at 2.42 a gallon here, Man, I am SOOOOO glad I don't own an SUV (overpriced suburbia gas guzzling status symbols), when I drive next to one in my little bitty car, I can honestly think "Man it would suck to be them, making 500.00 a month payments and 2.42 a gallon with a 20 gallon tank to fill"...:H Why is gas so high? Is it Bush, OPEC, this thing they are calling a war, or the SUV's who are guzzling away all oil? Glad it's spring, I can walk most everywhere I need to go. What are your thoughts? Carly
Well, some would mention supply and demand, others would say that nice weather is coming so there will be more drive (harkens back to supply and demand), others would say it's Bush, but it comes down to a handfull of greedy old bastards feeling that they don't have enough of your money. And they know they have you over a barrel (pun not intended).
One of the reasons is the Chinese are getting enough wealth so that many of them can afford cars,and use fuel for industrial purposes too.With the increase in speed limits a few years back,and the size and horsepower boosts here...All together we are all using a lot more gas/oil than a few years ago. There are increased security costs too,since fuel supplies are prime targets,and that also makes the market price higher.More risk/ more cost.Higher prices arte here to stay,and if anything happens they could easily double what they are now in a year or two.
Did you know that there are only five refineries that make all the gasoline for this country? If anyone took one or more out,there would be a huge drop in supply and there would be shortages.If somebody were to destroy several this country would grind to a sudden stop.
Anyone notice it always goes up when spring gets here. Time for travel and vacations. I think it's some money hungry peeps just out for what they can drain from us.
Hiya Carly. If you want my Hippy answer, it all comes down to ONE word. Greed. The kind of people who control the prices, want to control the world. I mean, they've got US by the wallet. We've GOTTA follow....
I hardly drove at all while I was young.I didn't get a license until I was about 35 and needed one to make pick ups for the co-op I worked for.I would love to see a few million people get out on their bikes and quit driving unless it was really important or unless they couldn't for one reason or another. Walk, take the bus, Help your neighbors, There is a lot we could do that would be cheaper, safer, and more fun,if we would all get off our behinds and try it.
The U.S. govt has done nothing to encourage people to conserve. At least it used to run public service announcements in the 70s to get people to conserve energy. Now, Bush says conserving energy is a 'personal decision' not an obligation. Although, there are many other things the Bush adminstration feels aren't personal decisions but should be decided by the federal government. BTW, things are beginning to look like the energy crisis days of the 70s. Congress wants to increase daylight savings by two months. Nixon did something similar by keeping daylight savings going all year. Some of the older folks will remember. Parents got upset because their kids were going to school in the dark. http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/07/daylight.saving.ap/index.html When all else fails, leave it to politicians to try to come up with a cheap solution to a major problem. .
Also, there were a lot of gullible people who thought the Iraq invasion would bring $1 a gallon gas prices. All it did was create uncertainty and speculation on the market, which raised prices. .
Just a note here: Back in the first gas shortage, when was it 73'? Anyway out around Pittsburgh my uncle had a little 3 pump filling station out on the four lane so I'd help him out. Back then nobody pumped their own gas. So the shortage hit and it got ugly. My uncle wore a revolver on his hip, out in the open as a warning. The cars would line up for a 1/8 mile in the slow lane blocking it completely. I think we would limit how much we'd give them. Then we'd pump till the tanks went dry, didn't take long. Then the rowdies would get pissed an accuse ya of holding out, so you'd have to squeeze the handle an show em that nothing came out. Then we'd lay the hose down..didn't dare hang it up on the pump. Meanwhile if an ambulance or fire truck would pull in we'd try to always give them some gas to keep them running, course john Q didn't like that either. Meanwhile, meanwhile the gas tankers had to run in convoys with national guard trucks front and back and helicopters over head. Seems people were shooting at them. Course we never hear that this stuff happened today.
A surgeon I have worked with lives on a 12-acre lot in a house built in the 70s. It has its own underground gas storage tank. The previous owner put the tank in during the 70s and had his own gas shipped in so he would never be out of luck during the shortages. Locking gas caps became popular in the late 70s and early 80s, as people were stealing each other's gas.
The media sure kept quiet about that giant oil refinery explosion in Texas a few weeks ago. I haven't heard anything about it since. The media immediately ruled out sabotage the day it happened. How can anyone rule out sabotage that quickly?
I remember when the 70's when cars were backed out into the street at gas stations trying to get gas while tankers off shore just sat there full.
Given the mind(?)-set of a majority of "We the people", another reason might be that the rising prices will lend credibility to the call to drill, drill, drill in ANWR. Most of "We the people" either won't know or won't believe that the amount of obtainable oil is roughly 2.6% of our need NOW and that it will be at least seven years before peak production is reached once the first bit hits the earth. Instead they will feel the bite in their ass as they (we) pay more and more and will then be DEMANDING their God-given natural resource in ANWR. And fuck a bunch of caribou.
I'm the type who would TRADE my driving privelages for the ability to take me grandchildren camping! Horses don't use fossil fuels, nor polute. Except for the methane we all produce anyway!
