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US OIL RIOTS DEMANDED
Rich Hall—mentioned earlier—has written an oil play:
“I started writing Levelland last summer,” Hall says, “because the price of gasoline was spiralling out of control in the US. I noticed there was no real panic or anger. I remember back in ’73-’74, when there was a similar oil crisis. The lines were so long. There was genuine outrage.
“It made me think that (today) Americans are in this comfort zone. How high does the price of gasoline have to go before people start rioting and torching refineries? What will it take to make American people wake up?”
A note to Hall: generally, torching refineries does not lower the price of fuel. Oh, and if you’re angry that people aren’t rioting, it might be an idea to lead by example. Wake up, Rich!
Want people to start rioting all over America? Institute Price controls on the sale of gasoline.
Posted by Markus Barca on 2006 04 19 at 12:01 PM • permalinkAt any rate, Rich’s “torch refineries” line is a note-perfect example of the surreal ways in which lefties respond to events: In this case, if you’re discontent with the performance of [insert entity here], you should strive to make their job harder.
And they wonder why they’re not being taken seriously by the average guy.
I remember back in ’73-’74, when there was a similar oil crisis. The lines were so long. There was genuine outrage.
I remember that too. I also remember that a lot of the outrage was directed at the Saudi princes who smiled into the camera and assured us all that soon we would “kiss the hand and resume business as usual”. I wonder if he will address this in his play. Or the fact that Canada and the western US have oil reserves locked up in shale and sand that will last centuries once the price of oil rises enough to make it economically feasible to extract.
No one torched any refineries, but then we didn’t have the oil-hating environmental movement then that we have today. Perhaps Mr. Hall wouldn’t mind touching on that subject as well?
This article just made me laugh. I particularly liked this:
language for Hall is so important, he invents words.
So does my 1 year old nephew, but that doesn’t make him an expert on oil policy, or anything else for that matter.
If language is so important, try learning to say more than “Bush evil,” and “Christians evil.” I seem to recall his choice of language when corresponding with Tim wasn’t all that sophisticated, either. Certainly has the “do as I say, not as I do” mentality down pat, though.
Posted by Polish Frizzle on 2006 04 19 at 12:11 PM • permalinkA note to Hall: generally, torching refineries does not lower the price of fuel.
You owe me a new keyboard, Tim.
That SNL reject Rich Hall is a superstar among the international hate-America left, while Jon Lovitz is reduced to reprising his “matser thespian” character in Subway commercials, is a crime.
Marcus Barca nails it. Throw a few wage controls in while you’re at it.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 04 19 at 12:14 PM • permalinkI remember back in ’73-’74, when there was a similar oil crisis. The lines were so long. There was genuine outrage.
Oh, I remember, too. There was outrage alright, outrage at the Arab oil ticks and their stupid embargo.
BTW, my friend’s mother had a ‘65 Mustang with the license plate “ODDEVEN”. People who around then will know what that meant.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 04 19 at 12:19 PM • permalinkWhat is truly blockheaded about this idea of “oil riots” is that these very same leftist kooks are fully in support of massive tax increases on gasoline to force American drivers to conserve.
Damn those stinking Gaia-raping SUVs!
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 04 19 at 12:25 PM • permalinkThe price spiraling out of control was just the right thing.
Refineries go offline in Katrina.
The guy at the tank farm notices that his inventory is falling : people are trucking it away faster than he can get it in from the refineries.
So he raises the price _to slow the outflow_ until it matches the inflow.
Presto! There’s enough gasoline for everybody, everybody gets all the gasoline they want, there are no lines or closed stations, but everybody wants less.
Now, people _need_ gasoline, as the saying goes. They’re insensitive to price. Whatever it is, they pay it. In economics, this is called ``inelastic demand.’‘
What it means is that the price has to go up a whole lot before they cut back, and this cutting back is accompanied by screaming and congressional investigations.
But it worked. Inelastic demand was elasticized. The price went up exactly enough to get screaming people to cut back just enough so that there was enough gasoline.
A side-effect is that whoever owns gasoline gets a ``windfall profit.’’ This is true but is not itself a problem.
It’s just that the screamers are not too rational all the time and may lynch somebody to feel better.
So windfall profits are an immense PR problem. You don’t get TV time to explain it.
Uh, didn’t we give Rich Hall a thorough spanking on this site last year? Is he back for more?
To quote Sgt. Bosco “BA” Baracus.
“I pity the fool who can’t tell a joke”
Posted by joe bagadonuts on 2006 04 19 at 12:54 PM • permalinkHall has an 85-year-old’s memory: he can remember the 1974 crisis with its long lines, but not the 2005 non-crisis with its non-lines.
Posted by Paul Zrimsek on 2006 04 19 at 12:58 PM • permalinkWhat is truly blockheaded about this idea of “oil riots” is that these very same leftist kooks are fully in support of massive tax increases on gasoline to force American drivers to conserve.
