And where is your data? I have read the accounts from both sides and as usual the truth is in between. I know there is a finite supply of oil and that we have most likely already peaked in production, but no data supports quadrupling of a barrel of oil in 18 months. People were saying the same thing back in 1974 when we were in the midst of the first oil crisis and how we were going to run out in 30 to 40 years and yet in time this bubble burst and oil prices "normalized". Please show me the data that justifies the current spike. If you think that speculation is not a large part of it, I would love to see your "data."
What should upset you the most about high gas prices
by free2beme 47 Replies latest jw friends
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donny
what upsets me most is peopel complain about 4 dollars a gallon gasoline but pay 50 dollars a gallon for starbucks coffee - a renewable resource of much less value.
I agree with you that people here in the US. whine about 4 bucks a gallon and yet they pay more for bottle water!. I just saw a teenager buy six 20 oz bottles of water at a gas station convenience store and paid $6.86! $6.86 for something I can get for less than a cent out of my tap. He paid more than 7 bucks a gallon for water!
I am also appalled at how, even with the high gas prices, most folks still seem to have to drive 85 on the highway. I see guys reving their engines when stopped at a signal light and I see folks parked on the side of the street talking on the phone with the engine running even though the weather is great.
I myself moved to within 2 miles of where I work and I walk to work everyday. Even though it takes 40 minutes one way, it saves me a lot of money and I feel better as well.
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Layla33
I agree with you that people here in the US. whine about 4 bucks a gallon and yet they pay more for bottle water!. I just saw a teenager buy six 20 oz bottles of water at a gas station convenience store and paid $6.86! $6.86 for something I can get for less than a cent out of my tap. He paid more than 7 bucks a gallon for water!
I am also appalled at how, even with the high gas prices, most folks still seem to have to drive 85 on the highway. I see guys reving their engines when stopped at a signal light and I see folks parked on the side of the street talking on the phone with the engine running even though the weather is great.
I myself moved to within 2 miles of where I work and I walk to work everyday. Even though it takes 40 minutes one way, it saves me a lot of money and I feel better as well.
Exactly. I agree with most of your comments, Donny. I buy a box of tea (two different kinds, one green) and that is what I have in the morning and mid afternoon. Starbucks never gets a dollar of my money. I have only gone there with a friend or coworker to have a quick meeting.
People are still spending in excess on fast food - which is ridiculous to me. Buying water is a crock, get a Brita filter and call it a day.
I have been around very wealthy people and they do not spend frivilously like I have seen other people. I have learned from observation. Too many Americans live way above their means and that is also part of the problem.
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Junction-Guy
Perhaps instead of the government trying to wean us from oil, they should try to wean oil trading from the stock market and return it to a real issue of supply and demand, instaead of speculating.
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garybuss
I guess I'm not bothered by the current policy of devaluing of the United States dollar. In a devaluing cycle the weakest and the underpriced commodities are always identified first. It's predictable and expected.
Energy costs haven't reached critical mass yet in my area. I'm expecting to see that when regular grade gas reaches $7 a gallon. It might be higher, it might be lower.
We're beginning to see interest in a change in demographics here but we're not seeing the change yet. The first change I usually notice in a devaluing cycle like this one is the migration of the commuters. Where it was cheaper to live in neighboring small towns and commute to jobs in urban areas, now it's not cheaper any more.
The commuters are hoping energy costs will return to previous lows. They won't. There will be a leveling off into the next stable period as John Nash's demonstrations showed us, and as happened after the last cycle, but there won't be a price rollback. When the commuters accept this and when wages don't increase to anywhere near offset the increased commuting costs, the demographics will change.
Business will change too. Import's won't be as competitive. Imports do and will cost more US dollars to buy, and transportation costs are going to stay higher to get them here. Regional business will get an advantage, and domestic manufacturing will have a more favorable environment to operate in.
People who resist change will struggle. They always have, and I'd guess maybe they always will. People who change will benefit from the opportunity. Look and see what need is being deferred and be ready. In the 40's and again in the late 70's building new housing was deferred and the 50's and the mid 80's through the 90's there was a housing construction boom.
In the 2000's the sub-prime lending allowed an artificial housing market. That's in correction. Apartments were overbuilt here and netted us a 10% vacancy rate.
