Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Wow. I was hoping that I was wrong in my thoughts of $5 regular unleaded by the 4th of July but it looks like it's on the way.
How long will the official economists, the Treasury Secretary, talking heads like Larry Kudlow and the like continue to say that these prices are not affecting Americans. Do they actually talk to anyone or look beyond the historical models and charts to see what is happening or are they going to go by the flawed government reports?
Across the nation companies are seriously concerned about how they are going to operate in a high energy environment. Bank of America as well as many other companies is looking to have their employees work from home since gas is accounting for as much as 1/4 of their employees monthly expenses just to get to work. Others are looking at moving to a 4-day work week.
These moves have tremendous rippling effects on the economy as commercial office space is down-sized, restaurants, retailers, and others that cater to office employees will lose business, etc.
The obvious consequences are starting to show in the numbers as unemployment jumped to 5.5% yesterday.
Wow. I was hoping that I was wrong in my thoughts of $5 regular unleaded by the 4th of July but it looks like it's on the way.
How long will the official economists, the Treasury Secretary, talking heads like Larry Kudlow and the like continue to say that these prices are not affecting Americans. Do they actually talk to anyone or look beyond the historical models and charts to see what is happening or are they going to go by the flawed government reports?
Across the nation companies are seriously concerned about how they are going to operate in a high energy environment. Bank of America as well as many other companies is looking to have their employees work from home since gas is accounting for as much as 1/4 of their employees monthly expenses just to get to work. Others are looking at moving to a 4-day work week.
These moves have tremendous rippling effects on the economy as commercial office space is down-sized, restaurants, retailers, and others that cater to office employees will lose business, etc.
The obvious consequences are starting to show in the numbers as unemployment jumped to 5.5% yesterday.
We need an energy policy now!
Its that time of the year where the federal government mandates that fuel be mixed, adding about $.10 onto a gallon of gas.
That still doesn't explain the speculators "off to the races" actions of Thursday and Friday driving up the price $15 per barrel in just 2 days.
I'm collecting real data by talking to people first hand. They are not driving unless absolutely necessary. They are not buying non-essentials. They're companies are having talks with them about the hardships related to high energy costs. The local car dealers have hundreds of new and used SUVs sitting on the lots with huge mark downs and no buyers. People aren't able to trade their cars in for more efficient ones because in many cases it is worth far less than its loan value and they don't have the cash to pay off the loan.
People are unable to afford the oil to heat their homes. They are fearful of next winter because they barely scraped by this winter spending as much $6000 for home heating oil for their older homes. They can't sell their homes because their Loan/Value ratios are upside down. Municipalities are forcing through large property tax increases due to high operating costs for energy, equipment, and high input costs of raw materials used for maintaining infrastructure.
Which presidential candidate is offering near, medium, and long term solutions to these problems? Are we going to be a leading nation or let OPEC and other countries take control of our economy?
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,777,470 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lincolnian
Wow. I was hoping that I was wrong in my thoughts of $5 regular unleaded by the 4th of July but it looks like it's on the way.
How long will the official economists, the Treasury Secretary, talking heads like Larry Kudlow and the like continue to say that these prices are not affecting Americans. Do they actually talk to anyone or look beyond the historical models and charts to see what is happening or are they going to go by the flawed government reports?
Across the nation companies are seriously concerned about how they are going to operate in a high energy environment. Bank of America as well as many other companies is looking to have their employees work from home since gas is accounting for as much as 1/4 of their employees monthly expenses just to get to work. Others are looking at moving to a 4-day work week.
These moves have tremendous rippling effects on the economy as commercial office space is down-sized, restaurants, retailers, and others that cater to office employees will lose business, etc.
The obvious consequences are starting to show in the numbers as unemployment jumped to 5.5% yesterday.
We need an energy policy now!
The 4 day work week will not save a bit of gas. Zero, none, nada. That said, I am all for a 4 day work week. I would glady trade 5 x 8 for 4 x 10. I would like the have the extra day off. But if they think people are not going to drive on that day off, they are mistaken. People will drive and probably more than if they went to work. And if the day off is on Friday or Monday, that will make the situation even worse because people will be inclined to go on short trips out of town as they do now in holidays which will burn even more fuel. So if they are going to do it, they should choose Wednesday as the day to be off. And a 4 day work week- assuming the office would be closed an extra day- would save on lights and air conditioning at the office. The question is would it be off set by lights and AC at employee homes.
