Thursday, May 22, 2008
Gas Rant
I just checked out smellshorsey's post on using mules because of the high cost of fuel. We have been joking about riding our horses down the road too. This weekend coming up we could go to a couple different shows, but decided to stay home because it would cost $150 to go to one show and nearly $400 to go to the other. It cost Gerald almost $130 to fill his tank. Diesel is so much more then gas. I do not see the government stepping up to try and resolve these issues. No reducing speed limits, car pool commercials, reduced taxes, nothing! I remember when they reduced speed limits and the truck drivers got together and formed a convoy in protest. Why can't the schools limit students driving to school? They did that when I was in high school. You received a permit to park if you had a job after school or a school activity that kept you off the bus. I'm tired of my tax dollars going to the school district anyways. Of $6000 over half goes to the schools in town. I guess it bothers me more because I don't have kids. The school bus is half empty and the parking lots over filling. The fuel prices are going to start keeping a lot more people home!
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18 comments:
I'm with you about not letting kids drive to school just because they can. Lots of those kids driving to school around here are just getting into lots of trouble because they have the mobility that a car gives them.
I know down here in Lousisana, they are going to take the state tax away from the price of gas for the winter months. They are trying to help a little. It is still way to expensive. I don't leave the house much. I would go back to cart and buggy! It's cheaper!
Gas here last night, when Dear Huisband came home from work, was $3.85, Diesel $4.55.
In the news this morning, crude was $135.09 per barrell. The Yahoo news story I read said it is expected to reach $141 by the end of the week.
That means we will soon see $4.00 per gallon here as well.
I go no where, Dear Husband only leaves to go to work. I am not sure what we are going to do about our clients- and right now I feel it is a GOOD thing that we do not rely on trimming for a living. Clients can haul to us for work, no problem- but good Lord why? Look at the extra cost!
We have joked about riding the horses down the road to the store to grab that stray gallon of milk, and I tell you what- if they had someplace to tie the mare, I would get a damn PT job there. The PT job would have to be GAS MONEY, so that we could pay food, electric, phone, cable.
I tell ya Callie, I have got to stop reading things like that in the morning. It spiraled me right down into a FUNK, and I have not been able to shake it today.
Sorry to break this to y'all, but it isn't going to get better right now. I think we're gonna see in excess of $5.00 a gallon by autumn. And the price of gas is just going to add to inflation. You think groceries and gas are high now, watch in the autumn. Down right depressing. This will be considered the good ole days. Oil prices will not stable out until demand dramatically decreases. Folks, time to start conserving was a decade ago or at least 8 years ago.....if ya know what I mean.
Ahhmmm... Callie, you may not want to allow this comment from me here, but I have to say it.
1) Freaking Drill Anwar already!
2) Coal can be turned into gas. Think not? Nazi Germany, at the height of WWII was producing 60,000 barrels per day. Do ya want to know the massive numbers of coal we are sitting on, here, in the US? The Metric TONS upon TONS?
I'll stop now Callie, so that you don't have to spank me....
Boy, you aren't the only ones. This was the big conversation at the grocery store this morning. Right after I paid $4.70 a gallon for diesel. Bout killed me.
Like y'all, I don't go anywhere if I don't have to. And last night I started looking up solar cars and electric vehicles. Not even kidding, we're really looking at getting one. We can get a lil truck, goes 40 mph for $12k. I said it would pay itself off in a year. And imagine not using ANY gas. We'd keep the big diesel truck to haul the horse trailer and use the solar truck for little local stuff.
I think this is going to get very very scary by the end of the year. What appalls me is that the government isn't offering any solutions. Where are the big car makers? Why aren't the marketing these cars???
Check out this site. This is what we're looking at
http://www.cruisecarinc.com/
Diesel is something like $15 a gallon here!
Luckily for me, I'm 2 miles from town and the local government has provided a bicycle route. From town, there are 2 trains hourly to the nearest city, and up to 4 an hour to London (60 miles in 40 minutes). There is even an off-road cycle trail that passes the stable, 10 miles from here.
