Got this in e-mail, thought this ouwld be a good place to put it.

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES. AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND" DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY. THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.

WAITING ON THIS ADMINISTRATION TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO? REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO! WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE MAY 19TH A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"

Dude, you know these things don't work. There'll be people who think it's a lost cause (like me) and buy anyway. And those who don't give a toss or those who just want fuel.

I only buy gas every payday.
It's 91 cents here in Canada, B.C.
Thats fucking Nuts! :mad:
And thats just the low grade! :eek:

Then there are those who won't do it because they need fuel to work with, taxi drivers, bus lines, truckers, etc. etc..

It's 91 cents here in Canada...
Thats fucking Nuts! :mad:


... it's about $1.94 per gallon here in Florida.

In Ontario, we have some of the cheapest gas in the country but it's still 87 cents/L for the crap gas.

Gifted

You're missing the point. It's not like there is this endless supply of fuel, it comes down to supply and demand. A one day protest will not change that in the long run.

I live in Canada where we presently pay over 90 cents per litre for fuel and, because of that, I'm reminded we're relying on a non-renewable resource as if it were a renewable one.

If you're looking for an answer to high prices I got an idea, how bout' we all see this - higher fuel prices - as a warning to our flagrant and irresponsible consumption of energy [oil].

My suggestion would be: boycott SUV's, walk to work, utilize public transit, support renewable energy i.e. water/wind/solar power, recycle [plastic, a patroleum base product], car pool, etc etc.

There are so many fronts to this battle against high fuel prices, more than the typical 'protest' one you provide.

Personally, I don't own a car, so I'm not buying gas anyway. I can see their point, I wish I had a source for this, I've seen a different estimate of the losses, so I'm not sure about how bad this would hit them. Something like a week would be more like it, and just the retail market share would give a good smack.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/nogas.asp

Rappacini, that's 91 cents per liter, which works out to $3.13 per gallon. That's almost double what you are paying, and we would love to have it at $0.50/L.

Ya, things like that never seem to work...

Solution: Invest in the oil market. You'll feel much better when the price goes up. trust me.

You know why this never works... because people still need gas that day. The most you are going to accomplish is to have sales go up the next day because everybody is even lower on gas.

Now if you convince people not to drive on a certain day... that's a different story. (But I'll be out enjoying the empty road)

$1.89 here in south metro Atlanta, GA... I remember when I first moved here in 1999... we went from gas being about $1.20 where I lived to $0.69.. too bad that isn't today :(

... it's about $1.94 per gallon here in Florida.

it's 90 cents per LITER here, I only know the metric system so I could be wrong but I think there are 4 liters in a gallon. In other words, FUCKING OUTRAGEOUS prices.

Same as it's always been for me....$10 worth. What's the cpmplaint? :bugeye:




;)

its 1.20 per litre here($1NZ = $0.62US)

jesus christ vslayer, are you serious?! Damn, suddenly I don't feel so bad.

Supply and demand? My ass. Iraq is up to pre-Gulf War production levels and the costs are going up? Bush is an oil millionaire and he knows he's gonna be out of office soon, so he and his cronies are raking it in hand over fist while they can. Electric prices are rising every day too. Guess what business our vice-president is in? I'm glad I drive a Hyundai. It barely uses any gas.

Although that doesn't account for foreign oil prices, except that they would follow the lead of the American companies. Down with big oil!!!

I can't believe you're moaing about those prices! Those are dirt cheap!

It's like 97p in the UK. That's about $1.71 per litre and it's still going up!

$1.89 here in south metro Atlanta, GA... I remember when I first moved here in 1999... we went from gas being about $1.20 where I lived to $0.69.. too bad that isn't today :(


$0.69 in 1999 Atlanta?!?

No way..Ive lived in and worked all around GA, all my life and it hasnt been under $0.80 since 1991. Unless your getting some of that Walmart gas at member discount...that seems way way way too low for that time.

I remember gas being $0.69 around 1989

I can't believe you're moaing about those prices! Those are dirt cheap!

It's like 97p in the UK. That's about $1.71 per litre and it's still going up!

fuck me, I had no idea how good we have it in north america. I always wondered why everyone had those tiny cars out in europe and the uk.

Got this in e-mail, thought this ouwld be a good place to put it.

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES. AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND" DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY. THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.

WAITING ON THIS ADMINISTRATION TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO? REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO! WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE MAY 19TH A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"So we all have to fill up our tanks on the 18th and by doing so the oil companies have a huge turnover on the 18th? Or do you plan to ride anything without fuel?

fuck me, I had no idea how good we have it in north america. I always wondered why everyone had those tiny cars out in europe and the uk.

And this is per litre, not per gallon. And it's roughly 4.5 litres to every gallon.

Count yourselves lucky you North American...petrol...uisng...people (damn, where's a good insult when you need one)

Why not just carpool and cut down on any driving that isnt nessesary?
You can bet the US goverment knows when the sheep arent guzzling gas like they should.
Rather than making some grand boycott that no one will act on anyway.

Thor,

A pound is something like $1.50 american right? I had to pay 90 cents ($1 canadian = roughly 68 cents US) per litre the other day and I almost pissed myself, I'd never heard of gas that expensive before. Christ, there'd be a riot here if we had to pay what you guys do, has gas always been that bad in the UK or is this just since gulf war part 1? How the hell do you heat your homes?

