Obama vs. General Motors

[evmori]

Owned a Ford Explorer. Love it but it was in the shop a lot. Owned a couple Chrysler mini-vans. liked 'em but they were in the shop a lot. My son owned a GMC Jimmy. He loved it but it was in the shop a lot. I now own two Toyota's. Love 'em both and they are never in the shop. My son bought a Scion! He loves it & it is never in the shop! Think we will stick with Toyota!

 

Ya wanna bring gas prices down? Take NYMEX outta the mix & supply & demand will determine the price not speculators!

[JoeBob]

GernBlansten

 

You are correct in that no Chinese oil platforms are currently in place:

"Cheney's office said in a statement to The Associated Press that the vice president had erred. "It is our understanding that, although Cuba has leased out exploration blocks 60 miles off the coast of southern Florida, which is closer than American firms are allowed to operate in that area, no Chinese firm is drilling there," according to the statement. [Associated Press State and Local Wire, 6/13/08]"

http://dccc.org/blog/archives/house_republicans_false_claim_about_chinese_oil_drilling_off_cuba_called_ur/

 

However the idea is certainly NOT 'fantastically fictional:

"The Chinese have forged a deal with Cuban leader Fidel Castro to explore and tap into massive oil reserves almost within sight of Key West, Florida."

"There are new reports out circulating that Chinese firms are planning to slant drill off the Cuban coast near the Florida Straits, tapping into U.S. oil reserves that are estimated at 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels."

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/china_starts_oil_drilling.html

"The Chinese have already reopened an abandoned Russian oil refinery in Cuba."

 

It seems that some Chinese writing on Cuban oil platforms in the Florida Straits combined with a Chinese contract to renovate oil refineries and develope on-shore oil recources led many to assume that China was drilling off the Florida coast.

Googling "Chinese offshore oil drilling Cuba" yields 42,600 hits.

 

Ironically, the best discussion of both sides of the issue is in an Alaskan newspaper:

http://www.adn.com/oil/story/434045.html

 

Glen, your implication that I was out of touch with reality caused me to research this topic way more than I normally would have. What did I learn? I was a little out of touch with reality... But I have yet to reach science fiction levels of fantasy. Being a goal oriented person, I'll work on it!

 

:^)

JoeBob

[packsaddle]

JoeBob, I appreciate the fact that you did that digging and then shared what you found. I'd like to sweeten the subject a bit. If you look closely at many of the little countries, including the little Caribbean Island countries, you'll find that aside from tourism, they don't have many economic resources and are continually searching for ways to fund healthcare and other improvements for the lives of their people. One thing I've noticed is that for some of those countries, one of their biggest resources is their vote in the UN. For that reason, if you keep your eyes open as you travel around, you'll see a variety of evidence of one large project funded by the USA, another funded by the old Soviet Union, and today you can find both old and new projects funded by China and Venezuela. Castro (for whatever reason) really blew it when he made his bed with the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, the Cuban people have paid that price. But this kind of commerce is really interesting and it often involves both energy and economic, as well as political entanglements.

 

As far as the characterization by your source, that off-shore oil near Florida is 'massive', I'd advise care. It's probably massive compared to the oil produced in my back yard but if it was really that big, c'mon, we'd protect it with all the force that we've used to protect the oil in the middle east.

Until it's produced it's speculative. Remember that the ANWR oil has been touted as our way to achieve energy independence even though it really represents less than a year of our total usage. Sometimes claims are justified and sometimes they're just hype.