Unfortunately gas made from coal will be even more expensive, and relatively inefficient to produce. One reason why the Nazis lost the war was that, even with "alternative" sources of gas, they hadn't anywhere near enough.
The answer for the US actually stares it in the face. The huge desert areas are excellent for producing solar energy. The technology is improving to the point where it is a viable proposition. It's been calculated that an area 100 miles x 100 miles is needed to generate all Europe's energy needs. (Unfortunately, Europe's nearest suitable bright sunny land is in North Africa.) You'd need something like 100 miles x 200 miles devoted solely to power generation for your houses, businesses, electric cars, etc. It's easy enough to do, is safely located on your own territory, and Alaska doesn't have to be harvested of oil shale. Oh, and the hay fields won't have to be turned over to canola for biodiesel, so everyone can keep their horses.
It will not get better until there is a commitment by this and other governments around the world.
Gas will hit $6.00 by the end of the year and inflation will take off big time.
Meanwhile the oil companies will continue to make excessive profits
Jess is right
Bring back speed limits
Cut back on kids using cars or cut down on the school busses
Start giving LARGE and I Mean large subsidies for people to put solar energy on thier roofs or the latest small wind turbines
Make companies like Walmart use more local produce
Put additional taxes on new less fuel efficient cars and give tax breaks for fuel efficient cars
There are tons of things that could be done by governments if they are committed to it
And yes Mrs Mom there is no reason we should not use more coal just make energy companies use latest technology which would make it as clean as any other fuel
Those are just the ideas from me who does not consider myself that smart think of to start with off the top of my head so surely these highly paid "highly inteligent politicians who we pay" could come up with even more better ideas
Check this out
http://thepeoplehistory.blogspot.com/2007/10/oil-1130-per-barrel.html
The year was 1975 oil cost $13.00 a barrel and henry Kissenger said with investment the world could move to renewable energy resources.
I know I want a wind turbine to produce electricity and the goshdamn WE energies can start payin' me. Lousy bastards!
I agree 100% with Transylvania Horseman. He has given great solutions to this energy crisis. It's not going to get any better until alternate resources are found and put to use.
There's too many oil companies in political pockets! Unless individuals get the point across by doing it ourselves. We're seriously looking into the wind turbine.
I was in Burlington Wisconsin to see my chiropractor and get my hair cut. I meet my sister for dinner so the trip is worth it. It's about 85 miles. Gas there is $4.09 a gallon. Most of the people I know plan on staying home this weekend. The oil companies are shutting us down with their greed. We are looking into putting in the outside woodburning furnace. Gerald has 2 patches of woods that need to be cleaned up and these burn any type of wood. It will pay for itself in 2 years or less. The wind turbines are a great idea. We are going to try and put in a little bigger garden to save money too.
as i told mikey..diesel is over 5 bucks her...unleaded over 4...my hubs says he is going to start riding our horses to work...he's dead serios lol
I know, Jen, it's a mess and only going to get worse.
Here the diesel is very expensive too. ( I'm in France)
PUT BIG OIL AND THEIR ELECTED CRONIES ON NOTICE!!!!!!!!!!!
Help participate by sending this out to every person you know. Get the ball rolling on something that we as a global society need to address.
IF YOU ARE TIRED OF PAYING A RIDICULOUS PRICE PER GALLON AT THE GAS PUMP PLEASE PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS MESSAGE.
I am starting this e-protest as a reasonable means of reaching 300,000,000 Americans and at least as many of our global cousins.
It is very simple......
We as a global culture MUST WORK TOGETHER......
This means that we must all AGREE to do one thing as a group.....
Right now you are asking yourself HOW CAN I CHANGE THE PRICE OF GAS?
Simple.... Join together and collectively act.....
DO NOT BUY GAS FOR THE FIRST WEEK EACH MONTH!!!
I am calling upon all individuals who purchase gas to not buy gas for one whole week each month.
Fill up on the last week of the month and COMMIT to not buy gas or any products from a gas station from the 1st of each month to the 7th of each month.
I know that I am asking for a huge change in your weekly lifestyle. It will mean carefully considering the number of miles that are absolutely necessary to drive in that week
and not driving unless it is an absolute necessity.
