Interesting prespective. This holds true for anyone who makes a living in the recreational marine and/or sportfishing industry.
October 28, 2012
I am writing to you today to ask your help in dealing with a massive problem that all of us who work for Viking, work for someone who depends on Viking to be part of your future success or anywhere else in the recreational marine industry.
Before I get to the above I want to pass on to you how well the sales and service teams from Viking Yachts and Viking Sport Cruisers responded to some serious challenges that Hurricane Sandy presented us with during the Fort Lauderdale Boat show that is now taking place. Due to the storm, Thursday and Friday were very difficult at the show however, when the weather cleared on Saturday after a lot of round the clock clean up we were ready to meet with our customers and we hope to have a successful show.
Now for the problem at hand, in 2010 I wrote to you to ask your help to replace certain people in the Congress to help stop the destructive agenda of the Obama administration. Thankfully, we were successful in sending new people like Jon Runyan in NJ and Allen West in Florida to look after the needs of the hard working members of our society. We now need to do the same in 2012; primarily we must stop the reelection of President Obama. If he is reelected our industry as we know it will not survive another four years.
While there are many reasons, I believe that Mr. Obama should leave office I would like to ask you to focus on just one. As you know, all of us at Viking were hurt badly by the run up in the price of fuel starting just after Obama came into office. The price for one gallon of diesel fuel has doubled from $2 to $4 under Mr. Obamas watch. Mr. Obama using the pretext of helping the environment has hampered the production of energy at every turn in the US. He has been and still is a supporter of cap and trade, which in straightforward terms is really tax and tax energy. Under his direct
Domestic oil production for Dec 2008: 158,429 barrels
July 2012: 194,290.
There’s been a pretty steady increase in domestic oil production over the last 4 years. Diesel fuel prices continue to increase due to demand and lack of refining capacity. There’s plenty you can blame on Obama, but the increase in diesel prices probably isn’t one of them.
The issue has been and will continue to be on the refining end. The US hasn’t built a new refinery in a long time. The exact number of years escapes me ( I think 2008). The issues have to do with the Enviro-Nazis. The regulation put in place by enviro groups have made it next to impossible for a new refinery to be built. All fueled by the tree-hugger crowd. Then you have obumma putting a guy like Stephen Chu in a position of Energy Secretary. And his thoughts on the matter are pretty well documented. http://news.yahoo.com/energy-secretary-chu-admits-administration-ok-high-gas-193900713.html
In 2007 there were 149 operating oil refineries, refining 17,443,492 barrels of oil per day. That number fluctuated throughout the obummer years. We gained a new refinery in 2008 and upped the refining of crude oil to 17,593,847 barrels per day. In 2012 we are now operating 144 oil refineries that refine 17,322,178 barrels per day. A net loss of 271,669 per day of refined oil from the the year this administration too office. One barrel of oil (42 US Gallons) produces about 15 gallons of gasoline. The translates to an overall loss of roughly 4,075,035 gallos of gasoline per day that is not produced.
Oil production has never been a problem. Anytime oil nears $100/barrel every company with a drilling rig is working as fast as they can drill holes. I have a friend that owns 27 drilling rigs and his company has every rig out working right now and a waiting list for jobs. Production and refining are NOT the same thing. Production is getting it out of the ground. That is only one step in the process.
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”
Ernest Hemingway
We export refined fuels so refinery capacity isn’t the issue. Fuel is a global commodity and the only thing the government has control over is the taxes on it.
Domestic oil production for Dec 2008: 158,429 barrels
July 2012: 194,290.
There’s been a pretty steady increase in domestic oil production over the last 4 years. Diesel fuel prices continue to increase due to demand and lack of refining capacity. There’s plenty you can blame on Obama, but the increase in diesel prices probably isn’t one of them.
quote:We export refined fuels so refinery capacity isn't the issue. Fuel is a global commodity and the only thing the government has control over is the taxes on it.
We gained a new refinery in 2008 and upped the refining of crude oil to 17,593,847 barrels per day. In 2012 we are now operating 144 oil refineries that refine 17,322,178 barrels per day. A net loss of 271,669 per day of refined oil from the the year this administration too office.
