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I hope it goes to 6 bucks a gallon just so all these assholes that drive Hummers and huge SUVs(without 4 kids) get what they deserve.
I filled up yesterday for $2.74 a gallon and thought it was a great bargain.
I hope it goes to 6 bucks a gallon just so all these assholes that drive Hummers and huge SUVs(without 4 kids) get what they deserve.
"10 k after 7 years to get the fuel cell battery changed"
They're working frantically on lengthening the life of fuel cell electrodes. I just read something about a breakthrough in that area a few days ago. Fuel cell lifetime and replacement expense is a HUGE negative for fuel cell cars.
Here's some new technology for combustion engines, but I don't expect US mfrs to adopt it, maybe the Asian mfrs will. The US auto mfrs are pretty ed up about innovation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0510093248.htm
Last edited by boutons_; 05-14-2007 at 10:07 AM.
What pisses me off is that the oil companies are making huge profits right now. They are setting earnings records.
Do you think they will actually give a ? $6 a gallon will hurt the poor MUCH more. , keep raising the price. It will make the roads less crowded.I hope it goes to 6 bucks a gallon just so all these assholes that drive Hummers and huge SUVs(without 4 kids) get what they deserve.
What are companies in business to do? Last time I checked it was to make money. They know that the window of opportunity will not be open forever so you gotta strike while the irons hot.
isn't there a protest for tomorrow May 15th don't buy any gas
I've gotten a couple of emails on this
http://www.sun-herald.com/Newsstory....r=NewsArchive2
Tuesday may be silent protest at the pump?
Popular e-mail letter encourages consumers not to buy gas Tuesday - but what will it prove?
Some legends die hard. Especially urban ones.
Such as the idea that a one-day nationwide boycott of gasoline is going to put a dent in the sales of the oil conglomerates.
It's known as the "Internet Gas-Out," and no one knows where the message originated, but it has been circulating around the World Wide Web in one form or another for years. Snopes.com, a Web site dedicated to debunking popular myths, says that the revival of the gas-out e-mail is "proof that some bad ideas never go away; they just keep getting recycled year after year."
This year, the gas-out calls for Americans frustrated with rising fuel prices to stay away from the pump on Tuesday. This would purportedly cost Big Oil about $3 billion in sales.
Don't believe it.
First of all, good luck trying to find any records of a 1997 gas-out that lowered prices at all, much less by 30 cents. Secondly, a loss of that multibillion-dollar magnitude presumes everybody in the nation fills their tank every day, so the oil companies would of course notice the $3 billion drop in revenue. If we all filled up our vehicles every day, we'd probably be fighting each other at the pump - rather than fighting Big Oil.
"Folks that do this don't really understand the scope of the industry," said Rayola Dougher of the American Petroleum Ins ute in Washington, D.C. "Of course it really won't have any impact at all. The only effect will be on the local service station owner, so it may have an adverse impact on their small businesses."
"It's not effective at all," agreed Gregg Laskoski, managing director of public relations for AAA Auto Club South in Tampa. "The reason we say that is because we're simply postponing the inevitable. We're not altering consumer behavior; we're not altering consumption. They're not going to buy on Tuesday, but they're going to buy Monday and Wednesday.
"These types of things pop up from time to time, and they're well-intended, but this kind of tactic isn't likely to be productive."
What may work
That seems like a logical response. But logic doesn't sit well with some folks. For example, Jennifer Westhoven, business anchor for Headline News and CNN in New York, reported earlier this week that for her criticism of the gas-out, she received protests from angry viewers.
Both Dougher and Laskoski were quick with suggestions for tactics that would work, however. But they're just that - work - and a one-day boycott is easier, even if it is ineffective.
"As a priority, we have to get much better at energy efficiency," Dougher said. "If people want to make a difference, they have to consume less over the long term, not the short term."
"If consumers want to look for ways to reduce consumption, there are things they can do that are simple, that are behavioral," Laskoski said.
He rattled off a laundry list of suggestions to reduce overall fuel consumption. For example:
* Try slowing down. The faster the vehicle goes, the more gas it burns.
* Families with more than one vehicle should consolidate errands, doing all in one trip instead of making three separate ones. (And if your family owns more than one car, do it in the vehicle with the best fuel economy.)
* Lighten the load. Significant "dead weight" in the trunk compromises fuel economy. Don't leave your golf clubs in the car all year if you're only going to play once during that time.
* Avoid sudden starts and stops.
* Don't put your air conditioner on in the morning when it's still cool enough to open the window.
* Check air and fuel filters at least twice a year. Clogged filters cause poor engine performance.
* Get a periodic oil change.
