Gas Prices

[gideon]

Prog - I do think the entire market base free enterprise arguement is a bunch of crap. The vast majority of people have little control over the purchase of oil. Sure, they can cut back a bit by combining errands and trips so they might be able to save 10 to 20% a week off their miles ...... but by and large there are certain more or less unchangable transportation costs associated with having a job and living.
For example - I live in the Detroit metropolatin area. There is no mass transit here -- none. The only way to get to a job from most places is your own car or the car of others. Car pooling might help but its not the definitive answer.

Oil companies have everything the way they want it right now. Prices under Bush have risen greatly and the government does nothing to discourage or prevent it.

It is absurd bordering on the insane that at a time when oil companies are making record profits that the government gives them tax breaks. Just the opposite should be happening.

I hope for a change this fall that will send the oil companies a message that their is a new sheriff in town and this one will no longer bend over the table for you with a big smile on his face.

 

[ProgMatinee]

gideon, the solution is really a cultural one. If it costs too much to travel between your home and downtown Detroit, the solutions can either be live in the city or work in the suburb. If Detroit doesn't offer that, you have an option to live and work in Chicago.

Sooner or later if enough people stop working for companies in Detroit, then the city would need to address it by building mass transit, or distributing housing and industrial/business zones better.

Its really a long term problem that should have been addressed over the last few decades but was only posponed because historically Americans have been paying so little for gas it didn't seem necessary. Now it appears obvious.

 

[gideon]

Prog - no disrespect to you ... but that is exactly the sort of free market idealism that we have been hearing since Ronald Reagan was president. For common working folks - it just plain does not work. You are preaching very long range solutions based on people acting in ways that require serious changes in life style, economics and culture. It ain't gonna happen.

The solution must be more immediate, more short range, more practical, more something that will impact peoples lives sooner rather than later. All the free market, libertarian pie-in-the-sky will not do a darn thing to change the problems that are hitting the common man right now.

I hope big oil realizes that we live in a democracy. And despite their billions and corporate lobbyists, sooner or later people are just going to stand up and say "were not gonna take it anymore". Politicians who want to keep their jobs can either serve the people or get swept aside in the deluge.

One way or another, things will change.

 

[Mrs.Mac]

It is absurd bordering on the insane that at a time when oil companies are making record profits that the government gives them tax breaks. Just the opposite should be happening.

I hope for a change this fall that will send the oil companies a message that their is a new sheriff in town and this one will no longer bend over the table for you with a big smile on his face.

Halleluah, praise Jebus!

 

[thamesvalidude]

Gas is now about $10 a gallon in the UK. This is rather good because it keeps all the frightful poor people off the road so that I can storm through in my Range Rover without the usual congestion! huzzah!!!

In a few weeks i do expect virtually private freeways. It's so nice to be rich!!!

Ps this is meant to be ironic by the way!!!!!

 

[Mrs.Mac]

I heard the price of beer is about to shoot up too.

In a perfect world....

 

[ProgMatinee]

I hope big oil realizes that we live in a democracy. And despite their billions and corporate lobbyists, sooner or later people are just going to stand up and say "were not gonna take it anymore". Politicians who want to keep their jobs can either serve the people or get swept aside in the deluge.

One way or another, things will change.

I think you're right, though it has me worried. I personally believe that in 20 years we will have a much bigger seperation between the haves and have nots, and although I currently make a reasonable living, I bet I'm closer to the have nots. That said, I think 20 years from now that "have not" democracy will attempt to bring down the upperclass (meaning CEOs and politicians) but the casualty will be that industry will come down with it and there won't be anything to share with the "normal people" let alone record profits.

 

[gideon]

Prog - I too share your concerns and expectations..... if we wait too long to make needed serious reforms and shift the directions that have been hurting the working class for the last few decades. That is one big reason I see this election as so important. We can start to take steps to turn things around ... and it will not be easy or fast .... but the longer we take as a nation, the more dire the situation will become and the more drastic a solution.

I join you in not wanting to see that happen.

 

[Duckgoo]

We can all sell our cars and get motorcycles or mopeds which are cheaper. They get 50-100 MPG. We need to get rid of SUV's and big pickup trucks to get us around town.

Folks in Europe and Asia have been using smaller cars, motorcycles, mopeds, and bicycles to get around for decades.

When gas gets to $5/gallon, I think most of us will have to consider getting hybrids or motorcycles or public transportation when available.

