Are WE going to do anything about gas prices, or have WE given up?

[jsamuel]

Many posters here seem to take an attitude of, "Oh well, they have it and they set the prices." Or, "What can you do with shortages?"

Well, I say we can do plunty. That's what we are here for.

Are WE going to do anything about it?

[wtbymark]

1. suggestions?

[buff2]

3. I have always said......

EVERYONE should park their vehicles and let them sit until the gas prices go down. If everyone stayed home,just look at what the results would be. EVERYTHING would shut down. I don't think it would take long at all for the prices to go down.

[Silverhair]

11. Do you REALLY want EVERYTHING to shut down?

Think about it. Think real hard. Think past your anger, and imagine ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING shutting down.

[HadItUpToHere]

18. and how should we get to work?

those of us for whom biking, carpooling, or mass transit isn't even close to feasible...?

[Ian David]

2. I drive a Prius. I say, starve the SUVs. n/t

[Dora]

4. What I can.

I drive as little as possible. Take the bus when I can. Carpool with my husband to work as often as possible (we have same employer).

No aimless tooling around town. No aimless shopping. Live in a central location without a long commute to the office.

Take care of as many needs as possible within a mile of my home.

What are YOU doing?

[tridim]

10. That's great.. and I do the same

but the fact is, the SUV drivers will keep demand high. Until they stop driving those beasts the oil companies will continue to use that excuse to gouge all of us.

[TheFarseer]

5. I can't do anything to effect gas prices

Writing congressmen is worthless. The only thing I can do is drive less and I don't think that will have much effect. I'm not in a position to buy a new car or I would buy a hybrid. That's about all I can think to do!

of course if you are organizing a gas riot, I'm there. Would that make them do something?

[DJ MEW]

12. gas riot, (boycott)

I had an interesting talk with the three of the banking associates that work for the bank that I go to. All three of them were totally fed up with the gas prices. So I think there is a desire to do an energy boycott but no one feels like it would matter. If you could organize it really well and get people committed to doing it I think others would come on board too.

[TheFarseer]

16. It would be hard to organize a boycott of enough

people to make a difference. What would the restictions on driving be anyway? I gotta get to work and do stuff with friends and whatever.

on edit, I thought of a good one. Bring your lunch to work. I can't believe how mnay people go out to eat every day. It's expensive to eat fast food and also expensive to drive there now.

[politicaholic]

6. WE can only change our consumption habits...

WE don't make out with Saudi kings.

It's a car society unfortunately and until Star Trek transporter technology is invented, it will remain a car society.

I'm just hoping that Japan will once again change the face of consumership like they did during the last big oil crisis with some awesome hybrid.

[Double T]

7. Time For Americans To Get Rid Of The SUV Mentality

[Dawgs]

8. After I get my bike, I'm riding it to work three days a week.

That should save me about 90 miles a week(in Atlanta rush hour traffic).

I also like the idea of a one-day-a-week boycott. I'd like to see everyone not drive, or do anything that takes gas, one day a week.

[montanacowboy]

9. I drive a PRIUS

and take the bus to work - I can't conserve more than that

[bowens43]

13. We can do plenty?

Like what specifically?

[Efilroft Sul]

14. I had this suggestion last Friday

Because the spike in fuel costs is crushing the budgets of good, hard-working Americans everywhere, I proposed a national strike of sorts. On Wednesday September 7, just two days after Labor Day (plus when everyone should be back at work), all workers should stay home. Don't drive. Don't buy gas. Don't go anywhere unless it's for an emergency. When most people don't show up for work, that will have an impact on the economy and finally give this matter the attention it deserves. This is a dinner-table issue that affects everyone, and it has to be brought forth front and center.

The Bush Administration needs to be called on the carpet for looking the other way while their buddies in Big Oil make off like thieves. The day after Bush was first inaugurated, the price per barrel was $23. It's now essentially tripled. Americans everywhere have got to realize that we still have the power; we just have to wield it.

I went so far as to get in touch with the Teamsters HQ, but they've not responded to my call. I figured if any group had the clout and the good reasons to organize such a protest, it was the Teamsters. Alas and alack.

[HadItUpToHere]

21. the president doesn't control the price of oil.

there's only so much to go around, and lots more people want more and more every day.
even if we nationalized U.S. oil interests- it wouldn't be near enough to quench our thirst for the black goo.

[Efilroft Sul]

28. The president doesn't control the price of oil... but his buddies do.

Bush and the Republicans have a hand in this price gouging as much as Texaco, Unocal, et al. It's called "benign neglect." They're letting them get away with it.