Europeans use electricity and gas to heat our homes. And yes fuel has been expensive here since ever. Here in Holland the goverment takes the biggest part of the gasoline price even.

Yeah well in Sydney today I saw petrol at $107.0 a litre. That is a helluva lot coz its usual price is about 82c a litre. It's just an oil crisis, not buying it for one day won't help anyone.

fuck me, I had no idea how good we have it in north america. I always wondered why everyone had those tiny cars out in europe and the uk. perhaps with the petrol (take note of all the oil pumps america and the pacific including Australia & New Zealand have) but notice that you have shit everything else. Shit history. Shit people. Shit morals. Don't be proud of the petrol-guzzling. Perhaps you could stop using so much and give some to pathelic lil England?

proud? what the hell gave you that idea?

Wow, considering how angry and rude your response was, you tell me who's "shit". I'm from a country with only 25 million people spread out over the 2nd largest area of any nation on the planet (logistically, this is not easy and efficiency is nearly impossible). We're just trying to survive here, have you ever even been to Canada?

Like everyone (canada included), you think you understand other countries but until you actually live there for a while, you might consider keeping an open mind. Making an ass out of yourself by judging things you only know from tv, if that much, doesn't help you.

How did the discussion get to this anyway? Sorry for ranting, all I was trying to say was how lucky we are here to have affordable fuel, I didn't expect an ideological attack.

Those are really high Thor, it´s 1.172 € here in Germany, that´s about 1,4 $ per litre. (just for normal gas)

I'm from a country with only 25 million people spread out over the 2nd largest area of any nation on the planet (logistically, this is not easy and efficiency is nearly impossible).

I'm from the same country buffy... and I would agree that 'logistically' efficiency is nearly impossible but, forget about 'logistics' (transportation of goods) for a second and think of the efficiencies that can be had in other areas.

I recall gas being as low as .30c/l and as high as $1.90/l. .90c/l aint all that bad.

though, the prices you show are nowhere near what I've seen (in my life time anyway) where I live, your point is basically what I said in the last sentence of my previous post.

holy shit buffy... u ever sleep?

EDIT: the last sentence of my last post was not directed to anyone specific.

I hibernate during the winter.

Probably be good if it continues this way, or even increases. Not that it would happen too terribly soon, but I'd love fot the government to start looking at alternative fuel resources like hydrogen and more hybrid vehicles. Less dependanct on foreign oil would be a nice result, of course. We would continue to purchase foreign oil or use our domestic stock for the products that require a petroleum base, but use alternative fuels for our vehicles. More widespread public transportation like electric trains and propane-fueled shuttle buses and the like would hlp tremendously.

I thnk with many Americans, laziness is definitely a factor. (Duh....what, 65% of us are overweight?) I post on a forum for Subaru drivers and a guy was on there one day asking advice about oil change intervals needing to be increased because he only drives 2 miles to and from school each day and he knows that's rough on the car so he should probably change the oil more frequently. I was thinking, "Dude! Would walking 2 miles to and from school each morning KILL you? If time is an issue, perhaps a bike? In a congested area with lots of cars, a bike might even be faster. Plus you don't have to worry about finding a parking place." Lazy bastard ...

Gas banning? Heh........
Need ideas, fast...

i think the highest price in the UK at the moment is £1.60 a litre.
Thats $2.83 a litre or $10.69 a gallon

I Pay £0.90 ($1.59) a litre or $6 a Gallon.

Fortunatly i ride a SV650S Motorbike and riding conservativly (3k Rev's) get about 150 miles out of my 1 gallon fuel tank before the fuel warning light on my bike comes up, i probably get another 20 miles out of that before i'm on my reserve tank then 20 miles on reserve so about 190 miles to the gallon.

I just filled up w/ mid grade (89) and it was $2.32 per gallon (this is in Southern California, USA) Eeek!

HERES THE REAL SOLUTION:

instead of "NOT BUYING GAS" this or that day, which never works, i propose this solution:

Everyone BOYCOTT EXXON AND MOBIL GAS STATIONS.
BUY YOUR GAS FROM ANOTHER PLACE, such as CIRCLE K or Chevron
(I reccomend Chevron, they've got Techron which helps the environment a little)

this would make the changes you all want.
the 'dont buy gas today' plan NEVER works, it has been done a million times in the past year.

im telling you, this Proposal will work, more likely than anything else!
firstly, you will not have to STOP buying gas or anything. everyone will still be able to commute, and lastly, the Oil Theives ( Big Dogs, the Oil Giants ) will choke on their own spit. its what they deserve.
and i think using Techron will also help the environment, even if its just a little, every little bit counts.

so, if u want to show them they can't juke us around and inflate gas prices, then give THIS NEW PLAN a try, you really dont have anything to lose.

Boycott Exxon and Mobil Gas Stations, and go Elsewhere for gas.

have a nice day !

The people you should really appeal to are the drivers that deliver the petrol. It happened in the UK a few years back when we had a petrol shortage. Man was that a screwed up few weeks.

In Europe, the governments have taken an advantage of our endless need for petroleum and other fuels. Youll find that it doesnt matter how much tax you whack on the fuel excise duty, people will still pay for it in droves because they need it. In Britain we've always been used to paying for expensive fuel so when they raise it a couple of pence noone usually notices as they are always putting it up. All main stream parties have similar policies on petrol excise duty so its not like we have a choice.

