Reply #18: right.

[kristopher]

Something that looks like it. You need to decide which argument you want to use. You posit one thing, it is answered, instead of acknowledgment you then slither on to another tack, when it is answered you again slide back to the first as if it had never been uttered before. Just like any other fundie arguing from faith instead of facts...

There is no shortage of fuel in the gas tanks of automobiles.
There is no shortage of fuel in the pipeline at the refineries.
There is no shortage of fuel in the tankers or transportation pipelines.
There is no shortage of fuel at point of production.

If supply were not matched to demand, the above would not be true. Crude is being pumped, refined and consumed without significant excess that has no place to go.

The price reflects that reality.

And -

That some aren't able to afford oil doesn't mean that supply isn't efficiently aligned with demand; that's like saying since the right side of the economic bell curve can easily afford to pay more, the price is too low. Neither one addresses the issue of economic efficiency in the production and distribution of petroleum.

What you are talking about is a values discussion; who should benefit from the surplus value made available by achieving efficiency. I tend to agree with what I think is your point. Energy related natural resources do belong to everyone. The trouble is how do we distribute those benefits most 'fairly'? I don't think we are currently doing it 'fairly' and don't expect the current energy infrastructure to be able to ever provide such 'fairness'.

However, I do think that if battery technology lives up to the promise it is showing us, that it might serve to revolutionize a lot more than the transportation sector in the US. There are significant global implications. Such high density storage is what makes wind and solar viable for everyone, not just here in the US. This has long been known; I mean, that is what the hoopla about H and fuel cells has been about. For some reason, the fact that we are finding the solution in batteries instead of H seems to cause some people disorientation.