Five years ago, when gas prices skyrocketed in the midwest, Republican representatives everywhere wanted Clinton's head. Then he opened up the strategic oil reserve, and those same politicians called it a political stunt to help Al Gore's campaign. Where are those same Republicans now? Where is Bush, the same man who as candidate for President, said he would "jawbone" Saudi Arabia to "open the spigots"? If Congressional Republicans don't address this issue immediately upon returning from recess, the fix is in.

Americans calling Big Oil and the Republicans on the carpet is just the first step in a long, long process that should've started 30 years ago. We have to start somewhere, so why not a national one-day strike? If the price of oil and gas is lowered to sensible rates (and this will take more than a one-day event to get us there), we also have to start funding public transportation the way Japan and most of western Europe do. Auto manufacturers have to quit building gas-guzzling SUVs and replace them with hybrids -- and ultimately -- vehicles that don't require oil or gas as a primary source for fuel. Homeowners should receive tax deductions for solar or wind power, whether they are added as new components or retrofitted components. We need to look at the long view of things, and that is getting away from the entanglements of Middle Eastern nations, moving toward a cleaner and healthier environment, and removing the predatory political influence of Big Oil from our republic.

These are just my thoughts. Kick 'em around, try 'em out, come up with some of your own. I'm sure all we can do it together.

[Whoa_Nelly]

27. " Don't drive. Don't buy gas. "?

And the next day everyone buys gas, drives their cars. During such a boycott, the oil companies still continue business as usual around the globe, agriculture continues to use gas to plant, to harvest and to pass on the costs to the consumer, trains keep running loaded with flat cars that are filled with industrial cargo trailers...and the world goes on.

Thinking that boycotting for one day will make a difference will not make a ding in the overall concept of creating a dent that would facilitate protest winning over industry.

I don't have any suggestions beyond hammering our representatives to introduce and pass legislation to regulate the industry within the scope of our business dealings on a national level. Thanks to Reagan, the beginning of the end through deregulation in industry and trickle down, (as in the trickle of piss on the average citizen's head), voo-doo economics did more to bring this current situation into being.

[Efilroft Sul]

30. With a do-nothing Republican Congress, talk is cheap.

However, slowing down the nation's economy could speak billions. But if the powers that be don't get the idea after one day, we hit back with another general strike. And then another.

I'm looking for national solidarity that cuts across party lines. There has to be a point where Americans say "enough!", and it's time to make a collective stand. It would just be a darn shame if we convince ourselves that we're helpless.

[brentspeak]

15. My idea for a protest:

Get about a thousand truckers to park their rigs in front of the driveways of every Big Oil executive in the US.

Let's see how easy it is for Mr. I-Fleece-America to get his limo out of the driveway.

[HadItUpToHere]

19. they'd just switch to using the helicoptor, or the boat...

or just have the limo driver cut across the lawn.

[TX-RAT]

23. Not enough trucks

You've got 37 states that produce oil, Tx alone, has over 3200 oil producing company's.

[HadItUpToHere]

17. Ummm...what do YOU suggest?

hmmmm?

[skids]

20. WE should just look after ourselves.

Nothing gets the people in a tiff like high gas prices. Sad that it is only when the citizenry's wallet gets attacked in a way that they have to confront on a regular basis will they care about the rest of the world. Aside from capitalizing on that politically, I say we should work to give ourselves an economic advantage.

Look into all the things you can do to use less energy at home, especially heating oil. Be among those who don't feel the oil shock as hard or as directly as the rest.

[Duer 157099]

22. Maybe I'm just too cynical, but

with the oil companies having record profits, this means they need even *more* profits next quarter to keep their shareholders happy. So, if consumption of their product goes down, my guess is they would RAISE the prices even more to compensate.

But then, I never was good with economics.

[bertha katzenengel]

24. a big part of me wants them to keep going up

It would take the arrogance in this country down a peg or two, and it might even lead to the death of the Hummer, the Expedition, and the Sequoia and behemoths like them.

[Chemical Bill]

25. I've been boycotting for two years, using biodiesel. n/t

[rman]

26. "plenty" - such as?

[WI_DEM]

29. Actually many posters here like the higher gas prices

especially if it means more people will use their cars less or use more public transportation. We still pay much less than Europe does, for instance. I think from an environmental stand-point that is why many posters here aren't up in arms about the higher gas prices. Though I would like to see more taking of the oil companies windfall profits tax.