Gasoline Prices

[dantama]

Originally Posted by macmac

I dunno about the end time, but if it comes it won't bother me much. What pisses me off is that if I have the money for 2 bags of rice and the store says i can only but 1, then that isn't how the system worked.

I have already been thru the gas rationing in the 70's, and that had no effect on me either, but because I had a really big great dane.

I would pull to the pump, the attendant would say Oh you have a even number, gas for you come tommorow. I would say buddy do you want me to let this dog out, who will eat you like a snack? I got the gas every time.

Trickey Dick and his gas crunch was pure BS.

I'm wondering how much your just toying with us :)

Sounds pretty Mad Max to me; using the threat of a dog attack to push your way into getting gas?

Not the way I remember the gas crisis of the early 70's. We got what we needed with out threats of violence to the gas station workers.


I'm thinking your jerking our chain :)

Then again, you might have an underground bomb shelter in your backyard :)

[Idaho]

Originally Posted by bankerfrank

Hey,idaho. Good evening. I wasn't rantin at folks like you. It's the people that don't need large vehicles, but have 'em to be in style, or tryin to appear prosperous, and drive like a bat out of hell in 'em, because they don't think of the big picture, only themselves.

I appreciate that. Sometimes we have a tendency to make wide ranging flat statements that catches unintended groups. Even so, I know the people of whom you speak. Great careers, lot's of money and they can afford whatever they want. I do not begrudge them their SUV's or how they drive. If they want to pour their $ into a gas tank I say let em. When they blow by me I just smile because I know that they get to fill those things up a lot more often than you or I would care to. Having said that, I use a LOT more fuel in my Nomad than I do even when I drive the Bronco because I enjoy it and may have a tendency to wander around the state on the bike. So from a fuel consumption point of view we would all be better off if guys like me parked the bike and drove the gas guzzler. I guess it all levels out.

At some point we are going to have to make a societal decision about a firm energy policy. Despite what many people hope for conservation is not going to get us out of this mess and neither will alternate fuels. High prices will drive us toward those alternatives but we can moderate those prices by allowing the oil companies to drill for oil where we know it exists and in return for the lease rights negotiate lower profit margins. Then we need to build more refineries to increase the supply and we should wipe out the senseless regulations demanding different blends of fuel for every state and burg in the country. That will drive down the cost of producing our fuel.

Think about it, we know where there are tens of billions of barrels of oil reserves under land that we own and yet we insist on paying our enemies over 100 bux a barrel for the stuff and then we point fingers at each other for how much fuel we use. All the while our enemies are getting richer and stronger and we are making serious buying decisions because our discretionary spending dollars are being burned up for transportation. In the meantime we vote for the same stupid politicians who put us here in the first place.

There is no easy way out but despising each other will sure as hell not help. We need to pull together and demand new (old) solutions.

I really did not intend to start "preaching" here. Hope it did not come across as a rant. Just my two cents, and today that's not worth much.

[jayc]

Start domestic drilling! There's no reason we should be slaves to foreign oil.

[Top Cat]

Originally Posted by Blowndodge "Darksider"

and the end of time as we know it is near. Let the Rapture begin...............Amen........

On a less cynical note. It cracks me up to still see the very young interviewed on TV when they are at the gas pumps commenting about the price of gas and they just say, "but I like to drive, whatya gonna do?"

How about drive less you worthless idiots?? The ripple affect of cutting back at least 10% would be devastating. but........people are stupid.
I know what ever increase cost in fuel I'll have to spend to go to Mesquite will be taken off the stuff I buy there. If it cost more to go then I'll spend less while I'm there. I practice consumerism religiously..

You my friend are very naive. A couple winters ago we had a mild winter. Warmer than usual by a long shot. There fore not as much fuel oil was used as the supplier planned on. You would think this would be a good thing. Supply was more than demand. You know that old tired bullsh*t saying of Supply and demand.
They raised the price per gallon not lower it. They gave some reticules reason , I don't remember what it was now but we all know what it really was is GREED.
Another one I like is the deal where nobody buys gas on Monday. that will show them. Yeah, they have to wait till Tuesday to sell there high priced gas, big deal.
Or how about the terrorists sink a ship full of oil in the ocean and the price of gas that is ALREADY in the ground at the station where I buy it goes up. What the hell has that got to do with what they paid for the gas already in the ground.

