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Gas Prices

ShawnF said:
This doesn't fit everyone. If everyone lived in the city, where are you drilling for oil? Main street? Hundreds of items that you use every day are made from crude oil from the plastic in your computer, housing for your electric car batteries, to even some food items.
You like your toilet paper dont you? Are you going to log the park for your paper pulp? Where are you planting the next growth because you will need that new area for your crops.
Are you mining for the coal it takes to power your house and electric cars in your back yard? The ore it takes for the steel to build all the new buildings to accommodate all the new residents?
Maybe the new electric smelting furnace can go next door. They make a hell of a racket and are run at night to reduce load on the power grid.

Yes some of us choose to live in the country or more rural areas. Many for reasons that are beneficial to the rest of the country. It doesn't always sit well with people that earn an honest hard living providing products and services the rest of the country takes for granted to just be told "well it's your choice".

I'm not saying your intent was to work anyone up, but you have to think of the bigger picture.
And I drive a 4 cylinder 35mpg car back and forth to my job an hour away. Not a "just because" big truck. And a horse is not practical at all.
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Huh? What on Earth on you talking about? You totally misunderstood what I meant. This is about gas prices.

We all have options. We may not like those options and they may not seem practical, but regardless we have them . They are by our own choices, e.g., if a man chooses to be a trucker, logger, farmer, etc., then fuel prices will always be a factor. The options are to find a different profession if unhappy or unable to profit. As stated earlier a person may not like that option, but it is there nonetheless. As I have grown older I have become solution oriented and quit complaining about what I cannot control and focused on what I could control instead of shouting at the sky. Gas too expensive? Get a more economical vehicle or move to where you don't need to drive as much. Don't be like the fellow who moves to the "drop edge of yonder" and then complains because there is no high speed Internet there.
 
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Bogeyman said:
Huh? What on Earth on you talking about? You totally misunderstood what I meant. This is about gas prices.

We all have options. We may not like those options and they may not seem practical, but regardless we have them . They are by our own choices, e.g., if a man chooses to be a trucker, logger, farmer, etc., then fuel prices will always be a factor. The options are to find a different profession if unhappy or unable to profit. As stated earlier a person may not like that option, but it is there nonetheless. As I have grown older I have become solution oriented and quit complaining about what I cannot control and focused on what I could control instead of shouting at the sky. Gas too expensive? Get a more economical vehicle or move to where you don't need to drive as much. Don't be like the fellow who moves to the "drop edge of yonder" and then complains because there is no high speed Internet there.
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I admit I got a little triggered by the get a horse comment.
Not everything is as simple as "just move" or something along those lines. Yeah, I could move closer to my job. But to do that, I would need to sell my $30,000 house and buy one in an area that the average is $240,000. Of course I could rent, but again, that's trading my $190 a month house payment for an $800 a month rent payment. That just is not practical and ends up being worse than the $40-$50 a week I spend in gas because I do drive an economical car.

Change careers because of gas prices? Not likely. I would need to go to school to learn something because I'm just a dumb tradesman. Then added fuel costs to get to said school as well as to work so I can feed me and my family while I'm attending. And again, the moving costs to get a job for that new career are too much. So it's not that simple to just change everything.

Fuel costs affect everything. Oil companies are to blame for the cost. You can't tell me that a company that profits over 20 billion dollars isn't overcharging just a bit. The average salary in the US is $56,000, while the CEO of Exxon is making a bit over 17 million dollars a year.
So yes, people blame oil companies for the high prices.
Keep in mind, gasoline is only one product made from each barrel of oil refined. There is also aviation fuel, heating oils, diesel fuel, motor oils, oils for plastics and food items, even the "waste" is turned into asphalt...
 
