From 10,000 Feet

For decades we have been told that modern man would overcome his/her problems through technology. There is a certain comfort in believing that the man in the lab coat really has our best interest at heart, he knows what he is doing, and he has a solution to our problem that we don’t understand or need to think about. Some of us believed the mantra but some of us did not. The irony is that we have invested heavily in the “technology solution” only to find that it has caused as many problems or more than it has solved – particularly in the environment. There are others of us that prefer a simple solution to a big problem because simple solutions have fewer “moving parts” that can mess up the intended results.

Recently, a friend sent me a link to a website where two “good ole” southern boys were demonstrating a simple solution for cleaning up the Gulf oil spill. In the opening seconds of the video, one of the guys explains how he had been thinking about a solution to the problem when he was struck with the idea. The video goes on to demonstrate, within the limited scope of their laboratory, a seemingly simple answer for what a few thousand scientists have worked feverishly and unsuccessfully for months to find. I can’t comment on whether their solution will actually work or not, but the cynic in me screamed at the top its lungs – “It doesn’t matter!” Even if these “outsiders” had a cure for cancer, or world hunger, they are not going to get anywhere. The powerful companies that advise and influence government and the media are not about to let a simple inexpensive answer to the problem put them on the side-lines. I can speculate that these forerunner-problem-solvers are not going to even get a hearing. If they do, every “hired gun” scientist is going to swear on his mother’s honour that these guys don’t know what they are doing and that their misguided idea of a solution will only make things worse.

I do believe there are solutions available for almost every problem. Forerunners all over the world are laying awake at nights thinking about solutions to problems we have never even heard of. Forerunners have proven over and over again that they can overcome problems of monumental proportion. Some of them are insiders, but most of them are outsiders. Like the guys in the video, they don’t have a bank of hired “experts” and lobbyists to sell their ideas to the people that matter. If they aren’t insiders or experts or have a qua-zillion dollars they won’t even get serious consideration. Where an idea comes from is more important to most people than the idea itself and that is a dangerous place to be because that eliminates many of our best people and ideas.

Problems persist not because there aren’t solutions, but because viable solutions often are disenfranchised by vested interests. It is a mystery to me why lobbyists of any sort are permitted since they obviously exist to get governments to do something they wouldn’t normally do without the lobbyist’s “influence”. Since most lobbyists represent private interests, they are in conflict with the fundamental concept of democracy. It is the special and private interest groups who have high-jacked democracy and pushed simple solutions to the outer fringes. Insiders don’t let outsiders anywhere near their gravy-train, and as long as they have the King’s ear, simple solutions will never get anywhere. The guys in the video deserve a “listen” by Obama and BP. They may have a simple solution to a very big problem.

Here is the link to the website. Let us know what you think: Will it work or is it just a couple of guys dreaming in technicolor?

http://www.wimp.com/solutionoil/

Could Hypermiling be a solution?
There isn’t much we can do about the price of fuel but there is something we can do about our consumption. A technique called hypermiling (hyper-miling) optimizes your vehicle and your driving habits to maximize your fuel consumption.

Some people have recorded as much as double the mileage using the technique. Some ways to hypermile include reducing drag, accelerating slowly, over-inflating tires, and following closely behind trucks that pull you along.

Fore more information about hypermiling check out http://hypermiling.com/

The biggest story in the news today, as it has been for 5 months, is the price of oil. There has been a lot of disinformation about what is causing the rise in the price of crude. It has increased 25% in the past 4 months. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and G. W. Bush have been calling for OPEC to increase supply in a season when normal consumption is at its lowest (spring). The forecasted economic slow down is expected to further slow demand by 1.5%. As the price increases it becomes out of reach for many buyers with weaker economies and currencies, also reducing demand. OPEC continues to assert that there is adequate supply to meet demand. Saudi Arabia has even reduced supply slightly in response to the slowing demand. So why is the price of oil continuing to climb?

The daily assertions in the media about fears of disruptions in supply are misleading. The real cause of the price inflation is the weakening US dollar. Hedge funds used to take refuge in gold, silver, platinum and other metals because they offered protection against a devaluating dollar. But the large investors see oil as a better hedge against the devaluating dollar, because it is a world-wide consumable. Recently, market pundits have predicted $200. per barrel of oil, which would more than double the price in a year. That doesn’t reflect supply or demand for oil, but the lack of confidence in the US economy precipitated by the sub-prime banking scandal, massive debt and trade deficit, and a costly war.

