Gas prices pissing you off???

CrBoy

HTrookie wrote:

CrBoy...please excuse my ignorance...what does CR stand for? Costa Rica? Croatia?

Costa Rica...

MacLeod

Dennis Gardner wrote:

Compared to Aquafina that each and every one of you have consumed at around $10-$11/gallon, gas is cheap.

That really does put it in perspective! I drink a ton of bottled water and never thought of it like that.

LiquidSound

Or how about Penta which is going for 35 bucks for 12 liters. Damn good water though.

Mjr7531

Yeah... but...
It doesn't really put things into perspective. We don't fill our cars with bottled water, nor do we drink enough bottle water to keep pace with how much gas we use, otherwise we'd be spending hundreds of dollars on bottled water every week.

Dennis Gardner

The perspective is that it is all about choices................

If you are choosing to "buy" something that is generally free in our country, you may consider whether you are justified in complaining about increases in commodities or even let those increases "piss you off". As a country, our history of providing our people with the cheapest energy in the world is unparalleled. Simply put, we are spoiled, in this area and take it for granted, as we do most of our other freedoms and securities. No rant here, just perspective thoughts.

I gotta go, fill my tank up, and do my job just like I do everyday, even though our country is at war, fighting to provide us with the things that we have come to expect like cheap fuel.........maybe I won't take it for granted, once the pricing comes back down a little.

Just my .02,

DG

brettw22

I get tired of the arguement that by me filling up my car I'm supporting terrorists. If you followed every penny down every supply chain of what you buy, every one of us is encouraging slave labor, illegal trade, smuggling, and any other world plight that is deemed unethical. Am I supporting terrorists by buying 15 gallons of gas per week? If so, so be it.....but how about my federal government taking my 50% tax that I just paid on that gas and do something with it instead trying to make me feel guilty for paying what I just paid at the pump, while much of that PPG went to our own gov't.

Don't guilt me into the terrorist arguement because it's the hotword to get people to react nowadays. Grow the eff up and develop something because it NEEDS to be developed, not because you want to guilt everyone in the world into thinking they're evildoers.

(I'm not saying that anti-terrorism actions aren't important......just don't use them to induce guilt)

amulford

I don't know if someone has posted this yet, but it's actually price gouging. The prices are being blamed in a large part on the Middle East. In reality, this country gets approximately 10% of it's imported crude from that area.

It's an excuse, but usable. The real blame is on the investment bankers and the oil companies. And the government adds it's own little take.

Get used to it...

MacLeod

I dont believe there is any real "blame" in the sense that some person or goup of people are trying to pull a fast one.

1- China is now the largest consumer of oil in the world and their increased demand on the market is driving prices up.

2- This country not building more refineries, nuclear plants and not drilling for more oil here also drives the prices up.

If it were price gouging I believe the prices would be higher. There is too much competition for there to be gouging. For that to work, there would have to be a super secret consipracy between the oil companies and I just dont see that happening. Gas stations sell their gas for about $.10 more a gallon then they pay for it. Plus, in this day of 24/7 news coverage by 2000 different cable networks, most of which are extremely liberal, if there were a big consipiracy between the oil companies they would be all over it like stink on ****!

amulford

No it's not a conspiracy. it's not a secret. It's in your face profiteering.

An increased demand would equate to an increased volume, which in turn should result in a lower price. OPEC influences that by limiting and/or reducing exports.

Investment bankers realize this and in turn drive up the market here in the States. When the futures are raised, their stock in the oil company rises, and so on and so on.

The oil companies then try and create the sense they have to raise the market of finished product because of the crude and they can't keep up with demand. They cite they haven't built any refineries. Why should they?

You are right in the fact we aren't building more power sources. You can thank the militant enviromentalist for that. This "not in my backyard" **** is beginning to bite us in the ****...

MacLeod

An increased demand would NORMALLY equate to increased volume/production but in this case it doesnt. It goes back to the whole "us not building refineries or nuclear plants or not drilling for new oil" theory. We're still running on the power production capabilities of 20-30 years ago which is bad cause the population and demand dont seem to be waiting for us.

If we were to start drilling in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of California and started building more refineries then the price would go down dramatically. Not right away of course but over the long term. Right now there is no quick fix......unless we nuked China!

markmarc

Macleod:
Prices will never go down below $2 a gallon, even if we drill and refine oil at the levels you propose. The simple reason is China. They are increasing their demand by 20% per year. The simple law of supply and demand economics tells us that things are only going to get worse.

There are things we can do, unfortunately, our new energy policy is is woefully weak on this issue.

Instead, the gov't should have a Manhatten project on energy independence. The key is farmers, believe it or not. The technology has already been developed and proven to run 100% bio-diesel vehicles. Instead of sending money to the middle east, we could be supporting farmers, placing money back into the US economy. All it would take is getting Detroit to build diesel cars and the Oil companies to construct bio-refining facilities. Gas stations can easily covert over. In ten years we could completely change the energy equation.

If we don't do something, we must be prepared to fight many energy wars.

MacLeod

You may be right about the price never going below $2 but we can certainly keep it from skyrocketing to $4 and 5!

You are also right that the technology is already available for alternative fuel sources but unfortunately its not practical yet. We could make a car that ran on water....it would cost a little over a million dollars.

