Why you should love $5 gas

[Big Fitz]

I just posted this article in another thread. This was on the homepage of MSN. Incredible.

I especially loved this quackery:

"It's all about democracy. If we let up on the gas pedal, we'll starve those oil-rich despots out of existence."

Of course, drilling here and developing our own industry and supply wouldn't do that. Nooooooooo,,,,


Again, we can't conserve our way out of an energy crisis.

what part of drilling oil here is meaningless unless you nationalize it, because it will just go onto the world market do you not understand?

What part of increased supply equals lower cost worldwide is incomprehensible by you?

What part of domestic jobs improve our economy as foreign revenue comes here do you not get?

What is it about profiting on foreign exports defies your notice?

What part of nationalization is an utter failure escapes your mind?

Hasn't the USSR and eastern bloc nations proven this to you? How about China which was struggling till they invited in private capitalism. They still don't have it right yet but their economy is becoming more free than ours! Was Jim Rockafeller just wasting his time drilling privately? Do you have no concept of history or has it all been commie-washed?

Triple H. Helpless, hapless, hopeless.

 

[mudwhistle]

The only gripe I have about your commentary is the High Mileage Car thing... WTF?

What's wrong with wanting more efficient cars? Hell, the best hybrid(besides the Volt, which is waaay too expensive to buy) only get what? High 40's/low 50's?

I'd be willing to bet that normal internal combustion cars could get that and still deliver decent performance. 40 MPG should be the norm, not the exception.

The problem with some of you is that you want your cake and eat it too. The days of Muscle Cars are over, the days of 12 MPG Suburbans and Hummers are over. Conservatives love to talk about "personal Responsibility" but turn a blind eye to this area.

There's nothing wrong with it as long as you let the market edge itself toward higher mileage cars. If you deviously attempt to cause prices to rise you're committing criminal fraud.

Felony fraud is a type of criminal act. Essentially, fraud is using deceptive actions to harm another party or to benefit personally. For example, a person who uses the postal service to illegally obtain money from another party may be guilty of fraud. Felony fraud is the most serious type of fraud; it often involves government agencies, large sums of money, or very valuable assets and carries higher penalties than more minor fraud offenses. Minor fraud cases may be referred to as misdemeanor offenses.
What Is Felony Fraud?

 

[Big Fitz]

ok you increase supply. How do you stop everyone else from cutting back so keep levels where they are? Force? HAHAHAHAAHA, Keep trying

So there's nothing that can be done. May as well roll over and take one up the tailpipe. Are you dense or just playing that for TV?

So they cut back production. We increase production, our supply stays fine, AND we profit more from our supply. The downside is where???

What foreign Rev?

All the money they earned from us in the first place by selling us cheap goods? What all other nations won't buy from us? pfft. What're you trying t pull?

Again how do you keep the oil here?

Don't have to. Global market, remember? The one you keep touting? Of course if we wanted to be asses, we put an embargo of exporting oil and keep our supply flush if w have to. The point is we still have control. Crazy how that works.

Oh boy jobs....Limited and no real impact on the overall UE.

Tell that to Montana and the Dakotas. They're advertising for people like crazy over here in MN. Full fledged oil boom going on if the ecofascists don't stop it.

Again you would have to create a law saying we would profit on the exports, otherwise like i said it goes into the world market to be sold.

Still thinking like a collectivists. Private industry would profit, hire people and those individuals who associate with them will share in the profit as well. The government will fuck em on the taxes too, but they have no reason to be involved in the industry.

Again you would have to create a law saying we would profit on the exports, otherwise like i said it goes into the world market to be sold.

Read some history. The world didn't begin yesterday. What you see now is the chinese attempting to do what Gorbachev failed to keep the lid on. But that lid's trembling and ready to pop if they don't find some sort of release valve. Taiwan may have the last laugh on their communist brethren.

More free? Do you know how much companies have to bend over in order to get their foot in the door and get approval from China's GOVERNMENT to work there.

Look at their small businesses. Not the corporations. The PRC gubmint has a firm hold on the big business, particularly foreign corps. But as we know in this nation (well maybe not you) is that small business is the big power of capitalism.