Basically, people are stupid. They always make decisions like the way things are is the way they will stay. But history shows us things never stay the way they are. All of my mistakes in life have been connected to decisions I made to take actions that were not easily reversed. -
donny
People are still spending in excess on fast food - which is ridiculous to me. Buying water is a crock, get a Brita filter and call it a day.
I have been around very wealthy people and they do not spend frivilously like I have seen other people. I have learned from observation. Too many Americans live way above their means and that is also part of the problem.
Exactly Ms Layla. I have had a Brita filter since 1997. And as you stated, many wealthy people are wealthy because they are frugal and not blowing five bucks on a cup of coffee that cost 35 cents to make. A neighbor of mine works at a company that sells bottled water. He said all it is is tap water thats run through a reverse osmosis filter and placed into a bottle. He said the cost to the company is 6 cents and yet they sell it in 20 oz bottles for 80 cents. Pretty good profit margin.
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sammielee24
how you think that the gov't has all this hidden oil they aren't showing
The government has leased somewhere around 60 million acres of land to the big oil companies, of which only about 30% of all that land is actually being used. The royalties on the produced oil from the leases is really just peanuts and allowing oil companies to sit on millions of acres of land that they either know or suspect have oil, safely removes any competition. My understanding of the off shore drilling is that the oil is there and pretty easy to pump - in fact, the USA is getting a little ticked off because Cuba, Canada and I believe it might be Spain, are all drilling in those areas now already. The issue is not just the environmentalists because when you are talking about the coastal States like Louisiana, the issue is the federal government refusing to share the revenue with them. The federal government wants to keep all the revenue to themselves and deny the States any share in it and that is a major hold up in those area's. I believe there was a bill brought out a few years ago trying to change the fed sole interest and it went nowhere. As for refineries - some of the refineries are in great shape - others not so. The oil companies have decided to forgo investing in refineries as part of their 30 year plan and instead focus on lining their pockets with ever increasing profits. One simple way around that is to nationalize refineries. Forget biofuels made from corn etc - all you do in that regard is throw yourself open to the elements like has happend this summer. Flooded corn fields, drought - nothing to use for food nor fuel and another fine fix.
Anyone who has worked in PR or marketing fully understands the manipulation of any market/people. Happens all the time from Happy meals for kids to the color of eye shadow or boob size on the runway. Tell the people whats best, reduce options or just repackage old ones and say they are new, and voila! you have a campaign of change. The electric car in the early 1900's was already in use but the major car company in a handshake with oil, decided that gas would be the only offer. If that's all you can buy then that's all you can buy. If the corporation knows full well that at any time they could make an alternative, market it and manage it by reducing gas fed vehicles and refuse to do so - it isn't because of the people - it's their decision that makes what the people then have a choice to buy. Ditto water to gas vehicles. Double ditto for biofuels.
sammieswife.
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Warlock
I went thru the Arab oil embargo in the 70's. At least this time there is gas to buy.
As many were buying their SUV's, I figured they were going to end up being caught by high gas prices. That's why I bought a Honda. I was a few years early, but it doesn't hurt as much. Plus, my car is an LEV, low emission vehicle.
Warlock
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sammielee24
frugal and not blowing five bucks on a cup of coffee that cost 35 cents to make. A neighbor of mine works at a company that sells bottled water. He said all it is is tap water thats run through a reverse osmosis filter and placed into a bottle.
Reverse osmosis is one of the only ways to get fluoride out of your drinking water and remove most impurities. Rather than buy water in bottles however, one can easily fill up some big jugs for a few cents and pour it into a travel insulated cup. Most effective. sammieswife.
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free2beme
Passing bills and firing the government over the high prices of gasoline will not improve the situation. Learning to conserve energy and having a nice savings account will go a lot further.
Punishing people and telling them to do this or that to make things better in three years or so, is not what needs to be done. Change must be done and nothing is being done in that department. Yes, we need to improve fuel standards and encourage more savings, etc. These things could be done in addition to more immediate fixes. The things is, this type of event is a strong arm tactic of making people do things now and not letting them warm up to the issue. Personally, I think the economy in the USA is connected to about 40% High Gas Price, 35% Housing problem, 20% sending to many manufacturing and production jobs over seas or to other countries.