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I’m guilty as charged, I’ve got a big truck that consumes at rate of 13mpg. I don’t use it much anymore mostly because it’s purpose was more to do with the ranch, camping, scouts and vacations...but when I started y new firm many years ago it was also my only vehicle. My brother on the other hand builds race cars and off-road trucks. Because of the way the race engine is built they consume by the minute, drinking more gas at idle than when under power. He has a valiant that can do about 30mpt (miles per tank) but looks, sounds and feels great while doing it. He also built an off-road trophy truck that can go anywhere FAST but is much more efficient than my van. Go figure.

Gas prices going up and down due to supply/demand is one thing but here in Cali (and I’m sure in other places too) the price spikes are also influenced by mandatory changes in formulation for summer (to a somewhat cleaner burning but much less efficient formula...I’m sure the net carbon emissions are unchanged), “surprise” annual facility maintenance, added fees/taxes etc. that hurts in a different way.

I have several clients who are in their last year of business operation because they can’t afford to switch their old diesel bob-tail delivery trucks for the trucks with required emissions control monitors. It’s crazy, the politicians and activists push ideas that sound meaningful in a vacuum or when written down but when implemented they are failures on many levels.

I guess my perception of gas costs and car ownership is much different from those in areas with other problems. Owning a car and parking it in a big city (San Francisco or New York...outside the US?) can cost as much or more than rent, hundreds or thousands spent each month before you put a single miles on the car. THATS motivation to use alternative modes of transportation.


...and I’d ride a horse to work but Horses dislike me in ways I can not recount here in a public setting. ...you tackle ONE horse and they all conspire against you.
 
ShawnF said:
...Oil companies are to blame for the cost. You can't tell me that a company that profits over 20 billion dollars isn't overcharging just a bit...
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Obviously people are willing to pay it as witnessed here. The only way to SANELY lower the cost is to lower consumption thereby decreasing demand. Of course, we could fix the price at a paltry sum like Venezuela did in country and we all know how lovely that turned out. ;) Profit is the "lubricant" of our capitalist society. Let the market decide what is "fair" and not the Gov't.
 
So just to tick everyone off I guess...I filled up the wife's 4x4 Toyota 4Runner Trail and the price per gallon was $2.32. Living in an Oil and Gas State or gas prices tend to be much lower than the rest of the country. When I visit PA the wife and I always fill up in Ohio just before we cross into PA. Literally, the Price of gas increases about 30 cents when you enter PA. It's crazy!

Here is an interesting anecdote about fuel. My wife works for an agency that is literally rebuilding marsh land for our coast. I won't go into how important barrier islands and coastal marshland are for the Louisiana infrastructure. But a study was done a while back and Louisiana lost approximately a football field of coast line ever hour from 1985 - 2010. The rate is much slower now for various reasons. But in a nut shell...my wife's agency has a project where they divert river silt and sediment from the Mississippi River and other waterways that would otherwise wash out into the gulf and fall off a "cliff." Anyway...these projects are creating more marshland.

How does this relate to fuel prices? The Fish and Seafood industry are really upset. The reason is that the individual fisherman, trappers, collectors, what have you, is starting to have to travel further (be it four wheels or boat) to get to where they need to go. So it is costing them more to fish. There are other factors in place, like the changing of the ecosystem because of salinity and increase of vegetation. Basically the marsh and coastlines are being restored to what they used to be...but the industry is used to the way things are now.
 
dangerousdon said:
Literally, the Price of gas increases about 30 cents when you enter PA. It's crazy!
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They raised our fuel taxes again and we are higher than NY state now for fuel prices. Don't know whose pocket it's going into, but it's not going back into any road repairs as they said it was for.
 
I wish fuel prices were higher(not necessarily by higher taxes) so we could sober up from our black goo dependency and get serious about sustainable alternatives that are better for the environment and eliminate the tragic politics of war and Faustian allegiances in the Middle East which is driven by the petrodollar system.
 
But then we need to talk about the increase in oil purchasing related to the synthetic shaving brush market and the decrease in jobs for Chinese badgers.
 
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