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Okay, let me see if I understand… The 1.5% drop in refined oil (271K/17M) yielded a 200% increase in fuel prices?
I think that the main problem is with American HOPE and CHANGE… Americans HOPE that if they buy that new SUV and stick their head under the covers that the gas prices will CHANGE back to $2 a gallon one day… I seriously don’t get that mentality. People want to live on John’s Island and work in Mt Pleasant and drive their SUV back and forth every day and ***** about how much their fuel bill is… Only in America… Other countries figured out a long time ago that you should live close to work and buy a smaller, more affordable car instead of looking to the government for help and demanding construction of more super highways… Instead, we want to extend I-526 so that we can lengthen our commute, burn more fuel, put more exhaust into the atmosphere, and send more money to the Middle East…
I’m honestly suprised that our fuel prices haven’t been higher sooner. We are the world’s largest consumer of fossil fuels… Something is going to have to give or we will all be installing masts on our center consoles… I hope that everyone buys smart cars before I have to go that route…
So the president controls fuel prices, huh? Maybe we should write in Bill Clinton on Tuesday, there was some awful cheap gasoline (70 cents/gallon)back in 1999.
I like it, even the color… I would ask you how many knots it does, but then I realized that it was a contender, so to be grammatically correct: “How many MPH at WOT?”
No, the President does not control oil prices directly. The policies of the Administration and the allowance of or negate of open drilling prectices will have an impact. Especially the drilling of oil and gas wells on federal lands. Want to see a good documentary on Bill “Slick Willie” Clinton, look up and watch a documentary called Quid Pro Coal. A printed version can be found here: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/lippo.htm
Pretty interesting stuff. That is one way a sitting President can control a market and pay back a favor.
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”
Ernest Hemingway
Nobody really gets it…the run up in the price of gas, gold, copper, pretty much every global commodity, is due to the global monetary bailout of overextended governments, over leveraged banks and ultra wealthy. The global “quantitive easing” is a stealth tax on those who are not overextended or over leveraged in the form of reducing the value of your money. If you look at the demand and supply numbers, there is little to justify much if any increase in pricing, the reality is our dollars just are not worth what they once were…and get used to it, because the effect of this easing will take off like a wild fire when it actually gets traction and will spread well beyond commodities. Nobody is noticing because our dollar is measured against other global currencies, who are also being debased…but it is happening big time.
But don’t worry Viking, the super wealthy are benefiting the most from this, so they will still buy your mega yachts and fill them up with $11 a gallon diesel cause they will be flush with lots of those extra dollars.
quote:I like it, even the color... I would ask you how many knots it does, but then I realized that it was a contender, so to be grammatically correct: "How many MPH at WOT?"
SkinneeJ how did you know all of us Contender owners run on MPH? Must be simple folk having a hard time getting out the truck (MPH), reading the Speed Signs (MPH) and listening the Weather - you guessed it in (MPH)!!
And Besides which sounds better: 53 Knots or 60.9 MPH??
Don’t be a Hater!! Your new boat awaits you and I’ll even help you with the conversion back to MPH at WOT - but we might need a new refinery to keep the gas affordable!!
Just curious - does Obama do any hunting or fishing?
quote:I like it, even the color... I would ask you how many knots it does, but then I realized that it was a contender, so to be grammatically correct: "How many MPH at WOT?"
SkinneeJ how did you know all of us Contender owners run on MPH? Must be simple folk having a hard time getting out the truck (MPH), reading the Speed Signs (MPH) and listening the Weather - you guessed it in (MPH)!!
And Besides which sounds better: 53 Knots or 60.9 MPH??
Don’t be a Hater!! Your new boat awaits you and I’ll even help you with the conversion back to MPH at WOT - but we might need a new refinery to keep the gas affordable!!
Just curious - does Obama do any hunting or fishing?
36 Contender Fisharound
Are We There Yet?
I just want to know if the first thing you do when you get your new contender is pull out the GPS manual and frantically search to find out how to put it in MPH mode... I just left mine as the default which is knots...
After that, we will all convert our ***** measurements into centimeters… The numbers sound pretty astronomical that way…
