Sky High Gasoline

“Regular gas is .94 here in Richmond.”

“I'm driving to Richmond to fill up tonight!”

“I just spent $1.05/gallon to gas up and they usually soak the college students so it stays high around here. I don't remember the last time I paid that little for gas. I don't know whether to be happy or ashamed.”

“Dang those prces are low! I'm gonna have to go drive off the gas I's'already got so I can go gemme some of that cheap chit.”

“null”

“time to buy more SUV's!”

“97 cents a gallon, now those prices are too cheap! It's time for the other half of the economy to suffer!”

“The reason why we are getting it so cheap is because the Ruskies have opened the tap. Screw OPEC. Let's just by from the Russians, boost their economy (and get back some of the billions we "loaned" them) and then the Saudis can just suck an egg. They've got their Mecca back and that reduces tension. We've got an assured oil supply.

At least it gives the U.S. some wiggle room.”

“We got 96 cent gas in middle Tennessee”

“.92/gal”

“It's 1.08 here. Dat ain't right!”

“Shades of the California 'energy crisis'? We're being gamed folks.


March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures closed above $38 a barrel for the first time since the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, after the U.S. Energy Department reported a decline in nationwide gasoline inventories.

The 800,000 barrel drop last week left gasoline supplies at 199.6 million barrels, the lowest since November, while demand of 9 million barrels a day was the highest so far this year. Supplies fell as refineries unexpectedly cut their processing rates at a time when they usually build motor-fuel reserves for the peak-use summer months.

<snip>
The nation's refiners slowed operations by 1.5 percentage points to 87.6 percent of capacity last week, which was also 1.2 percent below year-earlier levels, the department said. Analysts had expected processing rates to rise to 89.6 percent. Refiners usually boost operating levels after performing maintenance at this time of year to meet summer gasoline demand.

"The dip in maintenance is a surprise that warrants concern," said Tim Evans, senior energy analyst at IFR Markets in New York. "They should be boosting product output now."”

“But they're not gouging the public, according to Congress and our legislature here in the Keystone State.

See, they couldn't gouge the Pentagon over meals served the troops in Iraq, so how's an enterprising enterpreneur supposed to get rich quick?”

“Why would they want to produce more? Then they wouldn't be able to charge the American public top dollar.”

“Vio,
Fuel prices are killing me....
It might be enuf to sway me to the Dem side on elecetion day...”

“I'm glad I bought a newer car last year. That extra 5 miles per gallon helps some.”

“Propane is up too, $1.55 / gal.
Why the hell does propane go up with gas prices?
Gas is $1.80's in upsate NY.”

“anyone ever ride a moped to a trail head?”

“It's still really not that expensive.”

“True! Compared to Canada or Europe, but we Americans in our SUV's have been spoiled...LOL”

“I here bicycles get good gas mileage.”

“I would think liberals would love high gas prices, it will encourage better gas mileage vehicles like it did in the mid 70's. As people demand, Detroit and Tokyo listen. Hopefully this will spark consumer demand for high mileage vehicles instead of SUVs and pickups that became so popular under Clinton's Presidency.”

“Compared to all other nations in the world it is still dirt cheap here, believe it or not. Hopefully this will kick everyone in the butt so we can commercialize new alternative energy sources. And so US idiots stop buying SUVs to tote around their 50 pound kids and 5 pound poodles.”

“yep - it's a slow process, and people don't have to suddenly get Mini's - but maybe just go for the slightly smaller engined car each time they replace. Makes sense really. Just because people have two kids they seem to think they need a surburban.”

“Maybe this will bring to light that this country is in need of a better public transportation system.”

“And so US idiots stop buying SUVs to tote around their 50 pound kids and 5 pound poodles.

U.S. idiots buying SUVs to tote around 50 lb kids? Naw. Look at the commercials in slick outdoor adventure magazines and on television... they are targeting their biggest SUV market, environmentalists and wilderness outdoor recreationists so they can haul their kayaks and mountain bikes and skis and snowboards and backpacks and camping gear. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I used to be active in the Sierra Club (aka Club Sierra) and for the pre-trip meetings I could always tell which house the meeting was at by all the big SUVs and pickups lined up outside. Check out the commercials, that is the target market for SUVs and smaller pickups. Wilderness adventurers.”

“The last time I owned an eight cylinder was about 1978.”

“I say we hike every where we go!
If you can't hike there then don't go!”

“OK maybe a mountain bike would be ok too, or a Kayak, or a canoe, or Horse and Buggy....
Hey!
There an idea, Those Amish/Menenite folks sure have a heck of idea :-)”

“What's your point Buck? I think we all know that lovers of the outdoors are not excluded from being idiots.”

