Gas $4.00 a gallon

[navyvetcv60]

Check this link out, http://www.ilovephysics.com/archives/2006/04/27/the-cost-of-a-gallon-of-gas/

For y'all that hate "big business" the oil companies only make 8% proofit on a gallon of gas. The bad guy's here are the State and Ferderal Governments, they make more $ on a gal. of gas then anybody, and they do nothing to find the oil, drill for it, refine it, and transport it to gas stations.
So please check out the link above and inform yourselves.

 

[Phoenix44]

This has nothing to do with hating big business. In 2006, Exxon-Mobil made more profit than any corporation in the entire history of corporations. And in 2007, they beat that! Yet they're still getting tax breaks, presumably for more R&D. So Navyvetcv60, in fact, taxes DO contribute to finding, drilling, refining, and transporting--it comes in the form of those tax breaks. It seems to me that corporate profit should be funding their R&D--not our tax money.

We have to use less oil. It's not a renewable resource--it's finite. Plus, it puts us at the mercy of foreign governments that do not have our interests at heart--some are downright hostile. You can't just keep on expecting to squeeze out a little more gasoline from, let's say, ANWR. There just isn't enough there.

IMO, the decreased demand for oil (and lower prices) has to come from more than one direction.

Firstly, consumers have to demand cars that get better mileage, and ultimately, cars that utilize renewable fuel. If consumers refuse to buy gas guzzlers, auto manufacturers won't make them. Now, if you like your gas guzzler, then quit complaining--for one thing, you won't be helping to create the market forces moving us away from oil.

I also happen to think that government should nudge the auto manufacturers along with CAFE standards. And our government should also give better rebates and incentives to buy solar and other renewable energy sources. It took me 6 months to get the solar panels for my house!!! Why? Most PV cells are made in the US. But the people in Europe and Japan can afford to buy the panels at a higher price because they have better government rebates and incentives. So the solar manufacturers have no motivation to sell here! There should be better tax incentives for consumers to use renewables, and for companies to produce renewables--and that money should come from the current tax breaks for oil companies which should be ended.

Remember, right now we have an oil man, a good friend of the Sauds, in the White House. That does not portend well for the price of fossil fuel.

 

[blackxpress]

I'm not sure how much control, if any, politicians have over the price of gas but I would sure be more confident in them if they actually knew something about what's going on. I heard W's press conference the other day and one of the reporters asked him about the prediction that gas was going to hit $4.00 per gallon. W said he didn't know where the guy was getting his information and that he hadn't heard anything about it. It had only been in all the major newspapers for about a week at the time. Is our president really that clueless?

 

[newGuy12]

Is our president really that clueless?

Evidently, yes. And it makes me wonder -- sometimes I hear that the President really doesn't run the country -- that he's "bought and paid for". This makes me suspect that it has to be true. How else could anything ever get done?

 

[donna]

Well we have more competition for that oil now ie: China, India and of course the rest of the world. The nations with the oil are going for it and the rest of us are paying for it.

Unfortunately we will probably see up to $5 a gallon in the next four years. So next time you buy think fuel efficient.

If you do the conversion, here in country Australia, we are already paying more than $5.00 US a gallon. Going on yesterdays price it works out to $5.06US for unleaded fuel and $5.44US for diesel. I have to fill up on average every 3-4 weeks and it costs me $138 US ($150 AU) . (120 litre tank)
It dosnt matter how high the price goes we still have to pay it because there is no alternative here. No useable public transport in the country areas.

 

[blackxpress]

It dosnt matter how high the price goes we still have to pay it because there is no alternative here. No useable public transport in the country areas.

Same here. There are very few US cities with viable public transportation systems. Most of us don't live close enough to a mass transit route to make it practical. The best we can do is buy more fuel efficient vehicles and cut down on unnecessary driving. I'm doing my part. Traded my Camaro for a Corolla just last week. Even the Corolla is not as fuel efficient as I'd like but it was the best I could do on my budget. I've gone from averaging 20mpg to 30+. If gas gets much higher I'll get a bicycle for short trips. At least it'll be good for my cardio.

 

[Sukerkin]

As a further example of the problem of profligate fuel expenditure, I used to get high-20's per gallon from my Capri Mark I in the late 70's - that's a car driven with an immortal teenagers lead-foot.

Thirty years on and across the Pond that fuel consumption is seen as good?!

