An example of how screwed up the oil company line of thinking is: The Indian nation has oil wells on their land. They are supposed to get royalties from the oil taken from their land by the oil companies. When they looked at the books, they found out that little or no money was coming in from the oil companies. (actually, I think it is the BIA that is supposed to pay out the royalties). What the Indians did was shut off the pumps. It took less than 24 hours for the oil companies to freak out and start screaming at the Indians for violating the so-called agreement they were supposed to have with the oil companies. Where was the money going? Guess.

So what can we do about it?

NO MORE INCUMBANTS!!!

To me, the price hikes are unethical but I also recognize the right the oil companies have to charge what the market will bear. The sticky situation is that what the market will bear will undoubtedly harm our economy and our influence on foreign governments. In this situation, I do believe the government is justified in exerting some form of artificial downward pressure on gas prices.

To further clarify, I agree with you that they’re not going to do it. We’re on our own, I’m afraid, to figure out how to exert our own artificial downward pressure.

Anyone else as relieved as me that the price hikes on gasoline are not “strictly unethical”?

I know those corporations just hate it when there is even an appearance of ethical problems.

And if Shocker’s predictions on the effect of the prices hold true, aren’t you glad that no one in this administration will be willing to do anything about it. “Free enterprise” don’t ya know.

I would hate to be a victim of trolling, but Ed, you can’t possibly be serious about Israel, right? World War III would start the moment the US stopped backing Israel. I guess demand would drop, though, as no one would be left on Earth to buy gas.

I get out of Kansas a lot. I need to get out and about, in order to maintain a larger-than-Kansas perspective and reality check. At the end of this month, I’m going to Utah, Nevada and Oregon. I was going to the Arkansas Ozarks, and canoe the Buffalo River, but some friends are going west, and they convinced me join them. Then in June, I’m going to New England to attend my son’s college graduation.

Wichita was named by the EPA in 2001 as having high levels of toxic pollutants in its air. Wichita has really high lead levels in its water. Now chart Wichita’s per household income relative to the national average in 1970 vs. today. Some of you apparently think pollution is good, because it correlates with falling income levels. If that’s what you want, you’ll get what you want.

Can you rocket pull a 6500lb horse trailor?

Hank

I’ll take Allie, you get JR.

Hank

I’m not complaining about gasolene prices. I own E/M. $1.37 a share quarterly profits.

My complaint is corrupt politicians and stupid constituents.

Hank

PS The analogy will work as soon as the environmentalist put so many restrictions on egg producers that we have to import 60% of our eggs at the same time preventing new chicken farms and buying more chicks.

Ouch . . .

What will work is that since gas prices have gone up and stayed up, people will drive less, car-pool more, walk or bike more, and eventually buy more fuel efficient cars.

You don’t need to buy a hybrid to get good mileage–just get a small anything. We’ve got a Honda Accord with the 6 cylinder engine and that thing is a rocket. It nearly DOUBLED the mileage we got from our Ford Exploder.

Plus it looks like I’ll be car-pooling to work soon. Share a ride, and you’ve doubled your gas mileage right there.

$10 will get my motor home 27 miles, 18 if I’m pulling my horse trailor. $10 will get my pickup 50 miles, 38 if I’m pulling my horse trailor.

By not filling up you are in the station three or four times as much. How much gas does that waste?

What a bunch of nimrods.

Hank

A Mexican will have it, if it still exists, for one tenth of what you were making.

And you get to learn what it’s like to be homeless and poor.

High oil prices also can make wind and solar energy production cost-effective.

High oil prices can also encourage more of us to carpool. Heck, we can have more sociable interactions on our daily commutes.

High oil prices can encourage more of us to ride our bikes to work to save money. It will reduce healthcare costs. It will not FATIGUE people, it will GIVE THEM MORE PERSONAL ENERGY.

You could redesign Central Avenue to single-lane car traffic in each direction, and convert the right-hand lanes to 10-foot-wide bike lanes. With the completion of the Kellogg expressway, people who want to drive to work should take that route. (We could build a bike trail and bridge connecting Central over the Arkansas River.)

We can have more bus service. Running on Kansas-produced natural gas. We can build a light-rail system. Smart societies figure out how to ADAPT to changing circumstances.

I’d also love to boycott ExxonMobile, but I’m not sure where places like QuikTrip get their gas. Anyone know?

There may be some period of declining demand as people change their habits from buying weekly to buying daily. But when people resume buying weekly, there will be a corresponding short period of increased demand.

Even if this scheme did work, once people resumed buying eggs a dozen or two at a time, aren’t the same factors still in place as before?

Or if schemes like this do work, shouldn’t we try it again, thereby lowering the costs of eggs even more?

Same thing with gasoline. As long as everyone buys the same number of gallons, overall gasoline demand is unchanged. But everyone has to go to the filling station more frequently. For people who value their time, this has a cost.

He has a calculator and no brain. Just what you need { and he’s aready a Zionist }.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/03/16/BU143458.DTL

Another issue about the burden of gas prices on the middle class – gas spending is a relatively non-elastic expense. I could easily resort to buying two eggs, but it takes a little more time to move closer to my workplace, re-tool with a hybrid car, etc, etc, – hopefully you get the point.

I recall reading that when gas prices reach $2 per gallon, consumption is cut into significantly enough that it was not in the interests of oil companies to have the price that high. That little bit of wisdom, if it was ever true, is not true now.