China is also building empty cities, so its all smoke and mirrors right now.

Right. That's part of the whole problem with Socialist capitalism. The Soviets learned that the hard way with their damn 5 year plans that lead to starvation, shortages and desperate situations for the proletariat. Your hole card is a low card.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Come on TT, these are prosperity prices. Everything is rosy.

 

[Charles_Main]

Hey! With oil companies making more profits...shouldnt we all be getting some kind of trickle down effect???

Buy some stock in an Oil company and you can enjoy some of those Profits too.

Isn't America Great.

In Fact if you have a pension, 401k or Mutual Fund. You may already be Enjoying them.

 

[thereisnospoon]

I just posted this article in another thread. This was on the homepage of MSN. Incredible.

I especially loved this quackery:

"It's all about democracy. If we let up on the gas pedal, we'll starve those oil-rich despots out of existence."

no its not. This is part of the reason gas has gone down 25 cents so far. Because less people were driving.
When we as americans actually conserve and watch how we drive, it hits them in the wallet.
I am not talking those stupid skip a day at the pump crap. I am talking the little cuts and pull backs we can do.

Like the SUV/Mini Van driving stay at home soccer moms who make 6 trips a day when one or two would accomplish the same thing.
Like the parents who have one kid in elementary school, one in middle school and one in high school and feel the need to drive each of them instead of letting them take the bus.
LIke the workers who could use mass transit but decide to drive( getting stuck in massive traffic jams) to work because "it's more convenient".

 

[Steelplate]

What's personally irresponsible about driving an inefficient car in terms of gas mileage? If someone buys a car they can't afford to put gas in that has no affect on me.

You understand gas at $5 a gallon would even for cars with good gas mileage right? I drive a little Honda that I put $50 in every 4-5 days, my car being good on gas doesn't make $50 sometimes twice a week a low expenditure.

Didn't say it was. What is irresponsible is complaining about Gas Prices when you aren't driving that little Honda. You guys just seem to think that the rubber is never going to meet the road on this issue, that it's one of politics. It's not. There's only two ways of dealing with this mess.

1. Subsidize the oil industry more so we pay less/gallon.... but that's socialism.

2. Learn how to control your consumption so you get the most bang for your buck... that's drive a more efficient car. Your choice of car is up to you... maybe you have a couple of kids and go with the dreaded mini-van instead of the ego-boosting Suburban.

There is a last option, but you don't want to hear it. Take on the speculators and Big Oil and force them to open their books and see if they are profiteering on the Public and if they are, hammer the hell out of them.

Like I said, you don't want to hear that, because you think profiteering is a good thing.

 

[Steelplate]

There's nothing wrong with wanting a more gas efficient car, just like there's nothing wrong with wanting a less gas efficient car.

The bad about gas prices being through the roof outnumbers the good by about 1687137253468317817587.

That's why only took issue with one part of the OP's commentary on the MSN piece.

There is something however, wrong with wanting a less efficient car. It's not responsible. Once again... Personal responsibility is a staple argument for the right. What's more irresponsible than tooling around in a Hummer and bitching about gas prices?

Oh really? I drive a 2004 Honda Pilot with 45,000 miles on it. It's been paid off for years. Is it as fuel efficient as a Prius or Ford Fiesta? Nope. However, it holds all five of us (plus the dog) thus only requiring us to drive one car on trips, rather than two. Hey look, we're helping to save the planet! In order to compensate for the high gas prices that car gets driven less. Hey look, we're lowering our carbon footprint! Money is tight, so we didn't sell the Pilot and buy a car (and incur a car payment) that we can't afford. Hey look, we're living within our means! We're planning on getting this car to at least the 200,000 mile mark. Hey look, we're taking care of what we own and making it last, rather than spending money we don't have on a shiny new bauble! You leftists don't have a clue. Your idea of personal responsibility is to have everyone be a Tiny Tim with their bowl out saying 'please Uncle Sam, can I 'ave some 'ore?'.

