The GAS Crunch

[Jim]

It's all relative

Hell, good thing I don't fill up with Captain Morgan Rum, I'm payin about $25 a gallon for that! <G>. Gasoline is still the cheapest liquid we consume. Even a gallon of beer is far more expensive than gasoline. I'm payin $1.99 for a gallon of spring water at the local convienence store! All things are relative.

 

[Alan]

Milk at $5/gal, hell I'm already paying

....$4.29 for a half gallon. And what's worse, its organic so it doesn't have all that added crap in it AND we still have to pay way more than the "new and improved" stuff. But what do I know, maybe pestacides and growth hormone are REALLY good for you.I'm for fuel cells as soon as possible. Renewable energy and zero emissions, well only dihyromonoxides.

 

[Rich18836]

Talk about GAS pains

Think a gallon of gas is expensive?This makes one think, and also puts things in perspective. Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29 ........ $10.32 per gallon Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19 .... $9.52 per gallon Gatorade 20 oz $1.59 ..... $10.17 per gallon Ocean Spray 16 oz $1.25 .... $10.00 per gallon Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15 ..... $33.60 per gallon Vick's Nyquil 6 oz $8.35 ...... $178.13 per gallon Pepto Bismol 4 oz $385 .. $123.20 per gallon Whiteout 7 oz $1.39 ..... $25.42 per gallon Scope 1.5 oz $0.99 ..... $84.48 per gallon And this is the REAL KICKER... Evian water 9 oz $1.49..........$21.19 per gallon?! $21.19 for WATER -and the buyers don't even know the source. (Evian spelled backwards isNaive.) So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your boat doesn't run onwater, Scope, or Whiteout, or God forbid Pepto Bismal or Nyquil. Just a little humor to help ease the pain of your next trip to the pump. And - If you don't pass this along to at least one person, your nosewill fall off.Rich

 

[Dan McGuire]

Gasoline and Haircuts

Back in my teens in the early fifties, as I remember, a gallon of gas was 19.9 cents and a haircut was a 25 cents.The cheapest gas I ever bought was "quartermaster" gasoline at 6 cents per gallon in the early sixties in Japan.

 

[Wright Ellis s/v WhiskyII]

Errrr .... Jeff

Judging from the tenor of your post, I must conclude the misspelling in your post title was a brilliant use of satire.

 

[Dennis]

Using waste Methane!

In reply to the post about using Methane from waste to power our vehicles, well my wife said "all we would have to do is build a dome over the capitol and collect all of their hot air!"

 

[AL hughes]

methane reply

DennisTell your wife that the hot air in Capital would be what I would use to compress the methane gas for usage. Should be no charge just return the empty bottle for a 30 second refill on any size bottle. keep sailing

 

[k9piper]

JMust another view

Ok so we all talked about what to use. The ideas on what to use and why are outstanding but I have to mention one that is used daily in the moving of freight in wgharehouses and to power all kinds of vehicles between Mexico and the USA . That source is LQ Gas. You have it,,the tank is in the trunk of the vehicle or behind the operator of the fork lift. It is fairly cheap and can be refilled easily. The only restriction I know of in the Met area is when you travel through one of NYC or the Port Authority tunnels.K9 piper

 

[Stu Jackson]

GAS???

When are you going to start making the connection between the "events" of November 2004 and the current gas prices? Can you really even begin to buy the crank {media} theory that "distribution and refinery limitations" have ANYTHING to do with high prices when you begin to look at the, ahem, somewhat unreasonable (haha) profit margins being captured by the oil companies.?It's not that hard.Start connecting the dots. (Yet {sigh} again...)Stan

 

[RichH]

Commodity prices .....

Stan - One has to simply look at the commodity prices for crude oil (the prices that refineries pay) to see whats happening. Its simply a supply and demand situation ....and the worldwide demand has risen by an extra 30% due to the consumption of China and India. China alone is the second largest consumer of crude, right behid the US and 10 years ago didnt even register. Doesnt take a genius to figure out whats happening. Enjoy all your Chinese made goods .... you are paying twice for them. That you blame 11/04 means you dont have a clue.

 

[p323ms]

Value of Dollar is falling

Since 2000 the value of the dollar has dropped around 40%. The cost of oil has risen since 2000 by about 40%. Does this surprise anyone??? In constant dollar amounts the cost of oil hasn't risen much. The rest of the world has noticed that as a country we don't pay our bills. We just keep on borrowing and promising to pay the bills at some future date. At some future date a miracle will happen and our national budget will balance it's self. I love miracles!!!! Until the miracle we are running a $600,000,000,000+ deficit that is paid for by borrowing. This doesn't even include all of the social security surplus that is being exchanged for worthless IOU's (Bushes words not mine). And as someone mentioned high oil prices are very good for some people. Texas is having a great time opening old oil wells that are now profitable. Cheap oil during the early 80's is probably the worst thing that has happened in Texas in my life time. Tom

 

[cpt mik]

gluttons

maybe if the american public pay the same as the rest of the world for fuel you will stop using so much of it. we [australia] pay $1.20 per litre and have learnt to live with it. do you really need a 5 litre engine to do your shopping, 67% obeseity, maybe you do. no offence intended.

