High Fuel prices Fight Back (SUV, credit, truck, drivers)

[steel7]

The greedy oil companies & OPEC make billions of dollars per yr & will continue to do so. They dont give a damn about us. When judgement day comes im quite sure they all will be going to hell.

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by eagle7

The greedy oil companies & OPEC make billions of dollars per yr & will continue to do so. They dont give a damn about us. When judgement day comes im quite sure they all will be going to hell.

So will a lot of people.

But between now and then, we need to cut down our consumption. That is the ONE thing we actually CAN control.

[AhHereWeGo]

Kreist,
Nice thought but all you'll end up doing is driving the little guys out of business and then the big guys will have a monopoly. For example Safeway, Kroger and Wal-Mart, because they are huge diverse chains that can take a hit, can sell gas far cheaper at the pump than any of the smaller stores can buy it for and they can do it for a long time. If you only bought from the cheapest store sooner or later they alone would control the price because all the other guys would be out of business. As for paying for what gas really costs then you should really talk to the government about ending our subsidies and then you might actually have a reason to complain about the price of gas.

Originally Posted by steel7

The greedy oil companies & OPEC make billions of dollars per yr & will continue to do so. They dont give a damn about us. When judgement day comes im quite sure they all will be going to hell.

Come on since when has ANY company been out to help anyone? They sell their goods to the highest bidder and pay their workers as little a possible. That's the great capitalist system that we praise so much in this country. In that system if you have no money you have no worth. Yes, the people in the oil companies might be at the gates of hell but if so most of us will be standing in line right behind them. We’ll be there for supporting dictators and sending our military, CIA and contractors out to kill people around the world just so we can have cheap gas. Which, we bought from those same companies, thus supporting the companies, the dictators and the wars and then we continue to complain about the price of gas from our comfy air-conditioned motor-vehicle (how’s Saint Peter going to look when he reads those charges off).

Originally Posted by NWPAguy

This will never work. If everyone makes a concerted effort just not to buy gas, then gas will go back down to $1.00/gallon. However... how many of us really will do that? For many of us, we MUST drive or else we won't be able to make money. Maybe there are other things we MUST do and we MUST drive to do them because, for instance, the weather sucks and it's riany or snowy or whatever. (I have errands to run today and the high temperature is going to be 71 in my area. I'd use my bike under those conditions... IF it wasn't pouring.)
[…]
I hate to say this, but the only way that we're going to bring gas prices down is to change our ways. Nobody wants to stop driving, and few people want to give up the safe large vehicles they've been using. So, let's think about other things. Let's erect tons of windmill farms and solar farms, so that our electricity-generating plants don't have to use as much diesel fuel. Let's heat our houses with coal and wood (which DO require more effort from the homeowner than an automatically running electric/oil/gas furnace) instead of oil. Better yet, let's move away from cold areas of the country and into warmer areas, so that heating fuel won't be anywhere near as important.

Also, let's stop using plastic products and go back to metal and glass. Plastic sucks anyway... it's cheap and it breaks easily... and let's face it... if plastic bottles were so great for beverages, why is it that 98% of beer bottles are still glass? Glass comes from SAND. Metal comes from MINES. We have plenty of these in AMERICA. The more plastic products we buy, the more we support OPEC.

Hey, by the way, speaking of supporting OPEC, they are trying to snow us by telling us that prices for oil are high because of increased demand in countries like China and India. Guess what... AMERICA IS TO BLAME FOR THAT. We buy all kinds of cheap garbage from China and outsource our jobs to India... and then we wonder why our economy is faltering while theirs is booming. Those countries are SOCIALIST, for goodness sakes... there are fewer true incentives for businessmen to build businesses in those countries than there are for such people to build businesses in a capitalist country like America... one would think that their economies shouldn't be doing so well. But, Americans have exercised their freedom yet again and have decided as a moronic collective to buy all kinds of stuff that's made in China and patronize companies that moved their call centers to India. I know that sometimes it's impossible to get a particular item that's made in America because all of the manufacturing of that item has been outsourced... but we can still look on the tags and on the boxes, and choose not to purchase something that's made in China. We stop buying from China, their oil demand will plummet and America's gas prices will go down.

People like to thump their tubs about large vehicles and how they are keeping us dependent upon OPEC for oil and blah blah blah blah. Check this out... the average vehicle these days gets a bit more than 20 miles per gallon and the average American drives 12,000-15,000 miles per year. Let's say that it's 20mpg and 15,000 miles per year. One barrel of crude oil is 42 gallons, and it doesn't take an entire gallon of crude to make a gallon of gasoline but for the sake of this approximation, let's say it does. 15,000 miles @ 20mpg = annual gasoline consumption per driver of 750 gallons. 750 gallons is approximately the amount of heating oil that it takes to heat a small house for a Pennsylvania winter. Want to decrease your oil comsumption by half? Change your furnace! You CAN do that. Chances are you CAN'T stop driving.

First of all China is Communist and India is a Democracy. Socialism is an idea not a form of government and being that these countries are so similar in the status of their people despite the fact that they have completely different governments only shows that it is not the form of government or what that country calls itself that matters but the way that the government treats and allows others to treat its people. The idea of Socialism springs from the idea of “government for the people run by the people” (isn’t that what we claim to be as well) and there are many different styles of government that have tried to achieve this. Perhaps if both China and India were a little more Socialist their populations wouldn’t be so easily exploited by large companies.
While I agree with your idea that we should buy more stuff that’s made in the U.S.A. to support workers and jobs here. I don’t think that will have any influence on gas prices or the demand for gas in other countries. After all the other countries are capable of having their citizens buy the goods they produce just like you are advocating we do. Second, companies look for countries where they can exploit the workers; it doesn’t matter if they call themselves Capitalist or not. This would be another reason to buy from the US and other countries that support human rights but that means taxing goods from countries that don’t support human rights (big business has gotten both parties to do away with that) or making a much more enlightened citizenry that doesn’t just buy the cheapest thing out there. I know that’s what you're advocating but good luck on that one, as you pointed out we're just not that smart.

