TT Gas Guzzling/Price Thread

“Oops! Didn't use the inside voice there. Sorry. LOL!”

“Did anyone see it....Oil Company profit per gallon around 9 cents....GOVERNMENT TAXES...45 to 50 cents a gallon....FIVE TIMES AS MUCH!....wonder who is gouging us now?”

“The prices are coming down a little here. I was glad to fill up my car for under $30 yesterday. Of course a full tank is 12-13 gallons.”

“Gas is still cheaper than bottled water. I'm not complaining yet.”

“Too bad it's no longer cheaper than milk. ;-)”

“well my husband is in Ann Arbor, MI this week and gas down there is almost 20 cents a litre cheaper than it is in Guelph, Ontario (that works out to about 75 cents a gallon less in the US).”

“I was very pleasantly suprised to find that my wife's new Cavalier got 35.8 MPG on a trip to Detroit last Sunday, and that, with a 40 minute traffic jam due to an accident.”

“I wish way more americans had cars that would do that. Consider yourself very lucky you have a car like that.”

“On my way to a camping trip this past weekend I noticed 3 SUV's on the side of the road with "for sale" signs on them. One of them was a Hummer. Also saw two 5'er campers with signs on them. I'm guessing the higher gas prices are starting to force defectors to smaller vehicles/campers.

Ironically on my way home I saw a guy looking at one of the SUV's. He was driving a compact.”

“We have been taught that spikes in gas prices always lead to lower prices. Will this time be different? In 1989 the senate had hearings in which Oil Co's were complaining that american had cut consumption so much they would all go broke. Where are the news media when we need them to show these tapes and deminstrate what pigs the OC's and the politicians are. all of this took place when enough OC's exsisted to cause real competition.”

“Bring back Nixons 55MPH.”

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“It's quickly getting time for me to replace my Ford Ranger. It has 190k miles and still runs fine, but I'd rather replace it while it still runs strong. I'm starting to consider the new VW Passat Turbo Diesel. It has around 200 hp and gets over 40mpg on the highway. I need to do some research on it, but it sure sounds good.”

“We're selling our 14 mpg Durango as we just put the little woman in a 26 mpg Sienna last night. I call her a 'Soccer MILF'.”

“Violin,,,,I am lookin at dumping the 15 MPG Jeep Wrangler for something better...but I need the ability to drive in crappy conditions.”

“We have a Sienna too, but don't get 26 mpg. It's a 03 and gets low 20's I think. She dang sure doesn't check the mileage.”

“Just filled up on Sunday after a jaunt in the moutains... $50! Most I've ever paid for a fill-up! Cost was $3.25/gallon for mid-grade.”

“The EPA highway rating is 26, dayhiker. We'll see - but it has to beat that gas hog.”

“Huh! The Violin’s has a Durango? So violin’s wife is compensating for a small dick? All this time I’ve been envisioning Violin and his wife as some kind of Mexican Ed Begley Jr. family driving electric cars and he turns out to be more along the lines of Fat White Trash Neo-Con family out "muddin'" with sheep-phucker dogs in the back.
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“Prices went down a few cents around here in the last couple of days.”

“The prices always get raised Wednesday afternoon for the weekend. Then fall a bit after the weekend. Tuesday’s the day to fill up for less.”

“From Jon Carroll, SF Chron:

There were two very fine photographs on the front page of this very newspaper the other day. The first showed the speaker of the House driving off in a hydrogen-powered car after a news conference on gas prices. The second showed him, about 100 yards down the road, getting out of the energy-efficient car and lumbering toward the SUV that would take him the rest of the way to wherever he was going.

Coming soon -- the Potemkin Congress.

Politicians are trying very hard to convince us that they have not been cowering before the mighty oil companies for just ever. They are talking bravely of taxing windfall profits, and prohibiting accounting tricks that keep profits high, and -- well, a bunch of stuff that will never happen. Bill Frist is talking about giving each of us $100 just for being ourselves. He feels our pain. Well, no, he doesn't, but he's hired someone to feel our pain.

Is there a more transparent trick than "Vote for me and I'll give you $100"? It's beyond satire. What's next? Free orgasms? Wait, they're already free. The system works.