This anti-car government isnt helping matters by introducting Speed Cameras in stupid quantities, employing more traffic police to catch motorists and generally just to make us pay for as much things car related as huminally possible. They then put spin on it and say "Speed Cameras reduce accidents" and "traffic police are there for your safety and benefit". We know this isnt true as the (un-spun, un tampered with) statistics show that Speed cameras dont make a fuck of a difference to crash totals or make people drive safer. Speed Cameras are for gathering revenue and traffic cops are there to catch you when the speed cameras dont. They have even renamed 'Speed cameras' to 'Safety cameras' to make people think they are there for safety (an example of spin). Its accepted and is every day life. The fuel duty is just to make sure you pay extra tax (on top on the 100 quid road tax and taxed compulsory car insurance) for using the roads and to get the treasurary more revenue to spend on wars and loafers. The traffic police are just there to mainly milk the cash cow that is motoring, not to make sure the motorists are using legal/safe cars and being responsible. I certainly cannot see the illegality of driving fast on a motorway that has been designed to allow fast travel, where there are no pedestrians and a clear view of the road is given. The police are being used to execute an unpopular political agenda for the government and their respect has mostly erroded away making it a much harder job for the ordinary copper to carry out his real job, to catch criminals.

The official reason to all these unreasonable taxes are they want us to use public transport which will help the environment. The flaw in this is public transport is generally shit, trains and buses are slow, dirty, expensive, over crowded and unreliable so people still use their cars which is exactly what they are banking on.

That was abit of a rant but I think its all entirely relevant to taxed petrol as heavily taxed petrol is part of a bigger agenda in Britain and the agenda is 'grabbing as much money as possible'.

Cheers.

Thor, do you realise that after that situation of fuel blockades the government made it a highly illegal thing to carry out now? Well they did and it wont be happening again in Britain but I recommend every other country does it as it must be a very affective thing to do.

To sum up Captain Crunch's rant in a few words...living in the UK sucks and it's expensive. And we can't change it. Some democracy we live in :rolleyes:

And Captain is absolutly correct by the way. The main reason I walk everywhere is because it's expensive getting from A to B any other way.

And don't get me started on how good you Americans actually have it!

gas was .98/gal the year i graduated from high school. the yearbook has this photospread commemorating the year and there's always a shot of a gas pump so you can look back at what things were like then. 98 cents/gallon. today they changed the price on the pump in yonkers, gas is 2.22/gallon.

i'm sure it's already been said, but walk and take the bus or train. public trans still uses energy but it moves many people on the same amount of it. walking is good for you and doesn't need gas. i've added an extra half hour of exercise everyday just by walking down to the bus stop instead of transferring buses. no gym membership required.

they inflate the prices to TEST what the citizens will do, if they will buckle and continue to buy it, out of need. or if they will revolt. (which they have found out that no one will revolt, most will buckle and give in)

thats why i propose my solution posted here on the bottom of page 2 of this thread. please read it.

its called economical shock testing. they inflate the price of a certain item (usually a neccesity) to plot the economy's response, in addition to household responses as well. with this form of testing they are able to calculate our actions based on previous reactions to their tests. with this knowledge they continue to control our lives in the most sublte of ways....

open your eyes.

Probably be good if it continues this way, or even increases. Not that it would happen too terribly soon, but I'd love fot the government to start looking at alternative fuel resources like hydrogen and more hybrid vehicles.

I was wondering about that too, the canadian gov't taxes the hell out of gas, alcohol and cigarettes and it doesn't bother me too much because we could do with a little less consumption of all of those things. But, does it really affect usage when prices go up or do we all just end up a little bit poorer every month?

Actually, I guess I should be asking our UK friends. Has there been a noticeable reduction or conservation of fuel over there since the prices have skyrocketed?

In reply to buffys recent question: No, there has not. Increasing petrol prices are the norm here so we just bend over and take it. People need petrol so people are willing to pay for the petrol and in turn the government are willing to up the price.

the US seriously expoits Arab countries and loots a lot of the money that the Arabs whould be me making.

yearly the US makes $1 TRILLION on foreign oil.

America has stoped exploiting as much as it did before the 1973 oil crisis but they are still doing it.

before 1973 the a barrel of oil was about $5 - America made about $4.30 and the oil coutries only 70 cents.

and anotherm thing that one day thing wont do JACK SHIT, it has to be continued for a number of weeks for it to work otherwise it will be AMericans who suffer.

and anyway one day of porfit less isnt gonna do much, if anything next days profit will be even higher as a result.

like i said you would have to do it for weeks, months for it to have any sort of imapct

No, no, no and no. I cannot just sit by and watch the english language be butchered this way.

Preacher X, please, oh please go here www.dictionary.com

would it kill to proof read a post?

I think preacher... might be drunk.

I think you may be right...I actually think I am too, better lay off the barcardis....barcardii...what the hell is the plural?

wow.. it's about $1 here... and that's because the prices have gone up 4% since the beginning of the year when each company was aloud to sell it at whichever price they wished...

That's dirt cheap! Explain more about this "allowed to sell at whatever price" thing. They couldn't before?

The plural of bacardii? Now 'that' is the most difficult question to answer, for sooo many reasons on sooo many levels....

