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05/20/2007 10:37:25 AM · #1 |
Gas prices are out of control. I hear the excuses from the oil companies- "supply is exceeding demand, so of course prices are going to go up". They've been saying this for 5 years. And it has nothing to do with supply and demand of oil its supply and demand of gasoline. The oil companies are claiming that there just isn't enough refinery capacity to meet the demand- but how many of these companies are planning on building new refineries in the US- how about none. Why, because they are raking in record profits.
What really has me bugged about this is last time when gas went over $2.50 per gallon people were outraged. Now that its over $3.50 per gallon in many places no one is bitching, we're just acting like a bunch of lemmings and lining up at the gas pump.
I for one have started to do something, yes I waited too, but its time for action. My wife and I just cancelled our planned memorial day trip and are organizing a community carpool. Plus this morning I just fired off a series of letters to my Reps and Senators, plus a few angry letters to the oil companies.
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05/20/2007 12:03:54 PM · #2 |
Originally posted by vxpra:
My wife and I just cancelled our planned memorial day trip and are organizing a community carpool. |
Good for you! This is the only kind of thing that can solve the problem.
Like it or not, 30% year-over-year economic growth in China and India means demand is increasing. Oil supplies are finite, and increasing refinery capacity will only deplete those supplies faster. While more refineries are no doubt being built, they are not being built in the US, because that's not where most of the demand growth is.
Refining more oil also does nothing to help slow greenhouse gas emissions.
~Terry
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05/20/2007 01:05:59 PM · #3 |
Don't forget to thank your neighbors who purchased a Hummer H2 to shuttle their 3 year old to Mommy and Me.
Due to a lack of an energy policy in the US for the past few decades the cows are finally coming home to roost. |
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05/21/2007 07:36:32 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by ClubJuggle:
Refining more oil also does nothing to help slow greenhouse gas emissions.
~Terry |
I agree, fully with that. Its hard to believe that Brazil is on the verge of total fuel independance and is growing in the realms of non-fossil fuels and the US in hung up in 1966.
My point about the refining capacity was much more about how the oil companies have no interest in ending the supply crunch (if there is one). Although I did get a couple of PM's about new refineries, but there is no projected increase in refining capacity in the US, the few refineries that are being built are intended to replace older plants. The oil companies know their days in the US are numbered (although it is probably still several thousand days) before new technologies supercede them so at this moment they want to make every possible dime they can.
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05/21/2007 07:53:15 PM · #5 |
Interesting discussion from 2 years ago
The links in the original post aren't there anymore unfortunately.
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05/22/2007 09:18:10 PM · #6 |
One of the big things that happens with all people is an adjustment in there perception of what a gallon should cost. Wait until gas is 4 bucks a gallon (and it may be there in some places in the US). People will be screaming bloody murder. But then then it will slide down to three bucks again. Everyone will be thanking God that it slipped back down again, and happy about 3 dollar prices.
That's just the way it works. Everyone remembers 2 dollar gas, and a lot of us remember when gas hit a dollar, it was an outrage.
In a few short years you will be paying 6 bucks a gallon and thinking of the good old days when it was 5 bucks a gallon. Get used to it...that's just the way it works, and always has. |
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05/22/2007 09:43:01 PM · #7 |
Here's some action to take if you are so inclined...
Sign the Petition
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05/22/2007 10:22:28 PM · #8 |
I remember $0.88 gas...but I think that was around when I first got my license 8 years ago...
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05/22/2007 10:27:56 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by photodude:
Don't forget to thank your neighbors who purchased a Hummer H2 to shuttle their 3 year old to Mommy and Me.
Due to a lack of an energy policy in the US for the past few decades the cows are finally coming home to roost. |
Heh people always blame the hummer first. Mustang Cobra gets much worse gas mileage then an out of tune hummer. |
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05/22/2007 10:32:41 PM · #10 |
I'm so sick of the greed-mongers, I wish they'd just stop the slow torment and jack the price through the roof now, to the point where no one could afford to buy it. People wouldn't be able to get to work, the economy would totally collapse, and then we'd have to get smart and do something about it.
The oil companies are in bed with the auto manufacturers, and what I see coming is this: gas prices go sky high, and then viola, a new car with a much more effecient engine is released, so everyone has to upgrade their autos, and then they can crank the price up again.
And like now, everyone will just sit down and take it. Not that there is an easy solution. Problem is, the solution is already here, somewhere. Hell, the oil companies probably bought/stole it so it couldn't be released to the public years ago.
I refuse to believe that we got to the Moon in a matter of years, but we cannot become fossil-fuel independent in the same amount of time. If the untold masses of money we were wasting on hopeless ventures were put into research, we'd be in the clear so fast, it'd be amazing. But the people in charge don't want us to be in the clear, so we have to keep making them rich.
**Deep breath** Good thing this is already in the Rant section...
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05/22/2007 10:33:37 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by Maverick:
I remember $0.88 gas...but I think that was around when I first got my license 8 years ago... |
Yeah it seems like that was along time ago, but not really.
Here is a scary graph if anyone is interested.
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05/22/2007 10:39:34 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by Maverick:
I remember $0.88 gas...but I think that was around when I first got my license 8 years ago... |
I hate to sound like some old fella, but I remember gas at $0.32 per gallon, and Imperial gallons at that no less.