[dhelfritz]

Gas hit 3.65 is South Fl. and I started driving the Nomad on my 25 mile commute each way. My 03 Tundra gets about 19 mph highway. I was spending aboout 50.00 a week for gas. I think I will cut that almost in half using the Nomad. I also slowed down to 60 or 65 mph. If things keep going up, I might look at a 400 or 650 scooter and save the Nomad for weekends. Id hate to do it, but, I am really pissed about the cost of gas and the profits the gas companies are making. It is absolute GREED. I guess that is what I should expect. I hope the American public gets smart and really goes small and stays there. It will hurt the bastards in the long run.

[flightdoc]

I've been riding every day for 2 weeks now. Rain or shine. Unless I need the truck for a dump run or something like that, I will ride the bike daily until I out it away for the season again. I'm seriously considering picking ups a second bike ( smaller) as my daily driver. Something that gets about 45-50mpg. It would be fun changing bikes every few days.

We need to be telling our congressmen what we are telling one another here.Time to build refineries, start drilling, and bring some nukes back online to produce electricity.

[blowndodge]

TC: please explaing how me driving 10-20% less is naive? I don't care what it does to the price of gas. All I care about is my wallet, not yours. anyone who thinks that by not buying a product that whomever owns that product will retaliate and raise prices scares me.

In California if we conserved electricity because we were asked to and as a result of that the electric company tried to raise prices through hearings at the Public Utilities Commission they'd get laughed at. If that happens in your neck of the woods then I'd say you have a gov't problem, not a supply and demand problem. An isolated case of gov't sponsered Monopoly is not the norm...

Originally Posted by dhelfritz

Gas hit 3.65 is South Fl. and I started driving the Nomad on my 25 mile commute each way. My 03 Tundra gets about 19 mph highway. I was spending aboout 50.00 a week for gas. I think I will cut that almost in half using the Nomad. I also slowed down to 60 or 65 mph. If things keep going up, I might look at a 400 or 650 scooter and save the Nomad for weekends. Id hate to do it, but, I am really pissed about the cost of gas and the profits the gas companies are making. It is absolute GREED. I guess that is what I should expect. I hope the American public gets smart and really goes small and stays there. It will hurt the bastards in the long run.

+1, +1

[cactusjack]

It's kind of like what that politician tried to do in Oregon. Because people have bought more fuel efficient vehicles, the state was seeing a drop in gasoline tax revenues. Instead of applauding the good people of Oregon for conserving resources, he comes up with some plan to outfit each vehicle with a GPS unit and tax people by the amount of miles they drive. Corporations are no different - they become accustomed to a certain amount of revenue, and since corporations exist to "maximize shareholder value", they feel they are entitled to maintain that level of revenue, even if it means raising prices.

Economists say that gas prices are what they are today due to the law of supply and demand, and if demand goes down the supply goes up and prices will drop, which is how it works in most industries. I don't think so when it comes to oil. Oil companies already artificially manipulate the supply of gas by taking refineries offline to reduce production. If there were a widespread effort to reduce gasoline consumption, do you think Exxon, Gulf and Chevron are going to sit back and let their stock prices go down? Absolutely not, they will simply adjust production to balance with the reduced demand and the prices will remain high. They need to increase production capacity. The production capacity here in the US is less than it was 35 years ago.

I am not a big fan of government meddling in business (Sarbanes-Oxley, etc) but if there is one commodity that affects nearly every aspect of everyone's lives, it is oil and petroleum products. The prices need to be regulated, for the overall well-being of our country. Stop listening to the environmentalists and get those drilling rigs ready to go.

Very well said, cj. Couldn't have said it better myself.