Look, I don't give a shit what you drive and I understand your situation. There's a lot of people in the same boat. The point is not people like you. The point is people saying it's their "damned right" to drive a Hummer and the world should bow down to them! Then they turn around and bitch and moan about the price of gas when their behavior is partially to blame.

I never said that you should trade in your Pilot right now. But when that Pilot has it's 200K on it, I would hope that fuel efficiency plays a part in your decision on your next vehicle.

Lastly...Your idea on "leftists" is fucking ridiculous. In fact, your analogy is totally backwards. Uncle Sam has nothing to do with the price of gas, in fact.. if anything, Uncle Same helps keep the price down by subsidizing. So basically it's you guys saying... "please Big Oil... can we have lower prices?" Guess what? Big oil doesn't give a shit about your finances or your Honda Pilot and the aren't going to change.

 

[bripat9643]

The problem with some of you is that you want your cake and eat it too. The days of Muscle Cars are over, the days of 12 MPG Suburbans and Hummers are over. Conservatives love to talk about "personal Responsibility" but turn a blind eye to this area.

What is this "cake" we want to eat? There isn't a single good thing about higher gas prices. Next libs will be telling us about the benefits of higher food prices and higher prices for housing.

 

[bripat9643]

Hey! With oil companies making more profits...shouldnt we all be getting some kind of trickle down effect???

The "trickle" you're experiencing is Obama urinating on your head.

 

[bripat9643]

First of all, your attempt to categorize me as an Obamabot is laughable since I've posted a lot about how he's pissed me off. So nice fail there.

Second of all, do you really think that because you FINALLY grasped the concept of transportation costs that you're a genius?

I'm simply using the dumb-ass logic that many conservatives do all the time. Oh corporate success trickles down. So let me put the pieces together for you. Higher gas = higher profits. Higher profits = more corporate success. Corporate success leads to trickle down benefits to the American people.

You can't complain about gas prices and still believe in trickle down and keep a straight face.

That has to be the most idiotic example of "logic" I have ever seen.

Higher gas prices lead to higher profits for only one industry. It leads to lower profits for every other industry.

You're a fucking moron, but, hey, that's what happens when liberals attempt to commit logic.

 

[bripat9643]

still have over a year for UE to go down. If the election was tomorrow you would have a decent point.
Um Obama is not preventing us, We are opening new sites. That was what a month long story that it seems the right wants to drag out for the next ten years. Its over, let it go.

Ah Soro's...While one man running everything is a legit conspiracy, the idea that Fox news and the Koch brothers are not behind the Teatards are wild fantasy.

Which when you actually think about it,covers the whole concept of how the Right operates. Do as i say, not as i do, because if you pay attention to what i do, you wont listen to me.

You appear to be babbling and tossing of talking points randomly without understanding them or being able to string them together into anything coherent.

 

[bripat9643]

That was actually humor. Sorry it went over your head.

But thanks for bringing up th boogy man of the day; Evul speculators!

Remeber when it used to be Bush's fault we had high gas prices? Why didn't anyone mention the evul speculators then?

Pelosi still believes it's Bush and Cheney's fault. That woman is the poster child for the developmentally disabled.

 

[bripat9643]

I know i did, and i blamed the dollar. Which was being devalued under Bush quite well. But then that was on another board and not here.
outside of the wars Bush didnt really have a direct affect on oil. It really is a giant circle of people who help make it go up, But the speculators are really the man part.

IF you want to do humor add a smile, it helps.

You obviously believe you know what you're talking about.

That's why the rest of us are rolling on the floor laughing every time we read one of your little turds of wisdom.

 

[bripat9643]

what part of drilling oil here is meaningless unless you nationalize it, because it will just go onto the world market do you not understand?

Nationalizing the oil industry would have "meaning" because then the price would go to $300/bbl.

 

[mudwhistle]

what part of drilling oil here is meaningless unless you nationalize it, because it will just go onto the world market do you not understand?

Nationalizing the oil industry would have "meaning" because then the price would go to $300/bbl.

There a several ways at Obama's disposal to play with the price of gas.

He can corner the market, as he's doing, by putting our supplies off limits, or he can take over the oil industry and manipulate the price like they do in Europe.