Ray |
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05/22/2007 10:43:26 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by photodude:
Don't forget to thank your neighbors who purchased a Hummer H2 to shuttle their 3 year old to Mommy and Me.
Due to a lack of an energy policy in the US for the past few decades the cows are finally coming home to roost. |
Well put. Prices have been kept down and now that we're slowing catching up we complain. Now where's my bicycle... |
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05/22/2007 11:10:14 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by RayEthier:
Originally posted by Maverick:
I remember $0.88 gas...but I think that was around when I first got my license 8 years ago... |
I hate to sound like some old fella, but I remember gas at $0.32 per gallon, and Imperial gallons at that no less.
Ray |
I remember a price war sometime in the early 80's when the big guys were trying to put the independents out of business. 0.24 cents a litre.
Comox to Victoria and back for around $10.
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05/22/2007 11:26:36 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by Cam:
Originally posted by Maverick:
I remember $0.88 gas...but I think that was around when I first got my license 8 years ago... |
Yeah it seems like that was along time ago, but not really.
Here is a scary graph if anyone is interested. |
Not all that scary. Adjusted for inflation, gas costs less now than it did in 1981.
~Terry
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05/22/2007 11:43:51 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by ClubJuggle:
Not all that scary.
~Terry |
I guess, if you drive a moped. |
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05/23/2007 12:37:54 AM · #17 |
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
I'm so sick of the greed-mongers... |
Isn't wanting cheap gas being greedy?
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05/23/2007 01:17:23 AM · #18 |
Originally posted by LoudDog:
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
I'm so sick of the greed-mongers... |
Isn't wanting cheap gas being greedy? |
Just the same as wanting cheap carrots or cheap meat is being greedy...it's a necessity and we shouldn't get raped for it.
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05/23/2007 02:33:26 AM · #19 |
There has not been a new refinery built in this country in 3 decades. Those refineries that we do have are taken offline each year for "maintenance."
It is the greatest scam ever devised.
I've cut my driving back more than 80% If the trip is less than 3 miles, I either walk or ride a bike. Last week I took a couple photographs to a museum to be entered in an exhibition. Word got out that I was going up, and a dozen of my classmates saddled me with all of their work so they wouldn't have to make the 112 mile drive (224 round trip). They ante'd up for gas money, so I didn't mind, but the trip up and back cost $50 in gas.
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05/23/2007 02:41:48 AM · #20 |
If anyone owns a business you can save the receipts and clam it as an expense on your taxes, .30 cents a mile.
Also you can save a TON of money by just taking the gas out of your neighbors car sometime during the night.
Message edited by author 2007-05-23 02:42:32.
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05/23/2007 05:57:07 AM · #21 |
Originally posted by Efergoh:
There has not been a new refinery built in this country in 3 decades. Those refineries that we do have are taken offline each year for "maintenance."
It is the greatest scam ever devised.
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The maintenance I'll believe - where I work we corrode certain pieces of equipment in as little as one year, sometimes faster. I'm not familiar with the chemistry of the refineries, but I'm sure regular maintenance is not just to make them feel good. Preventive maintenance for safety and uptime is essential. I would see it as normal for a refinery to shutdown for several weeks at least once a year.
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05/23/2007 06:00:03 AM · #22 |
Originally posted by deapee:
Originally posted by LoudDog:
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
I'm so sick of the greed-mongers... |
Isn't wanting cheap gas being greedy? |
Just the same as wanting cheap carrots or cheap meat is being greedy...it's a necessity and we shouldn't get raped for it. |
I just don't see where we get the idea that we're being raped for it, when we're paying less for gas now (in real dollars) than we were in 1981.
~Terry
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05/23/2007 11:43:42 AM · #23 |
Originally posted by Maverick:
The maintenance I'll believe - where I work we corrode certain pieces of equipment in as little as one year, sometimes faster. I'm not familiar with the chemistry of the refineries, but I'm sure regular maintenance is not just to make them feel good. Preventive maintenance for safety and uptime is essential. I would see it as normal for a refinery to shutdown for several weeks at least once a year. |
I can buy that they need to shut down annually, but all of them, or nearly all of them at once at the same time every year? This happens at the same time every year...right before Memorial Day when lots of folks are driving...
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05/23/2007 11:52:50 AM · #24 |
You know, I'd like to say the price of gas doesn't affect me, because I don't own a car or drive. But, it does in that I have to pay more for goods and services.
Something needs to be done about the problem. The government of the US is so tied up in the purse strings of big oil that we can't depend on it to do anything about it, at least until it's a crisis.
----
There are a lot of two income families in the US. If all of them went to one income families (one less person driving to work and/or daycare) it would put a serious chunk in the demand for gasoline.
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05/23/2007 12:13:49 PM · #25 |
Remember gas lines? Road rage in the lines was not uncommon when gas went from .35 to about 1.25 in the early 70's.
Lowest gas prices I can remember were about 1967, during a gas war (stations trying to price each other out of business) when it went to .18 per gallon, for a few months, then back to the regular .24.
I travel about 50 or 60 miles per day round trip to work 5 or 6 days per week, but have started driving my vehicle that gets 24mpg, and leaving my truck full of tools and equipment at the job sites.
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