[blowndodge]

Although I agree with the position that the oil industry is in to "influence" the price of oil and gasoline, why wouldn't one buy into their stocks and reap the profits with them?

I used to teach (preach) this to people that had money in the bank (a lot) and would complain that they are only getting 3% interest on their cash. I would look up the price of the banks stock and see that their dividend was almost twice what they were receiving having theri money in the bank. I'd tell them to pull their money out of the bank and buy their stock. Lots of people really don't understand the full effects of "supply and demand".

[cactusjack]

You're right BD (I don't think I've ever used that phrase before ).

However, it's a vicious circle. Sure you can buy Exxon stock and make money off it, but the mechanism that enables them to turn these record profits and drive the stock prices up is costing you money if you buy gasoline. You're pocketing the money on one side, and paying it out the other. It's like lengthening a blanket by cutting 12" off one end and sewing it the other end.

[VulcanE]

Originally Posted by cactusjack

It's kind of like what that politician tried to do in Oregon. Because people have bought more fuel efficient vehicles, the state was seeing a drop in gasoline tax revenues. Instead of applauding the good people of Oregon for conserving resources, he comes up with some plan to outfit each vehicle with a GPS unit and tax people by the amount of miles they drive. Corporations are no different - they become accustomed to a certain amount of revenue, and since corporations exist to "maximize shareholder value", they feel they are entitled to maintain that level of revenue, even if it means raising prices.

Economists say that gas prices are what they are today due to the law of supply and demand, and if demand goes down the supply goes up and prices will drop, which is how it works in most industries. I don't think so when it comes to oil. Oil companies already artificially manipulate the supply of gas by taking refineries offline to reduce production. If there were a widespread effort to reduce gasoline consumption, do you think Exxon, Gulf and Chevron are going to sit back and let their stock prices go down? Absolutely not, they will simply adjust production to balance with the reduced demand and the prices will remain high. They need to increase production capacity. The production capacity here in the US is less than it was 35 years ago.

I am not a big fan of government meddling in business (Sarbanes-Oxley, etc) but if there is one commodity that affects nearly every aspect of everyone's lives, it is oil and petroleum products. The prices need to be regulated, for the overall well-being of our country. Stop listening to the environmentalists and get those drilling rigs ready to go.

A+ and Amen CJ

[socwkbiker]

Dammit CJ, that's exactly what I was going to say!
TC and BD, the naive part is thinking that we can change the minds of people who have no concept of what it's like to live in a genuinely rough financial era, who think that status is everything, and who don't care what they pay as long as they get to do what they want when they want.

I see a lot of young Black and Hispanic people driving gas-guzzling Grand Marquis and Caprice's with 22-24 inch rims, raised suspension and God awful paint jobs, and I know those get 10-15 mpg. But no one is going to tell them what they can and cannot drive because they are entitled to do as they want and drive what they want. I see people driving enormous SUV's or Pickups, knowing damn good and well they are either going to a desk job or running errands, and paying $80-100 to fill up the tank, but no one is going to tell them what to drive. And yet they all complain about the price of gas.

Here at the clinic where I work, there are too many SUV's including Suburbans, Excursions and a huge-a$$ Ford F350 deisel, extended cab monstrosity that can barely fit in a parking spot. These people don't carpool or even think about saving gas. They spend freely.

As motorcycle riders, we all know the benefits of riding and better understand the benefits of fuel efficient cars because of what we ride. But there are some of us here who have these same gas-guzzling vehicles and can produce the same justifications as the other people I've mentioned. The difference is the people here also know when to put the car in the garage and ride the bike. As much as it pains me to say this, BD is right that the consumer is truly the one with the power. The power to decide what to do with their money. But as long as they remain apathetic, big oil will continue to make astronomical profits.

As for drilling, someone on here once wrote that we haven't built a refinery in this country since the 60's. Why? No one wants one in their backyard and the environmentalists want this world to go back to the stone age. In order to make a difference, bikers and other like minded people must come together to put pressure on the politicians in order to get results that will benefit us all.

My 10cents worth.