 

[OSCORP]

When gas gets to $5/gallon, I think most of us will have to consider getting hybrids or motorcycles or public transportation when available.

And it's going to by end of summer to.(maybe higher)

 

[nash]

it's going to be funny when everyone switches to hybrids and then we have to pay both high gas prices and high electrical bills.

 

[Malice]

And it's going to by end of summer to.(maybe higher)

it's going to hit over 5 bucks a gallon by the end of summer...... it kind of sucks because i have to work an extra of overtime to pay for the shipping charges that are going to skyrocket. oh well

 

[Darklord Dave]

I just can't keep my mouth shut when I get annoyed.

Really? I hadn't noticed...

 

[BadMoon]

Really? I hadn't noticed...

You always notice. You are like Santa.

 

[woodsy]

Prog - I do think the entire market base free enterprise arguement is a bunch of crap. The vast majority of people have little control over the purchase of oil. Sure, they can cut back a bit by combining errands and trips so they might be able to save 10 to 20% a week off their miles ...... but by and large there are certain more or less unchangable transportation costs associated with having a job and living.
For example - I live in the Detroit metropolatin area. There is no mass transit here -- none. The only way to get to a job from most places is your own car or the car of others. Car pooling might help but its not the definitive answer.

Oil companies have everything the way they want it right now. Prices under Bush have risen greatly and the government does nothing to discourage or prevent it.

It is absurd bordering on the insane that at a time when oil companies are making record profits that the government gives them tax breaks. Just the opposite should be happening.

I hope for a change this fall that will send the oil companies a message that their is a new sheriff in town and this one will no longer bend over the table for you with a big smile on his face.

Though it is obviously pretty clear that big business [in this case the oil industry] is making record profits at the expense of the rest of us with little regard for the effect it is having, it was not the oil industry that tied their own hands and made it virtually impossible to drill for oil domestically or build new refineries. That honor goes to Bill Clinton and the Democrat lead Congress in 1995.
As long as the US insists on remaining dependent on other countries to meet it's energy demands gas prices will continue to skyrocket and if anyone thinks having a "new sheriff in town" [whether he be a Republican or Democrat] is going to make the slightest amount of difference, you're dreaming.

 

[Gatack]

Well oil companies make seven cents on the dollar and are making the same percentage of profits that they were making in the 90's (oil and gas companies are known for their low profit margins. They make revenue because of bulk purchases). Everyone wants to get us off foreign oil yet we punish US oil manufacturers by restricting where they can drill and find new ways to tax them. There is no justification for windfall taxes (which all it does is make oil companies charge more for gas to make up for being taxed). We haven't made an oil refinery since 1977. We can’t drill here, we can’t drill there. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot. But hey, people need a villain to hate. This whole thing sucks.

 

[Jesseawilson]

I would much rather pay a regulated industry for my energy to power my automobile then an oil company with an attitude of a shared monopoly. Besides if you work out the energy it takes to produce the electricity to charge an electric vehicle it converts to something like 80-90 miles to the gallon in todays oil based internal combustion engine. Not to mention the reduction in greenhouse gases.

And BTW I am not about to put me and my 2 kids on a murdercycle. The answer isn't mopeds and motorcycles for the vast majority of people.

There is no reason we cant be mass producing electric vehicles. Take a note from Arnie and California, it's just too bad the lobbyists and their bottomless pockets won out on that one........

 

[El Roranous]

We don't drill here because of the impact it would have on the environment. I'd rather run out of oil and have to walk everywhere then destroy the Earth. Seriously, humans already consume and do enough damage and I am glad there are at least some restrictions as to what can be done. DO you want to drive around in a toxic waste zone or do you want to walk around on a beautiful day. I choose the latter.

 

[lcummins]

We don't drill here because of the impact it would have on the environment. I'd rather run out of oil and have to walk everywhere then destroy the Earth. Seriously, humans already consume and do enough damage and I am glad there are at least some restrictions as to what can be done. DO you want to drive around in a toxic waste zone or do you want to walk around on a beautiful day. I choose the latter.

What do we care about the Earth? We won't be around to see what happens anyway!








































JUST KIDDING!!! SERIOUSLY! JUST JOKING AROUND!!!

 

[EVILFACE]

What do we care about the Earth? We won't be around to see what happens anyway!

JUST KIDDING!!! SERIOUSLY! JUST JOKING AROUND!!!

Well thousands of years from now when the Sun goes supernova and destroys everything, all this save the planet bs will be just wasted effort.