Hey, just enjoy my friend. :)

Yup, glad I have a scooter. A full tank = less that $5 to fill.

It's barcardi...so I assume the plural is Barcardii...but the peasentry insist on calling it Barcadis.

I think I enjoyed it too much.

good point nebula, I can only blame myself for buying a jeep. Off road! Top down! Look cool! god I was an idiot.

what would be the adjective? bacardiid?

They couldn't before?

that's right.
and in Spain it's cheaper, which is why the Portuguese are furious...

bacardiied, bacared?

buffys- I think that the people in the US should follow us europeans and get smaller, ecologically friendly cars. Do you call them Geos or something?

fireguy- I have no idea...I prefered it as a singular

jaded- Why couldn't they?

neb...

I'm not in the same class with respect to fuel efficiency as you but, 1,100 km/50l tank is what i get - not to mention the inherant lower price of diesel. I'm not complaining.

Thor - because the govmt controlled it..............

buffys- I think that the people in the US should follow us europeans and get smaller, ecologically friendly cars. Do you call them Geos or something?

we (in N. America) did exactly that during the gas crisis in the seventies, as soon as prices fell we went back to the monsters. There really is a "road trip", "car culture", "freedom of the road" thing that is really deep seeded here. It's born into us. I think it has a lot to do with the sheer size of our countries.

bacared?

probably pronounced like, 'b'carrrred' at that point.

Jaded- Why? More details!

buf- Then shoot all these teens who go on road trips!! It's that simple! Seriously, the US needs to think about how much oil it's using. We only have a few years left!

fire- Baccerd...barcarded...barcardied...that one sounds good

I agree, but do you think it'd be much different in the UK if gas was as cheap there? I guess my point is people tend to need a serious kick in the ass to change the status quo.

What people need is a scare, something to make them wake up and smell that the bacon is actually burnt. People don't seem to care that oil reserves will run dry in the near future and just seem to use gas for whatever. Even going to the shops that are a few minutes walk away.

WHEN WILL YOU PEOPLE LEARN!

"you people"

aside from changes forced on you by outrageous prices I don't see much progression to a solution in your end of the world either. At least nothing more than superficial stuff, like everywhere else.

WHEN WILL YOU PEOPLE LEARN!

Sorry Thor, gotta side with buffy on this one - no need for the phrase 'you people'.

Jaded- Why? More details!

c'mon jaded, out with it. I'm really curious now.

I cut about 30,000 miles per year and an hour a day off my commute by taking a job closer to home beginning about two years ago. It's a good thing I did, because just about then, the cost of natural gas (used to heat and cool homes in my area) started to rise and has now quadrupled.

i just converted my money into $US, i works out at $8.70 per gallon, $1.93 per litre

I just saw a report on the news that said SUV sales are down. I'm sure they'll go back up when the prices stabilize (if they stabilize).

The thing you have to understand about the US (and Canada, Australia, etc... IMO) is that we have a lot of wide open space. I've never been to Europe myself, but I've heard that it's extremely crowded. I'm sure you have your wild areas as well (somewhat) but we've got excess. There is a lot of room on the roads (well some roads at some times of day) for more drivers. I've heard that in Europe it's extremely hard to get a drivers license even. The tests here in the US (not sure about the others) are extremely easy. You have to be a retard to fail a US drivers test. Either that or be a total clutz behind the wheel. They discourage drivers in Europe, encourage drivers here.

I've always wondered if this concept also had to do with high prices of gas in Europe. I remember a few years back seeing that Europe was going on strike or something because gas prices were so high. That was my first knowledge of the extreme price you have to pay. I've often wondered about it since then. I'm sure it has something to do with all the oil the US has, but Britain has a lot of oil from the North Sea, don't they? Not as much as the US, but their population is a lot less as well. Are prices in Britain lower than mainland Europe? How much oil does any other European countries produce per capita? I'm sure someone's gathered all this information together somewhere.

There is a lot of scuttlebutt that the gas crisis in the 70's was manufactured. A guy I know who lived in New Jersey in the 70's told me that there were oil tankers lined up at the docks that weren't being allowed to unload. I've never done any research on this myself, so am not sure how reasonable this particular conspiracy theory is. But it's not the only time such a thing has occurred.

Take the recent electric crisis in California. That was a completely contrived situation. California deregulated it's power system and the sharks moved in. They shut down power plants and lowered the output of others. Demanded more power from an agreement they had with Washington state. And screwed everybody. Rolling brownouts in California. Increased electric rates in Washington (I imagine it's the same in California too). The bloodsuckers who drained the system dry split town and the people suffered. Funny how the vice-president of the country made his money in the power business. And, might I add, one of the most active vice-presidents in US history (that I know of anyway).

I think it's possible that it might be necessary though. Europe's policy (maybe) of raising gas prices to discourage wastefulness might be necessary to make people conserve fuel. SUV's are a sore spot in this movement, because they're specifically designed to get around fuel economy and pollution laws. I just hope that it doesn't get to the point of the European price. The prices I've seen in this thread are outrageous. I would like to see some actual factual links to why gas costs what it does.

I also dread such such raises in gas prices because it is sure that everything else will go up right along with it. Capitalism does have it's downside.

Face it, folks. Americans just like things big. It reminds me of a joke.