Here is the crux of the problem. In the short term, oil provides protection from inflation (devaluation of the dollar), but in the long term the increase in the price of oil causes the cost of food and manufactured goods to increase. That is inflation. To protect against inflation investors continue to bid up the price of oil and thereby cause inflation. It becomes a destructive cycle which has the potential to bring a catastrophic world-wide economic collapse. So far there has been little leadership from governments in the west. Thailand and Indonesia have banned exports of rice in the anticipation of the coming problems. They have effectively taken themselves off the world markets. They will grow their own food and supply their own demand at prices their people can afford. Nationalism has been presented in the corporate agenda driven media as the counter-productive, small minded ideals of backward governments. However, it now will protect countries from the whims of the global investor and soften the blow of a potential world-wide financial catastrophe.

The US has been the detonator for this economic explosion but the problems in the world financial markets are equally as severe as in the US. There has been a tremendous increase in the accumulation of wealth. The imbalance this creates is like a 400 pound guy in a canoe with two 50 pound children. The markets have been destabilized by the relative size of the “players”. Greed, and fear have no conscience and the investors who “play” the markets have no moral, ethical or social responsibility. They play for today with little foresight into the implications their actions will have on tomorrow or on others.

Our relatively short experiment with globalization of world markets has put the future of the planet in the hands of people who have no intention of managing it. They neither want the job nor are capable of handling it. Their goals are incompatible with the task. Political leaders have failed to lead because their leadership has been compromised by duplicity. They know they should do something, but they are afraid to end the party. The party being, the amassing of the world’s wealth by a relative few.

The planet faces environmental, and economic problems of monumental magnitude. The resulting social upheaval could cause unimaginable human suffering and loss if there isn’t inspired leadership. The planet can not survive under the current system. It is destructive, oppressive and diabolic and if left uncontrolled will self destruct. The question is, will our leaders mitigate the suffering and loss by taking the necessary but difficult high road; or will they compromise and surrender to pressures and stand on the sidelines as the impact of their compromises ravishes the nations.

There is a new age coming, heralded and ushered in by a company of forerunners. The current pains are but the birth contractions of a new era. More on that in the coming posts.

Paul Weigel

NEW YORK (AP) – Oil prices rose sharply Friday on news that a ship under contract to the U.S. Defense Department fired warning shots at two boats in the Persian Gulf. Retail gas prices as expected rose further into record territory, nearing $3.60 a gallon. Crude prices rose on initial reports that a U.S. ship had fired on two Iranian boats; the news raised concerns that a conflict between U.S. and Iranian forces could cut oil supplies from the region. A Navy spokeswoman said the origin of the boats was unclear.

The news was enough to send light, sweet crude for June delivery up to $119.55 before the contract retreated to settle up $2.46 at $118.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Every day the excuse to charge more for oil gets more ridiculous than the day before. How it can be justified that the world price of oil should be higher based on a minor incident in the Persian Gulf is a jump over the Grand Canyon. When there isn’t any reason to raise the price of crude, they raise it anyway and call it “Market Sentiment”. What is market sentiment? I have come to believe it is traders wanting to profit from raising the price of oil.

Recently, OPEC said they wouldn’t increase the production of oil because there was enough supply to meet demand. Since I haven’t seen any shortage in Canada or the USA or heard of any around world I have a tendency to believe them (OPEC). So why is oil going up daily? In the last 6 years it has tripled in price. Could it be sub-prime greed? And furthermore where does all that money go. The oil companies haven’t invested in any new oil refineries even though last year they made over 30% on the money they have invested. Are they creating shortages by reducing the capacity to refine the oil they do have? And isn’t 30% return on investment more than enough reason to invest in the business of refining oil?

The key to the oil company’s scheme is to look like they aren’t in control of the price. They claim it is the market that sets prices. What they mean by that is, there are a bunch of guys in a room bidding up the price it would appear for no rational reason. Of course they can’t help that – now can they?

Real market driven pricing isnt’ determined by a handful of people. It can only be measured when there is unbiased competition for demand. But prices aren’t set by demand, but by the perception of demand. It is a handful of traders who decide the price, based on their perceptions of demand. When the price of oil rises rarely is the justification anything to do with demand, or supply for that matter. When one group controls prices and supply they have an unfair advantage in the market place. What we have is not a free market, and there should be intervention world-wide to protect the consumer and our economy from being raped.

When prices where $40 a barrel the oil industry was profitable, at $80 is was outrageous. At $120 per barrel the profits are immoral, but they still want more. They will continue to gorge themselves on oil profits and recently predicted $200 per barrel of oil. Why? Don’t they have enough money? How much more money do they want/need?