I hate so much that the people that lived through the 70s oil crisis then doubled down on car-dependent infrastructure instead of focusing on things like public transit and active transportation to reduce overall reliance on fossil fuels.
Well, at least here in the Netherlands we did make less car centric choices because of the oil crises of the 70s. I blame the US election systems for the USA not doing the same. The incentives for politicians are just not aligned with the citizens. The Netherlands switched to proportional representation in 1917, and it is not perfect, but it does align politics and voters much more.
@@Joe-ij6of It may have been Reagan but it's what the people wanted. It's easy to look through the eyes of today, today's society accepts public transport way easier, and today cars have gotten so expensive it's becoming increasingly hard to justify them. But back then, cars were cheap (no pesky antipollution technology, safety regulations, safety systems, turbos, etc) and the people were asking for cars, not buses, so the politicians (hence Reagan) gave the people what they wanted. Even if you would have wanted to, nobody would have put the average 80's american out of his personal car, it's basically blasphemy, even today :)
@@manu144x investing in public transportation doesnt force people out of cars, it just disincentives it. On top of that, you also have to consider that players like Ronald Reagan at the time were not honest actors. There was massive corruption in politics even as far back as the 80s, and Reagan is the root of a lot of those issues. He likely in many ways was not acting with the average American's best interest in mind.
Mom gave me $10 to buy the ingredients to start a lemonade stand, I just kept the $10, never sold the lemonade and it was a record-setting year. -The oil companies, kinda
more like I used the sugar and lemon concentrate in the fridge, got the neighbourhood addicted, then they all had to stay home for some reason so I stopped making money, asked mom for $10 to compensate and just put that in my piggy bank.
@@weatheranddarkness mom also said she wanted me to stop making lemonade, and that we would all be moving to limeade soon so I’m saving the money to buy limes.
The other thing to point out is that only the big guys were bailed out by the government. I work in oil and gas (most of the companies mentioned are clients of ours) and my company applied for the pandemic funds, received funding, and then were told that we actually didn't qualify and have to give the money back. We spent over a million dollars in lawyer fees trying to fight it before we had to give the money back and lay off 30% of our US workforce. Our company only survived because our CEO refuses to operate on debt and keeps a $25 Million rainy day fund (which is now an $18 Million rainy day fund). Most of the other little guys in the same situation went bankrupt in 2020. So now, all the little guys are out of the market, and the big guys can more easily control the supply of oil and are making record profits.
@@weatheranddarkness More like "I was given money to stay afloat when I did not need it, simply got lemons out of the dumpster out back of arbys for cheap, and now am going to make you pay an arm and a leg for the indignity of fishing through trash for a year. Oh, and thanks for the $10 I used to buy drugs and weapons to shoot birds taking my lemons."
More like you have lemonade stand and pay 2 neighbour kids 10c a day to make and sell lemonade, mom gives you $100 to help keep the lemonade stand going during winter, you stop paying the 2 neighbour kids and use the $100 to buy a new playstation game, then tell everyone lemonade is expensive cause mom won't let you go to the grocery store to buy more lemons
Yeah, I’m often stunned at how easy he makes this look. Definitely a pro, despite how much he likes to make it look like slapped this stuff together in his moms basement while strung out on twizzlers and red bull.
Great video; love the production value. One small problem - you’re wrong. I control the gas prices from the bedroom of my childhood home. I have since I was born in 1999, using a system of levers and pulleys.
Excuse me. Duh. The President CAN control gas prices by reducing supply. What do you think will happen when you prevent Russian Oil from being imported? Less supply, higher prices.
@@johndistler8037 not really since the US doesn't import much oil from Russia (I believe it's 5% more or less). And even if you take that into consideration, price spikes in the past were clearly dictated by other factors
As a local from Kuwait, moving away from the system here is quite literally an impossibility. All my country invests in is oil production, selling and making more, and as a result building more and more roads and infrastructure for privately owned vehicles. That in turn has been causing the tiny and super dense Kuwait city to be more congested than ever and getting hotter and hotter as each year passes. Being the hottest place on earth, it's literally unbearable, we comment and complain, but double down on making it hotter the next year. It's absolutely disgusting. And locals here are are so filthy spoiled rich that they rarely ever think twice. We have a neighbour that has 13 cars. It's insane. All of this as a result of the demand for oil and how much our tiny country happens to be sitting on. And the Kuwaitis absolutely love this life style and refuse to see another path. Thank God for this black gold, let's just keep pumping it out. It honestly sickens me.
@@emiliod90 No transition plan. Projects like that are mainly aesthetics and unrecognised efforts that end up being severely underfunded especially in terms of maintenance and upkeep. And even if this renewable energy park does go through according to plan, all it will really do is slightly alter how we use electricity, but again, mainly in an aesthetic capacity, the shift from oil will never happen, not any time in the foreseeable future anyway. The discussion is never on the table, unlike Saudi and the UAE, as well as Qatar, whom are heavily investing in back up plans and renewable energy. What's sad is that majority of locals don't even know about our Scientific and Research Institute working on that park that you mentioned and would honestly scoff and laugh at it. People here are so brain dead and our leadership doesn't even try to secure anything for the people and the nation's future. It's all about short term gains of wealth and maximising oil production. You should see how much employees in the oil sector get paid, absolute insanity. There's no sense of unity or long term problem solving.
@@cpufreak101 I don't mean to be such a downer, this is sadly the reality where I live. However, that being said, Kuwait is not a major trend setter or decision maker. Sure we have a large amount of wealth and oil, but being such a small country with a weak and insignificant military, we're usually pushed around by neighbouring countries like Saudi, and pretty much dictated by imperial efforts, our deserts are littered with US military bases. So, as long as those countries push to invest in renewable and sustainable energy, Kuwait will be forced to follow, especially if there's a global push to steer away from the "oil system" by the major players. We're not a country of trend setting or taking initiative but rather following. Right now though, everyone wants what we have and we're relishing in that. I just wish there was more long term vision and initiative in such a young and wealthy nation.
I'm from a poor country (Lebanon) and people and business are installing solar power(as much as they can manage). It might bring you guys hope to know at least some poor countries are going through renewable energy instead of going through coal in their development
The US banned import of Chinese solar panels a while ago so cost of solar panels in the US are much higher than the rest of the world. Same with wind turbine and electric bus
@@dknowles60 what's the point of saying that, what are you implying? Is Lebanon greening its power sector at an impressive rate unimportant because "they don't produce much of anything"?
Would love to see you shine a light on the water rights issue in the southwest states. I live in Arizona and was reading about farmers growing water intensive crops to keep their water rights. With the deadline set by The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation almost up, it seems like farmers are expecting a payout to take the hit for water shortage.
I think if you search hard enough there is a video out there for that. I swear i saw it somewhere but i cannot remember. Im sure its on youtube somewhere.
The only thing I don't like about this content is that it's too good! I can't just listen to it, podcast style, while driving to work because I would miss out on all the hilarious visual gags and useful charts/graphs!
I've noticed it too. I've listened to some podcast style and I miss a ton of well crafted jokes. The subtle 420 easters eggs, editing gags, visual puns, just to name a few. But don't worry, you are rewarded by rewatching them more than once. If you can pick up all the jokes in one viewing you probably have the observation skills of a spy.
Everyone who lived through the expensive gas prices of the early 2000s decided it was a good idea to go out and buy gas guzzling SUVs again. SUVs have become more popular since then.
Why does my country keep doing the dumbest things. The 1970s should have taught about the dangers of relying on oil in general and the need for more walkable cities that can cater to public transportation which lowers transportation costs and gas usage but it only taught US officials to not rely on foreign oil. And the volatile oil prices should have taught people that if you have to own a car you should buy a hybrid or at least a Corolla or civic if you don’t need a pick up for work, nah more people keep buying SUVs even though they don’t need them and they cost outweighs any potential usefulness.
@@ricardobarahona3939 70s were 50 years ago bruh. The only real green energy back then was atomic and wind. And even the idea about electric cars was a literal science fiction. And that not even mentioning how huge the car culture is in the US.
@@alexforce9 Ricardo said the 70's oil issues should have led U.S. toward less auto-centric urban planning with public transportation, not electric cars. There was the trend toward smaller, fuel efficient vehicles but that ended in the 90's with SUV craze and them growing ever bigger.
America needs a reimagining of our car-centric cities. Reducing the number of cars (gas, electric, or otherwise) and increasing city density will have the biggest climate impact and psychological benefit.
Reimagining costs a lot of money. And investing into something that won't result in snappy profit is something money suppliers will never agree to. And if we consider that a lot of lobbying is done by corporations, it is plausible to see any authority in America trying to go that way be shot down immediately.
In a way, the oil industry is encouraging people to switch to other sources because they know it will take so long that they’ll have plenty of years to profit, and there’s no way they’ll compete merely by decreasing their prices. If even they know that their product is becoming obsolete, why are we pretending otherwise? This is a great opportunity to redesign our transportation networks.
No. Not true. At all. Increasing the density of communities creates a compressed pollution parameter and you end up with San Fransisco, New York city, Toronto and Vancouver. These are HORRIBLE ideas. We cannot reduce the usage in North America. This is a hippie idea and has been around for over 50 years. And there is never been one success in any of the attempts. The only thing North America can do is change the resource of energy that is tapped into. So we need to start creating more solar farms, wind farms and hydro-dams to start. For vehicles there is already a solution well on its way. We will mostly be skipping entirely over fully electric vehicles and heading right to hydrogen engines. We already have a ton of manufacturers that create hydrogen engines for cars. Water and salt are the easiest and cheapest resources in this entire world and create zero pollution.
NotJustBikes and your channel's exposure to Strong Towns and their initiative of designing our cities to be anti-car or at the very least just *not car-centric* is one of the best things we can do long-term to alleviate this climate crisis. Thank you so much for putting this much effort into researching these topics and making it entertaining to watch 👏
I'm going to be honest I don't care about cutting back on cars to stop climate change but, I do think it's a good idea to fix the obesity issue and make cities more aesthetically pleasing. it's really easy to maintain a healthy weight if you're biking 20 miles a day, at least for me that's about 1600 calories burned per day without even trying, that's almost a whole pizza's worth every day.
@@Hostilegeese You are right about that, but even still there are things that could be done short of making everyone bike everwhere that would significantly improve the obesity epidemic. Unfortunately, companies that make food that makes you fat are *shockingly* only really interested in making money. I feel like if people here switched their lifestyles to eating smaller portions of even MARGINALLY healthier food they would lose weight even while still driving everywhere. There's so many problems that need fixing right now, and they all seem to come down to: Our way of life here in North America is NOT working. I am excited to see how things change in the near future :)
@@wickedslick3000 I'm not saying to make anyone bike anywhere, just to make it convenient and safe to do so, obviously people will make their own choices and figure out how they want to get around. I also don't know if eating smaller portions is a viable solution, obviously it'll help but how many people would be satisfied with small portions? That's just my opinion though, I find incorporating exercise that doesn't feel like exercise is more effective and makes me personally happier.
Reducing the size and power of gov't is the best thing we can do for long and short term misuse of natural resources. #nonaggressionprinciple #VOLUNTARYISM
One thing I’d like to state is one of the reasons the US imports so much crude oil from other countries is because we have the largest refining industry globally. We are a gasoline exporter but a crude oil importer. Still not a good thing but, it annoys me when people overlook this.
We're also near parity for crude exports vs imports. In 2019 we actually managed to export slightly more than we imported, which is what caused the Trump administration to say we were "energy independent." This is completely wrong though since we are dependent on imports because our logistical and refining infrastructure can't use the majority of the crude we produce.
@@longebane Not sure on the exact particulars, but in general, different refineries are only able to work with certain grades of crude. The US has a number of different grades based on their deposits resulting in the nearby refineries being designed to handle those deposits and similar. Since the Permian basin is one of the primary sources being exploited now due to fracking, while others aren't, we now have a problem where we have this massive supply that we don't have the refining capacity to handle. That's going to continue to be a problem unless huge amounts of capital are spent either making new refineries or modifying old ones (if it's even possible to do.) Sadly, oil companies don't have the financial incentive to want to drop that sort of cash and the government most likely isn't going to want to put that sort of investment into an industry that we're (officially at least) trying to move away from.
@@travisbeagle5691 almost like the most logical course would be to nationalize the bastards and get it over with. At the very least apply a vice to their balls with the DPA.
@@travisbeagle5691 that would be the Fault of the fed gov. its been since 1976 when the Us built the last new from the ground up big oil refinerie. Fed gov wount let oil companys build new ones
Don’t forget we need to make cities more bikeable, walkable, robust multi tiered train systems to compete with airplanes and cars (even electric cars). Keep food local, rethink consumption, and densify cities.
tought to make citys walkable bikeable. when i left detroit mi in 1996 there were men raping men. its tought to have walkable and bikeable citys when tyou have crime problems
@@Kain5th I mean yea. In the bible he was basically administering free healthcare and food to poor, as well as telling people to not hoard riches and instead use their wealth to help the needy. He' be labeled communist if he resurrected now in USA.
If you make a product that's in high demand now, but there's a growing movement to get rid of, and anyway it's going to run out before too long, the obvious move is don't spend a single dollar on increasing production and just extract maximum profit while you can.
That is absolutely what is happening. The writing has been on the wall. The know this. Increasing production decreases the lifetime of the cash cow while also making it cheaper during that period. People need to come with grips that prices arent going to lower much from here on out.
@E.V. Hodge it doesn't have to run out, demand just has to outstrip supply. We livr in a world that has an ever increasing population, the economic system demands never ending growth which means oil and gas companies will continually need to extract more resources out of the ground to meet demand and shareholders expectations. Now, oil and gas are finite resources. Surely you can add all that up and realise that what we are doing is not sustainable, it will crash one day soon and will make the great depression look like a minor economic ripple.
This video is a godamn life saver. I have relatives who blame the dems or the GOP every time gas prices jump. When I try to explain that it is a lot more complicated than that they say "we have our own oil fields, don't tell me we import half a supply, that makes no sense" and other repeated talking points.
the thing that bothers me is that gas is NOT cheaper at the Arco LITERALLY SHARING A FENCE WITH THE ARCO REFINERY. Like, HOW MUCH EFFORT DID IT TAKE YOU TO BRING THAT FUEL LIKE 30 FEET FROM YOUR FENCE?!?! that one right there bothers me. Gas should logically be cheapest adjacent to its refinery. Yet this is not the case. And that's comparing it to other gas stations in the area same timeframe- always higher. At an ARCO. WHY?!?!
I love how when gas was cheap all I heard about was that people didn't want cars anymore. They wanted huge Trucks and SUV with terrible gas mileage. Now gas prices are horrible and I am betting there are many people regretting that. Unfortunately people have such short memories.