“I own an Escort Wagon. Good gas mileage and take the bus, train and ferry to work...”

“Ferry's a great way to get around...


...has trouble cornering on those narrow streets though!”

“I have a Subaru and wish they would open up that commuter rail, though I know it probably won't happen any time soon. I hate the drive to work and the miles that I’m putting on my car.”

“I thought I clipped it tightly enough...

US refiners are cutting production in the face of rising prices and demand at a time of year when they usually increase production.”

“What, you don't understand thread degeneration Vi?”

“what do refiners have to do with us TT hikers getting to the trail head on our gas saving mopeds ?

j/k”

“Violin, if refiners hadn't cut production at a time like this, you wouldn't have had this article to cut and paste. You are more influential than you think. Powerful people from every industry lurk here and they conspire and bet with each other about what action they can take to qualify for a Violin "cut and paste" on TT. There is a lot of money on the line for them here.”

“Don't think I'm not onto them.”

“It's called supply and demand if they cut production (supply goes down) and demand remains the same, prices will go up.”

“LMFAO @ BUCKSTER...

VIO send them that exploding getting fired link!!”

“The cheap gas is out there, but I guard my sources carefully. Seek and you shall find my friends.”

“paid about 1.63 in atlanta...but i dont complain...next car i get will be either hybrid or electric...ill keep the truck for work and stuff though...”

“Gas prices are ridiculous. We are getting gouged by the oil companies. They are getting rich. Bush isn't saying a word about it either. I wonder why. Could it be that he is one of them?”

“Maybe nashville? Gas here is $1.58 for the cheap stuff.

Problem is that I have a Wrangler that uses the cheap stuff, but holds a lot of it and a Volvo that should use the expensive stuff (I use the mid-grade stuff) and holds even more.

To fill up both vechicles each week, I spend on average about $50.”

“I'm spending about $25 a week on gas. Here in Nashville gas is on average $1.67 gallon. I am moving to DC in a week and will be doing a lot of driving for work. There it is nearing $2. It's disgusting that the oil companies can get away with this.”

“When I had my old truck it had a 30 gal. tank. It was a #&%!$ when I had to fill it up; but then again I could get 600 miles on a tank of gas.”

“gas today was 81.9cents/litre
#&%!$”

“Had to fill the old propane tank yesterday. $1.39/gal and $450. No political statement, just reality.”

“Cheney Tax Plan From '86 Would Have Raised Gas Prices
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. NY Times

WASHINGTON, April 5 — In October 1986, when Dick Cheney was the lone congressman from energy-rich Wyoming, he introduced legislation to create a new import tax that would have caused the price of oil, and ultimately the price of gasoline paid by drivers, to soar by billions of dollars per year.

"Let us rid ourselves of the fiction that low oil prices are somehow good for the United States," Mr. Cheney, who is now vice president, said shortly after introducing the legislation.

Oil prices had plunged to $15 from nearly $40 a barrel in the early 1980's, as Saudi Arabia flooded world markets, and Mr. Cheney argued the tax was needed to stabilize oil-state economies devastated as a result. But other lawmakers, including some Republicans, criticized the Cheney plan and similar proposals as "snake oil" that would throw 400,000 Americans out of work. They also said then, as President Bush does now, that higher taxes would stall the economy.

Renewed attention on Mr. Cheney's plan, which Democrats dusted off and talked about on the Senate floor last week, offers another wrinkle in this year's politicized debate about gas prices, which hit a record-high average of $1.76 last week for a gallon of regular. While gas prices may remain a presidential campaign issue if they do not decline, they are still well below the inflation-adjusted high of nearly $3 in March 1981.

To deflect charges that the White House has not done enough to bring down prices, the Bush campaign has attacked Senator John Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, as favoring higher gas prices. "Some people have wacky ideas like taxing gasoline more so people drive less. That's John Kerry," a recent Bush campaign commercial said. The commercial singled out Mr. Kerry's support a decade ago for a 50-cent gas tax increase, part of a deficit-reduction package that Mr. Kerry never voted for.
<snip>

"It is hard to explain," Mr. Durbin said, "how they could attack John Kerry for even considering a 50-cent gas tax, which he didn't introduce or vote for, and ignore Cheney's own legislation in 1986 which would have dramatically raised the cost of gasoline. If every vote and every statement made by John Kerry is fair game, the same thing is true of President Bush and the vice president."

A spokesman for Mr. Cheney declined to comment.”

“What is Bush doing right now about the American people getting price gouged by the oil companies???!!!! He's hardly uttered word one. It's not right that he is standing idle in this crisis.”