One more thing and this is THE big one. This will only work if every person who receives this message passes it along to every person on their email list.
This is the most critical part. The average person has around 70 email addresses in their contact list, If every person I sent this to forwards it to their whole contact
list that will be over 5000 people.....if these all forward it to about 70 people thats over 340,000 people, if these all participate it will be over 24,000,000 people.
That is only after the third generation of emails if each of these 24,000,000 participate, that is almost 1.5 billion people.
PLEASE DON'T DISCARD THIS EMAIL, SEND IT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, AND FOLLOW UP WITH THEM TO SEND IT TO EVERYONE THEY KNOW!
I AM NOT ASKING FOR MORE THAN A COUPLE OF HOURS OF YOUR TIME. THIS IS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY TO PREVENT THE OIL COMPANIES FROM
RAISING THE PRICE OF GAS TO MORE THAN THE HOURLY MINIMUM WAGE!!!!!
If you are not sure just how this could work think about how much impact
BIG OIL and THE FEDERAL GOVT. will feel if over 1,000,000 people stop buying their weekly gas just one week a month.
If you are like the average consumer and you fill up just once a week at around $50.00 and you multiply this figure by 1 million,
That's 50 million dollars a month that hits hard immediately. Long term it's over HALF A BILLION DOLLARS a year. Now suppose this happens over the course of three to four months,
and the participation continued to escalate as I have outlined. The results would have to be in our favor. The number of gallons of fuel processed and delivered are carefully
calculated by the oil companies based on the number of gallons sold in the previous months and years...
If the fuel consumption goes down, the amount produced and on standby becomes a backlog situation...
If there is a glut of fuel left over at the end of each month for a few months the Oil Companies have no choice but to lower the price to get the fuel moved!
The result LOWER PRICES AT THE PUMP!!!!! IT"S HIGH TIME WE AS CITIZENS OF AN EMERGING GLOBAL SOCIETY
STARTED TO PUT THESE COMPANIES ON NOTICE. WE ARE THE ONES WHO ULTIMATELY CONTROL THE MARKET BECAUSE WE ARE THE MARKET!!!!!!
Please take this seriously We are only going to change the status quo if we refuse to let the suppliers dictate the rules.
PLEASE COPY THIS POST AND FORWARD IT TO EVERY PERSON ON YOUR CONTACT LIST. PLEASE FOLLOW UP AND MAKE SURE EACH OF YOUR CONTACTS FORWARDS IT ALSO.
Yep... Our local gas station is advertising $5.19 per gallon for diesel... a bi product of gas! You cannot help but make diesel when you make gas!! Aaaahhhh!!
I am so glad this subject is drawing all this attention! I am just an average guy who works for a living...
I have done everything from working as a die-cast operator to turning a wrench on heavy equipment. I have only recently learned to build websites and really "USE" the inter-net. I thought this thing was a pipe dream when I first encountered it in 1992. I am inclined to think this is the best and only real way for consumers to stay informed and fight back when we are being so obviously abused by BIG BUSINESS and BIG GOVT. I don't stand to gain any more than the next person by GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT... I only hope the people who have seen my first response to the gas rant take it seriously! I know it's much easier to complain about something than to ACT to CHANGE IT!
I KNOW...Because I used to think I was just one voice crying out to see the change. I KNOW... Because I used to think that one persons actions would not make any difference. I KNOW... Because I was too lazy, too busy, too unsure, too (insert excuse here) TO ACT! But I am through waiting for someone else to act...I AM GOING TO ACT! I am urging each and every person to join me in pledging NOT TO BUY GAS FOR THE FIRST WEEK EACH MONTH! I further am pledging to send this message to at least 1000 people personally and to follow up with them to see that those who I contacted will FOLLOW THROUGH! If we can slow down the rate at which we as a country use fuel even on a fractional level, WE CAN EFFECT A CHANGE IN THE PRICE! Please JOIN this FIGHT to reduce the rate at which we are having our piece of the American Dream stripped from us
by corporate greed.
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