The weird thing is though: those people don’t regret their decisions. They think they made the right decisions, but Biden screwed them over by raising gas prices! It’s wild to me how many people seem to not understand the simple fact that oil is a finite resource and will run out eventually…
I've always driven small. People that buy these huge behemoths that they don't need that guzzle fuel require more resources to build are stupid and the problem.
Same thing has been happening ever since the first gas crisis of the 70's. That's when people started driving small Japanese cars instead of the road boats of the day. Then in 2008 it happened again - this time there was a move to motorcycles because they were the most efficient and every manufacturer started making 250cc sport bikes as a result. Even just a year ago trucks and SUVs were selling for WAY above market value and now people can't give them away - everyone wants an EV now, so the circle continues.
I just love it when people complain about gas prices when the top three best-selling vehicles are all big gas-guzzling, inefficient, and enormous 20-26 MPG trucks
Very well explained. Not that it will do any good. These days it seems people just believe whatever they want, regardless of any evidence. I do think the best way to stick it to these oil companies is by moving to electrification, much as you said at the end. This allows all sorts of energy production methods to compete in a free market, rather than dealing with the cartel.
I believe what I saw actually happen, which is Biden shut down oil production almost totally here in the USA. We were oil independent and were a net exporter under Trump. Within a week of Biden taking office, that was all out the window. Can you add two plus two? I knew you couldn't!
Stick to making videos on computers and porting your latest 8-bit robot game to different systems, no offense. This guy is talking out of his ass based on coming from a climate change conclusion. He literally misrepresents things and is disingenuous from the start. For example, he conveniently ignores refineries have been shutting down here in the US because of Democrat policies which in turn has increased the cost to refine crude oil into petroleum products like gas and diesel. From there, taxes make up a good chunk of the cost of gas and when he brings up European nations, his tonality makes it clear he thinks our taxes should be much higher here to force people to stop using our evil bad gas powered cars. He also conveniently ignores that the current Federal and state gas taxes have nothing to do with the current state of our transportation infrastructure considering the money that should've gone to maintaining roads and bridges was used for other things instead for the last 60+ years, especially in blue states which is why California, Massachusetts, and New York have the worst of both nationally. Which if you look with your living in Texas, the roads aren't bad in general there. Go to blue Austin on the other hand though and they are not the greatest. You also got to look at how he implies the gas companies are making bank off the cost of oil itself. That is the cost of it. Which he also seems to want to ignore the concept of supply and demand and how Biden's handlers ended US oil independence and is doing everything to stop the pumping of crude from the ground here in this country. If he had to acknowledge that he'd not have been able to pull those import numbers out of his ass like he did to push his agenda. I could go on, but I don't want to keep on destroying you here being a fan of you and your content.
@@TheSportCompact Not "destroying me" at all. Sounds like you listen to fox news a lot. And sounds like you prefer the cartel over energy independence.
@@The8BitGuy Actually, I don't listen to or watch Fox News. The fact you went there with it as a personal attack instead of refuting what I said goes to show I did destroy his BS and yours too. So does the fact you had to create a strawman argument that I didn't make in order to respond to here as well. You got triggered by it and the only thing you had was to do those things instead of being a man and taking your licks so to speak. Saying that, how about you actually respond to what I said as opposed to being a disingenuous sleazebag who can't man up. Edit: I forgot to respond to your response to the strawman argument you created that was supposedly from me to try to pull your big brained gotcha. For the record, we were energy independent and a net exporter of crude oil and refined products like gasoline before Biden and his handlers took office. Literally overnight, they ended that through Executive Orders/Fiat. And, on top of this, none of the oil companies are part of a cartel. They aren't part of OPEC+. Which I am for energy independence. I'm just not for the leftist, government forced, mandated, and subsidized "independence" that translates into more top down control and less independence of Americans.
@@The8BitGuy He's destroying you, you just don't have enough brain cells to comprehend it. It's mind boggling how someone cannot tie together public policy regarding gas/oil production + import and rising gas prices. And that this basic supply/demand taught in high school classes is beyond the grasp of a human who is given the power to vote. No wonder this country is screwed.
Dependency on one thing will always lead to problems. Especially when it comes to energy. Being reliant on someone else (like Europe with Russia) will also nip you in the butt. Being diversified and having the ability to produce your own energy will always be the best option for a smoother ride. Reduce fossil fuel dependency, invest in renewables, and stop shutting down nuclear power plants!
@@thelakeman5207 better, cheaper batteries are only one half of the equation. The grid in the US is not set up for millions upon millions of cars. But to say we're close is pretty silly, they've been saying the same thing about batteries for years and they're actually getting more expensive and harder to get. I'm all for the future, but we have to be realistic.
@@thelakeman5207 Oil will never go away. You need oil for our roads, for our tires, clothes. To "supercharge" these EV's requires oil lol. Just because people don't directly think they use oil makes them feel better about everything I guess.
I vaguely remember the oil embargo of the 1970s. I was seven or so. You are the first environmental UA-camr I've experienced who understands how markets work.
"they sell oil for money" moment killed me. .. Why? This is true for EVERYTHING. Even solar and wind... Unless you own your own solar farm or windmills, you'll still have to pay. Power costs are relative and fungible. Most people want cheap--or at least the cheapest--energy. It supports billions of people. Unless we kill billions, it's gonna be a slow transformation away from fossil fuels.
Oil has such a strangle hold on society that any price change will not really change the demand. It's a highly demand inelastic commodity, and thus oil companies want the price to be as high as possible without reaching the breaking point.
Jeez, if the oil executives would just admit that they need all that money because they want Reese's, I would totally get it. They're spending so much unnecessary energy lying about the economics and politics of the situation.
@@ssavman That's all they want. Just some Reese's. Reese's Peanut Butter Filled Stock Buybacks. They're going to get almost a hundred billion of them at the end of this year.
I do think it's interesting that this recent spike in oil prices has spurred a lot of (proposed and actual) movement toward electrification, whether that's Germany moving up their timeline to hit renewable energy goals or a boom in electric car markets. That said, it would be nice if "investing in public transportation" was also seen as a useful solution...
Yeah, but ask any middle aged uncle or my dad and you'll see the truth (that's been spoonfed to them by fox News and rumble), this spike in prices is all part of the libtard agenda to force us into buying little weenie cars that don't make lots noises and hit 60 mph in under 2 seconds. DUH!
Germany has definitely failed in its transition. Killing off nuclear and going full on solar/wind lead to failures in the energy infrastructure not able to handle the spikes and when sun/wind are down, they have since massively increased production in coal and gas... effectively pocketing Putin's war that way. It is rather insane how radical they were on killing nuclear. Just compare to France, more green and cheaper energy.
Shore Line East in Connecticut has just made all of it's Northeast Corridor trains run on Electricity rather than fuel. It was easy as the NEC was already electrified, all they needed were electric trains (which were the M8s which they now use) & they were all set. Also Caltrain in San Fran & San Jose is electrifying it's mainline from San Fran to south of it's San Jose Diridon station (well, that has been going on for some time but still). Really shows how people start to try to move away from oil when the price gets as high as someone on weed, if not higher.
@@RichardMiller-tq6ut great videos, but he has some fundamental flaws in his thinking. The gov't and central planners who can use force to implement their ideas are at the roots of basically every societal problem. Giving the worst organizations more control to fix the problems they benefit from creating is not a good idea. Restricting gov't and those who use force to impose their ideas is the best thing we can do for society, the environment, the economy, and yourself. #VOLUNTARYISM
I remember the absolute shock I had at how cheap fuel was in the US when i first visited as an adult. I dont think ive ever bough fuel for less then about $6 / gallon in aus or europe
@John Portal We have a 15 mile drive to the closest town with most anything we could need or want except wide open peaceful spaces. Have done the trip a few times on a bicycle for fun. No way I want to do it for a supply run. We fill the trunk when we go and consolidate trips to keep driving cost down.
I love your videos. Thank you. Climate Town gives us truly informative, timely presentations... and in a fun, concise and understandable way. I cannot imagine how much time you spend to produce, write and research these great videos. I sent the link to this one to many friends, and because of you, I have made some significant changes to the way I bank, the way I think about transportation and where I plan to live in two years (as far from car-centric as possible). Going electric, another point you often make, prompted me to buy an e-bike, which is absolutely the best investment I have made in many years. You are changing lives. Just wanted you to know that. Thank you!
My dad was with Shell for years and I am still amazed that we are able to get a substance from the ground, treat it, refine it and send it thousands of miles for distribution and sell it for a few bucks a gallon. It is technological miracle beyond the wildest dreams of those only 100 years ago. The problem with US prices is one of habits and car types. We drive 2-3 times more than Europe and the EU mandates a minimum MPG 30% more than us. Cars are much smaller and the "TBD" (Think Before Driving) meme is popular. A friend in Norway said gas was about $11/gal but was only about 1% of the income (vs 4% in the US).
Less about habits and more about city planning in my opinion. Seems the US isn’t trying to make walkable towns. Definitely agree it’s a marvel any of it is still together though. Complex organization for sure.
@@Bayplaces I've lived in a few places in the world, and the US was a bit of a shock to me how hard it was to get around walking, sidewalks that just end, or that just turn and you have to scroll a stroad to continue on the sidewalk only for it to end anyway... The US was the only place I felt afraid walking around, but not because of being robbed but of being ran over by a car. Going to the dollar store that was literally 3 blocks away from where I lived was an adventure. And the first thing they told us when we moved in to the housing our employer provided us was "be careful crossing the streets around here, deaths are a frequent thing here, and literally a month after our contract ended and we went back home a girl died crossing the street. I'm so used to going everywhere walking or with public transportation I was baffled how hard it was to simply walk in the US.
The problem with the US is their city planning. Watch Not Just Bikes for good videos on that topic. This is driven by a politics that is not really aligned with the needs of its citizens. I blame the US election systems. Here in the Netherlands, our politics listened and changed in the 1970s as result of the oil crises. The USA needs proportional representation, instead of first-past-the-post election systems.
@@Bayplaces I mean, if it's a habit to go out every weekend to a bar 15 miles away, or to grab that one thing from the store that you forgot for dinner, driving/accelerating excessively quickly, or just being dumb enough to own a massive truck-I'd say those are habits that could easily change.
Holy Bazinga! It's been two days! *Checks notes* two weeks! *Checks notes* two MONTHS since the last Climate Town video! How can we expect the good people of the world to be prodded off our collective tookases and into taking some climate action with that kind of schedule! *Editing desk* You see folks this is the kind of negative comment that can make the internet a hostile environment for everybody. Climate Town is an award winning *citation needed* channel, and is an absolute g dang national treasure *that one is objectively true*. These videos take a ton of work to make and I am sure Climate Town will publish a new video when they are good and ready. And THAT is the end of this comment! *What do you mean I could join the Discord to probably find news on upcoming releases? What do you mean the Patreon would also probably be a helpful source of information? What do you mean posting a comment on a two month old video is a great way for that comment to never be read by anyone? What do you mean jokes - especially written ones - are best when they are concise, and I should have stopped typing several lines ago?*
An important point that you got wrong is that most retailers make a bit more per gallon than you said. Especially since Covid, margins are well above $.20 per gallon. The difference between a big box store and a company that’s vertically integrated can be quite significant. Mobil might be making $.60 a gallon while Sam’s Club or BJ’s is making 6. (Source: I am a gas pricing analyst for a large company in the industry)
and when gas prices increase so do shipping costs thus making this profit margin harder to reach as they pay more to ship said oil. that's why it's getting worse and worse as when those prices increase so does the shipping costs. it's a viscous cycle that won't end any time soon. restrictions on shipping companies also make it harder for these companies to reach their profit margins.
I watch retail markets regularly and have noticed that retail prices have increased margins over spot market prices in Indiana. Use to run around 15 cents a few years ago with occasional 50 cent or more markups. Covid had markups around a dollar sometimes. Lately markups are close to zero or below cost before a price increase shows up on the pump. Tuff market to figure out lately.
@@googleuser868 Something that is underappreciated in understanding local gas prices is because of inventory and how long it takes to run out. You’re generally dumping new product onto old product which creates a blended cost. Spot prices don’t indicate perfectly what you will see for a retail. Spot market changes can indicate directionality of street prices. But if you live in a locality that’s very rural and doesn’t have a lot of demand, you’re going to see a lag in changes in prices in either direction for example
The video leaves out pretty important dynamics in the oil market. Most importantly not all oil is the same. The US has a pretty advanced oil refining industry that can handle very heavy/dirty oils. So lighter/cleaner oils extracted in North America tend to get exported , while heavy/dirty oils tend to get imported. That's a how the US can important 9 million barrels a day, but still be a net exporter overall.
"...55% does not give you unfettered control..." Well, about that. In the market regulation field of economics, there's a concept called Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) which measures market concentration (basically how much power a particular company has to set prices) on a scale from 0 to 10,000. When a market has a score of 2,000 or more, the market is considered overly concentrated and the DOJ will likely reject any merger proposals. If we assume that OPEC+ functions as a single block, OPEC+ on its own pushes the HHI to 3,025.
One teeny tiny point you missed there, HHI doesn't consider elasticity of demand, which was the whole point of the video where how much ever the demand elasticity may vary, opec+ and oil companies are playing a different game.
@E.V. Hodge Yes and no. Overall they have not worked as closely as they could and therefore have exerted less control over the price of oil than the cartel's share of production would lead you to believe. That said, they have broadly been able to keep the price of oil well above the pre-oil-embargo price point (adjusted for inflation). Obviously there's the initial OPEC crisis in the 1970s where they clearly did. There have been other agreements since then such as in 2008 and 2016 to reduce production, but the nations in OPEC do not always get along with the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and the current cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran being the best examples. In those cases, one OPEC country might alter its production with the goal of hurting another's oil revenues. So for example Saudi Arabia could ramp up production by 10% leading to a 5% decrease in price. Saudi Arabia would still come out ahead (4.5% increase in revenue) and Iran would see a 5% decline in revenue. Alternatively, when the price of oil is high, there's a natural incentive to increase production for basically the same reason even if the OPEC line is to not increase production. There have been a few times where countries have left OPEC because they wished to produce more oil than OPEC wanted them to such as Ecuador and Malaysia.
@@raosiddharth4726 That's true, elasticity of demand affects the price, but my comment wasn't addressing the demand side aspects of his video. I was specifically looking at one of the supply side points he brought up. HHI measures the level of market concentration and therefore the ability for producers to alter the price of a good or service by either unilaterally changing the price or the supply. It helps explain why OPEC+ can play that "different game" you reference, and that game affects the price of oil which affects the price of gas which is what this video is about.
