Gas Prices
 

After reading a thread in the General Forum, I figured I'd post my comments about gas prices here. First of all, gas prices aren't going up this time because of a shortage of oil or Iraq. They are going up because an additive used in gas, methanol, is being replaced by ethanol. The difference is ethanol is much cleaner than methanol. The problem is while the big oil companies new this was coming for over a year, instead of gearing up for it tried to get congress to postpone the law requiring this conversion. So once again we are at the mercy of refineries for our gas, which has been the biggest factor in high gas prices over the last year and a half (not so much a lack of oil). There are refineries out there that have been shut down for years and the big oil companies have fought to keep them that way. Those refineries need to be re-opened and new refineries need to be built. The only way that will happen is if there is much better oversite from our leaders in Congress as well as a president who is more inline with the common people (all of US ;D ) Of course the best sollution would be to SERIOUSLY work on development and deployment of alternative ways to move us from point A to point B. Instead of treating the idea of moving away from oil as just some fun little experiment. So should we blame Bush.... Sure, I feel he get's a little, but then again so does congress as well as the greedy SOBs running the oil companies. And maybe we get a little of the blame too.... For not electing leaders (or stepping up to the plate ourselves) who will address and work through the issues that effect our daily lives....

Just my .02 :-/

Hmmm..... That's it, I'm running for office!!!...Anyone wanna vote for a grumpy telephone man ::) :P ;D

I promise to fix it all!!! ::)

Re: Gas Prices
 

You got my vote Jeff
It is very true what you said, mostly about the stepping up to the plate.
Our elderly population was raised in an atmosphere of voting by party line. Will vote republican or democrat because that is their family way or whatever.
Because of that we have billionairs in office that are as far removed from us as we are from amphibians. Come to think about it that is a perfect analogy.
If we all voted by looking at all the candidates and picked the one we thought would really do the right things and that was our only consideration this country would turn around in a decade ;)

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You are both so right....

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GW's Budget only alotted $150 million for research on cellulosic ethanol . . . that's nothing!!! compare that to MS's 84million dollar investment in PEIX. Frankly I think this illustrates that GW's priorities aren't for making the ethanol research and production any less expensive. That money sure isn't going to help a whole lot for something that going to make up 10% of our fuel.

Oh well . . . I put my money on ADM and PEIX a while back. I sure hope they suceed in bringing us some less expensive boating fuel.

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8)

Gotta agree with all the statements above.

Especially the part of older folks and who they vote for.
When my mother in law was asked why Bush?
her answer hes a nice looking man,
father in law said I don't agree with all of Bush's policies,
but we are in war time and we must stay the course.

Frustrating as hell dealing with the oldsters.

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We are not given fare choices for who runs for prez!!

The only ones that make it to the point were they are running are the ones that have agreed to help big business in some way !!

Then from there on the couple we all come to love or hate, are the finial pick of big business and what the MEDIA wants us to see!!

We do not pick the prez, the Media and Corporate America hand pick them for us and we have to figure out who will be the better Crook!!!

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Macojoe you took the words right ouy of my mouth

Re: Gas Prices
 

I'm not sold on the Ethanol theory. Crude oil is up to almost $68/barrel!, before Eth is even added. Eth has some effect on the price increase but not that much, IMO.

Crude oil prices are set by OPEC. The countries that make up OPEC are: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Libya, UAE and Venezuela. Iran has outright threatened us to leave them alone on their Nuclear program or "we will pay". Venezuela has it in for Bush. Sadly, the US is pretty much hated around the globe right now. The greedieness of the oil companies doesn't help either.

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Listen we tell everyone we are the richest, most powerful, and almighty!!

Any other country you talk to all pay Thur the a$$ for gas!! Singapore is $5 a gal (I know some one there) Ask others, Brazil pays over $4 and the list goes on and on!!

Its time for the richest almighty country to pay there fare share!!

When you boast you are the best then you have to pay like the best!!

Suck it up boys and girls!! Its here to stay!

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Brother Tin,
I was starting to think that I was ill-informed, now I realize just how little I understand the oil biz as it's crazy. Your right about the price of crude going through the roof, but it seems that that is being blamed on the shortfall of our refineries ??? I would think if our refineries couldn't keep up, crude would remain the same or fall a little, since we wouldn't be able to consume any more than what we already are :-/ But then I found this:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/...berg/bxcom.php

So now I'm at a loss as to understanding why crude oil prices are going up even though we can't consume anymore than we already are and there doesn't seem to be a shortage of it :-[ It's easy to see why gas prices are rising (in the short term), but why does it effect the crude oil ???

Is there a professor of economics around ???

