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Fuel Prices...

a_unique_person said:
Blaming the victim.
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Victim of their own decisions. Only one person to blame for that.
Bush has made no annoucements that people should be planning, (which is what you have to do with such long term aspects of your life as work), to factor in higher fuel costs in their lives.
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Well I know I look to Bush when I want to plan my life...:rolleyes:
That is, Bush should have been passing laws to ensure greater energy efficiency in buildings, penalising high fuel consumption cars, etc, years ago. And the Dems for that matter, but they would be too timid to do such things while the Republicans would attack them for doing so. Public transport should be improved. There are many practical things that can be done besides starting wars and making vague statements about hydrogen.
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You should be happy about high gass prices, less people using gasoline, less GW. What's the problem here?
 
I am talking about shoving the inevitable oil price rise under the carpet, and not warning people that it was going to happen. The government can't force people to change their ways, it can at least advise them that the good times can't last, and to consider that when making some major life choices.
 
In other news, a recent poll shows that 99% of all Americans think other people should take public transportation to work and drive more fuel efficient cars.
 
Magyar said:
...And govt could do something about oil prices as well or at least it's effects.
GPM standards are being held down because the big 2 don't want to invest in it so they pay off congress and doesn't get done. They could make those SUVs get twice the mileage they do with tech that exist RIGHT now. IT would cost $600-$800 to implement but this wouldn't be profit so they don't do it!
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How 'bout RIGHT NOW you prove this?

Also, there is RIGHT NOW a Mercedes 300z(maybe Z, I forgot and I don't have the link in on this PC, that cost -/+ $1000 the same as the US 300 version available in Canada that gets 60 MPG. Guess what - Mercedes is not allowed to sell it in the US and It is ILLEGAL to import it into the US! I wonder WHO got that little gem passed!
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Here is the list of Mercedes-Benz cars for sale RIGHT NOW, according to Mercedes-Benz Canada. Not a 300 among 'em.
 
roger said:
All I know is that my oil and energy stocks have been going through the roof. Yay gas hikes!
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I seem to always manage to miss the boat on these things. I was dead broke before google.com went public, and now the high gas prices and my low income are eating into my discretionary funds - which I'd love to be able to use right now to buy petro-stocks.
 
I predict this will put more people on government assistance than reganomics. When driving to work cost a days pay whats the point in working?
 
Rob Lister said:
I think bush is to blame, along with congress.

We can't drill any new holes anywhere near or even in the us without jumping through hundreds of hoops (but even cuba seems to have no difficulty in doing so in the south atlantic).

The mixture requirements vary from state to state

The government (state mostly) is taking a far bigger slice of the profits (per gallon) than the oil companies

Nuclear power sanity could vastly reduce heating oil/natural gas requirements to free up resources for other energy uses

Refinaries remain at or near max capacity

yada.

eta:

Plus!

They're wasting money on Hydrogen/wind/solar technology

They're all ignoring heavy investment battery technolgy (which actually might work)

Okay, I'm done ranting.
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Brazil has become energy independent by using ethanol. The technology already exists, and we could be turning toward it now. And there is NO reason to drill in the ANWR.
 
jimtron said:
Perhaps this is what Magyar was referring to?
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Fair enough. Smart is a division of Daimler-Chrylser, though I don't know how he would've got "300Z" out of any of their models. I'll check to see if Smart is available in Canada.

In any event, the reason they have not been legal for sale in the U.S. is because they were not engineered to comply with various Federal requirements, such as those for crashworthiness. Too, setting up a dealer network is costly. They could be placed in MB dealerships, but stocking parts and training service personnel ain't cheap.

There has been effort for a number of years, it should be said, to bring Smart to the U.S. by way of private entrepreneurs retrofitting them for compliance and offering them for sale. This has been done in the past for many non-U.S. cars, such as those from Citroen, Lotus, and even Mercedes. And voila, a quick google reveals you can purchase a Smart today.

So even if the Smart microcar (I've driven one, and the term certainly applies) is what Maygar was referring to, he/she is mistaken to suggest that there's anything nefarious keeping them from consumers in this country.
 
Jimbo07 said:
here:

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6817
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Interesting. One more reason U.S. sugar producing and pricing policies are idiotic. Article cites several favorable conditions Brazil has - lots of land, areas with lots of rain, and lots of cheap labor.

U.S. has all that, too (thank FSM for Mexicans...).

Interesting. I wasn't aware of this. Somehow I don't think it has a prayer of happening here. Too bad - it wouldn't hurt for the oil industry to have a little competition.

There may be reason to drill, but is it a good or even sufficient reason? I don't know.
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'Sokay, I wasn't asking you. Just 'cuz you answer one of my questions to Mark doesn't mean you have to answer all of them... ;)
 
BPSCG said:
Remember all those folks who were saying a year or two ago, "They should add fifty cents a gallon to the gas tax. That would make people start thinking about saving gas"?

I'll bet they're happy now, right?
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I'm not sure.
They're now calling for a return to rationing.
I can handle that, but they also want the return of polyester leisure suits, big ugly gold medallions, and disco, which I cannot handle. :(

P.S. Why not a windfall profits tax on rising house prices instead?
 
Solitaire said:
P.S. Why not a windfall profits tax on rising house prices instead?
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Because homeowners vote, and ExxonMobil doesn't. Gotta make sure you don't gore the wrong ox.

Or as the old congressmen's ditty goes:
"Don't tax you,
Don't tax me,
Tax that guy
Behind the tree."
 
The last time I filled up my gas tank, it cost $38 and it wasn't dead empty either. I still had a couple gallons left in my tank.


Mainers driven to guzzle less


By KEVIN WACK, Portland Press Herald Writer


John Prejean, 37, used to ride his fuel-efficient Suzuki motorcycle only when temperatures rose into the 50s. These days, with the sharp spike in the price of gas, he's riding in colder weather.

"Before it was recreational, and now it's a commuter vehicle," Prejean said Wednesday. "It's truly gone from a toy to a tool."

A gallon of regular gasoline in Maine now costs 72 cents more than it did a year ago and 45 cents more than it did just a month ago, according to AAA Northern New England. Nationally, some estimates put the price at $3.50 or even $4 per gallon this summer.
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"People are really starting to look at gasoline as part of the budget, which they really never did before," Casey said.

Around 3 p.m. Wednesday, John Kennie of Gorham stopped to fill his Chevrolet truck at the Stop and Shoppe gas station on Portland's Riverside Street. He said he always stops fueling at $30 because - even if he has to get gas more frequently - it feels better.

Kennie said he also has taken real steps to curtail his gas consumption. He used to drive to his camp in Kennebec County every week, but he's had to cut back.

"Now we're likely to go once a month," Kennie said. "It just costs too much to drive that hour and a half."
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http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/060427gas.shtml
 
BPSCG said:
Cite?
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Been all over the news lately.

A three-decade-long alternative energy campaign has outfitted Brazilian filling stations with fuel pumps that offer pure ethanol, a blend of gasoline and 20% ethanol called gasohol, or even natural gas. This year, Brazil will achieve energy independence — a goal the United States has been chasing without success since the energy crises of the 1970s.
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http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-03-28-brazil-ethanol-cover_x.htm?POE=TECISVA
 
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