As Americans suffer at the pump, energy industry basks in luxury.
As Americans suffer at the pump, energy industry basks in luxury.
Soaring oil and gas prices may be a fiscal drag for much of the nation, but in Houston, they are feeling an economic surge. “Few places have flourished like Houston, home to hundreds of oil exploration, engineering and oil service firms, including such giants as Baker Hughes and Halliburton.” The Chicago Tribune reports:
Here in Houston, Maserati sales are up 86 percent so far this year, according to the TexAuto Facts Report.
Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent are expanding their luxury stores at the Galleria shopping mall. New construction permits in the city have jumped by almost 30 percent. The region added more than 100,000 jobs last year. And the mayor just proposed a dream budget for next year featuring more cops and lower property taxes.
“We know that everybody is talking about a recession in the U.S., but we’re not experiencing that here,” said Tracye McDaniel, executive vice president of the Greater Houston Partnership, a business development group. “We exist in this bubble, if you will.”
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“We exist in this bubble, if you will.”
Enjoy it while you can, Tracye. Your bubble will be the next one to burst.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:12 amIsn’t that special!
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:18 amPoor Houston; has always wanted to be the Texas answer to Los Angeles. Now they can really feel good about themselves.
Way to go Houston, you have done it. Doesn’t that make you feel good?
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:22 amHouston: The new Dubai right here in our own little country. How nice.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 amI have yet to hear Republican leaders criticise oil companies and their oil barons for the huge oil profits they made; for not having an dequate oil refineries; for manipulating price of oil in Wall Street.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 amRepublicans seem all have one theme lately they use and that is ‘Offshore oil drilling’, and Democrats to blame, although oil companies have over 68 million acres leased for oil drilling not yet used, besides many states controlled by Republicans like Florida and Texas did not offer more leases.
It is apparent that the issue of ‘Offshore Oil Drilling’ is now used to deflect criticism against Bush administration and Republicans by people who are angry for paying the current price of heating fuel and gasoline at the pump stations.
Gosh, if I can’t be rich, I’m glad it’s them. I’ll make sure I vote Republican again, so they can get their tax cut. It makes me feel good to watch shows about their lifestyles, on my teevee with the “borrowed” cable.
/snark
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:40 amlol
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:41 amHere in Houston, Maserati sales are up 86 percent so far this year
- - Oh, Houstonians are rich but dumb.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:42 amNot that long ago I wrote a comment in the Houston Chronicle — my hometown paper — that what is happening in the energy industry may be good for a slice of the Houston economy, but that it was very bad for the nation as a whole — including about 80% of the people who live in Houston. I also noted that people might want to remember Houston circa 1985 when a bursting bubble put the town on the ropes.
The keepers of the Great Conservative Cultural Revolution shouted me down and called for my deportation.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:43 amWe don’t exist in your bubble, Houston.
Oh, & thanks for giving us ‘Bubble Boy’, the boy King.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:43 amHouston, we have a problem. As the saying goes, if the body dies, the head will follow.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:45 amThe other thing is, there is a recession here. The reasons it is somewhat less severe than in other parts of the country has nothing to do with the oil business, and somewhat more to do with the fact that real estate never had quite the bubble here it did anywhere else. Relying on a quote from a member of the Greater Houston Partnership — a collection of local uber-rich — is like asking any Bushco talking head about his plans for the economy. The gap between rich and poor grows bigger everywhere in the country, so I imagine that luxury retailers are expanding in many areas. In fact, that is often a sign of economic distress.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:48 amBe patient guys..McCain has all the energy answers you been asking about…
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:50 amComing in November…he will arrive to Washington D.C. on oil tanker…
The WaPo article says All of the activity is leading to strong retail sales, increasing tax revenue and an uptick in housing prices.
This is almost certainly not the case, certainly it is only true for home prices in a small geographic area in the center of the city.
But then, consider the source.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:51 amLOL, they will certainly need that money when them Maseratis spend all their time in the shop.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:51 amHere in Houston, Maserati sales are up 86 percent so far this year, according to the TexAuto Facts Report.
Good ol’ Houstonites (?) - obviously making that sacrifice the Boy King George asked of them and our nation during these perilous times of war and terror.
Lawdy….how can they continue to survive and contribute to the “war” cause like this?