 

[Rodney]

Gluttons?

Some facts for cpt. mik: Per the IMF, North America has about 7% of the world's population but produces about 33% of the world's enonomic output. North America includes Canada, the US, and Mexico.North America's per capita GDP is 5 times the world average at about $22,200. By 2010, North American per capita GDP is forecast to reach about $27,300 per person (constant U.S. $1990), up 80 percent from 1980 levels. In 1999, North America’s per capita energy consumption was about 4 ½ times greater than the world average. North America’s per capita energy consumption is forecast to increase nearly 10 percent by 2010. North America per capita energy consumption was approximately the same in 1999 as it was in 1980, both in absolute terms and as a percent of the world average. North American energy consumption per unit of GDP was slightly below the world average in 1999, and is forecast to decline slightly through 2010. In 1999, North America accounted for around 19 percent of world oil production, 31 percent of natural gas production, 25 percent of coal production, and 32 percent of electricity generation.What does this mean? It means that we use less energy to produce a unit of our GDP than the rest of the world. Energy consumption is directly related to what is produced. And, we continue to improve. We've also held energy use on a per capita basis constant since 1980. Our per capita GDP is 5 times the world's but we only use 4 1/2 times the per capita energy. Maybe when OZ gets to our level, they can be "gluttons" too. We may be fat but we are productive! No offense intended either.

 

[Waffel]

Rodney

If we are so productive why do we have such a large trade and budget deficit? Don't worry we'll see $5.00 a gallon soon. The rest of the world doesn't have to worry it is because of the devaluation of the US dollar not the supply of oil.

 

[Rodney]

Waffel

Granted, the US is importing considerably more than it is exporting. Not that exports are falling, but numerous factors have contributed to a significant rise in the amounts of goods and services imported. The US Dollar has been falling relative to the Yen and the Euro, driven in part by this imbalance of imports and exports, and considerable concern is being expressed that this reflects a crisis for the US economy. It does not.GDP = consumption + investment + Gov. Purchases + (exports - imports). The key point here is that GDP includes net trade balances. It is important to emphasize this point: Despite the significant trade deficit, US GDP is growing. The revised Q3 GDP growth in America was 3.9% vs. 1.2% for the Euro area; more than double despite the trade deficit. This is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of great strength.Given appropriate governmental policies, the global economy is largely self correcting. As the US Dollar falls, the trade balance will start to favor exports once again. The gap between exports and imports will narrow. This will further spur the growth in GDP as long as the overall economy continues its recovery out of recession. As far as the deficit, the current account deficit for Q3 is 4.9% of GDP, which is a rebound from the record low of 5.2% in Q1. So the deficit is decreasing albiet slowly. Hopefully, the trend will continue.

 

[RichH]

Nicely stated Rodney !!!!!!!

With a weaker US dollar, you will no be able to buy your foreign made goods to the past high degree that you did. The cost of US goods to those outside of the US will become very attractive. The USA will stop exporting its capital out of the country.Now if we could only get the Chinese to let their currency 'float' on the world market instead of being 'pegged' to the the US dollar, this process would speed up to reach its equilibrium. BTW ... the high priced shops in NYC are absolutely jammed with foreign folks buying up everything and anything they can carry .... now thats a good sign! Too bad I didnt buy a lot of Euros or more oil futures when I had the chance, huh?

 

[Fred Ficarra]

RichH, I always buy low and sell high,,,

yeah, right. But we did pay off the mortgage last week so it's time to look at investing. But, then there's rod runs, sail rendezvous, that new truck,,,aka, contributing to the economy.

 

[Alan]

So, the result is....

....buy lots of big SUV's to drive to McDonalds wasting lots of fuel and getting fat on junk food! Give me a break, if the US would simply start consreving petro-chemical fuels, the price of gasoline would fall like a rock. Untill the demand starts to drop, the price will continue to rise and those big oil buddies of Bush will continue to get richer. Next thing you know, he'll be giving away our arctic wilderness for peanuts so his pals can rape the enviornment and the public.

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Alan, A word to argue with,,,

well, no, you're right about that too. Nevermind.

 

[Rodney]

On Second Thought, Alan

You are right! Its all Bush's fault! I forgot. Sorry. My tinfoil hat slipped off for a minute.