There's a Texan in the waiting room of a hospital handing out cigars, bragging about his new-born 14 lb. baby. A couple of weeks later, one of the recipients ran into the Texan and asked about the health of his baby. The Texan said, "He's doing great! 10 lbs. 8 oz." The guy says, "I thought you said he was 14 lbs.?" The Texan says, "I did, but since then we've had him circumcised." *drumroll* :)



edit: On a side note, did you know that you can't pump your own gas in Oregon? What weirdo's... :p

Zonabi:

Why just Exxon and Mobile? I get my gas from AM/PM which I'm pretty sure is Arco. Cheapest gas in town. Plus they got cheap soyburgers... Reminds me of school. Funny how nostalgia works sometimes. :p

so CONFESS YE MORTALS!!!

Who bought gas?

Oh, and I thought I should explain;


"it's about $1 here..."

is to the Litre... not the Gallon
(1G = +/- 5L)

1 gallon is 4.5 litres jaded. So the yanks are paying peanuts for gallons while we're paying monstrous prices for litres...

yeah well, they produce it...

They don't produce a lot of what they use. They use a lot from the middle east. And the UK is paying loads because of damned taxes. The people in the UK are taxed for every bloody thing, even to work! It's ridiculous and I'm sick of the government taking our money and doing the opposite of what we want...the bastards.

taxed to work???
how does that work?

I tend to think that gas and cig. prices should be doubled... that way taxes could be lowered... but that's cause I don't drive and often forget how raising the gas prices makes eeeeeverything rise. Damned be it.

If you double gas prices here you WILL have riots on your hand. Double it everywhere but here. We even have, so I've heard, the most expensive commercially purchased cars in the world. People got to Europe to buy them at half the price.

And taxed to work, it's called income tax. The government takes a percentage of what you earn. On top of that we pay tax on everything we buy and use. Who said living here was free was an idiot.

And taxed to work, it's called income tax. The government takes a percentage of what you earn. On top of that we pay tax on everything we buy and use. Who said living here was free was an idiot.
We do earn a bit more compared to the americans, although their house prices are half ours and wallmart make their purchases for everything cheap, to be fair we do have the NHS(as crap as it is) whereas americans have to pay for all health treatment.

And taxed to work, it's called income tax. The government takes a percentage of what you earn. On top of that we pay tax on everything we buy and use. Who said living here was free was an idiot.

That's not taxed to work!! That's taxed to earn. It's worse...

Basically, if you do "voluntary" work, and your "boss" decides to "offer you money" and you never put it in the bank, you're okay... =P

I mean, sheesh, I'm 16 and I already have 2 bank accounts and pay taxes...!!! :mad:

That's not taxed to work!! That's taxed to earn. It's worse...

Same difference really. Here's why...

Basically, if you do "voluntary" work, and your "boss" decides to "offer you money" and you never put it in the bank, you're okay... =P

That is actually illegal in this country as it is basically tax evasion and they're cracking down on it quite heavily I might add.

We do earn a bit more compared to the americans, although their house prices are half ours and wallmart make their purchases for everything cheap, to be fair we do have the NHS(as crap as it is) whereas americans have to pay for all health treatment.

The yanks get it so much better yet they bitch about it all. In the UK (said this many times before) you can buy a 3 bedroom council house for like £120,000. This is a lot for what it's offering. Take that money to the states and you are laughing. You can buy very big houses with that. So basically the poor in the UK could be stining rich in the states. And I'd rather pay for health care then catch one of those superbugs going around.

Edit to add: THIS COUNTRY PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH!

Basically, if you do "voluntary" work, and your "boss" decides to "offer you money" and you never put it in the bank
Yes and cash in hand work is very popular as it can avoid tax by not declaring all you earn, but if your found out its fraud for not declaring you got money for doing a job.

Slight exaggeration? - 97p is a bit high as the petrol stations round by me are about 80-82p per litre.

Which is about $1.16 is my Nokia Converter on my phone is correct :)

I'ts still a freakin joke.

No exaggerations here Epox. 97p is the average here in the south of england I'm afraid. And $1.16, are you sure? Last I checked it was roughly $1.70 to every pound.

people, I was kidding.. I know it's tax fraud :p sheesh...

This May 19 thing would never work. The prices for gasoline go up because the prices of oil goes up. The producers of gasoline need to buy oil to produce gasoline, so they increase the price so that we can pay for them. If we don't buy gasoline, the demand goes down and they have excess supply. Gasoline doesn't last very long. I think it last something like 3 days. So if we would manage not to buy it for a couple of days they would probably lower the prices so that we can buy their surplus. However, after we buy it, the prices would increase even more to adjust to the previous decrease in price. So, in the end, it wouldn't work at all.

This is a similar effect of floor prices...

Can anyone second me on that? I'm not sure if my reasoning is correct (as I'm applying something that I learn to something similar...) ;)

there's actually an investigation going on in canada about gas prices (then again they seem to study this every couple years and can never prove anything). The up and down of gas prices doesn't seem to coencide with prices from the producers, it seems almost arbitrary.

I guess the gas companies just have better lawyers because no accusations ever stick.

No exaggerations here Epox. 97p is the average here in the south of england I'm afraid. And $1.16, are you sure? Last I checked it was roughly $1.70 to every pound.