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:51 amDisgusting. Nothing wrong with making a profit, but to openly admit happiness at profiteering from the war and resulting energy crisis is the height of treasonous behavior.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:52 amEnjoyu your F’ing exotic cars, and be sure to eat those fancy foods with lots of fat so YOU DROP DEAD!
Heres a guy with a 2005 Maserati with ONLY 19,000 miles
1. 6,500 mile service (oil change, lube job, general service items, including material and labor) $ 745.00
2. 12,500 mile service (lube, oil and filter change, general service items, plus CHANGE OF CLUTCH, CHANGE ALL TIRES) $ 9,800
3. 18000 mile service (first “big” service, changing all fluids, filters, …) $ 2,700
What a junker.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 amanother reason to hate texas.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:59 amBuy a Maserati and you’ll be buying a clutch every 20k miles
But hey, you’ll look cool stranded on the side of the road. Its apparently worth it! Heh.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:00 amanother reason to hate texas. -=livid lib=-
Easy thar podnah. =)
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:02 amrogerse Says:
So there are winners, and losers…thats what happens in the game of shrinking supply and rising demand.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
Nothing like a troll to downplay America’s economic troubles — LIVE! from Mom’s Basement.
There are Americans and then there are neocons.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:03 amrogerse Says: So there are winners, and losers…thats what happens in the game of shrinking supply and rising demand.
It’s why Capitalismis going to be replaced by Socialism - in your life time.
It’s not a good system to take from the working class to give to the greedy. And it won’t last, so enjoy it while you can keep wishing you were a part of it…
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 amMaybe the rich are doing ok in Houston, the poor and middle class are suffering.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 amMore fast ridin’ cars, that’s what we need. It’s not already tough enough to develop each year’s editions of “States with Most Dangerous Highways” and “Least Environmentally Sensitive States.”
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 amin houston, the following obtains:
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 am“if ya gotta ask, ya can’t afford it.”
No worries. Rich-n-dumb will come handy when Houston-area businesses start hiring Georgie in 2009 to single-handily run them into the ground.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:10 amAnd remember this bit of Wisdom:
You can always tell a Texan ….. But ya can’t tell them much.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 amTracy5 Says:
Too funny! Socialism then communism. State run economies don’t work and have proven themselves not to. They are unsustainable.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:13 am
_______
You’re right, which is why nobody but you and your fellow conservatrolls are advocating communism. Socialism is NOT communism. It’s not a slippery slope to communism. An economy that takes care of its workers and ensures the safety of its consumers is NOT the same as a state-run, planned economy.
And just FYI - economies with a widening gap between rich and poor, in which government policy openly favored the rich, are also quite unsustainable. Take a look at most major revolutions in history.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:27 amWelcome to Texas, America’s perineum!
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:29 amState run economies don’t work and have proven themselves not to. They are unsustainable.
Neither does corporate welfare, and you can see the effects on a daily basis, not read about it in a text.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 amI’d love to see us at least move a little more towards socialism, somewhat like Canada’s mixed economy. It doesn’t have to be either this or that (right-wingers seem to have a difficult time dealing with shades of grey don’t they?), it can be a combination of capitalism and socialism. Hopefully, the best aspects of both.
Health care, for example, should be run by the government. Maybe not the current government however…
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:38 ammary Says:
Health care, for example, should be run by the government. Maybe not the current government however…
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:38 am
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:41 am__________
Texas: The Little Head Knows Best.
(Sorry, Wayne)
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:41 amAlthough, to be fair, Houston also took in hundreds, if not thousands of NO residents after Katrina - but the rapaciousnes of some Texans (and some Houstonians, like Kenny Boy) is the stuff of illegend.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 amIf socialism leads to communism, then shouldn’t all of Europe and Canada be a communist state by now??? So if Obama really is a “marxist” and a “radical” like many misinformed Republican voters think, then what does that make the leaders of Canada and France…????????????
You see…Republicans don’t see.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 amAnd what will Houston do when there’s no more oil?
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:20 pm“the mayor just proposed a dream budget for next year ”
Because it would be silly to squander this new found fortune by saving it for after the inevitable bursting of the bubble.
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:54 pmENRONed again: this time by oil futures contracts speculators who are unnecessarily and very profitably driving up the price of crude oil and hence retail gasoline prices.