"Another thing that's very important - not just for safety, but for gas mileage - is to inflate your tires to the levels recommended by manufacturer. An underinflated tire can cut fuel economy by 2 percent per pound of pressure.
"We also tell people that unless your owner's manual says you need to use premium gasoline, use regular. Some people think they're doing the car a favor by giving it mid-grade or premium, when all they're doing is wasting money."
Shopping around for best price, riding a bicycle instead of a car, when possible, and using a more fuel-efficient vehicle are some of the tactics Dougher added to the list.
Other ways that could affect gas companies
The e-mail message that should circulate to the more than 205 million Internet users in the United States (not a mere 73 million-plus, as the e-mail claims) is one encouraging an en masse change in consumer behavior. That, the experts agree, is the only strategy that might stand a chance of affecting fuel prices.
Perhaps we should take the advice of MSNBC senior producer John Schoen, who suggests making May 15 "Fuel Economy Awareness Day" -- urging drivers to "check the mileage they're getting and review suggestions for improving it" - or better yet, "Shop For A Higher Mileage Car Day."
Either should have a more lasting effect for those who really want to make a dent in the oil companies' profits than avoiding the pump Tuesday.
Go to the Reader's Poll at sun-herald.com to answer how the rising gas prices have changed your habits. Answers will be posted in thenewspaper.
The infamous Internet Gas Out e-mail
One copy of the controversial e-mail being circulated around the nation reads as follows:
Don't pump gas on May 15th
In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.
On May 15, 2007, all Internet users are not to go to gas stations in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now more than $3 a gallon in most places.
There are 73 million-plus Americans currently on the Internet network, and the average car takes about $30 to $50 to fill up.
If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000 (that's almost $3 billion) from the oil companies' pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and let's try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.
If you agree (which I can't see why you wouldn't), resend this to everyone on your contact list.
That protest is a test to see whether or not people are irretrievably stupid.
And forgetful.
This happens, like, twice a year.
Well since you put it that way I feel like I've totally figured life and all its little quirks out. Thanks. I plan to spread the word to all the little people that simply need to just buy a car that gets 40mpg because that will easily offset all of the ramifications for 4 dollar gas prices.
me why don't we just get cars that get 60mpg and raise the gas prices to 7 dollars a gallon and fix the whole economy while we're at it.
Simple, isn't it?
i got the gas protest. How many years has that thing been around?
According to Snopes, plenty
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/nogas.asp
Many cars picks & SUV’s require 90 plus octane (premium)...
My 1973 Honda mini trail 90 cc requires 95 octane...Premium in So Cal is $3:50 to $3:75...
Wow....a 73 trail 90...that was a blast from the past...those were some UGLY little es...Had my first good motorcycle crash on one of those...ran off into a BIG trench someone had dug right across a trail with a backhoe...probably to keep delinquesnts like me from using it...I was screaming down the trail and ran right off into it and face planted on the wall on the other side...My 1973 Honda mini trail 90 cc requires 95 octane...Premium in So Cal is $3:50 to $3:75...
The one I just finished restoring looks like a mini trail (not a step through)...It is really lime green...90 mpg and a Total Babe Magnet Machine...
1973 ST 90...
thats awesome JimBob...bet you knock em dead cruisin the In-n-Out on that macho machine...
The wood paneling walls really set it off.
Can’t go wrong with wood paneling and a lime green motor scooter...
no you can't. Its what makes pussy go round round.
The profits they are making are obscene. There is no elasticity of demand for gas when the price goes up. I think what they are doing is wrong.
You and a lot of other people. However, the oil co's really don't give a what Joe Consumer thinks.
remember the old, loud hodaka's?
Yeah, that is a problem.
The bigger problem is that our cities are PLANNED AROUND THE CAR! This is a systemic problem. Everything is based on the premise of infinite oil, which is just absurd. If cities were based around bicycles and public transport, people could easily switch to alternatives to the car which are both far cheaper and less environmentally damaging, but the way things are they are stuck. For eg., Europeans use 1/2 the gas Americans do, and Asians 1/4, because of the way in which their cities are constructed (higher densities, more and better public transport, dedicated motorbike/cycling facilities).
Also, it doesn't help that auto companies decided to cir vent emission standards by reclassifying SUVs and pickups as "light trucks", and as a consequence the average emissions of US cars have RISEN since the early 1980s, despite massive improvements in technology!? A government with balls would have regulated properly, but none of our governments have any balls, and our kids and grandkids will pay for it.
I live in a spread-out city but one with good bike paths, and I started riding my bike everywhere 2 years ago. I have cut my petrol use by 75%. It is possible to change your habits, but it takes a little effort, so most people say " it" and pay the higher prices.
