Comments on: Is Valero Being A Bad Player Or Misunderstood?

By: noman

noman — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:39:20 +0000

norman, do you drive an electric car? Use public transportation? If not, why; your precious ‘alternatives’ are already here.

So are flying cars.

The problem is production cost, R&D, and product maturity. Government has a role in clearing the path and setting the table for the free market to develop alternatives. Things like CAFE standards, subsidized battery development, fleet purchases, or even hydrogen R&D.

The free marketeers screwed up alternative energy. Reagan ripped the solar panels off the White House and repealed the 55 mph speed limit, then his Republican successors felt they had to go send our troops to die for oil.

The Big Three squandered all their SUV profits and now is begging for taxpayer cash to retool for electric.

By: Rick

Rick — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:09:00 +0000

“(Actually I am OK with high gas prices… they only hasten development of alternatives. )”

norman, do you drive an electric car? Use public transportation? If not, why; your precious ‘alternatives’ are already here.

By: david anderson

david anderson — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:51:02 +0000

“and we’ll leave any inferrence to this being more insightful than my other posts to another day.”

Don’t be touchy, it is a compliment. I hadn’t seen any substantive posts from you for a week.

By: david anderson

david anderson — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:48:48 +0000

Yes, I happened to scan an article about its international operations south of the border a couple of months ago, I was confused. You are correct. Pity, I will have to save a good point for when it actually applies.

By: RSmitty

RSmitty — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:57:55 +0000

Are you, by chance, confusing Valero (USA) with Citgo (Venezuela)?

On the other note, the insightfulness really is kavips, I merely am trying to help generate an interest to his posted concern, a concern I share.

…and we’ll leave any inferrence to this being more insightful than my other posts to another day. I noticed all the chatter and subsequent posts it generated, an indication of insight.

By: david anderson

david anderson — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:12:52 +0000

Glad to see you back making insightful posts.

I guess this proves that Chavez is not the friend of the poor when he needs to make a buck. What makes him different from greedy Capitalists again? He has guns to back him up and he didn’t earn his share of the market–he stole it.

By: RSmitty

RSmitty — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:46:41 +0000

True that, too, which gets to the top point, it’s worth digging into even deeper.

By: noman

noman — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:24:34 +0000

… the point being, it may be cheaper to reduce emissions by shutting down for a while, than to actually invest in modifying the process to make it less polluting.

By: noman

noman — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:22:23 +0000

I wonder if instead of manipulating price, they are manipulating emissions? In other words, by shutting down completely, are they deliberately reducing their total emissions to a point that won’t generate a fine or a mandatory shutdown? I’m not sure over what period emissions are measured for regulatory purposes.

Of course, they may be manipulating price as well as emissions. Why get fined for polluting at $2/gallon now, when you can get fined for polluting at $4/gallon this summer?

By: RSmitty

RSmitty — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:06:41 +0000

Agreed, John, but as kavips points out, there is word floating around this allegedly is not a multi-month repair as they press released. Rather, it is allegedly a multi-hour process.

Yes, fix it, PLEASE fix it properly (I get to experience Valero’s by-product every so often as well), but if there is economic manipulation at play to the detriment of consumers, then there is a problem of a different sort, for sure.