We’re being ENRONed again. Curious as to why you are suddenly paying over four dollars a gallon for gasoline? No, it’s not due to “supply-and-demand,” no, it’s not due to “OPEC,” nor is it due to “peak oil.” It’s due to totally unregulated electronic oil futures trading in world markets. Check out the very lucid article that explains the unseen financial machinations in oil futures markets written by F. W. Engdahl on May 2, 2008, entitled, “Perhaps 60% of Today’s Oil Price is Pure Speculation.” It may be viewed at http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/2008/0502.html.
In a nutshell, he suggests that the Bush Administration dropped the ball in January 2006, when they allowed totally unregulated electronic trading of oil futures contracts in New York. Previously these electronic trades had been made at the London Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures Market. With that decision by the Bush Administration, all of the world’s oil prices were then opened to upward pressure from speculative futures contracts. In essence, oil futures contracts made by speculators, banks, hedge funds and pension funds all competed with real demand on the spot markets and had the effect of driving up both wholesale oil prices and retail gasoline prices. Speculators have made billions of dollars on their trading of oil futures contracts. All of their profits come right out of our pockets.
Even with a stable oil supply, there is a slow worldwide increase in demand for oil, which creates a long-term upward pressure on oil prices. However, with the relentless saber-rattling and war-mongering by Bush and Cheney in the last several years, and the more recent war talks by McCain and the Israelis, the oil futures markets are rife with speculation and paranoia. This war talk keeps ratcheting up the prices on the oil futures contracts and hence the wholesale spot market prices. It is an endless spiral of greed and paranoia.
As long as there is no tough and effective oversight of the electronic oil futures markets by the Bush Administration, the oil prices will climb endlessly. These oil prices will be quickly followed by hikes in the retail gasoline prices at the pump. The 60% speculation share of the $4.25/gallon gasoline price, is about $2.55/gallon, which is what we consumers are paying to these oil speculators as a “service fee.” Not a bad “fee,” since the speculators produce no usable goods or services…Just a few large greedy oil futures traders helping themselves to your gas money.
Without this added-on oil futures “service fee,” you would be paying about $1.75/gallon for gasoline. Write, call or smoke-signal your Representatives and Senators today and suggest that they read the June 2006 report by The U. S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations entitled, “The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices.” Then demand that they investigate and then force the Bush Administration to firmly regulate the computerized oil futures contracts trading in New York, London and Dubai.
These unregulated electronic oil futures trading markets should be completely shut down immediately. They serve no social purpose, they only enable corporate greed. These same greedy corporate speculators are probably also responsible for the rapid rise in the prices of basic food commodities, such as wheat, rice and corn. No one who is not prepared to accept physical delivery of one thousand barrels of oil on their front doorstop should be allowed to participate in the oil futures markets. Same goes for wheat futures, rice futures and corn futures.
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:03 pmI understand Obama’s need for campaign money (especially early on) and the connection to his support for ethanol with those in the farm lobby. I’m not faulting him for it. It’s politics. I’m only suggesting that supporting ethanol is the wrong direction for our future energy policy.
Ethanol is not a very efficient energy source. And it diverts the corn resource away from food production to energy. Taking the corn away as a food resource, will (has) led to the inflation of food prices at least as detrimental as high energy prices.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25324195
I think the comprehensive focus should be on other alternatives (nuclear, wind, solar, hydro, etc), significant conservation and responsible mining of domestic coal and oil.
I suggest that ethanol doesn’t make sense (except to the farm lobby) because it provides little energy efficiency, while it creates a huge opportunity cost in food supply.
Ethanol is a bipartisan misstep that should be scraped; the sooner the better.
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:16 pmLast night, I saw a sign outside a Union 76 station, pleading with drivers to support their “neighborhood station.”
It was directly above the pricing sign, which was posted at over $5.00/gallon.
They deserve to go out of business.
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:30 pmIm945. I don’t think the station will remain in business long if their strategy is to beg. But, I don’t believe it’s an attempt to gouge consumers.
http://www.nytimes.com/ 2008/ 06/ 13/ business/ 13exxon.html
The station may go out of business, but it will be due to market forces and not the station owners greed.