Holy crap! - I stand corrected! - I thought 80-odd pence here in Birmingham was bad!

Looks like my Nokia Phone converter is having a bad day huh...? :o

Ack, a Brommie! He's from Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirmingham don't you know. I kid, I kid.

Yeah, it's bad. But it's not as bas as it has been. I remember last year there was a month or so where it was over a £1 for a litre. Tsk tsk.

And I'm not sure about the conversion, I only checked like Monday evening but I don't think it would've gone down that much so soon.

Heh heh - yet i'm originally from Bedford! :D

to report in i think its around $2.09 here in the motor city. lol.

i think the gasless days are pointless, everyone just buys it the day before. lol. kinda loses the point.

but i do have a question. i know VEWWWY little on the subject, so ill let yall debate, but is it true that we ship out from alsaka the same amount that we ship in?

No doubt it may lead to another fuel strike here in the UK with no petrol being delivered at all to stations.

It was total chaos last time it happened and cripped most businesses and peoples daily routines.

They don't produce a lot of what they use. They use a lot from the middle east. And the UK is paying loads because of damned taxes. The people in the UK are taxed for every bloody thing, even to work! It's ridiculous and I'm sick of the government taking our money and doing the opposite of what we want...the bastards.
Governments are evil. We should all overthrow our governments.
Privatiiiiiiiiiiiiiiize!!!! :D

Nahh... just kidding. I don't think healthcare should be privatized. Transportation, on the other hand, should.

Oh but healthcare is privatized last time I looked. At least here in Germany, the government thinks too much money is spend on it. Resulting from that they try to hand it over to private corporations. :bugeye:

truthseeker,

I just read a study that shows canada is tied for #1 in spending on healthcare and we're at the lower middle in care provided. The countries at the top of the list are partially privatized and partially gov't funded. I used to say "HELL NO!" to any form of privatization but I was really shocked by the stats, we keep throwing more and more money in and the waiting lists get longer and longer.

Why do people think things will get cheaper when health care is privatised?

Corporations need to make a profit. They are not interested in making things cheap. They are interested in getting a foot in the door and then rip you off.

as I said, because the stats show that the most successful (for amount spent overall) examples are PARTIALLY privatized. it was a shock to me too, I'm from the province that invented universal healthcare.

EDIT: Aha, found it! you can download the entire report I was referring to here (http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=pb&id=658).

Truth...transportation is privatised...

Btw, I didn't buy gas today...


well, it has been 12 years since the last time I bought gas.

Hey, am I blind, in this article that I downloaded from buffys´s source I can not see the USA, why are they not listed? (not that I care that much about it, just curious)

sorry Dreamwalker, I misread your post. The US isn't included because it doesn't have universal healthcare, this report only compares similar health care systems.

Oh, I understand. Now that you say it I remember reading about that fact once. Thanks for reminding me.

No doubt it may lead to another fuel strike here in the UK with no petrol being delivered at all to stations.

It was total chaos last time it happened and cripped most businesses and peoples daily routines.
You know that it wasnt a strike but a blockade by lorry drivers. They parked their lorries on the access roads to the feul depots. Now its extremely illegal to do that. Unlikely they will do it again, would you risk a criminal record, your livelyhood and freedom just for fuel? A criminal record is the way that the government makes sure you dont step out of line.

Scotland is an oil producing country, but yet, our prices are extortionate just like the rest of britain. This country pisses me off also. Im leaving.

Oh but healthcare is privatized last time I looked. At least here in Germany, the government thinks too much money is spend on it. Resulting from that they try to hand it over to private corporations. :bugeye:
Which are more interested in profit. I don't know if this is a normative statement, but privatized healthcare is probably bad because they treat you like a way to get profit, and if you are unable to pay for your treatment, you might as well be dead! Still, even with government-owned health care that seems to be the case. Here, in BC, I have to pay insurance, and if I don't have enough money I simply don't get any treatment. Is that fair? Why should we put a price tag in someone's life.

truthseeker,

I just read a study that shows canada is tied for #1 in spending on healthcare and we're at the lower middle in care provided. The countries at the top of the list are partially privatized and partially gov't funded. I used to say "HELL NO!" to any form of privatization but I was really shocked by the stats, we keep throwing more and more money in and the waiting lists get longer and longer.
It seems that the key is to privatize small healthcare business, particularly the ones that are not life-threatening. Like for example, you can have a private doctor that makes a general check-up. Your life is not threatened, so you don't desperately need to do it. If the government privatize "small" healthcare, the government won't need to worry about spending so much and competition may even draw the prices lower.

Medications often have a perfectly elastic demand. It's kinda said, but "we" do put a price in other people's life... :/

Truth...transportation is privatised...
Not here in BC, and it is total garbage. In Brasil, it is privatized, but the government has some influence in it (setting ceiling prices). It is awesome (even with the ceiling prices, the service is still pretty good).

You know, I never buy gas. I've never bought it in my life. Somehow, that doesn't make a difference.

Why don't you start driving less? Wouldn't that make sense? Think here people, prices are dictated by demand. Since demand for oil is so high in the US, especially with the summer coming, you have the perfect storm against the American consumer. With Asian economies sucking about 1 million bpd more this year then last!, with refineries not being able to cope with demand, and companies benefiting; you as the American consumer are the only ones to blame. This could have been avoided if people didn't buy SUV's en masse, causing the US to import millions more barrels from the Middle East, increasing your dependence on their good will. Prices will go down if demand goes down, and you will drive less and save money. I am happy that prices are so high because the structural changes in the US economy should finally begin to happen, and make the US economy much stronger in the future. Let's avoid being so short-sighted shall we?