Brasil could control their gas prices up until some years ago. Since the country is self sufficient and the driller was supposedly a state company the president could decide who was the director of petrobras and, sometime ago even all the board of directors, effectively controlling the price of gas. Now we sold shares of the state company to many foreign oil companies thata decided they would keep the price up, according to the international market, regardless of the situation of poverty.
Brasil pode ser autosuficiente mas não o petróleo que temos não é o ideal para refinar para gasolina. Ainda assim, não temos refinarias com capacidade suficiente para suportar a demanda. Então a Petrobrás precisa exportar óleo cru e importar gasolina, que custa bem mais. Só tirar um monte de petróleo do chão não quer dizer nada.
Saw this in my algorithm feed the other day, closed the device, lost track of it and could not find it (Sad). Popped up today (Happy) and I watched. I have not clapped OUT LOUD and LOL'd in months! Great content and so nice to see the $10B bailout coverage and investor responses, instead of the "Oil Industry Talking Points 101" we see from all the news outlets, including the ones on the left, re: "why gas prices are so high". (Shame on you, Trevor Noah and Scotty Kilmer, et al. ) Climate Town makes videos like I would, if I had the resources. Keep it up.
I love how to has a gas tank with him so the station workers think he's filling so they don't go talk to him asking what he's doing or restricting him for filming.
If he’s lifting the nozzle up without paying the registers inside are chiming alerting the workers that someone is being dumb and trying to pump without putting a payment in.
This guy is a ridiculous dummy. NOBODY thinks the president sets the gas prices each morning. HOWEVER, when he "bans" Russian oil and closes pipelines bringing in oil from Canada, he restricts supply.
People never learn, they forgot the 70’s. Instead of muscle cars or station wagons they drive SUVs and trucks. People always said I should ditch my hatchback for a crossover or something more attractive but there’s nothing more attractive than being able to travel over 120 miles with just $20.
@@billybeemus3929 I will admit that solar panel charging is cheaper long term (Despite the initial installation fees) however it only seems doable in certain climates. In order to be feasible we would likely need solar and home charging, which the U.S power grid is incapable of supporting. How do we get through this bottleneck?
@@midori9566 - We start by making the electric utilities non-profit entities. Then we require them to built capacity to store over-production from home solar systems to be used when solar is not producing. There are many ways to do that. Hydro, pumped hydro, compressed air, gravity rail, batteries, etc. Currently, utilities build coal/natural gas powered plants with the expectation of guaranteed profits from the sale of the power generated. Instead of building power plants, they need to fix the grid and partner with home solar generation.
@Roberto Vidal Garcia I can see that, the culture and landscape of the US is very different compared to Europe or Asia. I’ve driven a Ford F-250 before and it definitely made me feel “masculine” But it’s unsustainable. The only problem I have with EVs is making them obtainable to the working class. Currently they are expensive and lack infrastructure, I want the transition to be as painless as possible. We are incredibly dependent on fossil fuels and need a good exit strategy that is applicable to middle class and low income people, they are the backbone of the economy of the country I live in.
This has got to be the best video I have seen in a long time. Not only was it informative but the freakin dude put his references in there so if I wanted to question this I could look and see how reliable/non-reliable this information is. You have earned a subscriber sir
Love the videos, Rollie. Good work making this accessible, entertaining content on a topic that is absolutely vital for people to understand. Climate change generally, I mean, not just gas prices.
Problem with America is, some talking head from some Australian geezer's "news" network ALWAYS goes trending when that talking head blames some Brandon kid. -also oranges-
This is one of the few videos I watch that the obligatory context bar doesn’t contradict. And I thought UA-cam was just disagreeable. That said I am enjoying the vids so much having just discovered Rollie’s hard hitting research. May I say that looks like a lot of work. Thank you for doing some of our homework for us. Mereekah ! Energy independence we should all be on board with. True fact. I once doubled the mileage on my bronco permanently . If you doubt the auto companies are holding back technology believe it. I accomplished this out of high school by myself in the 90s while recovering from cancer. I think the auto industry could figure it out. Ya. I know. You would think people may ask how to survive cancer that long. But nobody ever wants to know that either. True fact. Thanks Climate Town.
Problem is saying a president can’t change gas prices is a no Kip not directly no but indirectly joe Biden greatly effected production demand supply monetary value and inflation and other things that do effect gas prices
God, I can’t wait until we stop having a gas and car centric society! While researching one of my upcoming videos for my channel, I found out that car ownership costs a US citizen $0.58/mile. Pretty much every type of public transit ends up being significantly cheaper! But obviously we need to invest in better frequency and more routes in order to make public transit more convenient as well as less expensive before more people will start using it.
I moved to a bike and walking and public transport oriented city 5 years ago. I gave my car away 6 months ago cos I was not using it and I LIVE IT. We have brand new $1.5 million electric bendy busses that are like a spaceship inside and so smooth there are no handrails, you dont need them. I know how lucky I am and I dont take it for granted.
@@piccalillipit9211 Did the same early this year. Sold one of our family's cars and now I cycle/walk/public transport everywhere. Now we split the one vehicle between us and I just bought an ecargo bike.
@@piccalillipit9211 I’m hoping to go down to being a 1 car family in the next couple years. Current plan is to use a combo of car/train/skates to get to work starting in September. If I stick with that for long enough then my wife will hopefully be ok with purchasing an e bike. And then hopefully that works well enough that we decide to ditch our ICE car and only keep the EV.
"We"? Did you watch the video? Oil companies received bailout money while also increasing profits. Bailout money is controlled by politicians. Politicians are controlled by lobbyists and campaign donations. T
@@AskAW it's sort of like saying "Snowden was our chance to see that the game was rigged, yet we let that slip by" It's a reference to the Overton Window, and how "the Bourgeoisie" constantly push scandals to make the old ones fade out of the public consciousness before real change would be brought about.
Electric cars are a start . The current form isn’t the end all solution but hopefully they will evolve ( just as gas cars did ) into something much better
@@JBG1968It takes energy to power and electric car. And where does that energy come from? It comes from petroleum right now, don't forget. You're having children mine for lithium to make the electric batteries. I think there's a lot of research you need to do.
Having worked at several gas stations, I'm amazed they make even that much. The only profit in gas stations is the stuff they sell inside the store. That's why they spend so much on advertising trying to get ppl to come into the store.
Outstanding video. 22 minutes to come to the conclusion that the price is governed by supply and demand. You will probably get the Nobel prize in economics.
@@heartache5742 I don't think that was his point that the state doesn't control supply or demand because that would be stupid. Obviously the OPEC states control supply along with many non OPEC players. Even the united states influences supply even if it doesn't control it.
Jesus christ. I just learned about this channel, and the information presented alongside the comedy provided is just amazing. I've been sitting here at work giggling and laughing all day.
Having just watched an early Climate Town video before watching this one, I'm struck by the improvement in production, humor, etc. (and congrats on graduating! :D) The videos were never bad, but they keep getting better, so thanks and keep up the great work!
More and more people are willing to move to public transport and bikes, investing in solar and heat pumps. Atleast in The Netherlands I hope more people follow.
I've visited the netherlands multiple times but live in Canada and to compare the both of them is pretty ridiculous, we don't have nearly the same kind of cities that allow for bikes and public transport
@@press2ifyouhate130 Except the Netherlands wasnt always the bike friendly paradise it is today. It was car centric up until the oil shortages of the 1970s when large public pressure got them to build the better life they have today. France is also now following in its footsteps only now with the very car centric Paris becoming more bike friendly.
I have been noticing in Seattle people are pushing for these things, but most of the US is very far behind. With heat pumps though we have a bit more incentive because most people here don't have air conditioning as it is, but as the weather is getting hotter every year people need an affordable way to cool their homes
20:24 Hopefully what we have learned is that Oil Companies will refuse to use bailouts to stabilize the price of gas, so they should NOT get bailouts in the future. Perhaps more active use of the National Oil Reserve could help provide pressure to stabilize oil prices. It's at least one variable that isn't being used much.
Yes, that would be the right thing to do. But do you think the spoiled oil industry would take that without retribution? I imagine it would go something like failing to give a bailout causes the oil industry to withhold even more oil and gas production, and to prolong ramping up production after the crisis is over even more than they are now.
Plus they're already subsidized out the wazoo in the first place. I truly wonder how the mind of a conservative lawmaker works sometimes, to subsidize a private corporation, and then bail it out only to see all that money going to the CEOs and CFOs and COOs. How is that squared in their mind with "small government" for instance?
This was a great summary view of a very complex situation. I would love to see similar videos on other issues we struggle to understand! Thank you in advance!!
One funny thing about blaming the president is that if he really had that power then congress would also have the authority to either revoke that power or take back control of it. Or if the president was controlling gas prices without congressional approval then the judiciary would be able to injunction the president to stop him. So if the president was really actively driving prices then it would only be with full approval of the entire federal government. Otherwise, why has no ever tried to stop the president when they've allegedly manipulated gas prices?
NY Times WASHINGTON - The Biden administration is canceling oil drilling lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet, triggering furious responses from Republicans, who are blaming President Biden’s energy policies for high gas prices.
The President is controlling the price by his policies even if he unable to understand it. Restricting the import of Russian oil is decreasing supply and increasing the price of both Oil and Gas.
Man, though you do videos for the American people about the american problems and I'm not from America, I do enjoy your videos so much! Your comedy is top level and your channel is definetely one of my favourites. Keep up the good work!
You are very talented and this channel is literal gold in terms of UA-cam content. (Low bar, I know) But it’s awesome. I don’t know why all your videos don’t have a million plus views. Smh I’m on video number 6 and your topics are awesome! Granted I am a climate nerd but please, Keep it up! 💪🏽
Hey @Climate Town I hear a lot about how getting the lithium out of the ground to put in electric vehicles' batteries could be a major climate issue, with the energy required to do it, digging up forests/natural habitats etc. being really destructive. I would love to hear your take on this. Love your content.
You are correct. It is just that EV are significantly better for the environment than ICE by a long way. But they still have environmental problems. Personal transportation needs a complete rethink. But when your society and infrastructure is built around what is best for ICE that is quite a jump. The question is can humans make the essential changes in time. I am not convinced we can. The ant of change is fighting the elephant of status quo.
Everything, and I do mean everything leaves a biproduct that is more harmful than the raw resource left untouched. So if your so concerned about that you might want to rethink existing.
Watching the Ford battery plant take over the road/ ag fields I grew up on its pretty disheartening. That's not even the mining process just the manufacturing process. Now our county is being sued by solar companies wanting to put tax write offs for the company (which runs on our personal power grid) on prime farm land utlimately taking jobs away from our community.
@@garrett9176 Prime farm land gets built on every day. If it was up to me I would not let building take place on farm land as long as there was a brownfield site left. But profit is king in all things and houses are needed where they think the jobs are and farm land is cheapest to build on with or without tax advantages. When farm land is worth x and farm land with planning permission is worth 1000x the answer is clear.
The up front impact of batteries is certainly higher than that of a gas car, but the long term impact of burning gas over the life of the car outstrips the upfront impact by a considerable amount. Also, batteries are highly recyclable, so in theory the global demand should follow an S-curve in the long run, eventually slowing to a relative trickle with the majority of “new” batteries coming from recycling old ones.
I'm literally citing this video and a few of your other videos in my Master's course for economics to talk about oil and and its relationships to the market. Thank you for this incredibly informational video!
Click bait. Who is to blame? Then blames us. Also blames the president. Gets political and talks about the war in Ukraine. So price hikes are political. Because American companies didn't want to make oil. But let Russia control the world's oil and out put. Political.
Electrification is a partial solution, the thing that's extra super duper fuel efficient is walking and cycling. It runs on the oil you shove into your face, which is surprisingly renewable.
Actually... An average car in Australia emits about 180g/km of CO2. A human effectively emits about 110g/km of CO2 if you calculate the food needed for the increased activity. If you can carry the load you're moving, better. If you're unable to carry the load, using a car is more efficient than multiple people simply moving loads to help the 'driver' not drive. If the load can't fit a car, it's more efficient to use a truck than multiple cars... walking won't save the world alone.
@@rustymozzy except for the fact that the person in the car also eats food, so there goes your comparison. What about the cost of the infrastructure that a car requires as well?
@@altriish6683 you're talking about transport. You're going to cover a lot more distance in the car in an hour. Your resting consumption rate actually makes the car more efficient again. If you were to drive 10 times what you can carry, you then have time to do other things that are more productive... like planting a tree perhaps. If you spend ten trips walking, you're wasting 100% of the energy on the return trips. For clarity, the food consumed per km for the person is in ADDITION to the basic consumption. Walk 100km a day and tell me your food consumption didn't go up compared to sitting in a car for 100km a day.
I would totally recommend the book "The Tyranny of Oil" by Anotnia Juhasz. Written in 2008 but the information is still so relevant today in 2022 especially now that we are on the other side of the oil wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait). Real eye opening investigation that covers all of this content in depth.
Instant sub, my dude! Brilliant vid, pretty concise considering how much information you have clearly researched! I'm in Australia and we've been a one car family for over ten years, that one car has been an EV for the last 3 and a bit years, so diesel or unleaded petrol prices haven't really personally affected us in our day to day. It literally costs us $2 AUD to charge our 28kwh Hyundai Ioniq electric completely overnight on a super off-peak tariff giving us just over 200km of range. Anyway the point was supposed to be "thanks for the excellent vid!"
This was a great explanation that really tied together the multiple reasons for high gas prices right now and also for how gas prices work in general. Also turns out to be a pretty good explainer of capitalism in general. I really don't understand how this channel doesn't have 1 million subscribers yet.
@@h8GW no I literally mean this channel doesn't pander specifically to teenagers and children so the despite the excellent content, growth will be comparatively slow
LOVE your videos. We need to also drop this PLASTIC dependency. Plastic is a huge part of the CRUDE oil revenue too and I won't even get into how they are destroying the planet.
@@ewe392 We're in an era in which folks have a hard time understanding moderation (not internet moderators, but balance). Glad to see someone else who understands that we don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater to make significant positive change.
I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that this price hike is happening at the same time that used and new cars selling for inflated prices. A thrifty consumer sees the value in switching to a hybrid or electric, but knows the value of that car is going to drop thousands of dollars in the next few years. Oil companies and opec know the poor car market means demand for oil is even more inelastic than usual
It’s their last hoorah as experts call it, because in the future they won’t have this amount of leverage if more electric cars join the market, clean energy grows, and groups are fighting for new urbanism and public transportation (which many still use gas but overall is cheaper than owning a car).
Lack of refining is having record levels of influence on the price of gas. Refiners are making record profit margins with refineries permanently closed and no new refineries built in the US since 1976.