It appalls me that my local government keeps building parking lots rather than encouraging people to car pool. If parking cost $25 a day, but was free for cars with 3 or more people, people would get organised and car pool rather than driving one person per car, which is what 95% of people do. At $7.50/day they can't be bothered.
MARK MY WORDS, cheap transport is the major issue of this century. Cheap transport has basically facilitated our economic growth over the last 50 years. Without cheap transport, how do you feed your population, let alone generate all the economic activity that would be untenable without cheap transport? There are over 1,000,000,000 petrol/diesel/kerosine driven vehicles on the planet... what will drive them once the oil is gone? (and don't say hydrogen, because how are we making and storing it, or electricity, once again, how are we generating it? This is a MASSIVE issue faced by humanity. Do a little reading on the subject and you'll know what I mean).
TlongII,
Get a clue, Oil companies don't set the price of gas at the pump. Like any other business they would cease to exist without a market. If you're going to trash them then start riding your bike to work every day.
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife/2973Who's to Blame for High Oil and Gas Prices? by Ben Stein
Executives of the big oil companies have been hauled before the U.S. Senate recently to defend their industry's recent mergers and record profits as American consumers face high oil and gasoline prices. I'm going to defend the big energy companies in this case, since I think they're not the reason for high prices.
Before you write me angry e-mails, dear reader, let me first lay down some street credibility. Yes, I'm a gray-haired guy now. But I've spent a lot of time in my life as an antipoverty lawyer in New Haven, Conn., and in Washington, D.C., helping very poor people with their legal woes. I also spent years as a lawyer working on prosecuting false and deceptive advertising.
Probably the lion's share of my adult life was spent writing about financial fraud for financial publication Barron's, and I helped put a number of fraudulent en ies out of business. I also testified against a number of fraudulent managements in lawsuits, both state and federal, and I still often write about injustice in the boardroom.
That being said, I also know how a lynch mob operates. After all, if there's a problem, some cause has to be found. And it's really lovely if the cause can be someone rich and powerful so that we can work off our envy and also take the intoxicating drug of anger. Anger organizes our emotions, lines them up, removes ambiguity, and feels good.
Urge to Crack Down
So, the mob goes after someone to lynch, even if that person is innocent. After all, as the immortal Bob Dylan sang long ago, "A lot of people have knives and forks, and they don't have nothing on their plates, and they have to cut something."
This comes to mind because of the recent actions in the U.S. Senate that attempt to "crack down" on energy companies because the price of oil is so much higher than it used to be and because one large oil concern, Exxon (XOM), is reporting very large profits (after many years of modest earnings).
The crackdown takes the form of preventing oil companies from merging or at least making it much harder for them to merge. The idea is that the energy companies have been fixing prices at artificially high levels, and if they merge, they'll just do it more.
This idea is apparently backed even by someone as wise as Senator Arlen Specter (Rep.-Pa.), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a fellow graduate of Yale Law School.
No Conspiracy
The only problem with this idea is that it's based on a totally false premise. The energy companies don't set the price of oil or of gasoline. The prices you pay for heating oil or gasoline aren't set in boardrooms in Texas but in trading rooms at commodities markets all over the world.
Gas prices aren't set in shadowy conferences in shooting lodges, but in rooms of people shouting or punching computer keys in London, New York, and Tokyo. Oil is a world commodity like tin or copper or rubber or coffee. The price is set by traders anticipating supply and demand.
Rumors of war in the Mideast, terrorism against oil platforms in Nigeria, warmer weather in New England, bitter cold in London -- these are what set energy prices. Even the biggest U.S. energy companies are tiny pawns in the game compared with the world market, flotsam and jetsam in the ocean of world oil trading.
So, when prices go up or down, it's not a conspiracy. It's panic or confidence in the market. It's just like what happens on the stock markets every trading day -- greed or fear at work, not at the companies being traded but on the exchanges. The oil companies can either lose or gain from this trading.
Hobbling the Oil Companies
I know this is hard news to digest because who do we hate then?
Well, some think we solve the problem by just hating and blaming the innocent -- in this case, the oil companies, dragging them from their beds, and lynching them. So what if they're innocent? Someone's got to pay.
The only problem is that if we keep punishing the companies that in good faith give us the energy we need to power our lives at market prices -- which sometimes give them a big profit and sometimes give them a small one -- eventually, they'll go away. Or they won't have the ability to do their jobs as well because of all the restrictions we've put on them.
Never mind, some think. A lot of people have knives and forks, and they don't have nothing on their plates, and they have to cut something.
Speaking of gas, I just saw the new 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid and I'm very impressed.
boo hoo, its $4.4 per gallon where I am
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