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by imrandy from Parma

Last Post 279 days, 3 hours Ago


When do we do something about gas prices?
May 3, 2007 | 7:50 PM
Category: News
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Okay, we're at $3.19 a gallon and rising! There is still no sufficient reason for raising the prices week after week. I wish I could speculate about how busy I thought I was going to be at work next week so I could arbitrarily raise my salary. How in the world are the oil companies able to get away with this?! The media reports on the possibility of $4/gallon gas prices if the hurricane season damages oil sources in the Gulf of Mexico. Obviously, the oil industry has already planned on using that excuse. Turmoil in the Mid-East is always a convenient excuse for raising the oil prices 20 cents every other week.

Have you noticed that the price goes up about a quarter, and then falls back about 15 cents? This has been going on for months.

People think it's a waste of time to complain, but my employer hasn't increased my salary in nearly two years, and all of my other expenses have increased. It is getting more and more difficult to get by. I could not afford to miss one pay check. These subtle increases are extremely costly when you consider my daily round trip to and from work is about 55 miles. Not to mention that all the construction projects add about 30 minutes to my daily commute, which means I am spending even more on gas.

We need to do something to get our elected officials to do something about the spiraling effects of increased oil prices. It's simply not conceivable that Bush is trying to lower oil prices since his family has had an oil interest for several decades. One might believe part of our interest in going to war in the Mid-East has something to do with Bush's oil interests.

I don't know what the answer is, but I will certainly curb my driving habits!

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klh1886 read my blog view my photos
May 3, 2007 | 8:15 PM

I like the idea of boycotting a specific oil company to cause a price war.
AMS44067 read my blog
May 4, 2007 | 6:26 AM

I posted something yesterday in another blog with a similar subject line, we need to start to boycott ONE company for ONE WEEK, hen the next one for ONE WEK and so on.
It's no bad enough as long as we don't go on the street to protest.
We do that to protest against the war, but I've never seen people go to protest the gas price.
Think about it!
heavyw8t read my blog
May 4, 2007 | 6:34 AM

KLH, there's the problem. Deregulation was suppose to induce competition. Thephone companies, the gas companies... there was going to be this beautiful system of competition that when BP set their price the other stations would lower theirs to attract more customers. However, it finally dawned on them that they sell a comsumable commodity that is a neccessity, and as a result BOTH raised prices. They are not selling a frill or a "would be nice to have" product. They are selling a product that the consumer MUST have. Why lower prices? There is no "supply and demand" on a staple item like gasoline. It's "supply and you pay whhat we say".

All the angry democrats who lay this on the feet of Bush are just looking for one more reason to complain about him. Do you seriously think he spends time every day saying "I'll order gas prices to be raised again"?

Boycotting one company per week will do nothing. You will spend more at the competitor for that week, and then return to the other station the next and spend more there.

I know it's frustrating, but repeat after me.

"There is nothing we can do NOW. This is just another sign of the times."

Remember how everybody cheered when minimum wage went up? "Oh hurray!! Minimum wage went up." Been to McDonalds lately? Almost everything went up to cover the new minimum wage, so it's entirely possible (someone else can do the match though) that the people making the new minimum wage are further behind than ever since prices went up to cover it.

People, you CAN NOT win.
klh1886 read my blog view my photos
May 4, 2007 | 6:39 AM

Ah. Give it a try. What have you got to lose? I think boycotting one oil company for as long as it takes will cause a price war. If no one buys from say BP for months. I think they'de get the message.
imrandy read my blog view my photos
May 4, 2007 | 7:14 AM

The moron republicans blame the democrats for social ills. Meanwhile, the republican cronies profit from society's need to purchase fuel. It's a conflict of interest for Bush, as it was for Cheney to have manipulated information leading up to this stupid war. Yes, Bush probably counts the dollars his family draws from elevated gas prices. How the hell are people supposed to survive without a living wage?! Damn, I'm a professional, and I struggle to get by on a lower middle-class income. If you can't win, I suppose you should just give in to everything that causes cancer. What a stupid philosophy!

However, I'm not opposed to boycotting oil companies. Did you hear how profitable Exxon was again this past quarter?! Deregulation? In the oil industry? Bush doesn't want any regulations so he can rake in the profits!
heavyw8t read my blog
May 4, 2007 | 7:22 AM

So tell me how Bush makes money from elevated gas prices.

Gas prices go up and down based on the price of a barrel of crude oil. Bush has nothing to do with the price the market sets.

I am not a huge Bush fan, but it is really stupid to blame everything wrong with your life on him.

The PEOPLE didn't want regulation. The PEOPLE wanted the market to be free from government control. Are you even old enough to remember the controversial years when people wnated to break up the Bell system so there would not be a monopoly? Okay. They did it. Is your phone service cheaper now? Now you just have several phone companies charging too much.

You simply will not win this. Boycott whatever you want to. Your one voice, and even a million "once voices", will not even attract attention much less solve a problem. The problem, as with any other industry, is teh basic greed of people.

Remember the snow storm in February? Snow plow drivers, who normally charged $25 for a plaw, we asking for $100 that day. Why? Because people were desparate and would pay it. The plow drivers GOUGED their customer because they could. My guy was honest and charged me his regular price. How many were NOT honest?

People, and businesses, are greedy and we are now suffereing the consequences of years of greed driving prices higher and higher. Get more work done with less people... cut travel and use phone conferencing... use temps so you don't have to pay for medical coverage... have 2 temps share an 8 hour job...

