One other big reason for increasing gas prices has to do with the amount being imported and the weak dollar. It takes more dollars to reach equivalence with the Euro. That is a big kick in the pants!

You are all correct in what you have to say about the rising cost of fuel, however you must remember the president is invested with the old companies and most of reprensentives are invested in the oil companies so do you really think they are going to do anything that will cost them the monies they are earning. If they cared about us the public, true they would do something or at least make the pretense they cared. However the facts have been in our face for years. They are only concerned when its time to be elected and then they play their games with our taxes, to fund themselves into positions that give them more power and money and sorry to say they get further from the reality we live in day to day, with such as how to pay for the gas, insurance's that we need but can't afford, cost of raising our kids, etc. or the retired on fixed incomes having to chose between prescriptions, food, utilities. As they say if you don't voice your convictions and vote your convictions and try to give help where you can nothing is gonna get better. Remember every thing we have, wear, eat is shipped by desil fueled engines and that shipping cost raises the cost of everything. Get ready for it to get worse.

Earthlink4.

Hmmm.. You have just described a Democrat. Good job...

ShinKen, how about writing something that will make me happy and optimistic?

LOL. You mean a Hollywood ending NAB? Okay, maybe one like Terminator 2. The future is not yet written.

Despite everything, America is still one of most free nations on Earth. A free economy is incredibly resilient, and the American people are still extremely industrious. Despite all the ways the government screws things up, industrious and enterprising people have found a way to work around. We have prospered in spite of it. While it is true that this can’t last forever, it is still surprising how much pounding a free economy can take.

And even though the present path we are on will lead to inevitable ruin, it can all change in a year, or a month, or perhaps a day.

Once upon a time, the Soviet Union seemed impossibly formidable. Then in a matter of months it collapsed like a house of cards. It came so quickly that it was startling. No matter how oppressive a regime is, it still relies on the support (or at least passive toleration) of the general populace. If the trains run on time, and the pot holes in the roads are fixed, people will put up with a lot. But when the regime fails to accomplish even these small things, then the support is withdrawn and the regime will fold.

It is telling that the Soviet Union did not end in a military clash with the west. It ended because communism doesn’t work. It can’t make the trains run on time.

Likewise, Federal Reserve policy doesn’t work. It can’t bring prosperity with the stroke of a pen. And eventually when that promise is shown to be false, its support will collapse. And that is why I write pessimistically of what is happening, so that when things get bad enough, people will realize what is happening and what needs to change.

And you never know if tomorrow we will wake up and discover that some enterprising person will make the whole gas crisis moot.

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1433/

"18 Months Until Custom-Made, Oil-Pooping Bacteria". Heavy.

So heavy in fact that I started reading the comments while the dude was explaining what was possible. And you know what? Geeks are really weird.

But essentially ShinKen, you are absolutely right. As long as we know and accept that things can turn around in the blink of an eye, then there's always hope for this old world of ours.

-nab

I just received this on my email, and thought I would pass it along. Hopefully these tips will help us somewhat with the astronomical gas prices.










If everyone in the U.S. drove a car that averaged 23 miles to the gallon, we would not import one drop of Arab oil. Drive a gas guzzler? Support Arab terrorism.



Worth reading.....


TIPS ON PUMPING GAS

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here in
California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my
line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some
tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon..

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose , CA we
deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.
One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and
premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of
16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the
ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations
have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground
the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so
buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not
exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and
the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other
petroleum products plays an important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the
service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a
fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three
(3)stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on
low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are
pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are
pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank
becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the
underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.


One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF
FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in
your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates
faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal
floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and
the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service
stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature
compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage
tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline
is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick
up some f the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will
help you get the most value for your money.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!

WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON

Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It
might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We
should return the favor.

An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.

Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into
the coffers of Saudi Arabia . Just buy from gas companies that don't
import their oil from the Saudis.

Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up
the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my
family, and my friends.

I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies
are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle
Eastern oil.

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell........................... 205,742,000 barrels

Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels

Exxon /Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels

Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels

Amoco............................62,231,000 barrels

Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans. If
you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION!
(oil is now $90 - $100 a barrel

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco..................0 barrels

Conoco..................0 barrels

Sinclair.................0 barrels

B P/Phillips............0 barrels

Hess.......................0 barrels

ARC0....................0 barrels

If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations
near you.

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and
each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are
importing.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas
buyers. It's really simple to do.

Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading ?nd I'll explain how
simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it
to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300 send it to at least
ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the message
reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE
MILLION consumers !!!!!!! If those three million get excited and pass
this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been
contacted!

If it goes one level further, you guessed it ..... THREE HUNDRED
MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would all
that take

How funny! I just received the same e-mail myself. Here's what Snopes says about it:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp

-nab

Gee-thought I was special!lol

Or maybe we have mutual friends on our e-mail distribution lists.

-nab

well just try owning a convenience store i will break down the cost of fuel and this is from a old invoice when our cost was 2.64970 a gallon last sept. fuel price 2.25570 federal tax 722.02 ala excise tax 627.84
al tank trust fee 39.24 al inspection fee 78.48 mobile pj excise gas 78.48 of course this was only 4000 gallons (regular only)
imagine the tax on 8000 gals so do the math we would be paying .40 a gallon less if it were not for taxes just as customers are having a hard time paying for gas so are convenience stores because banks are in bad shape right now and lowering credit lines our price for gas today is 3.21 most convenience stores today are selling gas at or below cost just to use gas as a draw when these big oil companies were allowed to merge was the biggest mistake our government ever made