What is wrong exactly with cheaper oil? Why do we need to prop up oil futures and protect jobs produce something that is already on a boat headed over to us for near 0 cost?
We literally turn these ships around just so a small minority of people can do busy work instead of being retrained to do something actually productive?
This broken window economy shit pisses me off so much.
Ted Cruz is such a sycophant moron it honestly amazes me that anyone ever supported that idiot.
user, EVERYONE is doing busy work.
it cuts our ability to produce, and it takes time to regain that ability
oil doesn't have an on/off switch, it takes years to ramp up production.
no big deal if we can buy from other countries, but if we get in a war or something we NEED our oil now.
this is a strategic industry, in that it's vital to national strategy more than strictly your personal wellbeing.
>socialized loses and private gains good
Honestly neck yourself. Although I doubt you can do that with a jelly fish spin.
even if the tankers are on their way to the US that doesn't mean anyone has to buy it.. if it's already paid for then nothing will change
cheap oil means domestic production collapses which mean the energy independence we've built over the past decade or so disappears. it's a national security risk.
>look mom, I learned a new word!
not about money
it's about our readiness to stomp your 3rd world toilet into the ground if you get uppity
It's so not about money that taxpayers are on the hook for any cost but none of the profit right
exactly
how much profit do you make from the military?
an intelligent investor understands that they make $0 off the military but without it they wouldn't have any gains at all
>energy independence
If it can collapse that way it's purely illusionary.
we can force them to open up if we have to, the constitution allows it and we've done it before.
but we also learned it's much easier and faster to just not let them collapse in the first place. Same deal with farmers, jet manufacturers, miners, and a pile of other strategic industries.
That's never an issue unless we are literally at war with every country on earth, including Canada, Mexico, Norway, etc. Even so, we could last on oil reserves for months until production is ramped up. It doesn't take years to ramp up with just some basic infrastructure to maintain.
US can never compete with Saudis and Russia on oil long term. The US will have to prop up this multi-trillion industry indefinitely for no economic or security benefit.
you may be right, we haven't had a world war since atomic bombs changed the game.
but less than 100 years ago you were dead wrong.
IE it's all fake
>REEEEE CANCEL THE FREE MARKET WE'RE LOSING YET ANOTHER TRADE WAR!!!
the delays in re-starting an industry vs the cost of maintaining it aren't fake
the money doing the maintaining is fake. The work is fake. But the readiness isn't.
>Saudi Arabia and Russia decide to drive down the price of oil
>We buy it and store it everywhere
>We now have enough oil, at the surface, to sustain us for a long time
>And when we run out of that oil, we can always start fracking again
>We are now energy independent
What you are describing though is an event that will never happen. US being at war with every major oil producer on earth, and not being able to do anything to ramp up domestic production for the 6 months or so we can last on the reserves.
>The work is fake. But the readiness isn't.
Do you also eat eggs raw when trying to bake a cake? That's your readiness argument in a nutshell.
Cringe, ted
>>We now have enough oil, at the surface, to sustain us for a long time
we pump it into empty salt mines and old oil wells
we have enough to keep us going for 6-8 months at regular levels or a couple months at war. Storage capacity for oil simply isn't that large. Which is why the price plummeted in the first place. If we could store 20 years worth of oil the price never would've dropped.
>What you are describing though is an event that will never happen
it's extremely unlikely, just like a school is extremely unlikely to burn down. But schools still do fire drills and the US still subsidizes strategic industries.
>That's your readiness argument in a nutshell.
except keeping shale oil afloat doesn't have the potential to harm the US and I don't have an infinite appetite for eggs.
Yea for real. That made no sense in this context
But, with oil prices historically low, is there not an incentive right now for oil companies to scramble to increase their storage capacity? Or is crude oil perishable in some way?
>countries would never leverage a monopoly on oil to control US politics
The problem is that millions of jobs are tied up in the oil industry now that would need time to transition into non-oil jobs. Giving them the boot all at once doesn't give them enough time to be absorbed back into the economy and compounds upon the unemployment issues that are already mounting from other sectors. You'd need to lower the price of oil gradually to allow for a smooth transition, not just dump it all at once.
subsidizing is one thing. hopelessly trying to prop up the price of some commodity to keep busy workers busy is another.
>is there not an incentive right now for oil companies to scramble to increase their storage capacity?
absolutely!
it's impossible, but if you can figure out how to do it you'll make trillions.
>except keeping shale oil afloat doesn't have the potential to harm the US
Magical money tree argument
I think they're the same thing in a pretend capitalist paradigm. To do otherwise is socialism and you know the GOP won't vote for that.
>Magical money tree argument
yes!
we're there though, in case you didn't notice. I'm making more magic money than I ever did working
Might as well say capitalism is dead then
for the moment it is
but we built up the reserves to fund this death by being capitalists, so we'll go back to it when we can
Nah the appetite isn't there