From: John Cuccia 

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 11:40:11 -0400, "Tony Ingenoso"
 wrote:

>Economics always indicate taking the easy way out.  Only a fool would pay 4X
>the price for a product they can get elsewhere at 1X.

No, only a fool would fail to take the basics steps needed to strat
preparing for the future.  Reagan abandoned the issue, leaving it for the
future.

>It also makes huge strategic sense to deplete someone else's resources
>rather than your own.

Too late, as far as crude oil goes, we consumed most of ours first.

>Carter's mistake was trying to sell a panic when none existed.  That is the
>same mistake being made by the alarmists today.

He didn't try to sell anything, the gas lines of the 70s did that. Carter
simply saw a chance to start us on the road to independence from the whims
of OPEC.

>This development won't come from the "oil companies" though -
because in
>reality they're not the "energy business" - they're in the
"transportation
>business" more than anything else.  Chemical and refining plants are not one
>of their core competencies, so its foolish to expect them to be a big
>contributor to any of this changeover.

Wrong, Tony, the big oil companies are precisely those with refining
expertise, and refining most certainly is a core competency of the major
multinational integrated concerns like Exxon, ChevronTexaco,
RoyalDutch/Shell, Totale, and BP.   They are also the precisely
companies that can afford to invest in refinery technologies need to handle

>The ones who need to be shown where the future is, are Dupont, Monsanto,
>etc.  They'll be the prime players when tar/shale/coal become practical.
>The "oil companies" will continue to be in the
"transportation business".

You greatly misunderstand the nature of the oil business.

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