Why don't you start driving less? Wouldn't that make sense? Think here people, prices are dictated by demand.

drive less!
of course, god we're idiots!

... well then, problem solved! might as well lock the thread now, discussion's over.

Well, what's the alternative? Driving more with an empty gas tank as that initial post basically suggests? Capitalism is a self-regulating system, and it's doing its best now. Stopping the excess of the consumerist society. Americans hopefully will begin to walk, not drive to the corner store. What was the joke? "Americans are the only people who spend $1.20 in gas to buy a $1.00 water bottle". America is a car country, and that won't change. But as an end result the US economy and your standard of living will depreciate significantly, and quickly very soon.

capitalism self regulates? sometimes. Diamonds are artificially expensive (demand is low compared to supply yet their cost is high), grains and meats are artificially cheap, lumber is artificially cheap, technology is both, etc. The price of fuel here has raised 20% in a month, neither the cost from the producer nor the taxes have increased that much (even if it had since they have considerable reserves the cost hike should not happen until those run out and new purchases are made).

When international cartels are involved, supply and demand has much less power as a equalizer.

capitalism self regulates? sometimes

Indeed it's not a perfect system nor did I indicate as such, but in this instance it is. Most of the money at the pumps is not even oil related, it goes to taxes.

(demand is low compared to supply yet their cost is high),

Supply is low as well, they are not prevalent, they take a lot of money to extract, and go through a very long and labor intensive process to make it on to market. You simply don't pick them up off the ground. Also they are in demand big time in comparison to their supplies. Diamonds don’t only go on fingers you know…

grains and meats are artificially cheap, lumber is artificially cheap

Not because of capitalism, as you suggested artificially, capitalism by it's innate nature cannot be artificial. What make those commodities so cheap are socialist economic policies enacted by our gov'ts.

The price of fuel here has raised 20% in a month, neither the cost from the producer nor the taxes have increased that much

The price of oil has gone up as well in that same period. In real terms we aren't spending much on oil anyways, in 1990 in real terms we were spending up to $50 a barrel, and today we are at $40.

(even if it had since they have considerable reserves the cost hike should not happen until those run out and new purchases are made).


Reserves? Production of those reserves is limited. You can't produce all 1 trillion barrels at once. The earth is producing 80 million bpd, which is already excessive.

When international cartels are involved, supply and demand has much less power as a equalizer

OPEC is not as strong as you may think; they all cheat on their quotas, and major oil producing states like Russia and Mexico are out of the loop. OPEC doesn't want prices to be this high, they know the economic damage, and they been increasing supply. You won't see the effects of that increase in a while. So sit back and enjoy the ride, if you can afford it.

So where's the alternative Buffy's?

alternatives to what, "driving less"?

I'm a strong believer in the "don't knock it if you don't have a better idea" philosophy but c'mon, if this issue was as simple as driving less there wouldn't be an issue. 90% of the problems (environment, economics & availability) involving fossel fuels has nothing to do with cars, they're the small end of the wedge.

Alternatives to driving are trains and buses. If everyone uses those, the usage of electricity (that's what they use to run trains, right?), amount of underground tunnels, and amount of buses (gas) would go up. In a city like New York, power shortages are usual in the summer.
Another alternative is walking and flying. I am NOT walking from Brooklyn to Manhattan every morning to get to school! And may be if undecided buys me a plane, I'll consider flight. But that means airports, etc etc. So, driving is really a necessary form of transportation.

Alternatives to driving are trains and buses. If everyone uses those, the usage of electricity (that's what they use to run trains, right?), amount of underground tunnels, and amount of buses (gas) would go up. In a city like New York, power shortages are usual in the summer.
Another alternative is walking and flying. I am NOT walking from Brooklyn to Manhattan every morning to get to school! And may be if undecided buys me a plane, I'll consider flight. But that means airports, etc etc. So, driving is really a necessary form of transportation.
Where do you think the electricity comes from? It most likely comes from an oil or oil by product using power station. It doesnt just magic itself into existance, its polluting to make the electricity unless you use sustainable sources of energy - which most people dont like as it "looks ugly".
"public" transport in britain is largely privatised but it remains a fact that its unreliable, expensive, dirty, slow and over crowded. This is mainly because there is more profit to be made in fitting as many people into the one train as possible, you pay £5.10 for a 30 miles journey one way.

So you pay £6.30 for a round trip per day to get sandwiched in between some sweaty fat bloke and some other bloke, standing up listening to the guy's loud walkman "tsh tsh tsh tsh" a journey that can take 25mins by car will take 45mins while putting up with the smell of someone's sick from the night before. Oh, how I love the public transport. Oh yeh and to top it all off, you dont even know if your gonna get there on time. Now, thats value for money. :rolleyes:

Cheers.

buses do use noxious deisel gas but they move a lot of people at one time instead of 1-2. plus traffic would be so much nicer for those who do drive and buses could be on time (when pigs fly). if we could get some hydropower going on in new york, electricity usage would be less of a problem and trains are a great form of transportation. except that maybe they'd want to build more branches cutting across where people live and construction is the #1 point source of pollution. there is no simple solution! aaah! i still give public trans 3 thumbs up.

another thing....people overuse their cars. you don't need to drive your car a few blocks away if your legs ain't broken. even a few miles is excessive (get a bike). i'm glad i don't have a car because i won't be tempted to drive everywhere.

