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[font=verdana] I have seen several reports on the news this past weekend about how many people are traveling for the holiday. According to Triple A, there was only a 1% drop in the number of people that fired up the motor home, or the SUV/PU with a large RV trailer behind it, that gets 6 to 8 mpg and took off for the open road at $4 plus per gallon.  Are we, as a people, ignorant or what?   If the majority of us would only drive our cars when necessary, causing a drastic drop in the gas they are able to sell, the price of gas would come down.  They, the refineries, the Middle East, whoever would have to lower the price to move their product.  They wouldn’t stockpile for very long because that wouldn’t add to their profits.

I also heard that the big oil companies are reporting record earnings.  We are being gouged, and we are letting them get away with it.  It is a constant frustration to me the idiocy of the general public.  We have the control if we would only get smart enough to use it, but no, companies jack up prices and we just say, “thank you, thank you, I wanted to pay more for that.”  
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[font=verdana] If your one of the people that did travel this past weekend, Please don’t take this post personally. I am referring to the general masses, not any individual person.
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Dusty Rose
Blue Rose Classic Karaoke
More Sound! More Selections! More Fun!
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Buy stock in the oil companies, use those profits to travel whenever you wish.

[font=verdana] Fantastic idea, JD……LOL
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Dusty Rose
Blue Rose Classic Karaoke
More Sound! More Selections! More Fun!
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The biggest surprise this time around is that no one is cutting back. That's what has broken the price of gas in the past when it's shot up. Consumption dropped, there was a surplus of fuel, and the price fell.

This time people are driving as much as ever but cutting back in other areas of their life to pay for their gas.

Like going out.

The mainstream public is no longer of mentality that enabled this country to become a superpower.  "If", "Should" are terms that will not come to fruition regarding the majority "Conserving" in a land where many individuals (with an abundance) opt for leisure and comfort, where many have been living (most of their lives) in a society that has allowed them the comfort of living a lavish existence with their heads buried deep in the sand. I see this OP request as putting the cart before the horse.  "If" so many didn't live with their heads in the sand for so long, and more were concerned with issues that do in fact extend beyond their own nose, then the nation wouldn't be in such a tragic state to begin with.

Don't expect phrases such as "mass conservation", or "smart american voting public", especially "frugal society" to come to be anytime soon.  

Many don't worry about the meaning of the tax-payers dollar, it will take a MUCH bigger slap in the face to get the American public to wake-up.  To expect people to sacrifice holiday travel is NOT where "Waking up" needs to begin. It's DAILY activities, which means a general thought process, or EVERYDAY WASTEFUL SPENDING.. People need to WAKE UP  see who and what is running this nation, what the nation is becoming because of a foolish mass of people, and this means people must first be able to comprehend, and understand that the general degradation of this nation is OUR OWN fault !  We've become a nation of fools.

The question is,  If people wish to do something like get away for a few days, assuming they have the money to travel, who has the right to tell them "Stay close to home memorial day weekend?"..  "Wake up" means WALK next door to get newpaper and ciggies, DON'T drive 100 feet to get a "Big Mac" to add to the size 62 waiste-line when you can walk to get a newspaper, etc... Don't waste money when buying luxurious things to begin with, Stop stupid spending and living a superfluous life-style TODAY.  American people SQUANDER, but whats worse, they do not wake up. Too many have become fools, and That must change first.

People DO have a right to get away if they want to assuming they can afford to get away ocassionally..Additionally, people traveling to beaches, relatives etc for a three day weekend doesn't mean they aren't sacrificing other luxuries to do-so.
Think about this however, if people weren't so wasteful much of the time driving to bars, spending money on drink, and ridiculous prices on food, HOW would you KJ's survive ?  Your very job is contingent on excess spending and waste of the public !  Squandering money on alcohol, and extras so often rather than finding non-alcohol related activities and hanging in business establishments that are luxurious spending based and thrive because people are excessively spending to begin with ?  That's not a waste of peoples money everybit as bad as "Traveling over a holiday to get away" ?  Think about it !

OF course it bothers me that people use their cars to travel less than a block to get newpapers Sunday, but if they wish to be lazy, and have the money to support such wasteful luxurious behaviour assuming the state of our current nation isn't enough of a "wake Up, America" call.  Don't expect the majority to get slapped in the face by gas prices...

The nation should've woken up YEARS ago.  Assuming such, cockpits in planes would've been locked after so many exact and direct warnings (regarding 9-11 type activity) that were never taken heed to. There'd also be no war where we waste how much money ? and for what ?  and when there's a crises here at home such as a hurricane, where are those that should be helping here at home ? and what if, THE PRESIDENT needed to be qualified to run a nation, rather than just being somebody picked becuase he's the offspring of a dynasty, but realistically NOT somebody with credentials/ merit enabling him to become even a policeman, or civil-service worker in this country, but instead an exemplary role model NOT picked from "Centrism" yet somebody a nation should be proud of ?  and this goes ON and ON- regarding WHERE we must "Wake up".