All signs of the times, folks. Accept it. It isn't going to get better.
girlscout read my blog view my photos
May 4, 2007 | 7:35 AM

For once I agree with you heavyweight. I knew that deregulating the Phone Company was a mistake before it happened! I say - bring back the monopolies!!! But in all seriousness, we are still the luckiest, richest people in the world (as I mentioned in another gas blog). We all have too many "things" in our lives - "things" that we can do without if push comes to shove. Do we REALLY need cable TV? I don't! Do we REALLY need to buy more clothes? Do we REALLY need to go out to eat so many times a week? Do we REALLY need to buy lottery tickets? I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Don't get me wrong - I'm just as MAD as the rest of you about the rising gas prices! But not much we can do about it, so we must find ways to cut back.
Erock327 read my blog
May 4, 2007 | 7:50 AM

.....I suppose that all Republicans are singing for joy about high fuel prices, right Randy? There are no Democrats making money off of high oil, right? If you really believe that Bush (or any other solitary figure) controls gas prices, you're even more naive than you sound.
Other than the oil executives, the happiest people are environmentalists who want to force the issue of conserving. That's the silver lining that I hope we take note of when gas gets rediculous like this. I'm not justifying the rising prices at all; I think the profit margins of the big companies are beyond what's "necessary" to compete in the business world. What I'd like to see is our country actually REMEMBER what it's like when the prices are up, and use a little more common sense even when they're not as high. We are so short-sighted in this country it's rediculous. Drive the smaller car (if your family has one) more, and avoid unnecessary trips and "jack-rabbit" accelerations when you start from a dead stop. As much as it defies logic, keep your tank close to full to get the best gas mileage as well. There are lots of PAINLESS "little" things that we all can do to save fuel if we're serious about it.
Erock327 read my blog
May 4, 2007 | 7:54 AM

Girlscout--Good points. If we add up all the money people waste on lotto tickets, cigarettes, or any other luxuries that we seem to think are necessities, the price of gas would pale in comparison to that figure.
heavyw8t read my blog
May 4, 2007 | 8:06 AM

I have NEVER bought a lottery ticket. Yet I see people in line every week spending as much as $50 a shot on the lottery. Why is that? To chase that lottery dream of someone giving you money rather than you going to work to earn it? Isn't that both lazy and greedy at the same time?

If the lottery truly helped the schools, as the lottery propaganda machine promised us 35-ish years ago when it started, I would participate. If that were true, I wouldn't be property taxed to death to pay for other people's children to go to school.

Work for your money like I do.

Apply the same theory to the oil companies. What do they do but sit and wait for Wall Street to decide what crude will cost today and then adjust their prices?

One thing I never understood. When Hazelwood crashes an oil tanker and Exxon loses all that oil, how does that affect the gas that is already in thd ground? Maybe NEXT month, when that crude wuld have been refined into gas, but not what is already there. The current supply shouldn't cost more because there will be less supplied next month.

But again, you and I can do zero about it. Why allow this to get your blood pressure up when you have zero control over it? If you believe that walking by a gas station with a sign is going to do some good, feel free to do so. Just tell me where you will be so I can come by and take pictures that I can email you when the price goes up yet again.

Summer vacation is coming. Be prepared for a ROYAL screwing then.
imrandy read my blog view my photos
May 4, 2007 | 10:36 AM

You're stupid to assume everything wrong with my life is blamed on Bush. The voters were idiots to have ever voted this guy into office given his record for driving every business he touched into the ground. Nevertheless, his family is in the oil business! Get a clue! I'm old enought to remember deregulation, but I don't recall it having anything to do with the oil industry, just utilities.

However, you are right about it being simple greed. Nevertheless, I don't have to tolerate it, and we need to speak up if we want to do anything about it. To just give in get us nowhere either.

Regardless of what else we spend our money on, we're still getting gouged.

For the conservatives, if you think oil didn't have anything to do with this war, YOU'RE NAIVE. I'm not talking about anyone else but this administration who will go down as the WORST!

I don't want to work for money anymore. I've done that long enough to see others profit from my hard work. Meanwhile, they don't want to give me a cost-of-living increase for the past two years. I don't buy lottery tickets very often. I don't even have cable TV.

We are voters, and we do have some control. Stop putting good ol' boys in office, and start putting people with the foresight not to get into stupid trillion-dollar wars!
heavyw8t read my blog
May 4, 2007 | 1:34 PM

Well, you can have Barack Obama or Queen Hillary.... In 2008 the democrats will win if they run Osama Bin Laden. The people will vote for anybody NOT republican. The idea that republican = war and democrat = no war has been sold to a lot of people who believe it. And it simply isn't that simple.

Nobody said this war has nothing to do with oil. The premise that is it to fight terrorism went south a LONG time ago. Right now I see it as an economic tool to keep military people employed rather than have them assimilated into a labor pool that is far too big for the required labor in this country. And as businesses continue to leave the USA to find cheap labor, it will continue to get worse. Everyone wants to lay this completely at the feet of Bush, but this is a long term spiral effect kind of thing, and as businesses get more and more hungry to wring every last penny out of their resources this will continue. And it simply is not all GW's fault. Businesses were leaving in droves when Clinton was in, And Bush Sr before him. I know it feels good to vent and blame SOMEBODY, butu just as an example, who was REALLY at fault for LTV closing? Bush??? Maybe the workers who refused to accept that givebacks sometimes have to happen. The refused to work for 90% of their current wages. Now they make 100% of nothing. Had they taken a cut to 90%, most of their union "brothers" would still be making steel. How is it GW's fault that foreign companies came in and sold steel to the consumers here for 70% less that the US steel costs? It is the consumer looking to cut costs that was responsib
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imrandy

Looking to have fun without getting all caught up in the hypocrisy that runs rampant in this society.

Member Since: 10/11/2006


 

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