No further comment - flabbergastation has set in :lol:

 

[Makalakumu]

At some point, we, as a society, are going to have to face the fact that the future is not going to be as bright (as we define it now) as it is now. Our unsustainable society is going to have its day of reckoning within my lifetime. We are going to be FORCED to re-evaluate everything that we value. That is the nature of living on a sphere. It doesn't matter how rich you are. It doesn't matter how powerful you may be, we are all limited by simple geometry.

People laugh at me when I tell them I invest in landfills. I tell them that garbage is valuable. I tell them that in the future we will be mining our trash of today in order to run the society of the future. Nothing. Nothing demonstrates the problem that we face more then that.

What do you value? How do you really know that? Who told you that?

 

[tellner]

Same here. There are very few US cities with viable public transportation systems. Most of us don't live close enough to a mass transit route to make it practical.

And that wasn't always the case. Up until the 1950s places like Portland, LA and New York City had excellent mass transit systems, mostly based on streetcars. It worked wonderfully. The whole sad story of how GM in particular destroyed public transportation and rigged whole State zoning and standards boards to make it impossible to do anything but worship at the Cult of the Automobile has begun to come out.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit wasn't a parody. It was a deliberate and by several orders of magnitude understatement of what happened. We went from streetcars and passenger rail to cars and airplanes both enormously subsidized. We now have a rail system that would be the envy of Botswana but certainly not Bulgaria. It wasn't necessary. It took decades of calculated destruction. But that's where we are. We might be able to reverse it in time, but I'm not that optimistic.

 

[navyvetcv60]

I have to run my mouth again on this subject. It seems to me that the majority of the response on this subject is the Government needs to fix this, i will assert that the government needs to keep their hands off! The Government is not the solution to the problem, the Government is the problem, and i will add the misinformed public is part of the problem. Like i stated in my last post THE STATE & FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MAKES MORE MONEY ON A GALLON OF GASOLINE THEN THE OIL COMPANIES DO! If the oil companies decided to operate as a none profit organization the price of a gallon of gas would be reduced by .23 cent a gal. so Instead of paying $3.00 A gal. you would pay $2.77 a gal.
If the Liberals would let us drill for our own oil we would not be in this predicament.
I keep hearing from the sheeple in this country that the planet is running out of oil, and that we need a renewable energy source. This is absolute hogwash! The Rand Corp. and many scientist say that the planet has as much oil as it did over a hundred years ago when we drilled the first oil well, so that means that OIL IS A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE, yes i said it oil is a renewable energy source, quit depending on Al Gore and his Sheeple for your information, do the research, and don't just go to the Sierra club or Green Peace for your info. BE INDEPENDENT!!

 

[newGuy12]

I keep hearing from the sheeple in this country that the planet is running out of oil, and that we need a renewable energy source. This is absolute hogwash! The Rand Corp. and many scientist say that the planet has as much oil as it did over a hundred years ago when we drilled the first oil well, so that means that OIL IS A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE

Well, that changes things entirely.

 

[elder999]

I have to run my mouth again on this subject. It seems to me that the majority of the response on this subject is the Government needs to fix this, i will assert that the government needs to keep their hands off! The Government is not the solution to the problem, the Government is the problem, and i will add the misinformed public is part of the problem. Like i stated in my last post THE STATE & FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MAKES MORE MONEY ON A GALLON OF GASOLINE THEN THE OIL COMPANIES DO! If the oil companies decided to operate as a none profit organization the price of a gallon of gas would be reduced by .23 cent a gal. so Instead of paying $3.00 A gal. you would pay $2.77 a gal.

I don't even know where to begin-but I'll leave this first part alone-it speaks for itself, and it's partially correct. The government does make a lot ofg money on oil....whatever.

If the Liberals would let us drill for our own oil we would not be in this predicament.

.....er, what oil?

I keep hearing from the sheeple in this country that the planet is running out of oil, and that we need a renewable energy source. This is absolute hogwash! The Rand Corp. and many scientist say that the planet has as much oil as it did over a hundred years ago when we drilled the first oil well, so that means that OIL IS A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE, yes i said it oil is a renewable energy source, quit depending on Al Gore and his Sheeple for your information, do the research, and don't just go to the Sierra club or Green Peace for your info. BE INDEPENDENT!!

Well, I have to open my mouth again, and point out what I said here

and HERE!

Oil is not "A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE" (?????WTF????)-unless, of course, you've got a stash of dinosaurs somewhere....

