All in Favor of Lowering Gas Prices

[Excalibur]

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. Its worth your consideration.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by this summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.



This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that ' <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>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. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that

 

[Cil]

Snopes has a few skeptical words about this.

 

[Smiling JOe]

What is the idea? I don't see it. However, today, I did see that gasoline in Freeport is now over $2.94 for regular gas. Last week, it was $2.79.9 per gal. My bet is still $3.19 for regular gas in this area by Memorial Day weekend.

The way to get the prices down is for congress to act. Brasil expects to be self reliant on energy source by next year. The gov't in Brasil now requires all automobiles brought into the country run off of ethanol. Ethanol is produced from sugar, which Brasil produces readily. We could do it too if the govt or people really cared more about it, rather than the caring about their lobbyist pals and croanies.

edit:Cancel that, I just read the snopes link and also checked my email and now have three emails on this urban legend email.

 

[Grayton Kid]

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. Its worth your consideration.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by this summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.



This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that ' <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>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. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that

i mean jeese i dont drive yet and im complaining it crazy those prices

 

[DBOldford]

This one is going to get major tomatoes, I know. Count me in the distinct minority of people who believe that our gasoline prices are TOO LOW, relatively speaking. We are now paying over $3 per gallon in northern CA, supposedly the highest in the nation. I don't think we are ever going to think seriously about conservation until gasoline is far more expensive. In all the European (and other) countries, gasoline is two to three times the prices we pay. They use the extra taxes to build and maintain superior public transportation systems in their cities and wonderful train routes connecting virtually every city and town. And they also give some thought to transportation when making land use decisions.

The husband and I try to consolidate trips for everything and take some form of public transportation for most trips into San Francisco (ferry, BART, carpooling, etc.). As a result, each of us buys one tank of gas per month. One interesting thing about the airport limosine service is that you can whiz by and peer down into all the cars queued up during rush hour. I am always amazed that practically every car is a large SUV with one person inside, with their music and their Starbucks and their cell phone all engaged at once. Some people are actually reading or applying makeup or even eating their breakfast or changing clothes. These cars have become like living rooms on wheels. There's gotta be a better use of one's time and money. Do commuters really enjoy their "quiet time" on the freeways, like so many of them claim? And most of these folks appear to be dressed for jobs that are, shall we say, not in the executive offices. How do they afford it? And what ever happened to conservation?

I believe that Americans will make huge sacrifices and efforts for the right cause. All we need is the right leader to ask the right questions of us. "Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, double shame on me; fool me....ahh, you just can't fool me again"...blah, blah, blah. Key emphasis on "fool" and one is coming to our town this Friday, using tens of thousands of gallons of jet and motor fuel for the entourage, all to make a fundraising speech in an effort to get more money to re-elect the same fools who got us where we are today. Okay, I'm climbing off the soapbox.

 

[Chickpea]

This one is going to get major tomatoes, I know. Count me in the distinct minority of people who believe that our gasoline prices are TOO LOW, relatively speaking. We are now paying over $3 per gallon in northern CA, supposedly the highest in the nation. I don't think we are ever going to think seriously about conservation until gasoline is far more expensive. In all the European (and other) countries, gasoline is two to three times the prices we pay. They use the extra taxes to build and maintain superior public transportation systems in their cities and wonderful train routes connecting virtually every city and town. And they also give some thought to transportation when making land use decisions.

The husband and I try to consolidate trips for everything and take some form of public transportation for most trips into San Francisco (ferry, BART, carpooling, etc.). As a result, each of us buys one tank of gas per month. One interesting thing about the airport limosine service is that you can whiz by and peer down into all the cars queued up during rush hour. I am always amazed that practically every car is a large SUV with one person inside, with their music and their Starbucks and their cell phone all engaged at once. Some people are actually reading or applying makeup or even eating their breakfast or changing clothes. These cars have become like living rooms on wheels. There's gotta be a better use of one's time and money. Do commuters really enjoy their "quiet time" on the freeways, like so many of them claim? And most of these folks appear to be dressed for jobs that are, shall we say, not in the executive offices. How do they afford it? And what ever happened to conservation?

I believe that Americans will make huge sacrifices and efforts for the right cause. All we need is the right leader to ask the right questions of us. "Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, double shame on me; fool me....ahh, you just can't fool me again"...blah, blah, blah. Key emphasis on "fool" and one is coming to our town this Friday, using tens of thousands of gallons of jet and motor fuel for the entourage, all to make a fundraising speech in an effort to get more money to re-elect the same fools who got us where we are today. Okay, I'm climbing off the soapbox.

Donna, Well said - :clap_1: :clap_1: I heard Jo Biden on Real Time with Bill Maher and he suggested that with all the good will the American People had with George Bush post 911 that HAD he asked for a collectice sacrifice (ie: energy conservation and focus on renewables and less dependence on gas) everyone would have rallied around and supported the cause.
Having spent a large portion of my life in Europe I also agree with you about our being spoilt here. We will keep seening escalations and maybe finally (?) can have the auto industry stop the insane growth of gas guzzling tanks!

 

[Smiling JOe]

Donna, color me red. Just last week I was telling my Dad a similar thing -- not that gas prices were too low, just that they were too low for anyone to give enough of a crap about changing things. I told him that IMO, the best thing for the long term is that the gas prices go to $4-5 per gallon, making Americans, car manufactorers, or Congress seek alternatives for energy/fuel sources. Pehaps we could even start having farmers actually farm for profit. Most farmers in the area in which I grew up are selling out to developers or just not planting at all, because after all the work and cost, they are not getting paid anything. The only cash crop remaining in this country is Marijuana, and the gov't likes to take the farmers land when they see it growing.

For the car manufactorers, they need to start by cutting back horsepower, except for RiverOtter's autos, from 260hp+ down to a reasonable 180-215hp for standard vehicles. Don't get me started. My blood pressure just shot up.

 

[DBOldford]

SJ, I absolutely agree. In fact, if gas prices increased to $15 per gallon or so for about three consecutive months, people would be truly amazed at how effective their conservation measures could be.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Kudos to you all for stepping up to the plate. It is easy to sit here bemoaning the fact that gas prices have gone up. We have enjoyed low prices for way too long and have companies building more gas evaporators than ever before. I agree Americans have become spoiled and complacent. I am one of them at times. I can understand why citizens of other countries look at our country as a whole and see the ugly. Even though we are a generous nation with the dollar, actions speak louder than cash. What happened to government for and by the people?

 

[SlowMovin]

Interesting link here showing the break down of costs going into a gallon of gasoline. I apologize for not simply pasting the chart in here, but I couldn't get it to format in a readable fashion.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html

It is from the California Dept. of Energy. Presumably, any state-specific costs are for CA only.

Some highlights:

• The single largest cost item is the crude oil price. Not surprising given tensions in the mid-East, the approaching storm season, summer driving demand increases, etc.
• For some reason, they lumped refinery costs and profits together. If we assume a profit margin of 10% (which is approximately what Exxon-Mobile reported as their margin in their last SEC filing) then the profits are about 26 cents and refinery costs are around 37 cents.
• Taxes in toto come to 57 cents which makes them the second largest cost to oil companies after crude oil prices.

Question: Given that Exxon-Mobil reported a profit margin of 10% and their profit level was subsequently referred to as "obscene" by many, what do you believe a fair profit margin for a company should be? And, what do you believe should be done to enforce a limit on business profits? [Note that since it would not be fair to single out a given company, it would have to apply not just to Exxon-Mobil but to all businesses--the Red Bar, Bud & Alley's, vacation rental properties, etc.]

Side note: Coca-Cola's most recently reported profit margin was around 21%.