Kind of hard to blame enviro-wackos for bad government policy of the evil Democrats trying to purposely weaken this once-great country. Surely evil Democrats have the much greater blame? We have much bigger population than in the 1970s. How is it that we do not increase refining capacity? That is criminally insane.
@@Dudeman9339 I believe that free-energy technology already exists. But the evil deep state is suppressing the technology for very nefarious and evil reasons, lust for control over everybody, and most people are too dull-minded to explore possibilities. Well until something is done, we need a lot of oil. And today the liars villianize oil, what is next? Sky-high electricity prices? No ability to recharge your Tesla EV, well if you are rich enough to afford such high-tech toys? Almost like dependency upon food is bad?
Why invest billions when the Biden admin has made it clear they intend to put the oil industry out of business, we were making it work but they have totally screwed up everything including a shortage of baby food absolute economic illiterates.
Your videos are always the best💯 I do receive a notification each time you post a new video.. We'll have regrets for things we did not participate in...Investment should always be on any creative man's heart for success in life.
Agree with you digital currencies that were once viewed as mysterious by many in the past went sky high making millions of dollars for a lot of people including I. It'll definitely do that soon
@@betheluktu7647 Crypto trading is the best investment anyone could get into. As it could make you rich in a blink of an eye, trading with an expert is the only key to successful trading
@@Richardson238 he's good and guaranteed, with his strategy you get to see crypto trade from a different angle.. Trading with him is all about winning and he's a certified broker with both ASIC and FINRA
I’m not nearly as educated as this channel, but I do believe if someone, anyone, wants to be part of the solution and not part of the problem, just reduce or stop using petroleum products, as much as you possibly can. As a result, things will become less expensive, the climate problems will get an opportunity to improve, and your life will ho on without to much unhappiness.
I am so happy to live in a country where I can just ditch the car and go by bike and/or train instead. I gazed upon the big gas price sign as I passed it with my bike. 2.323$/liter. that's 10.2$/gallon here in south of Sweden. I hope that this will change people's perspective in the US. :) With that being said, I have found a new addiction to biking. I went 45km to visit my mom the other day. It took 1h 50min, meanwhile it would've taken ~50 minutes by car. But with all the exercise I got I could easily include that 1h gym pass (+ the "gym commute" of 30min) and the bike ended up being the faster alternative. :) the fuel cost was a bottle of tap water and a cookie. xD For those who are curious, bike infrastructure really does matter. The bike path from the city center out on the countryside was dedicated bike roads that was completely separated from normal car traffic (this was 75% of the trip), and once I reached the REAL countryside it transitioned into country roads, with a total of one tractor passing me during the whole ride. In order to make bikes and e-bikes an option instead of cars it is SO important to have safe, fast and pleasant bike infrastructure. fun fact, you can make approx. 60 e-bikes for the same amount of material as one Tesla... just saying. :)
Hey, at near $5/gal I am considering an ebike. Problem is the lack of dedicated bike paths and aggressive drivers. It is too dangerous to ride a bike in many parts of the USA...
Agreed! A good bike infrastructure is substantial for bike commuting. I would probably go everywhere in my routine with good and safe lanes for bikes (specially e-bikes that are just amazing btw) 😁
thats expensive?i always thought petrol was around that price for ages at least in singapore. its more expensive for americans cause they drive fords.....in europe they drive the mini cooper or citroen ami or the pueoget 208. and carry the mini purse.
@@francescoorlandi512 I hope people will speak up about this. I mean, a dedicated bicycle tarmack road lasts several decades (the one I ride to my dad is over 30 years old and still in great condition). It doesn't break apart the same way car roads does (since 1+ ton vehicles don't hammer it constantly with pressure) . It's also a very cheap and effective solution to reduce traffic congestion. For every person biking there is seriously one less car on the roads. And with fewer people in cars the city gets less maintenance work/expansion on expensive car infrastructure (big wide roads that break apart, excessively huge parking lots that don't offer the city anything in return except a 10x increase in maintenance cost) With bike infrastructure there will also naturally be an increase in small local shops and trade. (job opportunities, tax revenue for the city etc) there is only positives to be had with bike infrastructure. I would go full force gather people and demand this from the mayor/city. People can make a change. Demand it, perhaps even design and present a solution for it. It's a great freedom to just take your bike and go. Feeling safe on the roads with no added costs.
@@jont2576 In Sweden SUVs are really popular 😅 But yeah at least there's a mix of vehicles. I had a Toyota Yaris myself. I sold it though and is now car free. My life has honestly gotten much better since I got rid of the car. For me it was inconvenient/expensive to park in the city. I always worried about getting a ticket (due to street cleaning etc), that someone would break in, or components would break etc. It also drastically increased my overall expenses, meanwhile the reason of having a car was more defined by the ideals of society rather than actual practical use.
Fantastic video. Like always, it's just companies maximizing profits and blaming anybody but themselves to avoid bad PR and to damage political enemies.
I've never understood how Americans complain so much about their low gas prices and don't riot about the insanely expensive rents (in places like NYC). - Gas price in Finland: 10.1 dollars/gallon, my rent: 700 $/month for a nice 2-person apartment. A month's rent gets me 74 gallons of gas - Gas price in NYC: 5.2 dollars/gallon, average rent: $3260$/month. A month's rent gets 696 gallons of gas If New York City had the same gas/rent ratio as Finland, gas would cost 48 dollars/gallon. Edit: Meant to say New York city, not NY
I think that's because most Americans don't live in rented apartments. North Americans rely so much on cars because almost everyone live in massive suburbs full of single-family homes and nothing else (other than parking lots and highways, and if you're lucky there might be a small park...)
@@PG-3462 there are a bit less than twice as many homeowners as renters in the US, just to add context to your point. But it's not like homeownership is cheap either, but the costs are more diffuse, rather than bundled in one convenient payment.
New York City like most cities have their property values inflated beyond reason. Their local governments are bankrupt from mismanagement and have pushed property prices higher and higher to collect more taxes.
As a chemical engineer, I can tell you that the crude -> gas pipeline runs on old equipment and nightly prayers. Costs won't come down because no one wants to invest in an industry on the way out!
I grew up in an oil refinery town. My dad was a chemical engineer(plastics/rubber). When I told him the price of oil was ~(-40) a barrel he said "That's impossible!" .he thought I miread/misheard it. It was an interesting conversation. On a separate note, idk why any country allows their natural resources be processed by for profit companies. It belongs to the people that's why the companies need "permits". They need permission(from gov't); it should be resourced for the peoples benefit first and foremost.
It went to -$40 because financial speculators who have no intention of taking delivery of oil are allowed to buy and sell oil contracts. They couldn’t get anyone to buy the oil contract from them and therefore had to pay $40 for someone who could take delivery to take it off their hands. I don’t even know why they’re allowed to profit and manipulate the price of oil and gas. They’re a big reason oil and gas prices are so high right now.
Our oil is produced by for profit companies because the oil barons of old bought out the political establishment and because any talk of nationalisation is countered with shouts of "that's socialism/communism!"
@@Music-yt7xo Futures market has its uses manufacturers can buy materials at set prices in advance without being affected by huge price increases although they won't benefit from price crashes. Manufacturers of raw materials sell at a certain price protecting themselves from price crashes but won't benefit from price increases. It's to smooth out the rough edges of the market it certainly has a function.
@@Music-yt7xo Bullshit. If you buy an oil futures contract, you're simply guaranteeing the contract price of the oil, agreed upon by the buyer and seller to be fulfilled at a "future" date. The buyer and seller of the oil sell the contract on the futures market as a hedge against market fluctuations. The price is set by the contract and doesn't change when the commodity actually changes hands at the agreed upon date. The price of the futures contract changes based on what's going on with the price of oil, not the other way around. Derivatives, such as futures contracts, are just insurance policies.
@@DonRon3 I have no problem with companies who need to actually buy those products but it’s the pure financial players trading it like a casino who have no intention to take delivery. It’s why oil went -$40 a barrel because it was too crowded with financial players and they couldn’t offload their contracts to those who needed to take actual delivery of the product.
It begs the question... how much fraud and corruption can one country sustain before it collapses from the inefficiencies of a corrupt political / business system of over spending by paying for things that don't exist. The MIC / DOD is full of examples where we get taken for a ride... and add to that the money printing that fuels inflation... its really a way for the Feds to in part "counterfeit" our currency by creating fiat like they have since 1971. Add to that the trillions that can't be accounted for at the DOD. September 10th 2001 Rumsfield ( Secretary of Defense ) announces 2.3 trillion cannot be accounted for as in "Where did it Go?" which later turned into 8 or 9 trillion of unaccounted for expenditures.
This is objectively untrue. It has been proven in study after study that current tax tates cannot support american infrastructure. This is a fact. You can argue about it, just know that you'll be intentionally spreading misinformation.
I hate so much that the people that lived through the 70s oil crisis then doubled down on car-dependent infrastructure instead of focusing on things like public transit and active transportation to reduce overall reliance on fossil fuels.
That would be an awesome topic! As an 80's baby, I really can't wrap my head around why it didn't cause gas/oil to be severely curtailed in the US.
Well, at least here in the Netherlands we did make less car centric choices because of the oil crises of the 70s.
I blame the US election systems for the USA not doing the same. The incentives for politicians are just not aligned with the citizens.
The Netherlands switched to proportional representation in 1917, and it is not perfect, but it does align politics and voters much more.
In one word: Reagan
In two words: Ronald Reagan
In three words:
Ronald fucking Reagan
@@Joe-ij6of It may have been Reagan but it's what the people wanted. It's easy to look through the eyes of today, today's society accepts public transport way easier, and today cars have gotten so expensive it's becoming increasingly hard to justify them.
But back then, cars were cheap (no pesky antipollution technology, safety regulations, safety systems, turbos, etc) and the people were asking for cars, not buses, so the politicians (hence Reagan) gave the people what they wanted.
Even if you would have wanted to, nobody would have put the average 80's american out of his personal car, it's basically blasphemy, even today :)
@@manu144x investing in public transportation doesnt force people out of cars, it just disincentives it.
On top of that, you also have to consider that players like Ronald Reagan at the time were not honest actors. There was massive corruption in politics even as far back as the 80s, and Reagan is the root of a lot of those issues.
He likely in many ways was not acting with the average American's best interest in mind.
Mom gave me $10 to buy the ingredients to start a lemonade stand, I just kept the $10, never sold the lemonade and it was a record-setting year. -The oil companies, kinda
more like I used the sugar and lemon concentrate in the fridge, got the neighbourhood addicted, then they all had to stay home for some reason so I stopped making money, asked mom for $10 to compensate and just put that in my piggy bank.
@@weatheranddarkness mom also said she wanted me to stop making lemonade, and that we would all be moving to limeade soon so I’m saving the money to buy limes.
The other thing to point out is that only the big guys were bailed out by the government. I work in oil and gas (most of the companies mentioned are clients of ours) and my company applied for the pandemic funds, received funding, and then were told that we actually didn't qualify and have to give the money back. We spent over a million dollars in lawyer fees trying to fight it before we had to give the money back and lay off 30% of our US workforce. Our company only survived because our CEO refuses to operate on debt and keeps a $25 Million rainy day fund (which is now an $18 Million rainy day fund). Most of the other little guys in the same situation went bankrupt in 2020. So now, all the little guys are out of the market, and the big guys can more easily control the supply of oil and are making record profits.
@@weatheranddarkness More like "I was given money to stay afloat when I did not need it, simply got lemons out of the dumpster out back of arbys for cheap, and now am going to make you pay an arm and a leg for the indignity of fishing through trash for a year. Oh, and thanks for the $10 I used to buy drugs and weapons to shoot birds taking my lemons."
More like you have lemonade stand and pay 2 neighbour kids 10c a day to make and sell lemonade, mom gives you $100 to help keep the lemonade stand going during winter, you stop paying the 2 neighbour kids and use the $100 to buy a new playstation game, then tell everyone lemonade is expensive cause mom won't let you go to the grocery store to buy more lemons
My favorite climate activist/comedian who does a better job at educating and informing than most journalists do
What do you mean "most"? ;)
Yeah, I’m often stunned at how easy he makes this look. Definitely a pro, despite how much he likes to make it look like slapped this stuff together in his moms basement while strung out on twizzlers and red bull.
"""journalists"""
Journalists aren’t educators. His videos should be more informative
Also much better than school.
Great video; love the production value. One small problem - you’re wrong. I control the gas prices from the bedroom of my childhood home. I have since I was born in 1999, using a system of levers and pulleys.
You mustache twirling Villain, you! 😵
I knew it all along.
Ever since I saw all the cables and pulleys running all over the streets.
I traced them back to your childhood house.
WHY is no one reporting on this?! The real culprit confesses and the world sleeps on it smh
The quickest way to learn that someone doesn't understand economics is them saying the President controls the gas prices.
I LOVE YOU MR BEAT PLEASE DO A SUPREME COURT BRIEF ON SNYDER V PHELPS
Excuse me. Duh. The President CAN control gas prices by reducing supply. What do you think will happen when you prevent Russian Oil from being imported? Less supply, higher prices.
A close second is when they say "I have a masters degree in economics".
@@johndistler8037 John you should know better snowflake liberals don't like facts or common sense 🤔
@@johndistler8037 not really since the US doesn't import much oil from Russia (I believe it's 5% more or less). And even if you take that into consideration, price spikes in the past were clearly dictated by other factors
As a local from Kuwait, moving away from the system here is quite literally an impossibility. All my country invests in is oil production, selling and making more, and as a result building more and more roads and infrastructure for privately owned vehicles. That in turn has been causing the tiny and super dense Kuwait city to be more congested than ever and getting hotter and hotter as each year passes. Being the hottest place on earth, it's literally unbearable, we comment and complain, but double down on making it hotter the next year. It's absolutely disgusting. And locals here are are so filthy spoiled rich that they rarely ever think twice. We have a neighbour that has 13 cars. It's insane. All of this as a result of the demand for oil and how much our tiny country happens to be sitting on. And the Kuwaitis absolutely love this life style and refuse to see another path. Thank God for this black gold, let's just keep pumping it out. It honestly sickens me.
Bro out of curiosity does the Kuwaiti leadership have a transition plan? I read on Wiki about the Shagaya Renewable Energy Park ?
@@emiliod90 No transition plan. Projects like that are mainly aesthetics and unrecognised efforts that end up being severely underfunded especially in terms of maintenance and upkeep. And even if this renewable energy park does go through according to plan, all it will really do is slightly alter how we use electricity, but again, mainly in an aesthetic capacity, the shift from oil will never happen, not any time in the foreseeable future anyway. The discussion is never on the table, unlike Saudi and the UAE, as well as Qatar, whom are heavily investing in back up plans and renewable energy. What's sad is that majority of locals don't even know about our Scientific and Research Institute working on that park that you mentioned and would honestly scoff and laugh at it. People here are so brain dead and our leadership doesn't even try to secure anything for the people and the nation's future. It's all about short term gains of wealth and maximising oil production. You should see how much employees in the oil sector get paid, absolute insanity. There's no sense of unity or long term problem solving.
