Fuel Prices and Government

[.45acp]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/...ate/index.html

In my opinion this is a lark.
$100.00 rebates might buy people a tank or two of gas, maybe 3 or 4 tanks with a really fuel efficient car.

What is needed is a comprehensive and realistic energy policy.

Politicians

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Team American]

Yep, simple math:

The same oil supplies and production facilities as always + a jillion new users in China & India + political turmoil in the areas where oil is produced (Iran and Venezuela) = for American consumers.

I don't see the problem fixing itself for a long time

And, in spite of the song and dance that our politicians will be performing (there's an election coming up, you know....), they won't be able to do a darn thing about it, except to screw up the entire situation a wee bit worse than it already is

[Doc Holliday]

We need to go to alternative fuel sources so we can tell the middle east to go to @#$%.

Perhaps if they lose us as their #1 customer then maybe we can hurt their economies for a change. Perhaps some of the more civilized nations of the world will follow suit.

Don't ask me how we are going to do this.......it would be great to see though.

[.45acp]

We need to go to alternative fuel sources so we can tell the middle east to go to @#$%.

Perhaps if they lose us as their #1 customer then maybe we can hurt their economies for a change. Perhaps some of the more civilized nations of the world will follow suit.

Don't ask me how we are going to do this.......it would be great to see though.

Doc
I'll agree on alternative energy sources and as far as oil producing nations go, we do have clout, maybe it's time for OFEC, Organization of Food Exporting Countries. We can eat our food and they can eat their oil, see who gives in first.
$200.00 for a barrell of oil- NO PROBLEMO- $20,000 for a loaf of bread.

Alternative energy sources and fair trade prices are a nice start but we need interim options now, cheaper gas prices (sans tax) if you drive a fuel efficient vehicle, real tax breaks for efficient vehicles, open our own resources up despite the tree huggers, that is not to say rape and plunder but explore and drill our resources in a responsible manner.

And let's not forget it's not all foreigners, we also need to deal with the greed and corruption of our own big oil companies and their record profits and our politicians who by the way have expense accounts and tax write offs to cover their expenses.

All of this would require a grass roots movement to take form and substance but to coin a term used in this forum, there are too many sheeple who would not participate.

Thank GOD we had a different kind of people around a little over 225 years ago.
We need to regain that spirit.

[David III]

Wow. I might get $100 of my own money back after just doing my taxes and seeing that my wife and I paid thousands and thousands....
I sure wish a lot of people would regain that 225 year old spirit.

[Doc Holliday]

Thank GOD we had a different kind of people around a little over 225 years ago.
We need to regain that spirit.

I'd like to think that we on this board are throwbacks to that kind of spirit!

All and all my above solution is just wishful thinking. Cooprate greed is a big part of the problem I do agree.......but that is capitalism for you! Grassroots movements have begun. Some people have already talked about boycotting the big stations like Shell, Exxon, etc. I received a chain email that was on this topic. I will try to dig up it up if I didn't delete it and post on this thread. May not be a solution but it is a thought.

I do like your viewpoint on using food as a weapon. Oil isn't very tasty!

[Doc Holliday]

Here is the chain email that I received a few days ago:

GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola
executive It came from one of his engineer
buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's worth your consideration.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to
hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and
it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take
some intelligent, united action.

Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This
makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign
that was going around last April or May!
The oil companies just laughed at that because they
knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by
refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience
to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever
thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can
really work. Please read on and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at
about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently
$2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the
oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us
to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at
$1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to
teach them that BUYERS control the market place..not
sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each
day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we
are going to see the price of gas come down is if we
hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their
gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.
How?

Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas.

But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if
we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea: For the rest of this year,
DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now
are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be
inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other
companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to
reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really
simple to do! Now, don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and
I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to over 30 people. If
each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those
300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)...and so on, by the
time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached
over THREE MILLION consumers.

If those three million get excited and pass this
on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!
If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION
PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10
people. That's all! (If you don't understand how we can reach 300
million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... Well, let's
face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am, so trust me on this
one.) :-)

How long would all that take? If each of us
sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all
300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8
days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did
you! Acting together we can make a difference.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this
message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER
THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY
WORK.

O.K., don't flame me for the chain email and don't refer me to snopes.com .

[Miggy]

If you gonna hurt somebody, hurt an OPEC member. Boycott Citgo.

[Rock and Glock]

What is needed is a comprehensive and realistic energy policy.

