, we really don’t have record gas prices.

As I stated in The Devil’s In The Details—Part II, in 1980, during the socialist dictator loving President Jimmy Carter’s reign, the national average price for regular unleaded gasoline reached the equivalent of $2.85 per gallon when adjusted for inflation (2004 dollars.) For some reason (maybe because Carter was a Democrat) you don’t hear this little tidbit of info in the newspaper headlines and on the evening national TV news.

If you look at the chart in this record gas price link, you will see that gasoline cost the equivalent of between $2.00 and $3.00 per gallon all the way up until after World War II when production was increased and gas was made available to the expanding post war middle class whom were all buying new cars for the first time to park in the new garages of their new tract houses.

The liberal media and tree hugging eco-fascists that lament high gas prices and the US dependence on foreign oil are the very same people that loose their minds when the Senate approves oil drilling in ANWR. They can’t have it both ways. Either we explore for, produce, and refine oil domestically or we buy the raw crude and refine it. American’s are dependent on oil regardless and things aren’t changing any time soon.

It’s a fact that much of our domestic oil supplies lie in the ground untapped because it is cheaper to import oil than it is to pump our own oil out of the ground. The breaking point is about $45 per barrel, so expect to see a few new wells pumping out in Texas and Oklahoma this year although the quantity of crude produced is a drop in the bucket compared to the 20,000,000 barrel per year thirst Americans have for petroleum products.

And other thing—there hasn’t been a new oil refinery built since the mid 1970’s. A number of refineries have been shut down due to age and obsolescence. The existing refineries have been modified and improved, but their capacity is strained due to having to produce specific blends of gasoline for specific regions of the country during the summer months. If the environmental morons don’t get off of their butts and let the oil companies build a few new refineries on a regional basis, we are going to really be in a bind in about ten years.

You do realize that you can’t just order a new oil refinery out of a catalogue and have it delivered next week? It takes two or three years to design and construct a new refinery, not counting the two or three years of lawsuits and government permit evaluations that the owners will have to go through to get permission to start construction.

On a personal note, it costs me nearly $90.00 to fill up my Chevy Suburban’s 42 gallon fuel tank. The difference between me and most people is that I don’t blame the government for my ten year old decision to drive a vehicle that gets less than 10 MPG in the city.

I just drive down the road and enjoy the sound of that big 454 cubic inch V-8 engine as it makes the tree hugger’s heads spin around and around.

I love it...