I think I'll retract my bid for election now, since I feel too stupid to run ;D

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But we are already paying more then after Katrina?? And we haven't hit that mark yet.

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The brilliant strategists who planned the invasion of Iraq figured to have all that oil flowin' in pretty short order...a hand-full of fanatics w/RPGs weren't in the plan...SO...we've paid out $300 BILLION in tax $$, 2500 American soldiers' lives, tens of thousands of casualties AND goin' on an EXTRA $2.00/ gal every time we fill up our trucks, cars and boats...THERE's the supply side (lack of it) in the supply and demand issue...it's a global business deal floated on the backs of American taxpayers and soldiers, only the deal didn't go down as the EXPERTS planned...

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I think we ought to consider adding a 52nd and maybe a 53rd state, after we clean out all the human waste there. Seems we do a lot of paying, dying and insult catching and maybe we ought to conduct ourselves like those we go to battle with, like buisness corps would do. We will call it a hostile takeover in payment for services rendered.
Either that or offer them the option in a one time vote, 25 year contract with oil at 20 a barrel or we annex part of your country permanantly.
I am liking this idea more and more everyday. And we are right next door to Iran now. Stop playing around, as Patton said about the Russians we have our Army's here we are going to have to do it sooner or later let me go. Tell Iran that in no uncertain terms in a initially private meeting so they can save face, that they are threatening the world and our friends with annihalation and we consider that an act of war. De-construct the nuclear facility and live in peace with us or we will destroy your entire infra-structure in 72 hours. And if we have one soldier die in the effort we will annex part of your country in payment for the effort you forced us to do.
Those in that area understand that kind of strength and the world as we know it will change, they don't want to go back to living in tents and mud huts again
There I've vented, I feel better now ;)

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Since ethanol has been mentioned her,
what would happen if I were to burn E85 in my 1990 Evinrude 150???

Re: Gas Prices
 

BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Gas Prices
 

I'm not an expert at this, but two stroke carb motors aren't exactly the ideal motor to use to burn ethanol. Some of the older rubber hoses, needles, etc. will not hold up. Oils can be premixed with ethanol, but the motor has to be jetted to run richer than when you burn regular gas. I also heard that ethanol is pretty tough on cranks and bearings . . . People that race boats will use ethanol . . . apparently they will run a full gallon of gas and oil mix through the engine after the race. DFI motors adjusted to run alcohol would be much better for this type of fuel.

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I plan on using extra oil in mine.

I will let the motor mix like it has always done, but when I fuel up I will add just a tad to the tanks.

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What do you guys think of this?


> 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.
>
>Philip 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 marketplace..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 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.
>

Re: Gas Prices
 

If you check on one of the myth sites like snopes.com,
they say this will not work, because Exxon/Mobil will just sell their gas to the other
companies that need it because of the influx of new customers.

Apparently this happens on a regular basis, that gas is just a
commodity that is bought and sold between companies.

Re: Gas Prices
 

Parishht is absolutely correct. The influx of buyers to the other companies would simply mean that they will have to buy gas from the bigger companies and therefore the bigger companies would still be selling gas. In fact, it's not uncommon to see things like an Exxon truck pumping fuel into the tanks at a Chevron station or vice versa.

However, it seems to me, that the bigger companies would be affected to some degree. They would not make as much money on the retail end of things if they were only selling their gas to other gas companies. In other words, they wouldn't be able to sell their gas to other gas companies for the same amount of money they'd be able to sell it to the consumer.

Re: Gas Prices
 

some where in this thread this was brought up already.

It will not work!! I use to work for the Mobil depot in East Providence RI.

Mobile and I am sure Exxon also sell to everyone!@! I can't tell you how many no name tankers that you see at your own Joe's service station use to come there for there gas!
Not only that but I use to see Sunco & Shell come there also.

I get a kick out of a few people that say they only use Mobile, or Sunco, ect ect...
I tell all that whats in the tanks at your favorite gas station means nothing cause it is all the same!! You want good gas, just make sure you go to a busy gas station so that you are getting fresh gas all the time.


There is not much we can do?? We need help from the politicians, and they are making to much $$ to help!

I saw on the news that the reason prices are going high is the anticipation of a shortage, In case or war with Iran!!

This is right out wrong!! We should not have to pay anything unless theres a real shortage!!
So we pay now and then even more when the war does start??

I for one is getting real aggravated with the whole mess!!

Re: Gas Prices
 

MJ - I don't know anyone who isn't pissed off about this situation. We've been mislead and played so many times by the current administration and media. It sucks to feel helpless and know that the elected folks don't give a crap about anyone but themselves. We need to rally together or it's gonna get a lot worse.