People don't think on a day to day basis !  Hence, there's a decline in our standards when electing government heads..  When we live in a nation where a voting public doesn't "think" much at all about so many more important things there's a HUGE problem..

With so many fools in this country, don't ever expect the majority to "wake up" over something such as raised Gasoline Prices.

(OK, where are my car keys,  I need to take a drive to the refrigerator and get some Diet Coke)

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Interestingly, this article I was reading on CNN.com states that according to the Department Of Transportation, there was the greatest reduction in driving ever recorded during this past March. This was mainly related to the increase in gas prices.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/26/gas.dr ... ef=24hours

i hate to differ with the obvious here.  but driving less will probably have little or no impact on oil prices.  the problem is other countries are becoming just as dependent as we are on gasoline and other fossil fuels derived from petroleum.  So they are buying it up whatever the price to fuel the new demand.  If the US stopped using, say (and this is a huge % probably would never happen) 25% of petroleum products, other countries would be there ready to snap it up at the same price.  Driving less would allow our country to stockpile it more giving us more time to find a solution to what is looming on the horizon, otherwise known as nomo, but I dont think it would have a big impact on gas prices.    

Better steps would be to increase % of nuclear and other non-fossil energy sources and find a viable way to power our automobiles from  the powerplants (hydrogen or electric).

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

Of course there's been somewhat of a decreae Melanda.  Most ARE affected, which is all the more reason I believe those that work hard DESERVE to get away assuming they have a three day holiday weekend and wish to get a few days of R&R.  Many of us must work more as the result of the increased cost of living, so if people opt to get away a few times a year or more...Many deserve it !

Yet this is always proportional to an individuals income bracket too.  It's not up to any of us to determine how others should reep the utility (across the board) regarding the spending of their efforts.  True, Ham,  Funny thing about those airline prices and airfare wars too, they aren't affected...Travel is less expensive than ever, just takes a trip to the airport. I still think it's pathetic when folks rather than walk 50 feet, drive (because there's a point when walking on a nice day isn't only giving an inidividual important exercize, but the car IS unnecessary and to me that's just a waste.


Yet to me, the epitome of waste isn't taking a vacation on a holiday.

So help me,  if any in here that constantly say "You should always pay MANY THOUSANDS to back up your KJ CD-G library and NEVER burn backup (for emergency use only) are the same saying "Wake up, it's a waste to drive when not absolutely necessary given gas prices", I'm going to throw a female hissy fit !

Many deserve to go to the beach, go camping, etc !!  Especially if they can afford it !

To drive 45 minutes to a bar 4 times a week at night and be "A regular" drinking contributor buying food and drink, and singing at the karaoke bar.. Is that less wasteful ?  If were in the entertainment business we shouldn't be the ones to complain about "the hedonists" that spend in excess !  They are our bread and butter !

Can you imagine saying to a person that drops you a $10 tip, "Wake up dude, that's college money for your children" ?

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

What has everyone pay for a gallon of gas today?  What did you pay last year?

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You can be strange but not a stranger

NUCLEAR??? Are you NUTS Ham??

We have the potential to go fully electric, people and our government just don't want to support it.

http://www.lionev.com/FAQ_s.html
A frequent topic to come up in EV chat rooms is why the big three automakers continue to produce ICE automobiles when they now have proven that EV's are viable and reliable vehicles. Of course there are as many conspiracy theories out there as there are used automobiles. The truth is easy enough to derive if you just follow the money.


The United States tax economy runs on oil. Simple as that.

The Federal government cannot allow for the introduction of Electric Vehicles on a large scale as it would undermine the tax structure that keeps the tax coffers full. This explains why such stringent rules are always set in place to prevent the vehicles from being mass produced.

On the average day the United States uses 400,000,000 gallons of gas. That is four hundred million gallons. The Federal tax on this is 18.4 cents per gallon.

If you take the daily use and multiply it by the number of days in a year you come up with 146 billion gallons of gas consumed per year. At 18.4 cents per gallon that is $27,000,000,000 (27 billion dollars) in Federal taxes yearly. That is a lot of tax revenue to try to replace!

The tax on gas at the state level varies a great deal, you can look up your state's fuel tax at http://www.virginiagasprices.com/tax_info.aspx

The average of 50 cents will be applied though, and that results in $73,000,000,000 (73 billion dollars) of state level taxes. That is a huge amount of tax revenue to have just go away. How would the government fund pet projects without that kind of money?

So in summary, to introduce a viable electric vehicle to the market would kill $100,000,000,000 in taxes. Plus it eliminates the easiest method the Federal government has for dipping in to your wallet.

On another note: Many people wonder why that 9/10 of a cent thing is on every gallon of gas price. There are many stories about this, one of them is probably true, but the fact of the matter is that that 9/10 extra on the price generates an additional $141,000,000 (141 million dollars) for the oil companies.

Now the answer to the question is fairly obvious. The United States government can't afford an electric vehicle industry.