Thank you for sharing your experience. We don’t get enough exposure of this perspective in the west
@@AbdullahAli-df1kp if what you said is true, I don't think the world is ever going to truly clean up and fight climate change
@@cpufreak101 I don't mean to be such a downer, this is sadly the reality where I live. However, that being said, Kuwait is not a major trend setter or decision maker. Sure we have a large amount of wealth and oil, but being such a small country with a weak and insignificant military, we're usually pushed around by neighbouring countries like Saudi, and pretty much dictated by imperial efforts, our deserts are littered with US military bases. So, as long as those countries push to invest in renewable and sustainable energy, Kuwait will be forced to follow, especially if there's a global push to steer away from the "oil system" by the major players. We're not a country of trend setting or taking initiative but rather following. Right now though, everyone wants what we have and we're relishing in that. I just wish there was more long term vision and initiative in such a young and wealthy nation.
I'm from a poor country (Lebanon) and people and business are installing solar power(as much as they can manage). It might bring you guys hope to know at least some poor countries are going through renewable energy instead of going through coal in their development
Great to know, Joe! Very hopeful.
Definitely does bring some hope, thanks for sharing
The US banned import of Chinese solar panels a while ago so cost of solar panels in the US are much higher than the rest of the world. Same with wind turbine and electric bus
and what does Lebanon produce. not much of any thing
@@dknowles60 what's the point of saying that, what are you implying? Is Lebanon greening its power sector at an impressive rate unimportant because "they don't produce much of anything"?
Would love to see you shine a light on the water rights issue in the southwest states. I live in Arizona and was reading about farmers growing water intensive crops to keep their water rights. With the deadline set by The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation almost up, it seems like farmers are expecting a payout to take the hit for water shortage.
Yes please fr fr
Oh yeah.... a subject in desperate need of illumination!! Good call!
I think if you search hard enough there is a video out there for that. I swear i saw it somewhere but i cannot remember. Im sure its on youtube somewhere.
Guess where all that water goes? Saudi Arabia and they get it for FREE while those pieces of shit rape is on gas prices and our politicians allow it!
wow
The only thing I don't like about this content is that it's too good! I can't just listen to it, podcast style, while driving to work because I would miss out on all the hilarious visual gags and useful charts/graphs!
And for this, I am truly sorry.
I've noticed it too. I've listened to some podcast style and I miss a ton of well crafted jokes. The subtle 420 easters eggs, editing gags, visual puns, just to name a few. But don't worry, you are rewarded by rewatching them more than once. If you can pick up all the jokes in one viewing you probably have the observation skills of a spy.
I have the same "problem" with my favorite creators. I need to save them for later so i can fully focus on the video coz they are just so good.
A podcast would be legendary
I feel the same!
Everyone who lived through the expensive gas prices of the early 2000s decided it was a good idea to go out and buy gas guzzling SUVs again. SUVs have become more popular since then.
Why does my country keep doing the dumbest things. The 1970s should have taught about the dangers of relying on oil in general and the need for more walkable cities that can cater to public transportation which lowers transportation costs and gas usage but it only taught US officials to not rely on foreign oil. And the volatile oil prices should have taught people that if you have to own a car you should buy a hybrid or at least a Corolla or civic if you don’t need a pick up for work, nah more people keep buying SUVs even though they don’t need them and they cost outweighs any potential usefulness.
@@ricardobarahona3939 70s were 50 years ago bruh. The only real green energy back then was atomic and wind. And even the idea about electric cars was a literal science fiction. And that not even mentioning how huge the car culture is in the US.
Like Americans have any common sense.
@@alexforce9 Ricardo said the 70's oil issues should have led U.S. toward less auto-centric urban planning with public transportation, not electric cars. There was the trend toward smaller, fuel efficient vehicles but that ended in the 90's with SUV craze and them growing ever bigger.
People are stupid and have short memories
America needs a reimagining of our car-centric cities. Reducing the number of cars (gas, electric, or otherwise) and increasing city density will have the biggest climate impact and psychological benefit.
Reimagining costs a lot of money. And investing into something that won't result in snappy profit is something money suppliers will never agree to. And if we consider that a lot of lobbying is done by corporations, it is plausible to see any authority in America trying to go that way be shot down immediately.
True. The last time I flew over Los Angeles the plane took like 15 Minutes. And that was 25 years ago.
There is a psychological benefit to living toe to to and shoulder to shoulder with your neighbours? Not for everyone....I guarantee it.
In a way, the oil industry is encouraging people to switch to other sources because they know it will take so long that they’ll have plenty of years to profit, and there’s no way they’ll compete merely by decreasing their prices. If even they know that their product is becoming obsolete, why are we pretending otherwise? This is a great opportunity to redesign our transportation networks.
No. Not true. At all. Increasing the density of communities creates a compressed pollution parameter and you end up with San Fransisco, New York city, Toronto and Vancouver.
These are HORRIBLE ideas. We cannot reduce the usage in North America. This is a hippie idea and has been around for over 50 years. And there is never been one success in any of the attempts.
The only thing North America can do is change the resource of energy that is tapped into. So we need to start creating more solar farms, wind farms and hydro-dams to start.
For vehicles there is already a solution well on its way. We will mostly be skipping entirely over fully electric vehicles and heading right to hydrogen engines. We already have a ton of manufacturers that create hydrogen engines for cars. Water and salt are the easiest and cheapest resources in this entire world and create zero pollution.
Corporate bailouts are absolutely the worst part about any of this
The companies get bailed out by tax money and pocket all the profits for themselves
NotJustBikes and your channel's exposure to Strong Towns and their initiative of designing our cities to be anti-car or at the very least just *not car-centric* is one of the best things we can do long-term to alleviate this climate crisis. Thank you so much for putting this much effort into researching these topics and making it entertaining to watch 👏
I'm going to be honest I don't care about cutting back on cars to stop climate change but, I do think it's a good idea to fix the obesity issue and make cities more aesthetically pleasing. it's really easy to maintain a healthy weight if you're biking 20 miles a day, at least for me that's about 1600 calories burned per day without even trying, that's almost a whole pizza's worth every day.
@@Hostilegeese You are right about that, but even still there are things that could be done short of making everyone bike everwhere that would significantly improve the obesity epidemic. Unfortunately, companies that make food that makes you fat are *shockingly* only really interested in making money. I feel like if people here switched their lifestyles to eating smaller portions of even MARGINALLY healthier food they would lose weight even while still driving everywhere. There's so many problems that need fixing right now, and they all seem to come down to: Our way of life here in North America is NOT working. I am excited to see how things change in the near future :)
@@wickedslick3000 I'm not saying to make anyone bike anywhere, just to make it convenient and safe to do so, obviously people will make their own choices and figure out how they want to get around. I also don't know if eating smaller portions is a viable solution, obviously it'll help but how many people would be satisfied with small portions? That's just my opinion though, I find incorporating exercise that doesn't feel like exercise is more effective and makes me personally happier.
Reducing the size and power of gov't is the best thing we can do for long and short term misuse of natural resources.
#nonaggressionprinciple #VOLUNTARYISM
@@dustinabc That is absolute nonsense. The only thing that stops extractive industries from utterly raping the planet is government.
One thing I’d like to state is one of the reasons the US imports so much crude oil from other countries is because we have the largest refining industry globally.
We are a gasoline exporter but a crude oil importer.
Still not a good thing but, it annoys me when people overlook this.
We're also near parity for crude exports vs imports. In 2019 we actually managed to export slightly more than we imported, which is what caused the Trump administration to say we were "energy independent." This is completely wrong though since we are dependent on imports because our logistical and refining infrastructure can't use the majority of the crude we produce.
@@travisbeagle5691 curious, why can't we use the crude we produce
@@longebane Not sure on the exact particulars, but in general, different refineries are only able to work with certain grades of crude. The US has a number of different grades based on their deposits resulting in the nearby refineries being designed to handle those deposits and similar. Since the Permian basin is one of the primary sources being exploited now due to fracking, while others aren't, we now have a problem where we have this massive supply that we don't have the refining capacity to handle. That's going to continue to be a problem unless huge amounts of capital are spent either making new refineries or modifying old ones (if it's even possible to do.) Sadly, oil companies don't have the financial incentive to want to drop that sort of cash and the government most likely isn't going to want to put that sort of investment into an industry that we're (officially at least) trying to move away from.
@@travisbeagle5691 almost like the most logical course would be to nationalize the bastards and get it over with. At the very least apply a vice to their balls with the DPA.
@@travisbeagle5691 that would be the Fault of the fed gov. its been since 1976 when the Us built the last new from the ground up big oil refinerie. Fed gov wount let oil companys build new ones
Don’t forget we need to make cities more bikeable, walkable, robust multi tiered train systems to compete with airplanes and cars (even electric cars). Keep food local, rethink consumption, and densify cities.
Yup, there’s a ton that needs done. Way more than we could ever hope to cram into a time 20 minute video.
>> (even electric cars)
Absolutely right.
I mean that's what the whole channel is for
tought to make citys walkable bikeable. when i left detroit mi in 1996 there were men raping men. its tought to have walkable and bikeable citys when tyou have crime problems
or we can go nuclear, do the nice things you mentioned in our terms, not out of desperation to save the planet.
Thank you. Just subbed,
Hello
*Our lord and savior Jesus Christ*
Jesus is a lefty confirmed. Take that religious right!
@@Kain5th I mean yea. In the bible he was basically administering free healthcare and food to poor, as well as telling people to not hoard riches and instead use their wealth to help the needy. He' be labeled communist if he resurrected now in USA.
God Bless
If you make a product that's in high demand now, but there's a growing movement to get rid of, and anyway it's going to run out before too long, the obvious move is don't spend a single dollar on increasing production and just extract maximum profit while you can.
That actually makes sense to a dumbass like me.
Yay capitalism?
That is absolutely what is happening. The writing has been on the wall. The know this. Increasing production decreases the lifetime of the cash cow while also making it cheaper during that period. People need to come with grips that prices arent going to lower much from here on out.
@@dustinc6869 Not even really that bad. I don't want them to have any profits, but 200 a barrel will drive us away from fossil fuels.
@E.V. Hodge it doesn't have to run out, demand just has to outstrip supply. We livr in a world that has an ever increasing population, the economic system demands never ending growth which means oil and gas companies will continually need to extract more resources out of the ground to meet demand and shareholders expectations.
Now, oil and gas are finite resources. Surely you can add all that up and realise that what we are doing is not sustainable, it will crash one day soon and will make the great depression look like a minor economic ripple.
This video is a godamn life saver. I have relatives who blame the dems or the GOP every time gas prices jump. When I try to explain that it is a lot more complicated than that they say "we have our own oil fields, don't tell me we import half a supply, that makes no sense" and other repeated talking points.
the thing that bothers me is that gas is NOT cheaper at the Arco LITERALLY SHARING A FENCE WITH THE ARCO REFINERY. Like, HOW MUCH EFFORT DID IT TAKE YOU TO BRING THAT FUEL LIKE 30 FEET FROM YOUR FENCE?!?!
that one right there bothers me. Gas should logically be cheapest adjacent to its refinery. Yet this is not the case. And that's comparing it to other gas stations in the area same timeframe- always higher. At an ARCO.
WHY?!?!
But it is Democrat's fault.
This video would fly right over my family's head, even tho it's great and easy to understand. It's still too smart for them lol!
@@Gstunfisk please be sarcasm
@@Who_aaaaam_I no?
I love how when gas was cheap all I heard about was that people didn't want cars anymore. They wanted huge Trucks and SUV with terrible gas mileage. Now gas prices are horrible and I am betting there are many people regretting that. Unfortunately people have such short memories.
The weird thing is though: those people don’t regret their decisions. They think they made the right decisions, but Biden screwed them over by raising gas prices!
It’s wild to me how many people seem to not understand the simple fact that oil is a finite resource and will run out eventually…
I've always driven small. People that buy these huge behemoths that they don't need that guzzle fuel require more resources to build are stupid and the problem.
Same thing has been happening ever since the first gas crisis of the 70's. That's when people started driving small Japanese cars instead of the road boats of the day. Then in 2008 it happened again - this time there was a move to motorcycles because they were the most efficient and every manufacturer started making 250cc sport bikes as a result. Even just a year ago trucks and SUVs were selling for WAY above market value and now people can't give them away - everyone wants an EV now, so the circle continues.
It's super cool how a lot of manufacturers stop making cars as well. Due to this. They're going to regret that choice real soon.
You can always tell how things are going by looking at the used car lots.
I just love it when people complain about gas prices when the top three best-selling vehicles are all big gas-guzzling, inefficient, and enormous 20-26 MPG trucks
That 20 year summary of the oil markets was magnificent.
I had to pause the video to catch my breath 🤣 an absolute masterpiece!
Very well explained. Not that it will do any good. These days it seems people just believe whatever they want, regardless of any evidence. I do think the best way to stick it to these oil companies is by moving to electrification, much as you said at the end. This allows all sorts of energy production methods to compete in a free market, rather than dealing with the cartel.
I believe what I saw actually happen, which is Biden shut down oil production almost totally here in the USA. We were oil independent and were a net exporter under Trump. Within a week of Biden taking office, that was all out the window. Can you add two plus two? I knew you couldn't!
Stick to making videos on computers and porting your latest 8-bit robot game to different systems, no offense. This guy is talking out of his ass based on coming from a climate change conclusion. He literally misrepresents things and is disingenuous from the start.
For example, he conveniently ignores refineries have been shutting down here in the US because of Democrat policies which in turn has increased the cost to refine crude oil into petroleum products like gas and diesel. From there, taxes make up a good chunk of the cost of gas and when he brings up European nations, his tonality makes it clear he thinks our taxes should be much higher here to force people to stop using our evil bad gas powered cars. He also conveniently ignores that the current Federal and state gas taxes have nothing to do with the current state of our transportation infrastructure considering the money that should've gone to maintaining roads and bridges was used for other things instead for the last 60+ years, especially in blue states which is why California, Massachusetts, and New York have the worst of both nationally. Which if you look with your living in Texas, the roads aren't bad in general there. Go to blue Austin on the other hand though and they are not the greatest.
You also got to look at how he implies the gas companies are making bank off the cost of oil itself. That is the cost of it. Which he also seems to want to ignore the concept of supply and demand and how Biden's handlers ended US oil independence and is doing everything to stop the pumping of crude from the ground here in this country. If he had to acknowledge that he'd not have been able to pull those import numbers out of his ass like he did to push his agenda.
