After Rapture can I have your stuff?

A few oily questions and some gaseous considerations (A to G)

I awoke this morning, pre-dawn, and lay in the dark turning over a couple of thoughts.

Here they are in an order that didn't exist in the dim morning light:

a) Why do Americans pay considerably less for gas than Canadians? A US gallon is equal to approximately 4.55 litres. Americans pay $3.70 for a gallon while Canadians pay $1.37 a litre, which is $6.28 a gallon.

b) Exxon Mobile declared $40 billion in profits in 2007. How much profit is taken from every gallon of gas?

This a little complicated. There are many factors involved in sorting out these calculations. Exxon Mobile is not the only company selling gasoline in the US. Exxon Mobile has other markets it profits from.

The US uses 375 million barrels of oil everyday. This is approximately 137 billion of barrels of oil a year, or 5.8 trillion gallons of gas.

(If Exxon makes $0.01 profit on every gallon of gas it would require the sale of 4 trillion gallons of gas to make $40 billion.)

c) what effect does the rise in gas prices have on the choices by Americans and Canadians. Because gas prices go up do Canadians drive less? Or find alternative modes of transport?

d) why did the Liberal Party of Canada present the Green Shift to the electorate as a change in the tax code rather than a shift towards greener technologies? Why doesn't the NDP or the Liberals attack the Conservative position as economically short-sighted?

Harper has said recently that his father and brothers are accountants so he must know that the 'balance sheet' for Canadians includes the liability of climate change. It's like the Conservatives don't want to put that liability on the balance sheet and is thus misrepresenting the actual state of affairs to Canadians.

Are you going to be pissed when you find an unexpected $9 trillion dollar debt comes due? One that wasn't put on the books for political reasons. I'm positive I will be pretty miffed.

e) why do the Liberals or NDP think that adding taxes or rather shifting the tax burden to gas and oil use will effect the choices that Canadians make? What evidence did they consider?

I mean gas used to be had for $0.30 a litre. It used to be had for $0.80 a litre. And $1.00 a litre. No change. No change. No change.

I personally started taking public transit when I accidentally discovered that my work commute took 40 minutes door to door by bus and 25 minutes by car, bus was cheaper, and I could read thrilling current affairs books or collect and send work email by Treo so I'd already been at work for 10 minutes or so before I even arrived.

Now, when I get behind the wheel of a car in rush hour I wonder what sort of fool I was for not thinking of making that change earlier.

Is taxation the best policy to change behaviour? I somehow doubt it will work for cars and gas in the same way it worked for cigarettes.

f) is the American 'problem' with gas prices and 'dependence' on foreign oil solved with off-shore drilling or drilling in ANWR as many in the US say.

The oil needs to be refined. Are the refineries capable of handling the load?

Won't that oil be put on the open market and sold to the highest bidder? Like maybe the Chinese (8% growth in their economy), or India (5.8% growth in their economy), or Buster from Arrested Development (he wanted to bid on his mother but got confused). Why will it find its way into the gas tanks of Americans?

And I thought that Canada supplied most of America's 'foreign' oil anyway.

g) After the Rapture can I have all your stuff?

xo

MVL