Re: Gas Prices
 

Well to rally toghter How?? we can not not buy gas, we all need it!!
We can't all stay out of work for a week and not buy gas? Cause thats what its going to take!! and with the profits they are making now they can hold on for a good long time , more then anyone of us can!

So what is the solution? Things have doubled here in the north east as far as Fuel, electric, gas, food, car ins, ect ect.. So much so I am really starting to think I am better off selling cause I can't afford to pay the prices!!
For the first time in my life I am looking at getting a 2nd job and having 0 time for anything!

Its getting to be to much for us little guys!! Payed $2.73 for gas today!! I have had a pit in my stomach all day now, realizing that I am screwed!

Re: Gas Prices
 

I've been boycotting Exxon since Valdez.

There is good news on the horizon though...the answer is BIODIESEL! Diesel engines can run on it no problem. Not much help for us outboard owners but if you change your auto's over to diesels then you can afford to buy gasoline for the boat.

I'm thinking of selling the Yota and getting a used Dodge Ram w/Cummins....then go biodiesel!

Do some research....I'm sure the price of used diesel vehicles will go much higher so I think we need to act fast.


Here's one site on biodiesel: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel.html

Re: Gas Prices
 

Tin -you're right . . . But VW and Mercedes are the only companies with Diesel passanger cars (not SUV's) sold in the USA. There are still laws in Cali, New York, and other states that outlaw the sale of new Diesel passenger cars too.

Decent Used VW Rabbit Trucks out here go for $5K+

Re: Gas Prices
 

What can we do?...change your mind...if you're a registered member of either major political party, send in your resignation today...we've got to get away from thinkin' Dems vs Reps...it's a smoke-screen that works FOR the political machine that really runs this country...we gotta get rid of the "Career Politicians" and the way to do that is to NEVER vote for the incumbent...if a fresh face enters a race(so long as it's not Taliban), vote for 'em, but don't vote for 'em again...no matter what...if somebody's been in office, vote 'em OUT...we gotta start THINKIN' for ourselves and guit followin' some "Party Line"..."My party; right or wrong...they're BOTH wrong...

Re: Gas Prices
 

When I registered to vote, I did some homework and found that
to have no party affiliation you must register as "no party affiliation".
If you register as independent, then you are affiliated with the independent party.

Re: Gas Prices
 

I agree with RAP regarding the need to be rid of this two party system. So long as it remains a two party system, the system will remain corrupt by corrupt politicians doing favors for each other.

The ironic thing is that we already mentioned how sometimes an Exxon gas truck can be seen dumping gas into some other company's station. Well, the same is true in politics. You got liberals and conservatives crossbreeding all the time, regardless of their party affiliation.

Allow me to put a plug in for the Constitution Party. I joined the party prior to the last presidential election. You can check it out at www.constitutionparty.com Here's a blurb from the site:

"The Democrats and Republicans have squandered the Founders' legacy of liberty and justice under the Constitution. Countless government officials in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government ignore their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Join the Constitution Party in its work to restore our government to its Constitutional limits and our law to its Biblical foundations."

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That goes to one of the problems we got...you shouldn't HAVE to declare WHICH party in order to register to vote...it's nobody's business but yours...that REALLY needs to be changed...

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Rev., I hope you and I don't part ways over this, but I don't feel religious belief has any place in government in a truly free society...by the same token, a free society should allow any religious belief to be practiced as long as it doesn't affect the rights of those who wish not to participate in that religion...it's called ''live and let live''...instead of ''my way or the highway''...

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RAP,

No worries. I don't allow such things to get in the way of friendship. I'll leave it at that so that I don't end up preaching a sermon on the relation of law and religion ;)

One thing is for sure and on this we agree. The two party system doesn't fly...

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Been broke for a long time...needs to be fixed...

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Its amazing to watch the gas prices around here!!!!!!!!

Same gas station went up on price twice in the same day!!

They are not getting tankers in everyday!! But yet the gas keeps going and going!! >:(

I have sent letters to the gas stations, senators and now getting to send a F------ Bomb to Bush & Co.!!

Same gas station today was $2.78, then $2.80, then $2.83 today!!

I am going back to the 70's and getting a siphon hose!!

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3.03-3.05 for 87 reg here on Long Island.....as of today

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$3.09 OUT EAST! THIS BLOWS!

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LMAO!! I remember.................................yuk! ;D

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I think I have to pull out the old party van license plate

"GAS, A$$ or GRASS, nobody rides for free"

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$3.25/gal today...almost everyday it goes up!

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....no good >:(

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glad it's you *and really glad i have diesel $2.65