I could go on, but I don't want to keep on destroying you here being a fan of you and your content.
@@TheSportCompact Not "destroying me" at all. Sounds like you listen to fox news a lot. And sounds like you prefer the cartel over energy independence.
@@The8BitGuy Actually, I don't listen to or watch Fox News. The fact you went there with it as a personal attack instead of refuting what I said goes to show I did destroy his BS and yours too. So does the fact you had to create a strawman argument that I didn't make in order to respond to here as well. You got triggered by it and the only thing you had was to do those things instead of being a man and taking your licks so to speak. Saying that, how about you actually respond to what I said as opposed to being a disingenuous sleazebag who can't man up.
Edit:
I forgot to respond to your response to the strawman argument you created that was supposedly from me to try to pull your big brained gotcha.
For the record, we were energy independent and a net exporter of crude oil and refined products like gasoline before Biden and his handlers took office. Literally overnight, they ended that through Executive Orders/Fiat. And, on top of this, none of the oil companies are part of a cartel. They aren't part of OPEC+. Which I am for energy independence. I'm just not for the leftist, government forced, mandated, and subsidized "independence" that translates into more top down control and less independence of Americans.
@@The8BitGuy He's destroying you, you just don't have enough brain cells to comprehend it. It's mind boggling how someone cannot tie together public policy regarding gas/oil production + import and rising gas prices. And that this basic supply/demand taught in high school classes is beyond the grasp of a human who is given the power to vote. No wonder this country is screwed.
Dependency on one thing will always lead to problems. Especially when it comes to energy. Being reliant on someone else (like Europe with Russia) will also nip you in the butt. Being diversified and having the ability to produce your own energy will always be the best option for a smoother ride. Reduce fossil fuel dependency, invest in renewables, and stop shutting down nuclear power plants!
I agree, which is why I find it troubling that some states are outright banning combustion vehicles in the near future.
As battery power improves, oil will go bye-bye. We just need batteries that go farther and charge more quickly. We are getting close.
@@thelakeman5207 better, cheaper batteries are only one half of the equation. The grid in the US is not set up for millions upon millions of cars. But to say we're close is pretty silly, they've been saying the same thing about batteries for years and they're actually getting more expensive and harder to get. I'm all for the future, but we have to be realistic.
@@thelakeman5207 Oil will never go away. You need oil for our roads, for our tires, clothes. To "supercharge" these EV's requires oil lol. Just because people don't directly think they use oil makes them feel better about everything I guess.
@@thelakeman5207 been hearing that for 40 years
I vaguely remember the oil embargo of the 1970s. I was seven or so. You are the first environmental UA-camr I've experienced who understands how markets work.
And with each Climate Town video, the world gets a little better...
not really tough. Its not like we see any chance. Only thing is a few thousand people know a bit more..
@@L3vinesNL thats a few thousand more chances that someone could make a change!
True but, wow, can it seem worse
ironically the computing power of the youtube thumbs up was the tipping point
@@mudmug1 nukes? MAD is about as safe as a perfectly balanced house of cards.
"Wow, this is absolutely amazing content!" - Me, an unbiased viewer, before the video is made available
"they sell oil for money" moment killed me. Love your vids and everything you do for the planet and us~ Wish you all the money.
Fantastic 🤣🤣
Hilarious and sad
"they sell oil for money" moment killed me. .. Why? This is true for EVERYTHING. Even solar and wind... Unless you own your own solar farm or windmills, you'll still have to pay. Power costs are relative and fungible. Most people want cheap--or at least the cheapest--energy. It supports billions of people. Unless we kill billions, it's gonna be a slow transformation away from fossil fuels.
Oil has such a strangle hold on society that any price change will not really change the demand. It's a highly demand inelastic commodity, and thus oil companies want the price to be as high as possible without reaching the breaking point.
Jeez, if the oil executives would just admit that they need all that money because they want Reese's, I would totally get it. They're spending so much unnecessary energy lying about the economics and politics of the situation.
Imagine the savings from not spending on propaganda. Gas could be affordable if they weren't buying fox news promos and shit
@@ssavman That's all they want. Just some Reese's. Reese's Peanut Butter Filled Stock Buybacks. They're going to get almost a hundred billion of them at the end of this year.
@@ssavman No it wouldn’t lol
@@antmaster360 no one cares what you say without thinking first..
@@ssavman Exactly so stop talking
I do think it's interesting that this recent spike in oil prices has spurred a lot of (proposed and actual) movement toward electrification, whether that's Germany moving up their timeline to hit renewable energy goals or a boom in electric car markets. That said, it would be nice if "investing in public transportation" was also seen as a useful solution...
Yeah, but ask any middle aged uncle or my dad and you'll see the truth (that's been spoonfed to them by fox News and rumble), this spike in prices is all part of the libtard agenda to force us into buying little weenie cars that don't make lots noises and hit 60 mph in under 2 seconds. DUH!
I think they'll have to pry cars out of Americans cold dead hands
Germany has definitely failed in its transition. Killing off nuclear and going full on solar/wind lead to failures in the energy infrastructure not able to handle the spikes and when sun/wind are down, they have since massively increased production in coal and gas... effectively pocketing Putin's war that way. It is rather insane how radical they were on killing nuclear. Just compare to France, more green and cheaper energy.
Are you a middle aged republican Dan j??
Shore Line East in Connecticut has just made all of it's Northeast Corridor trains run on Electricity rather than fuel. It was easy as the NEC was already electrified, all they needed were electric trains (which were the M8s which they now use) & they were all set. Also Caltrain in San Fran & San Jose is electrifying it's mainline from San Fran to south of it's San Jose Diridon station (well, that has been going on for some time but still). Really shows how people start to try to move away from oil when the price gets as high as someone on weed, if not higher.
It’s crazy the amount of info and jokes you guys manage to put in a 20min video. Love this channel so much!
It's a beautiful thing
Agreed, this is the funniest educational channel on youtube. I find it more funny than most things on youtube lol
5 min at 4x
As oil/gas is essential for modern society, there should be a global price cap-maybe regulate the industry as a utility.
Man, this is one of the best youtube channels out there. Topics, scripts, jokes, visuals: A+ in every category.
And lies
@@RichardMiller-tq6ut great videos, but he has some fundamental flaws in his thinking. The gov't and central planners who can use force to implement their ideas are at the roots of basically every societal problem. Giving the worst organizations more control to fix the problems they benefit from creating is not a good idea.
Restricting gov't and those who use force to impose their ideas is the best thing we can do for society, the environment, the economy, and yourself.
#VOLUNTARYISM
"Let's go back and look at the past 20 years of oil price"
Me: "Ah back to the 80s"
Chart starts at 2002
Me: "WAT?!"
Fbm
Wow you people just dont get simple jokes. Hes suprised at his age. Not a math mixup
@@ScootsMcPoot You'd think that was obvious. Poe's law I suppose.
@@_Mute_ i thought the school comment was continuing that joke, as if by staying in school we could stay young. Maybe not
@@_Mute_ Yea, I guess reading comprehension is not as important these days.
I remember the absolute shock I had at how cheap fuel was in the US when i first visited as an adult. I dont think ive ever bough fuel for less then about $6 / gallon in aus or europe
Some other oil propducing countries also have insanely low fuel prices. Let them visit Europe for once and see how bad fuel prices can actually get.
@@TheFuck6666 Thank god I don’t live in Europe! Those fuel prices are ridiculous!
When I was a kid, gas stations had to have "sales" on gas ... this weekend only regular will be 0.23,9 (Yes that's 23 cents) a gallon.
@John Portal
We have a 15 mile drive to the closest town with most anything we could need or want except wide open peaceful spaces. Have done the trip a few times on a bicycle for fun. No way I want to do it for a supply run. We fill the trunk when we go and consolidate trips to keep driving cost down.
@@dlazo32696 Actually, they're normal. That's what unsubsidized gasoline costs.
I love your videos. Thank you. Climate Town gives us truly informative, timely presentations... and in a fun, concise and understandable way. I cannot imagine how much time you spend to produce, write and research these great videos. I sent the link to this one to many friends, and because of you, I have made some significant changes to the way I bank, the way I think about transportation and where I plan to live in two years (as far from car-centric as possible). Going electric, another point you often make, prompted me to buy an e-bike, which is absolutely the best investment I have made in many years. You are changing lives. Just wanted you to know that. Thank you!
I did the same! We're in this together!
My dad was with Shell for years and I am still amazed that we are able to get a substance from the ground, treat it, refine it and send it thousands of miles for distribution and sell it for a few bucks a gallon. It is technological miracle beyond the wildest dreams of those only 100 years ago.
The problem with US prices is one of habits and car types. We drive 2-3 times more than Europe and the EU mandates a minimum MPG 30% more than us. Cars are much smaller and the "TBD" (Think Before Driving) meme is popular. A friend in Norway said gas was about $11/gal but was only about 1% of the income (vs 4% in the US).
Less about habits and more about city planning in my opinion. Seems the US isn’t trying to make walkable towns. Definitely agree it’s a marvel any of it is still together though. Complex organization for sure.
@@Bayplaces I've lived in a few places in the world, and the US was a bit of a shock to me how hard it was to get around walking, sidewalks that just end, or that just turn and you have to scroll a stroad to continue on the sidewalk only for it to end anyway... The US was the only place I felt afraid walking around, but not because of being robbed but of being ran over by a car. Going to the dollar store that was literally 3 blocks away from where I lived was an adventure. And the first thing they told us when we moved in to the housing our employer provided us was "be careful crossing the streets around here, deaths are a frequent thing here, and literally a month after our contract ended and we went back home a girl died crossing the street.
I'm so used to going everywhere walking or with public transportation I was baffled how hard it was to simply walk in the US.
The problem with the US is their city planning. Watch Not Just Bikes for good videos on that topic.
This is driven by a politics that is not really aligned with the needs of its citizens.
I blame the US election systems. Here in the Netherlands, our politics listened and changed in the 1970s as result of the oil crises.
The USA needs proportional representation, instead of first-past-the-post election systems.
Why is that amazing? Once you got the pipe setup it's not one gallon your working for, you're pumping thousands of gallons an hour.
@@Bayplaces I mean, if it's a habit to go out every weekend to a bar 15 miles away, or to grab that one thing from the store that you forgot for dinner, driving/accelerating excessively quickly, or just being dumb enough to own a massive truck-I'd say those are habits that could easily change.
Did you specifically hunt down a gas station that was selling $4.20 a gallon?
Get it? That's the weed number! Lol LMAO roflmao
@@iamjustkiwiim more of a $6.90 - gallon guy
Went from "grad student" to "recipient" throughout the course of this awesome series... congrats Rollie!!!!
Holy Bazinga! It's been two days! *Checks notes* two weeks! *Checks notes* two MONTHS since the last Climate Town video! How can we expect the good people of the world to be prodded off our collective tookases and into taking some climate action with that kind of schedule!
*Editing desk* You see folks this is the kind of negative comment that can make the internet a hostile environment for everybody. Climate Town is an award winning *citation needed* channel, and is an absolute g dang national treasure *that one is objectively true*. These videos take a ton of work to make and I am sure Climate Town will publish a new video when they are good and ready. And THAT is the end of this comment!
*What do you mean I could join the Discord to probably find news on upcoming releases? What do you mean the Patreon would also probably be a helpful source of information? What do you mean posting a comment on a two month old video is a great way for that comment to never be read by anyone? What do you mean jokes - especially written ones - are best when they are concise, and I should have stopped typing several lines ago?*
An important point that you got wrong is that most retailers make a bit more per gallon than you said. Especially since Covid, margins are well above $.20 per gallon. The difference between a big box store and a company that’s vertically integrated can be quite significant. Mobil might be making $.60 a gallon while Sam’s Club or BJ’s is making 6. (Source: I am a gas pricing analyst for a large company in the industry)
and when gas prices increase so do shipping costs thus making this profit margin harder to reach as they pay more to ship said oil. that's why it's getting worse and worse as when those prices increase so does the shipping costs. it's a viscous cycle that won't end any time soon. restrictions on shipping companies also make it harder for these companies to reach their profit margins.
considering it costs 30% more now to employ the same piece of garbage I can see why they charge more
I watch retail markets regularly and have noticed that retail prices have increased margins over spot market prices in Indiana. Use to run around 15 cents a few years ago with occasional 50 cent or more markups. Covid had markups around a dollar sometimes. Lately markups are close to zero or below cost before a price increase shows up on the pump. Tuff market to figure out lately.
@@googleuser868 Something that is underappreciated in understanding local gas prices is because of inventory and how long it takes to run out. You’re generally dumping new product onto old product which creates a blended cost. Spot prices don’t indicate perfectly what you will see for a retail. Spot market changes can indicate directionality of street prices. But if you live in a locality that’s very rural and doesn’t have a lot of demand, you’re going to see a lag in changes in prices in either direction for example
@@dirkdiggler9379 really hope you’re not referring to other people who are working legitimate jobs as pieces of garbage
What I love about climate town is that he never uses cliche catchphrases like "...for a more sustainable, equitable future"
That's because "he" only presents problems and doesn't propose solutions beyond "education".
The video leaves out pretty important dynamics in the oil market. Most importantly not all oil is the same. The US has a pretty advanced oil refining industry that can handle very heavy/dirty oils. So lighter/cleaner oils extracted in North America tend to get exported , while heavy/dirty oils tend to get imported. That's a how the US can important 9 million barrels a day, but still be a net exporter overall.
Thank you for mentioning this, seems like a lot of facts were excluded on purpose.
Docs with massive budgets don't come close to this. Absolutely brilliant stuff. Thank you
Thanks TRollo for educating me in this 20 min long video about world news better than 2 months watching TV
To be fair, anyone still watching broadcast TV in this day and age deserves to have their noggin scrambled
"...55% does not give you unfettered control..." Well, about that. In the market regulation field of economics, there's a concept called Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) which measures market concentration (basically how much power a particular company has to set prices) on a scale from 0 to 10,000. When a market has a score of 2,000 or more, the market is considered overly concentrated and the DOJ will likely reject any merger proposals. If we assume that OPEC+ functions as a single block, OPEC+ on its own pushes the HHI to 3,025.
One teeny tiny point you missed there, HHI doesn't consider elasticity of demand, which was the whole point of the video where how much ever the demand elasticity may vary, opec+ and oil companies are playing a different game.
@E.V. Hodge Yes and no. Overall they have not worked as closely as they could and therefore have exerted less control over the price of oil than the cartel's share of production would lead you to believe. That said, they have broadly been able to keep the price of oil well above the pre-oil-embargo price point (adjusted for inflation).