100% nail on the head!

The fuel / automotive / etc companies have the ability to move to petrol (heck hydrogen cars DO work). However, it would be too costly to all the other corporations that they are in bed with. Once such costs are dealt with, I see other methods becoming a lot more popular.

Old men in old offices in expensive suits are why we still rely upon oil so much!

well since i work in a gas related industry, the worlds largest tire manufacturing plant i am seeing some change. for the past so many years the tire trend has been toward bigger tires up to 26" with many 20" tires becoming standard equip on pickups and suv's. these were the autos that the manufactures were making the money on. we have not made a 13" tire in a long time because it was cheaper to make them in china and latin america. thats changing we will be building 13" tires again, why because the shipping costs have increased to the point that its cheaper to make them here, ya see fuel prices affect ever aspect of our economy. auto dealers are turning people down who try to trade in there suv's because they have to many of them on the lots, they can't sale what they have. when i drove back from Louisiana i noticed a decrease in traffic over last year, and i noticed more people driving the speed limit and some just a little bit under some americans have figured out that if you slow down just a little bit you can get better fuel economy yeah it may take you ten minutes longer to get there on an extended trip. i know i drove my 2005 gmc pickup and i can get 20 mpg from 18.2 on the highway {an extra 42 miles on a tank full} i'll slow down if it will help. after all i'm the one paying for the gas. just think if every american slowed down just a bit and got a few more miles per gallon there would be an effect. the only ones telling you that it won't matter are the ones lost in a paradigm that think we can't change or no matter what we do its not gonna help. well the word CAN"T never did nothing. look at the different prices for gas paid in other countries some are higher and some are lower than ours. oil prices before all the taxes are added on are based on that countries economy. it's up to us to change, if our economy crumbled into another great depression do you think we would be paying $3.75 or more per gallon? it makes you wonder where we are headed, we americans need to step up to the plate and confront this head on and stop being complacent...cal

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cal's quote:"the best things in life are free, yet those things are priceless"

errr Kappy, I know this is off topic but ummm do you realise that every time you edit your comment it is taking note?

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Yes

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

@69

There were people protesting Exxon/Mobile sharholder meeting today.

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

sorry, i meant more nuclear electric generating stations. this in turn would provide a higher baseload of non-fossil fuel electric generation, which would allow us to power our ELECTRIC cars from plug in stations instead of gas stations. so in a roundabout way nuclear power would be powering our cars. sorry, i work in the industry so my mind thinks everybody knows what it is talking about.

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

No I knew what you meant! I'm against the industry period!

I'm sorry you work in an industry that provides energy at the cost of a radioactive leftover material that must be stored for hundreds or thousands of years before it supposedly goes inert...

Solar, Wind, Hydro (water), Hydrogen are viable, workable energy applications we MUST embrace fully! I realize where we are now, but the time is now when we have to start getting off it permamently!

I am in favor of conservation of oil usage and I do believe that using less will have some impact on the prices. I mean, it's all about supply and demand. If the demand went down, there will be more supply and that can bring the price down. I said CAN because there are many factors in pricing but overall the demand has more effect than most, other than politics, ie Hugo Chavez.

However, one thing I disagree is about bashing the Oil companies. Here is how I look at it. Let's say you sell bread as living. Everyone needs bread. You pay $1.00 for the ingredients to make a loaf of bread and you sell each loaf for $2.00. Let's say you sell about 100 loaves of bread a week. That means your total revenue is $200 and your gross profit is $100 a month, which is 50% of the sales.

All of sudden the price of wheat goes through the roof. It's now $4.00 to make the bread. For you to maintain the 50% margin, now you have to charge customers $8.00 per loaf. Now your revenue is $800 a month and your profit is $400 per month. Yes, it's a record sales and profits but your profit margin has remained the same. Your cost hasn't decreased, each bread now cost more to make and from the same percentage of the gross profit is spent on other expenses.

Now, every company has fiduciary duty to maximize it's profit for it's shareholders. If they don't, they get fired or even investigated by the FTC. So, if I was a CEO of a bread company, why should I lower my profit margin just to help out customers, specially when everyone else in competition is not doing it?

Sometimes I think people just look at the final numbers and say, wow they are milking us dry on gas prices but in reality, they aren't making any higher profit margin, just that the cost increased their overall profits. It's like saying you were selling Hyundai and making $100 a car and now you are selling a Mercedes and you should still make $100 a car? That makes no sense to me. You may say that there is a differences between Hyundai and Mercedes. Yes, but so has oil in last few years. The need and want of the consumers has changed on demand of oil. If you can't afford Mercedes, buy something else from others. Use other form of energy and depend less on oil, just don't sit and complain and hope the price of oil will come down.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

In our free enterprise system, I have ZERO problems with the PRICE and what the Oil comapanies are doing. It's simple. There is more demand than ever before, especially with China and India now buying it on the open market. That's GOING to drive the prices way up.

I'm just for getting off gasoline PERIOD! !