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:52 pmHouston oil companies subsidize the terror behind the dictator of Equatorial Guinea because of his love for the oil companies. Two or three times a week Houston Express flies into “Bush” International on a direct flight from Malabo by way of Luanda which is used expressly by oil company personnel and government officials. Each time a group of “dignitaries’ arrives in Houson they are met by a large security detail. I just love how we continue to support dictators for oil.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:53 pmTracy5 Says:
#33
“Neither does corporate welfare, and you can see the effects on a daily basis, not read about it in a text.”
Absolutely! I have NEVER been in favor of corporate welfare.
At least you’re fair about it Tracy…I give you credit for that…
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:16 pmI live in Houston and I have to admit it’s a pretty good situation right now. Gas is a bit lower than the rest of the country, the housing market is still in the positive, infrastructure is good, and salaries are good. But, it’s going to collapse much like it did 20 years ago.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:11 pmSo, you reich-wingers are resorting to making up fictional characters now?
Ok.
As Americans suffer at the pump, herr dubyah and dead-eye Dick bask in luxury. There, fixed it for you.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:14 pmI understand Obama’s need for campaign money (especially early on) and the connection to his support for ethanol with those in the farm lobby. I’m not faulting him for it. It’s politics. I’m only suggesting that supporting ethanol is the wrong direction for our future energy policy.
Another day, another fruitless attempt at credibility restoration. Your side had years to solve the problem, and you were nowhere in sight (at least on this website). Now that you’re about to lose complete control of the government, you slink in with you phony concerns. No one really cares what a discredited fool thinks.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:29 pmTennesseepolicy.org despite nonpartisan claims seems pretty much just another group which wants to whine about taxes. Their about page is sort of amusing though…
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:07 pmyou’re obsession with my credibility only makes it seem that you’re threatened by what I have to say.
Try taking a shot at the message. Maybe it will enhance your own credibility.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:09 pmHow much is enough? These gluttons have forgotten that when they choke and kill off the middle class the feeling is akin to peeing in your pants - warm for a while but not so pleasant after a while.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:44 pmNo I am not overpaid. I just don’t mind paying taxes to support the common good. I found the half assed attempt to disguise a clear bias in a cloak of nonbias amusing. I also thought the use of the word “expert” humorous
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:08 pm“expert empirical data”
Sure government wastes money on stupid shit like unneeded wars and declaring them “freedom fries” and such but social, educational, cultural, and environmental programs which assist my fellow citizens are hardly wasteful. So which things do you think your government has no business providing and is wasting money on?
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:20 pmI believe I asked you to articulate those government expenditures you believe are wasteful. This just looks like a list of shit some other whiny ass cheap pricks wish to rail against Funny thing is I am guessing you are one of those “greatest nation in the history of humanity types. I find that weird dichotomy really interesting in a schizophrenic sort of way. If your government sucks so bad why not go find a better nation, right?
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:00 pmSurprise, surprise! The Bushes have given us the Savings and Loan debacle, the Energy trading debacle (Enron and California blackouts), the Iraqi War debacle, the Housing debacle and now the Energy debacle. One debacle after another. Thanks a lot all you schmucks who keep on electing these kniving bastards.
June 24th, 2008 at 12:31 amI grew up in the Houston area. In fact, my dad worked as a business manager for the oil industry (the now extinct Tenneco), but we were just middle class. A comfortable middle class. Not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Of course, this is when the middle class was not an endangered species like it is today!
I’ve seen the wealthier sections of Houston, like River Oaks. Mass extravagance. Huge mansions. Lots of hand built, luxury cars. It’s just one of many wealthy neighborhoods in the greater Houston area. The polar opposite River Oaks is Houston’s Fifth Ward. The inbetween is the majority of Houston’s population: middle class, joe average, blue collar types.
Someone previously mentioned what would happen to Houston if the oil industry went kaput. During the early 1980’s, the oil industry took a major header, and there were lots of “for sale” signs in yards across the city. I can imagine today, if the same thing happened, it would be on a much larger scale.
However, after that incident during the 1980’s occurred, Houston (to its credit) diversified it’s industries to computers, medicine, technology, etc. They became a city of more than just oil. Despite this, oil is still king in Houston, and can still be its achilles heel.
June 24th, 2008 at 10:08 amTracy5:
June 24th, 2008 at 3:48 pmHave you considered the survivalist approach? You seem a little tense Try to be more postive. BTW: you seem to be confusing some things. I never claimed to run any company. I am a servant of the people