At 24 08 05, 04:27 PM, Daniel wrote: >>[A]nd all the socialists in the world be damned, > >Echoes of Pat Robertson!
I make a comment about the free market in oil in spite of the socialists of the world, and you bring up certifiably-crazy Robertson. Is the best you can manage is argument by impugned (and false) association? If anyone bothered with the loony-toon web site about life without oil, here are a couple of antidotes: "Are We Out of Gas?" http://www.techcentralstation.com/052704F.html "Energetic Ignorance" http://www.techcentralstation.com/042005B.html Now, as a suggestion to list members: there is little doubt that worldwide demand for oil will continue to increase, and some of us believe that technology and human innovation will address that demand. However, that means that companies will be pouring billions of dollars into finding and extracting more oil. (BTW, it is the human innovation part that the doom-and-gloomers always forget about.) If you agree with the increased demand and exploration/extraction, you should put some of your savings into stocks of companies that will benefit. I personally bought a bunch of stock of oil exploration companies when I saw this coming a couple of years ago. Oil extraction companies, as well as numerous types of supporting companies, are good bets too. The cool part is that, because of my investments in these companies, the more that people like uber-pessimist Daniel is right, the more money I make! In the last year alone, my oil stocks have appreciated by many times the amount I spend on gasoline in a year. You can open up a brokerage account with just a couple of thousand dollars -- it is worth consideration. Now, I also have zero doubt that the USA is metricating. What stocks can I buy to personally benefit from this (beyond the benefit of living in a metric country)? Sadly, I haven't figured that out. Metrication is happening over a period of years, so there is not much disruption in the market, and disruption is where forward-thinkers can really do well. Now, if by some magic the Federal Government were to mandate metrication across the entire economy in a short period of time, I am sure there would be some excellent opportunities. Its not going to happen, but I'm always on the lookout for how to benefit from companies that forward-thinking with respect to metrication. Jim Elwell Jim Elwell, CAMS Electrical Engineer Industrial manufacturing manager Salt Lake City, Utah, USA www.qsicorp.com