Politicians

Gee! WDC still hasn't figured that out! The 70's Embargos, the 80's windfall profit tax, the domestic industry dies off in droves, no new nuclear facilities....the list goes on and on and on and on.....

What we need:

More energy efficiency

More alternative fuels:

• Nuclear
• Bio-energy
• Tar sands
• Coal seam methane
• Natural gas
• LNG facilities
• More coal usuage
• Solar
• More Oil&Gas exploration

More energy conservation

More politicians doing the right thing for national security rather than the politically expedient.......

[CopperKnight]

Wow. I might get $100 of my own money back after just doing my taxes and seeing that my wife and I paid thousands and thousands....
I sure wish a lot of people would regain that 225 year old spirit.

Exactly! Do the politicians think we don't know where "their" $100 they are going to "give" us comes from? Any fool that falls for this and thinks "hey, that's a good idea" deserves who they vote into office. This made me so when I read it...

And we all know they aren't going to cut their budget by the millions they would be "giving" away. They will have to raise taxes on something else, or do away with some other tax cut to fund it.

Damn, I'm mad! It's going to cost me more than $100 since I pay taxes. How many people who don't pay taxes are going to get $100? I hate being taken for a fool.

[.45acp]

If you gonna hurt somebody, hurt an OPEC member. Boycott Citgo.

Citgo is an OPEC member but not in the Mid East, it's run by Hugo Chavez and his Commie Government in Venizuela.

Imagine that, A commie interested in high prices and profit.

[dpesec]

Doc,
Good thoughts but there's a flaw. Where are those people who boycott Exxon going to get fuel. Simple someplace else. Well this will force a spot shortage of that brand, thus raising the price there. At this point, if you think of it, Exxon will sell them gas to make up for the shortage. Thus the only person hurt will be the Exxon mobil station employees.

A few ways to strike. Don't but the extras at the "stop and rob" stores at the stations. This is where the money is made. Also, move to other fuels such as: Bio-diesel.

[thatguy]

Hmm.... great (??) ppl must think alike and write alike.. I have gotten the same email twice, BUT mine came from a retired NASA engineer and a 'friend' of the poster who is very bright...

There was an article in the USA Today on Tue or wed of this week that had a chart.. During the 1970 when gas went from something like $0.70/gal to $1.00... and again in the '80's when it shot up again, if you adjusted those prices for inflation to 1995 dollars the '70 and '80 prices would be over $4.00 a gallon..

Brian

Here is the chain email that I received a few days ago:

GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work.....

[thatguy]

You are thinking the way I think.. Exxon/Mobil sell fuel to everyone, not just 'branded' Exxon stations.. By boycotting any 'major', you are really hurting the independent owner who is hoping to sell you that coffee, beer, softdrinks, and candy bars - the real area that he makes money..

IMHO - if the EPA was forced to come up with only one reformulated gasoline formula (required type of lower emissions gasoline required in major metro areas) we could lower prices from the increased cost of manufacturing and distribution... Here in VA, the Richmond metro area, Newport News/VA Beach, and NOVA have the same rfg formula... But in Chicago they had like a dozen different formulas.

thanks
Brian

Doc,
Good thoughts but there's a flaw. Where are those people who boycott Exxon going to get fuel. Simple someplace else. Well this will force a spot shortage of that brand, thus raising the price there. At this point, if you think of it, Exxon will sell them gas to make up for the shortage. Thus the only person hurt will be the Exxon mobil station employees.

A few ways to strike. Don't but the extras at the "stop and rob" stores at the stations. This is where the money is made. Also, move to other fuels such as: Bio-diesel.

[Doc Holliday]

Hmm.... great (??) ppl must think alike and write alike.. I have gotten the same email twice, BUT mine came from a retired NASA engineer and a 'friend' of the poster who is very bright...

There was an article in the USA Today on Tue or wed of this week that had a chart.. During the 1970 when gas went from something like $0.70/gal to $1.00... and again in the '80's when it shot up again, if you adjusted those prices for inflation to 1995 dollars the '70 and '80 prices would be over $4.00 a gallon..

Brian

Like I said, it is a chain email that could probably be debunked on snopes.com.

Hopefully it does get the sheeple to start thinking about things.

I saw an article yesterday that expressed concerns about the gas prices and the 39 million people who make $30,000 or less in this country. Did you know that these folks spend about 15% of their income on gas when it $3.00 a gallon.