Obviously there's the initial OPEC crisis in the 1970s where they clearly did. There have been other agreements since then such as in 2008 and 2016 to reduce production, but the nations in OPEC do not always get along with the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and the current cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran being the best examples. In those cases, one OPEC country might alter its production with the goal of hurting another's oil revenues. So for example Saudi Arabia could ramp up production by 10% leading to a 5% decrease in price. Saudi Arabia would still come out ahead (4.5% increase in revenue) and Iran would see a 5% decline in revenue. Alternatively, when the price of oil is high, there's a natural incentive to increase production for basically the same reason even if the OPEC line is to not increase production. There have been a few times where countries have left OPEC because they wished to produce more oil than OPEC wanted them to such as Ecuador and Malaysia.
@@raosiddharth4726 That's true, elasticity of demand affects the price, but my comment wasn't addressing the demand side aspects of his video. I was specifically looking at one of the supply side points he brought up. HHI measures the level of market concentration and therefore the ability for producers to alter the price of a good or service by either unilaterally changing the price or the supply. It helps explain why OPEC+ can play that "different game" you reference, and that game affects the price of oil which affects the price of gas which is what this video is about.
@@d6robert A good explanation of why cartels eventually fail: Any self interested party wants to steal market share.
Brasil could control their gas prices up until some years ago. Since the country is self sufficient and the driller was supposedly a state company the president could decide who was the director of petrobras and, sometime ago even all the board of directors, effectively controlling the price of gas. Now we sold shares of the state company to many foreign oil companies thata decided they would keep the price up, according to the international market, regardless of the situation of poverty.
Knowing this always drives me crazy.
Brasil pode ser autosuficiente mas não o petróleo que temos não é o ideal para refinar para gasolina. Ainda assim, não temos refinarias com capacidade suficiente para suportar a demanda. Então a Petrobrás precisa exportar óleo cru e importar gasolina, que custa bem mais.
Só tirar um monte de petróleo do chão não quer dizer nada.
Not like Petrobras was the gold standard of a company when it was 100% state owned. Just ignore all the corruption and Lula stuff that went down :^)
Saw this in my algorithm feed the other day, closed the device, lost track of it and could not find it (Sad). Popped up today (Happy) and I watched. I have not clapped OUT LOUD and LOL'd in months! Great content and so nice to see the $10B bailout coverage and investor responses, instead of the "Oil Industry Talking Points 101" we see from all the news outlets, including the ones on the left, re: "why gas prices are so high". (Shame on you, Trevor Noah and Scotty Kilmer, et al. ) Climate Town makes videos like I would, if I had the resources. Keep it up.
These are the videos that keep me on UA-cam
I love how to has a gas tank with him so the station workers think he's filling so they don't go talk to him asking what he's doing or restricting him for filming.
If he’s lifting the nozzle up without paying the registers inside are chiming alerting the workers that someone is being dumb and trying to pump without putting a payment in.
They make minimum wage most likely too little to give a crap
This guy is a ridiculous dummy. NOBODY thinks the president sets the gas prices each morning. HOWEVER, when he "bans" Russian oil and closes pipelines bringing in oil from Canada, he restricts supply.
Erm, sorry to have to point out the obvious, but he probably spoke to the staff before starting to film...
@@DM-kv9kj And risking having to find another gas station if they refuse? Doubt! Film first, ask questions latter.
People never learn, they forgot the 70’s. Instead of muscle cars or station wagons they drive SUVs and trucks. People always said I should ditch my hatchback for a crossover or something more attractive but there’s nothing more attractive than being able to travel over 120 miles with just $20.
Unless you travel that 120 miles in an EV charged with energy generated by solar panels.
@@billybeemus3929 That’s not feasible where I live, the winters here would eat EVs for breakfast.
@@billybeemus3929 I will admit that solar panel charging is cheaper long term (Despite the initial installation fees) however it only seems doable in certain climates. In order to be feasible we would likely need solar and home charging, which the U.S power grid is incapable of supporting. How do we get through this bottleneck?
@@midori9566 - We start by making the electric utilities non-profit entities. Then we require them to built capacity to store over-production from home solar systems to be used when solar is not producing. There are many ways to do that. Hydro, pumped hydro, compressed air, gravity rail, batteries, etc. Currently, utilities build coal/natural gas powered plants with the expectation of guaranteed profits from the sale of the power generated. Instead of building power plants, they need to fix the grid and partner with home solar generation.
@Roberto Vidal Garcia I can see that, the culture and landscape of the US is very different compared to Europe or Asia. I’ve driven a Ford F-250 before and it definitely made me feel “masculine” But it’s unsustainable. The only problem I have with EVs is making them obtainable to the working class. Currently they are expensive and lack infrastructure, I want the transition to be as painless as possible. We are incredibly dependent on fossil fuels and need a good exit strategy that is applicable to middle class and low income people, they are the backbone of the economy of the country I live in.
This has got to be the best video I have seen in a long time. Not only was it informative but the freakin dude put his references in there so if I wanted to question this I could look and see how reliable/non-reliable this information is. You have earned a subscriber sir
You holding the Reese's in the parking lot is gold. This channel is amazing, keep doing what you do - these companies need to be exposed more often
Love the videos, Rollie. Good work making this accessible, entertaining content on a topic that is absolutely vital for people to understand. Climate change generally, I mean, not just gas prices.
Congrats on trending, great video as always!
Problem with America is, some talking head from some Australian geezer's "news" network ALWAYS goes trending when that talking head blames some Brandon kid. -also oranges-
fancy seeing you here
This is one of the few videos I watch that the obligatory context bar doesn’t contradict. And I thought UA-cam was just disagreeable. That said I am enjoying the vids so much having just discovered Rollie’s hard hitting research. May I say that looks like a lot of work. Thank you for doing some of our homework for us. Mereekah ! Energy independence we should all be on board with. True fact. I once doubled the mileage on my bronco permanently . If you doubt the auto companies are holding back technology believe it. I accomplished this out of high school by myself in the 90s while recovering from cancer. I think the auto industry could figure it out. Ya. I know. You would think people may ask how to survive cancer that long. But nobody ever wants to know that either. True fact. Thanks Climate Town.
You are about to blow up, dude. High quality content and very watchable.
Problem is saying a president can’t change gas prices is a no Kip not directly no but indirectly joe Biden greatly effected production demand supply monetary value and inflation and other things that do effect gas prices
400k subs is Ab to blow up?
That’s what she said
God, I can’t wait until we stop having a gas and car centric society! While researching one of my upcoming videos for my channel, I found out that car ownership costs a US citizen $0.58/mile. Pretty much every type of public transit ends up being significantly cheaper!
But obviously we need to invest in better frequency and more routes in order to make public transit more convenient as well as less expensive before more people will start using it.
I moved to a bike and walking and public transport oriented city 5 years ago. I gave my car away 6 months ago cos I was not using it and I LIVE IT.
We have brand new $1.5 million electric bendy busses that are like a spaceship inside and so smooth there are no handrails, you dont need them. I know how lucky I am and I dont take it for granted.
@@piccalillipit9211 Did the same early this year. Sold one of our family's cars and now I cycle/walk/public transport everywhere. Now we split the one vehicle between us and I just bought an ecargo bike.
@@piccalillipit9211 I’m hoping to go down to being a 1 car family in the next couple years. Current plan is to use a combo of car/train/skates to get to work starting in September.
If I stick with that for long enough then my wife will hopefully be ok with purchasing an e bike. And then hopefully that works well enough that we decide to ditch our ICE car and only keep the EV.
@@RandomPerson123321 - Has your mental health improved? Cos that was the big thing I noticed.
I'm proud to say I've never owned a car in my life. I currently own my house free and clear
Fracking was our chance to see that the game was rigged, yet we let that slip by
ain’t that the truth
Fracking is still there... boom bust though price oscillations.
@@jmitterii2 i'm sure you've benefitted from it. fascist.
"We"? Did you watch the video? Oil companies received bailout money while also increasing profits. Bailout money is controlled by politicians. Politicians are controlled by lobbyists and campaign donations. T
@@AskAW it's sort of like saying "Snowden was our chance to see that the game was rigged, yet we let that slip by"
It's a reference to the Overton Window, and how "the Bourgeoisie" constantly push scandals to make the old ones fade out of the public consciousness before real change would be brought about.
You, sir, are the best climate activist in the world!
Electric cars are certainly not the solution, efficient public transport is.
Electric cars are a start . The current form isn’t the end all solution but hopefully they will evolve ( just as gas cars did ) into something much better
We are fat, we need to walk more in Grow vegetables and raise chickens.
@@JBG1968It takes energy to power and electric car. And where does that energy come from? It comes from petroleum right now, don't forget. You're having children mine for lithium to make the electric batteries. I think there's a lot of research you need to do.
Having worked at several gas stations, I'm amazed they make even that much. The only profit in gas stations is the stuff they sell inside the store. That's why they spend so much on advertising trying to get ppl to come into the store.
Will never call gas anything else other than "hot chocolate for cars" now. Thanks Rollie!
Outstanding video. 22 minutes to come to the conclusion that the price is governed by supply and demand. You will probably get the Nobel prize in economics.
From the comments, nobody was listening.
his point is that the state controls neither supply nor demand
and also i like that he showed the clips of oily old ceo's being all oily
@@heartache5742
I don't think that was his point that the state doesn't control supply or demand because that would be stupid. Obviously the OPEC states control supply along with many non OPEC players. Even the united states influences supply even if it doesn't control it.
Jesus christ. I just learned about this channel, and the information presented alongside the comedy provided is just amazing. I've been sitting here at work giggling and laughing all day.
Having just watched an early Climate Town video before watching this one, I'm struck by the improvement in production, humor, etc. (and congrats on graduating! :D) The videos were never bad, but they keep getting better, so thanks and keep up the great work!
More and more people are willing to move to public transport and bikes, investing in solar and heat pumps. Atleast in The Netherlands I hope more people follow.
I've visited the netherlands multiple times but live in Canada and to compare the both of them is pretty ridiculous, we don't have nearly the same kind of cities that allow for bikes and public transport
@@press2ifyouhate130 Except the Netherlands wasnt always the bike friendly paradise it is today. It was car centric up until the oil shortages of the 1970s when large public pressure got them to build the better life they have today. France is also now following in its footsteps only now with the very car centric Paris becoming more bike friendly.
More NJB collabs!!!
@@press2ifyouhate130 cities can be changed. Vote for it.
I have been noticing in Seattle people are pushing for these things, but most of the US is very far behind. With heat pumps though we have a bit more incentive because most people here don't have air conditioning as it is, but as the weather is getting hotter every year people need an affordable way to cool their homes
I can't believe there are only 17 episodes for your channel. This is my official application to work under you as I love all of your content.
Seriously. How long have you been friends?
I absolutely love the analysis here, on top of the fact that you sound like Joel Haver giving a thesis presentation
The amount of useful information and comedic delivery in this video was astounding. Kudos to you sir
This is a great channel! They show the problems but offer viable solutions.
20:24 Hopefully what we have learned is that Oil Companies will refuse to use bailouts to stabilize the price of gas, so they should NOT get bailouts in the future. Perhaps more active use of the National Oil Reserve could help provide pressure to stabilize oil prices. It's at least one variable that isn't being used much.
Yes, that would be the right thing to do. But do you think the spoiled oil industry would take that without retribution? I imagine it would go something like failing to give a bailout causes the oil industry to withhold even more oil and gas production, and to prolong ramping up production after the crisis is over even more than they are now.
While you are right, I think it's clear at this point....we aren't good at learning stuff.
Plus they're already subsidized out the wazoo in the first place. I truly wonder how the mind of a conservative lawmaker works sometimes, to subsidize a private corporation, and then bail it out only to see all that money going to the CEOs and CFOs and COOs. How is that squared in their mind with "small government" for instance?
@@weatheranddarkness The conservative mindset is all about Corporate Welfare for the rich, and Rugged Individualism for the poor.
@@weatheranddarkness "small government" is just code for stop giving tax money to poor people
This is the best Reese's ad I've ever watched. I gotta drive to the store now.
This was a great summary view of a very complex situation. I would love to see similar videos on other issues we struggle to understand! Thank you in advance!!
One funny thing about blaming the president is that if he really had that power then congress would also have the authority to either revoke that power or take back control of it. Or if the president was controlling gas prices without congressional approval then the judiciary would be able to injunction the president to stop him. So if the president was really actively driving prices then it would only be with full approval of the entire federal government. Otherwise, why has no ever tried to stop the president when they've allegedly manipulated gas prices?
NY Times WASHINGTON - The Biden administration is canceling oil drilling lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet, triggering furious responses from Republicans, who are blaming President Biden’s energy policies for high gas prices.
Having a scapegoat is good for business
Democrats control all 3 branches of government, why would they overturn Biden?
The President is controlling the price by his policies even if he unable to understand it. Restricting the import of Russian oil is decreasing supply and increasing the price of both Oil and Gas.
@E.V. Hodge Yup!
Man, though you do videos for the American people about the american problems and I'm not from America, I do enjoy your videos so much! Your comedy is top level and your channel is definetely one of my favourites. Keep up the good work!
I feel like they’re the US equivalent of TheJuiceMedia
Where are you from? Just curious!
@@aronchai Czech Republic
You are very talented and this channel is literal gold in terms of UA-cam content. (Low bar, I know) But it’s awesome. I don’t know why all your videos don’t have a million plus views. Smh I’m on video number 6 and your topics are awesome! Granted I am a climate nerd but please, Keep it up! 💪🏽
Hey @Climate Town I hear a lot about how getting the lithium out of the ground to put in electric vehicles' batteries could be a major climate issue, with the energy required to do it, digging up forests/natural habitats etc. being really destructive. I would love to hear your take on this. Love your content.
You are correct. It is just that EV are significantly better for the environment than ICE by a long way. But they still have environmental problems. Personal transportation needs a complete rethink. But when your society and infrastructure is built around what is best for ICE that is quite a jump. The question is can humans make the essential changes in time. I am not convinced we can. The ant of change is fighting the elephant of status quo.
Everything, and I do mean everything leaves a biproduct that is more harmful than the raw resource left untouched. So if your so concerned about that you might want to rethink existing.
Watching the Ford battery plant take over the road/ ag fields I grew up on its pretty disheartening. That's not even the mining process just the manufacturing process. Now our county is being sued by solar companies wanting to put tax write offs for the company (which runs on our personal power grid) on prime farm land utlimately taking jobs away from our community.
@@garrett9176 Prime farm land gets built on every day. If it was up to me I would not let building take place on farm land as long as there was a brownfield site left. But profit is king in all things and houses are needed where they think the jobs are and farm land is cheapest to build on with or without tax advantages. When farm land is worth x and farm land with planning permission is worth 1000x the answer is clear.