As for what the Rand COrp. has to say, look here.

Unless you're talking about oil shale-which is another discussion entirely-the world is running out of oil. We'll be making gasoline out of coal, soon, just as they have in South Africa for the last 40 years, but it's too little, too late.

 

[cstanley]

I don't even know where to begin-but I'll leave this first part alone-it speaks for itself, and it's partially correct. The government does make a lot ofg money on oil....whatever.



.....er, what oil?



Well, I have to open my mouth again, and point out what I said here

and HERE!

Oil is not "A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE" (?????WTF????)-unless, of course, you've got a stash of dinosaurs somewhere....

As for what the Rand COrp. has to say, look here.

Unless you're talking about oil shale-which is another discussion entirely-the world is running out of oil. We'll be making gasoline out of coal, soon, just as they have in South Africa for the last 40 years, but it's too little, too late.

There is a big stash of dinosaurs in a box in my children's closet (I mean, like, a lot!). I could maybe put them in a blender and get some oil, you think?

 

[crushing]

There is a big stash of dinosaurs in a box in my children's closet (I mean, like, a lot!). I could maybe put them in a blender and get some oil, you think?

You've got Congress in your children's closet? Blender? Hmmm. Soylent Crude biofuel anyone?

 

[Tez3]

Huh you have it easy! ours costs the equivalent of $8 upwards a gallon (depending on where you go it's £1.06 upwards per litre for petrol and £1.12 upwards for diesel). It also varies where you are in the country. The government's taxes are responsible for a big chunk of that.

 

[cstanley]

I never know who to believe. The Democrats (at least the Left wing of the party) are anti-capitalist, anti-free enterprise, and tend toward excessive tree hugging. The Republicans are often too cozy with corporate America and are too dismissive of environmental issues. Also, there is a lot of bad science out there. Some of it is just poor research, but a lot of the problem is that scientists are guilty of allowing their political views to taint their results. Competition among researchers keeps them from working together to share results and reach a scientifically reliable consensus. Then, there are those things which are hard to prove, such as whether warming and cooling cycles are just natural processes that have nothing to do with human variables or whether man makes a significant contribution either way.

So, I am left with common sense (my Dad used to say I had none).

1. It is hard to imagine that a technological/industrial species such as man (of which we are too many) does NOT have some direct influence on long term environmental phenomena.
2. If Nazi Germany could produce synthetic fuel, we can, too. I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but my suspicion is that corporations won't do it until they have to or are made to. It is about money.
3. None of the three candidates we are currently being offerred for President is qualified to deal with any of this...or anything else for that matter. (Just threw that in.)

 

[terryl965]

All I know at 4.00 a gallon I will be driving my wifes little car that gets 35 mpg instead of the mini van that gets only 18. Damm little *** cars.

 

[Grenadier]

There's no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to fuels for vehicles. Each type is going to have its baggage attached, and until people become willing to accept those consequences, we're still going to be stuck on conventional gasoline and diesel.

I can still remember John Kerry blasting the Bush administration for funding fuel cell research that involved making engines that would strip individual hydrogens from conventional fuels (far more efficient than internal combustion), asserting that they should be funding fuel cells that would strip hydrogens from water instead.

The sad thing is, nobody in the media blasted Kerry for his nonsense, since it actually takes *more* energy to obtain hydrogen from water via electrolysis, than the energy you'll get in return as a fuel.

You've got Congress in your children's closet? Blender? Hmmm. Soylent Crude biofuel anyone?

But... Soylent Green is...

people!

 

[Makalakumu]

3. None of the three candidates we are currently being offerred for President is qualified to deal with any of this...or anything else for that matter. (Just threw that in.)

Unfortunately, this is true. Especially on this matter. Not a single candidate we have to choose from has offered a single workable solution that would help in the short term and help in the long term. I have no idea how to awaken the American conciousness to this problem. I think it may come down to the feces actually hitting the fan...and then its too late.

 

[navyvetcv60]

Elder999 and Cstanley, Please, Please tell me that you don't believe that the oil that we have been pumping out of the ground for over 100 years is from decomposing Dinosours, Give me a break,( That is propoganda the envirowacko's in the Government run schools put's out to the young Sheeple) That is such a myth and is very untrue. The planet produces oil naturally, over the years when a oil well would be pumped empty they would cap and seal it, years later the same well would be full again, this is happening all over the planet.