Grassley blames China for oil costs - Developing nations using more gas

[Debi]

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, says the real problem with fuel in the United States isn't that Americans are using more of it or the uncertainty in the market, but a growing demand for it in China and India.

"It's India and China deciding to give up bicycles and drive cars," Grassley said to a crowd of some 70 people gathered at a town meeting at the Washington County Courthouse.

The Iowa Republican was finishing his 25th annual tour of all of Iowa's 99 counties. He took questions from the audience and addressed topics from Social Security and health insurance to credit card debt and a bill to compensate Merchant Marines.

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[Nite Owl]

1. So we give them our

good paying jobs, they buy more which benefits the internationals and the US citizen gets screwed twice with job losses and higher fuel costs. Great deal for us!

[oneighty]

2. Like WOW man.

When did that dawn on him?

But of course during our collective learning curve the oil companies will extort a few extra pennies when ever the spirit moves them.

180

[acmejack]

6. And this guy's a Senator?

What a moran...

[oneighty]

7. Supply side

free marketeers are seeing the free market at work and really they do not like it.

If they believed in free markets we would be competing for oil in the world market, not stealing it (Or trying to).

180

[DamnYank]

3. Obviously other nations aren't supposed to

industrialize or modernize. Maybe if they didn't have to build so many factories to produce cheap goods for Sprawl-mart shoppers they would be content to stand barefoot in their rice paddies fertilized with human excrement. Not to mention that a particular nation with less than 4% of the world's population consumes 25% of its resources.

Let's blame everyone but ourselves.

[CottonBear]

4. It's OK for us to waste oil and gas but not OK for China or India? n/t

[pauldavid]

5. I hate to agree with an R

but his is right for the most part. Now, rather then drive the price up more by starting wars for oil in places like iran, or worse yet, getting into wars over the price of oil with china, lets get off of our dependency on fossil fuels NOW! Bet you wont see any R say that part. No, they would rather we go kill people in order to steal it form mid-easterners. =(

[cliss]

8. Chuck Grassley is right.

What right do other nations have, to think they can use U.S. oil? They have no right to it. We took it, fair and square.

Look, at this point we're trying to conserve. We represent about 3.8% of the world's population. We consume about 25% of the world's natural resources. What's a country to do?

We're trying to do our part. At least we're not ALL driving Hummers, for God's sake. We don't ALL have 100-foot RV's, like my brother. And look, we're getting hit by astronomical gas prices, too.

So back off.
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By the way, Sen. Grassley is wrong. The problem IS that the U.S. is using more of it. Our oil consumption is on an upward curve. We're guzzling about 20 million barrels per day right now (that's right: BARRELS, not GALLONS). Go jump off a cliff, Grassley.

[longship]

9. Spin, Spin, Spin, Spin, Spin.

What a bunch of rubbish.
Might as well say that it's Clinton's fault.

[IA_Seth]

10. So did he provide a solution for this issue?

Other than continuing to bomb countries back into the stone-age where they belong I mean? (note: this is sarcasm)

How about a bi-partisan effort by Congress (ah bi-partisan, remember those days?) to enact legislation that helps move us along our path to alternative energy, coupled with real diplomacy with nations like China and India...maybe even help show them the errors we made along the way.

Oil is just a symptom of an over-all larger disease of depletion of natural resources and our enviroment. We have to act now before we reach the breaking point. We can't continue to grow in population and at the same time exponentially use more resources and think they will hold up.

When will these fools get it?

[Debi]

11. Well, Seth, he supported Bush's energy bill.....n/t

[IA_Seth]

12. LOL, and that is one hell of a solution! n/t

[rurallib]

13. self delete

[Blue Gardener]

14. It's still a tremendous burden on many Iowans

They simply do not have the extra money to spend on gas. I wish there was an easy solution.