The up front impact of batteries is certainly higher than that of a gas car, but the long term impact of burning gas over the life of the car outstrips the upfront impact by a considerable amount. Also, batteries are highly recyclable, so in theory the global demand should follow an S-curve in the long run, eventually slowing to a relative trickle with the majority of “new” batteries coming from recycling old ones.
I'm literally citing this video and a few of your other videos in my Master's course for economics to talk about oil and and its relationships to the market. Thank you for this incredibly informational video!
Big mistake. I'm beginning to understand why students fail so much in modern society. You do no fact checking and just believe a video.
Click bait. Who is to blame? Then blames us. Also blames the president. Gets political and talks about the war in Ukraine. So price hikes are political. Because American companies didn't want to make oil. But let Russia control the world's oil and out put. Political.
Electrification is a partial solution, the thing that's extra super duper fuel efficient is walking and cycling. It runs on the oil you shove into your face, which is surprisingly renewable.
Actually...
An average car in Australia emits about 180g/km of CO2.
A human effectively emits about 110g/km of CO2 if you calculate the food needed for the increased activity.
If you can carry the load you're moving, better. If you're unable to carry the load, using a car is more efficient than multiple people simply moving loads to help the 'driver' not drive.
If the load can't fit a car, it's more efficient to use a truck than multiple cars... walking won't save the world alone.
@@rustymozzy except for the fact that the person in the car also eats food, so there goes your comparison. What about the cost of the infrastructure that a car requires as well?
@@altriish6683 you're talking about transport. You're going to cover a lot more distance in the car in an hour. Your resting consumption rate actually makes the car more efficient again.
If you were to drive 10 times what you can carry, you then have time to do other things that are more productive... like planting a tree perhaps.
If you spend ten trips walking, you're wasting 100% of the energy on the return trips.
For clarity, the food consumed per km for the person is in ADDITION to the basic consumption.
Walk 100km a day and tell me your food consumption didn't go up compared to sitting in a car for 100km a day.
I am all for renewables, but get the impression that batteries would be a whole new problem if we went electric
I would totally recommend the book "The Tyranny of Oil" by Anotnia Juhasz. Written in 2008 but the information is still so relevant today in 2022 especially now that we are on the other side of the oil wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait). Real eye opening investigation that covers all of this content in depth.
Instant sub, my dude! Brilliant vid, pretty concise considering how much information you have clearly researched! I'm in Australia and we've been a one car family for over ten years, that one car has been an EV for the last 3 and a bit years, so diesel or unleaded petrol prices haven't really personally affected us in our day to day. It literally costs us $2 AUD to charge our 28kwh Hyundai Ioniq electric completely overnight on a super off-peak tariff giving us just over 200km of range.
Anyway the point was supposed to be "thanks for the excellent vid!"
This was a great explanation that really tied together the multiple reasons for high gas prices right now and also for how gas prices work in general. Also turns out to be a pretty good explainer of capitalism in general. I really don't understand how this channel doesn't have 1 million subscribers yet.
They’re well on their way to a million subs. This time last year I think they had 2k or something like that!
Because this channel is not aimed at or particularly catering to children
Your marxist taxes account for more in each gallon of gas than any evil "capitalism". Why do you children on the left have to resort to lying 24/7.
@@sonsauvage Wait, did you use "children" as a euphamism?
@@h8GW no I literally mean this channel doesn't pander specifically to teenagers and children so the despite the excellent content, growth will be comparatively slow
This is great, well done. Information AND entertainment, a true outlier on UA-cam these days
I can confirm as a car enthusiast, that I no longer do doughnuts around every empty gravel lot, and only do it occasionally now.
I stopped donuts when I got FWD. It don't do it.
LOVE your videos. We need to also drop this PLASTIC dependency. Plastic is a huge part of the CRUDE oil revenue too and I won't even get into how they are destroying the planet.
He's got a video on that
try living with out Plastic. almost all homes built in the last 40 years have Plastic pipes Plastic drains. So Quit Crying
@@dknowles60 plastic is very useful, doesn't mean we have to use it in the excess amounts that we are
@@ewe392 We're in an era in which folks have a hard time understanding moderation (not internet moderators, but balance). Glad to see someone else who understands that we don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater to make significant positive change.
@@ewe392 "Oh you don't like *problem*? What about *strawman*? I am very smart."
noooo, I was super excited to have something to watch while i eat and it's just the notification :(
I actually love that you say master recipient. Giving confidence back into our institutions which is so sorely lacking.
I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that this price hike is happening at the same time that used and new cars selling for inflated prices. A thrifty consumer sees the value in switching to a hybrid or electric, but knows the value of that car is going to drop thousands of dollars in the next few years. Oil companies and opec know the poor car market means demand for oil is even more inelastic than usual
It’s their last hoorah as experts call it, because in the future they won’t have this amount of leverage if more electric cars join the market, clean energy grows, and groups are fighting for new urbanism and public transportation (which many still use gas but overall is cheaper than owning a car).
Lack of refining is having record levels of influence on the price of gas. Refiners are making record profit margins with refineries permanently closed and no new refineries built in the US since 1976.
Kind of hard to blame enviro-wackos for bad government policy of the evil Democrats trying to purposely weaken this once-great country. Surely evil Democrats have the much greater blame?
We have much bigger population than in the 1970s. How is it that we do not increase refining capacity? That is criminally insane.
almost like dependency upon oil is bad...
@@Dudeman9339 It's what moves everything around.
@@Dudeman9339
I believe that free-energy technology already exists. But the evil deep state is suppressing the technology for very nefarious and evil reasons, lust for control over everybody, and most people are too dull-minded to explore possibilities. Well until something is done, we need a lot of oil. And today the liars villianize oil, what is next? Sky-high electricity prices? No ability to recharge your Tesla EV, well if you are rich enough to afford such high-tech toys?
Almost like dependency upon food is bad?
Why invest billions when the Biden admin has made it clear they intend to put the oil industry out of business, we were making it work but they have totally screwed up everything including a shortage of baby food absolute economic illiterates.
Your videos are always the best💯 I do receive a notification each time you post a new video.. We'll have regrets for things we did not participate in...Investment should always be on any creative man's heart for success in life.
Agree with you digital currencies that were once viewed as mysterious by many in the past went sky high making millions of dollars for a lot of people including I. It'll definitely do that soon
I wanted to invest more in crypto, but the fluctuations in crypto value discouraged me into dumping.
@@betheluktu7647 Crypto trading is the best investment anyone could get into. As it could make you rich in a blink of an eye, trading with an expert is the only key to successful trading
I have heard a lot about investments with Mr Arjun B Jagat and how good is he, please how safe are the profits?
@@Richardson238 he's good and guaranteed, with his strategy you get to see crypto trade from a different angle.. Trading with him is all about winning and he's a certified broker with both ASIC and FINRA
I’m not nearly as educated as this channel, but I do believe if someone, anyone, wants to be part of the solution and not part of the problem, just reduce or stop using petroleum products, as much as you possibly can. As a result, things will become less expensive, the climate problems will get an opportunity to improve, and your life will ho on without to much unhappiness.
I am so happy to live in a country where I can just ditch the car and go by bike and/or train instead. I gazed upon the big gas price sign as I passed it with my bike. 2.323$/liter. that's 10.2$/gallon here in south of Sweden. I hope that this will change people's perspective in the US. :) With that being said, I have found a new addiction to biking. I went 45km to visit my mom the other day. It took 1h 50min, meanwhile it would've taken ~50 minutes by car. But with all the exercise I got I could easily include that 1h gym pass (+ the "gym commute" of 30min) and the bike ended up being the faster alternative. :) the fuel cost was a bottle of tap water and a cookie. xD
For those who are curious, bike infrastructure really does matter. The bike path from the city center out on the countryside was dedicated bike roads that was completely separated from normal car traffic (this was 75% of the trip), and once I reached the REAL countryside it transitioned into country roads, with a total of one tractor passing me during the whole ride.
In order to make bikes and e-bikes an option instead of cars it is SO important to have safe, fast and pleasant bike infrastructure.
fun fact, you can make approx. 60 e-bikes for the same amount of material as one Tesla... just saying. :)
Hey, at near $5/gal I am considering an ebike. Problem is the lack of dedicated bike paths and aggressive drivers. It is too dangerous to ride a bike in many parts of the USA...
Agreed! A good bike infrastructure is substantial for bike commuting. I would probably go everywhere in my routine with good and safe lanes for bikes (specially e-bikes that are just amazing btw) 😁
thats expensive?i always thought petrol was around that price for ages at least in singapore.
its more expensive for americans cause they drive fords.....in europe they drive the mini cooper or citroen ami or the pueoget 208. and carry the mini purse.
@@francescoorlandi512 I hope people will speak up about this. I mean, a dedicated bicycle tarmack road lasts several decades (the one I ride to my dad is over 30 years old and still in great condition). It doesn't break apart the same way car roads does (since 1+ ton vehicles don't hammer it constantly with pressure) . It's also a very cheap and effective solution to reduce traffic congestion. For every person biking there is seriously one less car on the roads. And with fewer people in cars the city gets less maintenance work/expansion on expensive car infrastructure (big wide roads that break apart, excessively huge parking lots that don't offer the city anything in return except a 10x increase in maintenance cost)
With bike infrastructure there will also naturally be an increase in small local shops and trade. (job opportunities, tax revenue for the city etc)
there is only positives to be had with bike infrastructure. I would go full force gather people and demand this from the mayor/city. People can make a change. Demand it, perhaps even design and present a solution for it.
It's a great freedom to just take your bike and go. Feeling safe on the roads with no added costs.
@@jont2576 In Sweden SUVs are really popular 😅 But yeah at least there's a mix of vehicles. I had a Toyota Yaris myself. I sold it though and is now car free.
My life has honestly gotten much better since I got rid of the car. For me it was inconvenient/expensive to park in the city. I always worried about getting a ticket (due to street cleaning etc), that someone would break in, or components would break etc. It also drastically increased my overall expenses, meanwhile the reason of having a car was more defined by the ideals of society rather than actual practical use.
Fantastic video. Like always, it's just companies maximizing profits and blaming anybody but themselves to avoid bad PR and to damage political enemies.
Yup. Just another day living that American Dream I guess!
I've never understood how Americans complain so much about their low gas prices and don't riot about the insanely expensive rents (in places like NYC).
- Gas price in Finland: 10.1 dollars/gallon, my rent: 700 $/month for a nice 2-person apartment. A month's rent gets me 74 gallons of gas
- Gas price in NYC: 5.2 dollars/gallon, average rent: $3260$/month. A month's rent gets 696 gallons of gas
If New York City had the same gas/rent ratio as Finland, gas would cost 48 dollars/gallon.
Edit: Meant to say New York city, not NY
I think that's because most Americans don't live in rented apartments. North Americans rely so much on cars because almost everyone live in massive suburbs full of single-family homes and nothing else (other than parking lots and highways, and if you're lucky there might be a small park...)
I've never thought of this, but damn that actually pisses me off 😂 I thought rents here seemed kinda bullshitty
@@PG-3462 there are a bit less than twice as many homeowners as renters in the US, just to add context to your point. But it's not like homeownership is cheap either, but the costs are more diffuse, rather than bundled in one convenient payment.
Finland is uniquely good at expanding their housing supply in a way we should learn from
New York City like most cities have their property values inflated beyond reason. Their local governments are bankrupt from mismanagement and have pushed property prices higher and higher to collect more taxes.
As a chemical engineer, I can tell you that the crude -> gas pipeline runs on old equipment and nightly prayers. Costs won't come down because no one wants to invest in an industry on the way out!
I grew up in an oil refinery town. My dad was a chemical engineer(plastics/rubber). When I told him the price of oil was ~(-40) a barrel he said "That's impossible!" .he thought I miread/misheard it.
It was an interesting conversation.
On a separate note, idk why any country allows their natural resources be processed by for profit companies. It belongs to the people that's why the companies need "permits". They need permission(from gov't); it should be resourced for the peoples benefit first and foremost.
It went to -$40 because financial speculators who have no intention of taking delivery of oil are allowed to buy and sell oil contracts. They couldn’t get anyone to buy the oil contract from them and therefore had to pay $40 for someone who could take delivery to take it off their hands. I don’t even know why they’re allowed to profit and manipulate the price of oil and gas. They’re a big reason oil and gas prices are so high right now.
Our oil is produced by for profit companies because the oil barons of old bought out the political establishment and because any talk of nationalisation is countered with shouts of "that's socialism/communism!"
@@Music-yt7xo Futures market has its uses manufacturers can buy materials at set prices in advance without being affected by huge price increases although they won't benefit from price crashes. Manufacturers of raw materials sell at a certain price protecting themselves from price crashes but won't benefit from price increases. It's to smooth out the rough edges of the market it certainly has a function.
@@Music-yt7xo Bullshit. If you buy an oil futures contract, you're simply guaranteeing the contract price of the oil, agreed upon by the buyer and seller to be fulfilled at a "future" date.
The buyer and seller of the oil sell the contract on the futures market as a hedge against market fluctuations. The price is set by the contract and doesn't change when the commodity actually changes hands at the agreed upon date. The price of the futures contract changes based on what's going on with the price of oil, not the other way around.
Derivatives, such as futures contracts, are just insurance policies.
@@DonRon3 I have no problem with companies who need to actually buy those products but it’s the pure financial players trading it like a casino who have no intention to take delivery. It’s why oil went -$40 a barrel because it was too crowded with financial players and they couldn’t offload their contracts to those who needed to take actual delivery of the product.
That opening animation was awesome. Glad your channel is taking off!
3:20 No, the lack of taxes is NOT why our roads and bridges are falling apart. Fraud, waste and abuse is where 90% of our taxes are going.
It begs the question... how much fraud and corruption can one country sustain before it collapses from the inefficiencies of a corrupt political / business system of over spending by paying for things that don't exist. The MIC / DOD is full of examples where we get taken for a ride... and add to that the money printing that fuels inflation... its really a way for the Feds to in part "counterfeit" our currency by creating fiat like they have since 1971. Add to that the trillions that can't be accounted for at the DOD. September 10th 2001 Rumsfield ( Secretary of Defense ) announces 2.3 trillion cannot be accounted for as in "Where did it Go?" which later turned into 8 or 9 trillion of unaccounted for expenditures.
It’s also worth noting that our infrastructure isn’t falling apart in the places where it is economically viable to maintain the infrastructure.
This is objectively untrue. It has been proven in study after study that current tax tates cannot support american infrastructure. This is a fact. You can argue about it, just know that you'll be intentionally spreading misinformation.
Great video! Fun and educational as always! Thanks for stopping and mentioning my belived Ukraine 💙💛