Exactly. Higher prices = less driving = less global warmacoolamachanging. You’d think they would like that. But, these are leftists. They only know how to complain, even if it means complaining about something they support. Logic has nothing to do with the leftist protesty mind.
Also, there’s the rather important fact that lefties are now paying more for gas. Once their proposals actually become realities that they have to, you know, pay for, they’re just as self-interested as we RWBDs. What smug, hypocritical a-holes.
They only know how to complain, even if it means complaining about something they support. Logic has nothing to do with the leftist protesty mind.
Sure there is: no matter what happens, there will always be a reason to protest! Seems perfectly logical to me…
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 04 19 at 01:09 PM • permalinkPW 6
And they wonder why they’re not being taken seriously by the average guy.
Do they? You’re too generous. To them the average guy is part of the problem, and needs to be re-educated. Or de-educated.
Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 04 19 at 02:21 PM • permalinkOver-educated, yet street-dumb NYT pundit Tom Freidman echoed similar lunacy, actually cheering Iranian whackjob Ahmadabadadingdong with the statement “you go girl” because high oil prices would get Americans to change their wasteful, wicked ways.
Nothing like the prospect of totalitarian coercion to give our elites an intellectual hard-on.
I noticed there was no real panic or anger. I remember back in ’73-’74, when there was a similar oil crisis. The lines were so long. There was genuine outrage.
Yes, there was outrage - outrage at the Saudis, the government, and at the long frickin’ lines!
No lines, no outrage. Simple as that, really. Americans really hate lines.
#11
I remember, Spiny—cars with odd-numbered plates could fill up on one day, even-numbered plates the next. Remember all too well sitting in Mom’s brown Pontiac wagon in the middle of summer (no A/C on—not at those prices!) on an endless line. That wagon got worse mileage than my planet-busting SUV does now.
Carter gets the blame for that sometimes, which is wrong. It wasn’t the fault of a liberal Democrat administration. It was mishandled by a liberal Republican administration.
As for AssHall, his 15th minute expired with my Sniglets calendar in 1988. Pack it in, bug-eyed boy.
Posted by Monroe Doctrine on 2006 04 19 at 04:52 PM • permalinkYeah, I remember ‘73-‘74, and I remember that there weren’t any gas lines until ‘74, and I remember moving up daylight savings to February, so getting up in the dark to go sit in line in the dark to gas up the car before going to work was an adventure. That’s right. Adventure. That’s how most people dealt with it. Only dysfunctional folks, like Rich Hall, got bent out of shape over it, the rest of us knew to “suck it up” and “deal with it.” But then, some folks, like Rich Hall, never get over their self-importance.
Oh, for those of you who can’t remember Rich Hall, he used to appear frequently on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Who’s Johnny Carson, you ask? He preceeded Jay Leno, retiring 14 years ago—about the last time Rich Hall was funny.
Yep, let’s burn our own refineries to protest oil prices. That’ll teach us.
You know, the way burning the small businesses every riot is such a development incentive for the ‘hood…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 04 19 at 08:21 PM • permalinkBlame it all on the Jews.
In ‘73 I went from North Chicago Naval “A” school to the USS Chicago (coincidence, eh?), stowed my gear, reported to the Chief Engineer and hit the rack.
I woke up to “General Quarters! All Hands report to duty stations. General Quarters!”, and made my way to the engine room. Nixon had mobilised every branch of the military in response to the Yom Kippur War.
OPEC was just another cartel before Nixon’s emergency re-supply effort— enabling Israel to withstand Egyptian and Syrian forces long enough to grab a quick meal (they’d been fasting) and obliterate the raghead airforce and BBQ their tanks.
The Arab world imposed the 1973 oil embargo against the United States, Western Europe, and Japan as a result, and OPEC as a political force was born.
So, now we’ve Ahmadasahatter threatening our ally and the only democracy in the region with utter destruction and Rich Hall says
“Our involvement in the Middle East has far less to do with democracy and those hallowed values than it does to do with comfort. What is being threatened is the degree of physical comfort.”
What a complete and utter twat.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 04 19 at 09:24 PM • permalink“Our involvement in the Middle East has far less to do with democracy and those hallowed values than it does to do with comfort. What is being threatened is the degree of physical comfort.”
Its all about “comfort” so we should just shut it down, eh Rich? Shut down heat to every school and hospital, every homeless shelter, not to mention all the other necessities either made of or powered by oil?
Well I’m sure the left will be behind all that when it happens.“Stuck on stupid” says it all.
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2006 04 20 at 12:55 AM • permalink“Our involvement in the Middle East has far less to do with democracy and those hallowed values than it does to do with comfort. What is being threatened is the degree of physical comfort.”
That’s pretty strong talk about comfort from a guy who traveled 10,000 miles so he wouldn’t have to take a real job…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 04 20 at 10:51 AM • permalink
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If you adjust for inflation, the price of oil in the 70s was $100/barrel at its peak. So, we have roughly $30 to go to catch up. I don’t remember any torching of refineries, but I was just a young tot. But I’m sure I would have studied such a thing in history books.