I don't own a car so I've been lucky in that I've probably only paid for about 3-4 tanks of gas in the past two years (as my contribution to a few of road trips), but these high gas prices are causing me a bit of angst as well. My energy costs are up, and all the services that I use such as delivery etc. are raising their prices due to gas, there is a surcharge on taxis, they raised the rates with the car sharing service I use, and airplanes fares are skyrocketing (I had a couple of trips out east planned that I'm starting to rethink ... $300 to fly from Chicago to Boston or NYC, are you kidding me?!?).
kevk that is untrue for individuals. My old company went with that schedule and it meant less commuting overall. Whoever wasn't frugal with savings of that gas- thats on them. Nationally how much will it save? Some, but not nearly enough to satisfy demand. Not every company can be flexible about shift arrangements; site specific, operational demands, the nature of the work being done. Shipping business... world of hurt just gets passed down as cost of doing biz. Cost too much, buy less, ship less.
Lincoln- In every way possible, people need to make themselves self sufficient. Gov't still isn't dealing with root causes, and things will get worse before they get better. I'm worried about americans who've leaned heavily on civilization for generations because if this trend doesn't stop they'll be hurt the most by inflation. Oil touches everything we do. Amish get off the hook because they didn't let it.
Economic warfare? hearts and minds. As if the approval rating could get any lower? Many have been keeping their hearts in their wallets. People will continue to rationalize. It's more of the same poetic coincidence repeating itself, but I'll be considered having 'heuristic bias'. There is my self created argument to disprove my own eyes. Lets see who follows suit predictably.
The 4 day work week will not save a bit of gas. Zero, none, nada. That said, I am all for a 4 day work week. I would glady trade 5 x 8 for 4 x 10. I would like the have the extra day off. But if they think people are not going to drive on that day off, they are mistaken. People will drive and probably more than if they went to work. And if the day off is on Friday or Monday, that will make the situation even worse because people will be inclined to go on short trips out of town as they do now in holidays which will burn even more fuel. So if they are going to do it, they should choose Wednesday as the day to be off. And a 4 day work week- assuming the office would be closed an extra day- would save on lights and air conditioning at the office. The question is would it be off set by lights and AC at employee homes.
What would save would be a return to life the way it was in the 40's or 50's. Back before people felt they had to cool their homes to 65 degrees in the summer and heat them up to 85 degrees in the winter. Stores closed by a certain time and were often closed the whole weekend or at least on Sunday.
People had weekends off work, they had time to sit on the porch, get to know their neighbors, take a walk in the evening. Back then everything someone bought was American-made, and instead of having to replace their things every 2-3 months, they would last almost a life time. It was the norm for a newly married couple to get wedding gifts like toasters and small appliances that they would still be using after the kids left home.
Back before people felt they had to cool their homes to 65 degrees in the summer and heat them up to 85 degrees in the winter.
While this may be true for some I highly doubt it is the norm. Heat your home to 85 degrees? I can't stand it much past 68 degrees. We set our winter thermostat for max of 65 degrees and 62 at night. Although we have central air conditioning I would never set it at that temp. You'd need 3 blankets to be able to sleep at that temperature because of the cold feeling the a/c provides over a heated 65.
In any case, the majority of the oil goes toward automobile travel. That is the problem that truly needs to be tackled. There are solutions for power plants in the medium and long terms with congressional cooperation.
Excellent! A four day work week allows more parents the opportunity to interact with their kids. We have more oil than anyone else, and the largest deposit of coal in the world. We could be Energy independent in a year. What we need is efficiency. In Government and Energy. Hire more engineers and ethical accountants.
Wow. I was hoping that I was wrong in my thoughts of $5 regular unleaded by the 4th of July but it looks like it's on the way.
How long will the official economists, the Treasury Secretary, talking heads like Larry Kudlow and the like continue to say that these prices are not affecting Americans. Do they actually talk to anyone or look beyond the historical models and charts to see what is happening or are they going to go by the flawed government reports?
Across the nation companies are seriously concerned about how they are going to operate in a high energy environment. Bank of America as well as many other companies is looking to have their employees work from home since gas is accounting for as much as 1/4 of their employees monthly expenses just to get to work. Others are looking at moving to a 4-day work week.
These moves have tremendous rippling effects on the economy as commercial office space is down-sized, restaurants, retailers, and others that cater to office employees will lose business, etc.
The obvious consequences are starting to show in the numbers as unemployment jumped to 5.5% yesterday.
We need an energy policy now!
Maybe I'm not understanding but I don't see how a 4 day work week would benefit hourly employees. If I missed a day of work I'd be out $128. I guess it would work if I was able to work four 10 hour days instead of five 8.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
but I don't see how a 4 day work week would benefit hourly employees. If I missed a day of work I'd be out $128. I guess it would work if I was able to work four 10 hour days instead of five 8.