Many European countries such as the UK, France, and Italy use a fuel tax to decrease dependence on fossil fuels (that often have to be imported), reduce traffic and reduce pollution.

In some regions of the world, differences in fuel taxes between countries result in a significant level of cross-border purchasing of motor fuel. This is particularly true in Europe, where large differences in fuel taxes, coupled with minimal or no border controls, encourage drivers to cross borders for the sole purpose of filling up their tanks with fuel. Some states, such as Luxembourg, Andorra, Gibraltar, have strategically reduced fuel tax rates to attract more cross-border fill-ups, which ultimately increase tax revenue. Most countries' customs regulations permit the duty-free import of the contents of a vehicle's built-in fuel tank, but there are exceptions. Singaporean customs officials check the fuel gauges of vehicles leaving Singapore and require that the fuel tank be at least three quarters full, in order to limit the importation of lower-taxed fuel from Malaysia. Recently, gas stations in Argentina near the Brazilian border list two different prices for gasoline, one for cars with Argentinian license plates and another one for foreign plates, to restrict Brazilian drivers from buying cheaper fuel in Argentina, generating long lines at the gas stations and driving gas prices up.

 

[editec]

$5 a gallon gas is going to play hell on recovering from the recession that for damned sure.

 

[Zoom-boing]

That's why only took issue with one part of the OP's commentary on the MSN piece.

There is something however, wrong with wanting a less efficient car. It's not responsible. Once again... Personal responsibility is a staple argument for the right. What's more irresponsible than tooling around in a Hummer and bitching about gas prices?

Oh really? I drive a 2004 Honda Pilot with 45,000 miles on it. It's been paid off for years. Is it as fuel efficient as a Prius or Ford Fiesta? Nope. However, it holds all five of us (plus the dog) thus only requiring us to drive one car on trips, rather than two. Hey look, we're helping to save the planet! In order to compensate for the high gas prices that car gets driven less. Hey look, we're lowering our carbon footprint! Money is tight, so we didn't sell the Pilot and buy a car (and incur a car payment) that we can't afford. Hey look, we're living within our means! We're planning on getting this car to at least the 200,000 mile mark. Hey look, we're taking care of what we own and making it last, rather than spending money we don't have on a shiny new bauble! You leftists don't have a clue. Your idea of personal responsibility is to have everyone be a Tiny Tim with their bowl out saying 'please Uncle Sam, can I 'ave some 'ore?'.

Look, I don't give a shit what you drive and I understand your situation. There's a lot of people in the same boat. The point is not people like you. The point is people saying it's their "damned right" to drive a Hummer and the world should bow down to them! Then they turn around and bitch and moan about the price of gas when their behavior is partially to blame.

I never said that you should trade in your Pilot right now. But when that Pilot has it's 200K on it, I would hope that fuel efficiency plays a part in your decision on your next vehicle.

Lastly...Your idea on "leftists" is fucking ridiculous. In fact, your analogy is totally backwards. Uncle Sam has nothing to do with the price of gas, in fact.. if anything, Uncle Same helps keep the price down by subsidizing. So basically it's you guys saying... "please Big Oil... can we have lower prices?" Guess what? Big oil doesn't give a shit about your finances or your Honda Pilot and the aren't going to change.

You claimed that something was wrong with people who want a less efficient car because it wasn't responsible. I just showed you how it WAS responsible and there's a lot folks out there who are doing exactly what we are doing. That IS showing personal responsibility. Are you saying that because someone drives a bigger car they can't bitch about high gas prices because what . . . they're not entitled to bitch? Please.

My car is 7 years old with 45K on it . . . . it will take years to hit the 200K mark. I just may keep it forever!

You know what would happen if we all ditched the big gas guzzlers and switched to a shoe-boxed sized 50 mpg car? Big oil would raise prices because they'd be making less and big gov would raise taxes on gas to compensate for the loss of revenue. Big bus/gov are always going to want more money.

 

[Two Thumbs]

$5 a gallon gas is going to play hell on recovering from the recession that for damned sure.

We went from cancelling out vacation and going to local sites, too "Maybe we can do someting on the weekend, like go to the pool."