Im a big believer in the free market and technology and the ingenuity of this country. Whoever comes out with a technology that is cheap, practical and affordable will be gazillionaires overnight so I believe that eventually there will be such a car available in the future. Already there are countless companies and people working on it worldwide and eventually it will happen. 15 years ago, electric/hybrid cars were dreams, now theyre mass produced and are as affordable as a regular car.

Instead of looking toward the future with dread and seeing hardship, mass suicide, hunger and depression, have faith in your fellow man, the free market and American spirit. We have improved the quality of life consistantly for over 100 years now and I just do not believe that something as trivial as rising gas prices will revert us back to worldwide starvation.

50 years from now we may not use oil for anything at all! Remember tin and how widely it was used 50 years ago? Can you name 2 things that we still use tin for now that aluminium has come along?

brettw22

Price gouging is what AZ went through a year and a half ago when the main pipeline from Tucson to Phoenix burst and gas was $4.50+ per gallon and many of the stations were closed because they were out and many others had lines that were 10-20 cars deep.

The only current gouging IMO is the taxes that make up well over 50% of the price of the gas that we get at the pump. It's our own gov't that taxes the **** out of this stuff........

Danny Tse

In reference to the news link at the top of this page, I was listening to the local San Francisco ABC-affiliated talk radio station a couple of nights ago in which a UC Berkeley professor was promoting the use of alternative sources of energy. According to the professor, one can now upgrade a hybrid so that it can get anywhere between 80 mpg to 250 mpg. The cost is anywhere between $3,000 to $8,000 on top of the cost of the hybrid. You can click here (Thursday, August 18th show) and get a summary of the show, plus links to the 2 firms that are doing these conversions.

MacLeod

brettw22 wrote:

The only current gouging IMO is the taxes that make up well over 50% of the price of the gas that we get at the pump. It's our own gov't that taxes the **** out of this stuff........

Amen!

Taxes the **** out of this and everything else. But ya cant really blame them. How else are the politicians going to buy votes from those poor slobs that vote for a living without the tax money to fund their giveaways? :rolleyes:

markmarc

Macleod:
The technology for bio diesel exists right now. Many are buying it from pumps in NE Colorado right now. The key is getting the refining capacity up. Which can be done quickly with the right incentives. Farmers are more than happy to grow the crops, hell it would increase their profits, and lower farm subsidies. A huge win-win economically. But GWB, and bunches of others on both sides of the aisle would rather get re-elected than do the right thing.

Hydrogen is at least 2 decades away under a massive project. The other problem nobody discusses with hydrogen is the amount of energy required to create it in the first place. GWB pushes it becauses it's beyond the horizon, therefore, not a threat to his oil buddies.

I believe, like you the free market will develop new solutions, but without gov't support it won't happen here ahead of the rest of the world. Thus, we will be buying the technology licenses from other countries instead of selling them ourselves. Look at hybrid technology, Detroit blew it off, but Honda and Toyota embraced it. Now Ford is licensing the technolgy from Toyota, and GM is looking to Honda for the same deal.

It's time to get ahead of the curve in the short run as well as the long one.

MacLeod

I agree witcha bro. W is about as worthless as they come. He took a leadership role in the war and tax cuts by believing in something then going out and convincing people he is right. Thats how youre supposed to do it. But on everything else he takes polls and does what will cause the least controversy (i.e. illegal immigration). He could easily use the bully pullpit to go out and build support for a better energy policy but he doesnt want to make waves, and the republicans in congress are as cowardly as they come. Therer are no democrats or replublicans anymore, only POLL-O-CRATS. Like reeds in the wind. A bunch of linguini spined individuals who care only about keeping their power.

keith allen

F1nut wrote:

These greedy **** oil companies and that effing idiot President I voted for are really pissing me off. This **** is out of control and must be stopped. Call, write, email any and all of your public servants.....tell them what you think about getting raped at the pump!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Would ya looka a here...we agree

keith allen

When ya all had enough,give my brotherinlaw a call,he'll hook ya up,Im building my second ev...they're great around town,hope someday they'll have more range.www.grassrootsev.com

CrBoy

the government raised the price by 10% a few days ago, and they going to raise the price AGAIN by 10% within a few days... this is driving crazy!!! :mad:

Ricardo

CrBoy wrote:

Costa Rica...

CrBoy,

Never been there, but I hear San Jose is a great place to live, and the country has beautiful things to see...friendly people also. Plan to go sometime...

CrBoy

If you want to check out some info about Costa Rica... where & when to go, places to stay... all that stuff click here

Whenever you decided to come to Costa Rica just let me know and i'll help you out...

keith allen

San Jose...very good talent!

ND13

Gas just went from $2.45 to $2.89, for 87, since I walked in the door at work this morning. 44 cents in less than an hour. If that's not gouging, what is?

aaharvel

$2.90 for Premium here in Greensboro.

and rising.

Mike682

just paid $2.65/gal for 87...nothing cheaper than $2.90/gal for premium around here

Sad part is that if prices start to go down, high $1s low $2s will then be considered a bargain...

CrBoy

I spend around $15 per week... (Geo Metro 1.3L )

I was wondering how much money do you guys spend in gas per week...?

Skynut

I'm too skeered to check
last tank in the truck was $55.00 and the Pontiac takes over $40.00

Spawndn72

$40 a week for me.

Skynut

I am probably spending $50.00+ per week right now.