It is equally amusing watching the oil companies explain how their record profits are not profits as such, and that with the costs of exploration and the growing need for energy and -- did you even try to follow it? We're rolling in money, but we're not actually rolling in money! This is not money! We are not here! Unless you're a stockholder, in which case we are here and this is money.

One might say to the American people: What did you expect? You voted for a guy who made his money in the oil business. (What he did in the oil business: not so clear.) You voted for a vice president who set energy policy by having secret meetings with oil company executives. You were in favor of a war that was fought to guarantee our oil supply. You cheered when economy-stimulating tax cuts were enacted. You are now paying $3 a gallon at the pump in what Daniel Yergin has called "the permanent shortage," and you feel betrayed? This was an act between consenting adults; it's a little late for buyer's remorse.

Not that one would expect the Democrats to do much better. Our political institutions are, in the area of corporate governance, largely irrelevant. The government couldn't help even if the government wanted to help. That train left the station 30 years ago.

Which does not mean that we are without hope. In fact, we are the problem. There are no large oil companies without large demand for oil, and we are doing the demanding. If you were running a business where people would apparently pay just about anything to get your product, wouldn't you keep raising your prices? If gas is a large part of your budget, make it a smaller part of your budget.

I understand that it is hard for some people to drive less. I feel sorry for traveling salesmen and landscapers and farmers. Heck, I feel sorry for all of us, one way or the other. But the pain is going to come, one way or another. We can choose to control the pain ourselves, or we can wait until it gets so bad we have to accept whatever solution is at hand. The sooner you choose, the more choices you'll have.

Four percent of the world's population; 25 per cent of the energy use -- that's us. And, maddeningly enough, the world wants to catch up. It wants big cars and bright lights and the wonders of exurban commuting. We've led the way in excess, and now we're going to lead the world in regret. And no one will feel sorry for us, because we've pillaged and invaded and belittled and overthrown and generally wiped our feet on the rest of the world. I know, I know, it wasn't you. But it's your problem anyway; it's your karma anyway.

We do understand, have always understood, that the deluded narcissists in Washington are not going to help us out. We might be able to help ourselves out. We might form communities of interest, communities of need, and figure out how to share energy expenses. Neighborhood shopping trips; neighborhood carpooling; neighborhood consciousness-raising. It's happened in race relations; it's happened in women's rights; why can't it happen in energy policy?

I do not believe that there's one big solution for this mess. I do suspect that there are a million small solutions. Anyway, it's the only thing we have left to try. Either that or, you know, better drugs”

“Yesterday, I filled up for $2.63 a gallon at a Shell station. The posted gas price was $2.77 then a 5% discount with my Shell gas card brings the price down $0.14 per gallon. I do shop for the cheapest fuel but I would like to see higher taxes on fuel to encourage conservation and research into alternate fuels. Like someone said earlier, it isn't the margin that oil companies make on fuel that is making them rich but the volume. Walmart probably makes a higher margin on junk made in China than Exxon makes on a gallon of gas. It is you the consumer that has the power not the oil companies. I live in one of the biggest oil producing states. I remember the oil bust in the 80's that skyrocketed unemployment from Biloxi to Brownsville. The entire gulf coast was in depression from incomes to home values. What changed that condition to full employment for every able bodied person who can turn a wrench is the SUV. You did it the American consumer not Exxon or Shell.”

“"We have a Sienna too, but don't get 26 mpg. It's a 03 and gets low 20's I think." - dayhiker.

That's the same model/year we have, too. We get 21 mpg, and 16 mpg when towing our popup. That's with mostly highway driving in both cases.”

“Many Americans need to get a clue or an education. The government does not control the price of gas or oil beyond the part of the price that is taxes. Oil companies do not control the price of crude oil (manipulate a little maybe). The crude oil price you hear in the news is the futures market. The price happens because of what speculators, which I am sure include oil companies, think will happen to the supply and demand for oil in the future. Oil company profits in dollars sound huge but as a percentage of company value are not out of line with many other sectors of our economy. The taxes a bigger part of the gas price than the oil company profits.”

“But if they gave percentages instead of dollars they wouldn't have the emotional reaction that the media is searching for. Bubba doesn't understand 15%, but 12 beeeelion dollars just ain't rite!”