In an incredible excursion into Orwellian Doublespeak Land, a talking head on CNBC this morning blamed high oil prices on a shortage of refining capacity, and then wondered why oil prices were so high if there was insufficient refining capacity.

The most recent US refinery utilization numbers show that we are about 4 to 9 percentage points below our usual utilization rate for early April.

IMO, refineries in importing countries are caught between a rising crude oil price--as importers bid for declining oil exports--and the volume of refined product that consumers can and will buy.

"
* Imagine rubbing #40 sandpaper on your skin. Now guess what happens to every pipe, vessel, pump and valve that handles the tar sand slurry. The company has two separate process trains working in parallel, switching from one to the other in order to constantly replace worn parts.

* The giant 400-ton trucks that carry the sands cost $6 million. Their 3.550 HP engines have to be replaced every two years, at $1+ million a pop. Tires cost $60.000 - each."

Suddendebt gets it:

http://suddendebt.blogspot.com/

Speaking of Orwellian speak, Kunstler has some in his clusterfuck nation today:..(more equal) ..

http://www.kunstler.com/

With a feeling for dramatics he applies George Orwell's Animal Farm as an analogy to our social structure in a post PO environment.

And finishes off by saying:"It's imperative that this country gets serious about restoring the passenger rail system. We can't not talk about it for another year"

Got that?