Also, although I agree with your alternative energy suggestion the idea that we switch to metal instead of plastic is misguided because not only does metal (or glass for that matter) not have the same properties that makes plastic so useful, chief among them being both durable and clear, it also takes more oil and gas to mine and refine the metal than it takes to make the plastic and your left with land that is destroyed and not usable for anything else (like nature, recreation, housing or farming). Also again although I agree that you may have savings by switching your heating system or insulating your house better the statement that it doesn’t take a Gallon of crude oil to make a gallon of gasoline defies physics. You can’t start with something and then have more of it after processing it unless you added something else to it in the process. Since gasoline is pulled completely out of crude oil and nothing else is added to make it, it is impossible to have more gasoline than crude oil. In reality it takes 2.1 gallons of crude oil to make 1 gallon of gasoline. [http://www.eia.doe.gov]
By-the-way, your not made out of sugar. Why are your afraid to ride your bike in the rain? Is there lightning, if so why not just wait till later?

I hate to say it but even if the price of gas goes down in the short term It will only rise in the long term and you better get used to it and ether start adjusting your lifestyle to use less gas or start going without other stuff so you can afford the gas. It won’t be getting any cheaper for long.

[jtur88]

What's with the "Thread Summary" at the top? How did he do that?

[Nativechief]

This idea is the only thing that can be done to put any kind of pressure on the record profit oil companies. Sure we will continue to buy gas but just NOT from the ones we want to send a message to. They will get the message when 1000s of there outlets sit idle for a few weeks.and there will be nothing they can do about it but lower prices or close their stores

[Douglas Dakota]

I don't think this will work, for 2 reasons:

1.) Oil companies KNOW you will need the fuel any time. Instead of lowering prices, they may even raise the price because you will have to buy some fuel later, when you run out of gas. How long can you live without? How much do you have to buy after this period to fill up all your tanks?

2.) The US is only one country, Oil is a commodity traded around the whole world. By a lower demand for a certain time, you may lower the price on the world market by a few cents, oil and gas will be sold in Europe, Asia and other countries instead of the US.

There is no way to fight high fuel expenses but lowering your own consumption by buying fuel efficient cars. Gas will become more and more expensive, if you like it or not. Metal is nor alternative, because its production needs more energy than plastics. One possiblity would be biological plastics made from wood, fibres or any other non-crude-oil material.
A market always works like this: A good is more expensive if more people want it and if it is rare. Oil is rare and and more and more people (Asia) want it. There is NO way around...

[jc76]

The only way to come out a little on top is to get a car that is really really good on gas. Trade in your gas guzzling Trailblazer for a Civic or a Cruze or something. If you require a big truck for your business/work etc I dont know what to tell ya. But if your a regular commuter get rid of the gas hogs, or stop whining about the prices because the oil companies are not going to change, so you have to.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Douglas Dakota

I don't think this will work, for 2 reasons:

1.) Oil companies KNOW you will need the fuel a... How long can you live without?

2.) The US is only one country, Oil is a commodity traded around the whole world. ...

There is no way to fight high fuel expenses but lowering your own consumption ...There is NO way around...

Originally Posted by jc76

The only way to come out a little on top is to get a car that is really really good on gas. ,,,

gas. - get a grease burner

50 mpg since 1976, no OPEC, No Dinosaurs, No toxic batteries required.
I have over 3,000,000 fleet miles - check your neighbors brier patch for a StealthRabbit. Got my last one for $35.00. Yep, Thirty-Five Bucks, for the whole enchilada (BTW: good waste grease for FREE FUEL at Mexican and Chinese food joints).

This thing will run on any Diesel equivalent; peanut oil, Jet-A, waste crankcase oil, kerosene, heating oil, transmission fluid, canola and mustard oil (are its favorites),

Algae is on the horizon Commercial-scale algae production could be on the horizon in Australia | INTERNATIONAL AVIATION NEWS

BUT.... Be Advised.... NO CHEAP Fuel in the future. Get used to it, or break your addiction.

[rbohm]

every time gas prices go up, there is always someone who comes up with a plan to force gas prices lower through some sort of boycott, be it dont buy gas on a certain day, or dont buy from the top sellers, or what ever. the problem with these plans is that they NEVER work.

lets say that we decide to never buy gas from the top three big oil companies until gas prices go down to say $2.00 per gallon. that sounds fine in theory, but the problems are many. for instance can you really tell who sells gas from what company? you may think you know but the reality is you dont. remember a few things;

1: all gasoline sold in this country comes down the SAME pipelines from the refinery to the tank farms, regardless of who's name is on the pump.

2: if we never buy gas from exxon/mobile ever again, then two things will happen,

a: they will sell more gasoline through private sellers, and
b: they will change the name of their company to something else quietly

3: when you refuse to buy gasoline from any company brand, you are not hurting the oil company itself, you are hurting ONLY the retailer who has a contract with that particular company for buying gasoline. so it may say exxon, or shell on the sign, but that only means that is the name of the company from which they buy their gasoline from.

boycotts dont work anymore, in any way shape or form, and it boggles the mind that people still think they do.

[Nativechief]

If boycotts dont ever work maybe we need to tell CUBA that they have been complaining for nothing the past 45 years. lol