I worked with a guy who was discussing whether or not to start taking the bus to work. The fare was about $35/month. He drives 8 miles to and from work a day. At the time he drove a little Toyota that got about 28 miles to the gallon. As far as the trip to and from work, he was much better off financially to drive than to take the bus. He would pay less in gas for his car than the bus fare. Where's the incentive? And in Knoxville, Tennessee, the bus system is so rarely used, it was typical to see only one or two people on the buses at any given time. Since two major interstates intersect right in the middle of town and you can get just about anywhere by jumping on I-40 or I-75, few people bother with mass transit. So, the buses are the equivalent to big cars with massive amounts of diesel exhaust in terms of fuel amount per rider.

One of the many things I miss about living in Boulder, Colorado, was the fact that there is a very intricate system of bike trails throughout the town. Being a small town, there aren't two places anywhere that were more than a half hour bike ride from one another. I would definitely have my car in "dry dock" and use it only for long trips like to Denver or to the National Park and keep intown travel to bike only. Traffic from tourists and commuters is so horrible in that tiny mountain town that going anywhere by bike was typically faster than driving, anyway. No pollution, no noise, no fuel consumption, good exercise and experience with nature.

When I moved into a house here in Atlanta, we needed to buy a lawnmower. I decided to go with the old skool rotary type mower. No engine. Cutting done by a scissor action. All muscle power. Very little noise ... nowhere NEAR as noisy as a gas mower. No smoke. No oil and gas to worry about, and it really really works.

Side note: If you must drive a lot, be sure to keep your car maintained properly. Get a tune up every couple of years. Change your fuel filter once a year. Change your air filter once a year. Make sure your emissions system is up to snuff. Oxygen sensors go bad or get slow and can make your car run less efficiently if they aren't functioning properly. Make sure your tires are properly inflated (makes a huge difference) and that your wheels are properly aligned and balance. I did these things to my car after several years of obvious neglect by the previous owner and picked up at least 10 miles to the gallon.

my monthly bus pass is $75. a car would be several hundred a month in payments, another $200/m in insurance (waaaay more if i was male), $50 parking permit, who knows how much in gas, plus inspections (annual inspections are the law in ny) and regular maintenance. even if those costs weren't a factor, i would so much prefer to have the bus driver manage traffic while i sit back and enjoy the commute. people are crazy here going to and from work.

Definitely dependent on where you live. Like I mentioned, if I still lived in Boulder, I'd likely not drive a car more than a handful of times a month. Weekends going to the mountains and stuff. I'd bike to and from work and around town. Walk to the local pub, etc.

Knoxville's mass transit system is not much to speak of, and since the city pretty much runs East to West along I-40, and the only bike trails are recreational and really don't go anywhere, and there are no proper lanes on the streets for bikers to easily use for commuting, driving is pretty much necessary, unless you live and work downtown, where there is a nice little trolley system and walking is not a problem. But if you live in the suburbs and work downtown, you pretty much have to drive. Atlanta is similar, but their mass transit system (MARTA) is considerably better with the trains and all.

I haven't had a car payment in nearly 6 years (paid off one car and kept it for 3 years, then paid cash for the next car after saving my payments) and my insurance is only $70/month. I do most of my own maintenance, and since most of the long distance traveling I do is for business, I deduct my mileage. At $.37/mile deduction, My gas is pretty much free, since I my car is fairly fuel efficient. So, economy is not a factor for me when deciding whether to drive or not.

As they say in the car ads....your mileage may vary.....

You do indeed need a decent public transport system if it is going to be a viable alternative. I fear especially so for the average american.

We salute Swedishfish for her wisdom.

anywhere with a lot of people needs good public trans. i wouldn't expect people out in a little populated area to take trains. i know someone from idaho who got pulled over and harassed by a cop because he didn't believe her that they didn't require emissions inspections in idaho (where her car is registered) because they don't have an emissions problem. if you don't live in a place where people complain about the traffic, it's probably not necessary. long island totally needs a better transit system. 13+ million people crammed into 20X50 miles. they have the lirr which is pretty good but you have to live near a station for it to be useful (i did fortunately) and you only use it to go to the city. screw switching at jamaica. the buses are so limited it's not even worth taking it.

Nyers
is there a subway that goes from queens to the bronx? or is there any other way of getting to the bronx from long island without having to go from penn to grand central?

And may be if undecided buys me a plane, I'll consider flight. But that means airports, etc etc. So, driving is really a necessary form of transportation.

Not in a city, especially one like NYC. You could simply take the Bus, or the Subway.

why dont they just release the ARV technolgy and let us teleport thru tubes like the Pleiades. haha

have a nice day fellas.

public trans is a pedestrians best friend, but an automotives worst enemy.

(p.s. its past may 19th)

oh yea, and i would get the hell out of new york

"oh yea, and i would get the hell out of new york"

why?

(p.s. its past may 19th)

Why should the thread end just because its past may 19th? We're having a great discussion here. :)