The gas prices are starting to scare me

[LittleClarkie]

We just jumped from $2.69 to $2.85 today, that after a jump from $2.49 the week before, and word is that we will be at $3 by the weekend.

I'm getting alittle freaked out about making ends meet.

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Last week I filled up my van for $37.50.

Last night $44.95. Pretty scary shit if you ask me.

[Imagevision]

17. you must have a small gas tank.

[Midlodemocrat]

21. 16 gallons, I think.

Dodge Grand Caravan.

[SmokingJacket]

2. It's the speed that's so shocking.

Remember when they used to inch up a penny at a time? I went away for the week and came home to find the prices up .25 -- I've never seen anything like it.

This has got to affect the economy, sooner rather than later, I'd think.

But Wall Street thinks everything's fine and dandy.

:crazy:

[Imagevision]

20. Oil companies are taking advantage - florida has a storm?

Bam! raise the gas prices, if said storm heads towards the Carolina's they rely on recent saudi crude prices. Oil companies who backed the Bush cartel are the guilty ones!

[phantom power]

3. I wish I had better news, but it's not going to get better. Ever.

This isn't going to be like the 70s, when oil, gasoline, etc, eventually became cheap again.

It's going to squeeze the entire world economy like a python. Slowly, but steadily.

[Imagevision]

4. Gas prices will drop after labor day, no-ones going on vacations

kids are back in school, gas prices historically have always dropped after Labor, the demand drops, so we can probably expect Bush to lower gas prices to $2.00 - $2.25 a gallon. Like that's a big deal right?!!!

[livetohike]

10. We haven't seen that price around here for two years!

$2.00-$2.25/gallon, that is. I'm in San Diego county.

[KyndCulture]

13. I don't think they will drop after labor day.

Not this year. I think the heating oil is going to keep the gasoline prices inflated. Heating oil runs about 10 cents lower than the gasoline prices and I think we'll start seeing the price gouging shift to that industry.

[MikeDuffy]

5. So if in fact Peak Oil has arrived...

what compromises (if any) in your political positions are you willing to consider and what positions are you more adamant about?

[ret5hd]

8. well, like what?

price of oil won't change many minds on abortion, or education, or evolution, or war, or off-shoring jobs, etc.

so what about you...what positions are you willing to change on?

[MaineDem]

6. I said that to my husband this morning

We paid $2.57 today when it was 2.29 just last Thursday.

I'm very angry and concerned about any travel that we have to do. I've already cut back on some travel, holding phone conferences instead of face-to-face meetings.

I remember the 70s and the gas crisis then. Where are the lines and the rationing that took place then? Why does there appear to be plenty of gas now but it's just so damned expensive?

I feel so helpless.

[pitohui]

38. because there is plenty of gas, it's just price gouging

there isn't any interruption in supply

there is plenty of supply

oil cos. are enjoying the greatest profits of all time of all human history

they are gouging based on hysteria

pure & simple

on edit--i'm sorry to say i believe the "peak oil campaign" is bought & paid for by the oil companies altho i'm sure the posters here who believe it do believe it & don't realize they're doing exxon-mobil's dirty work

[KyndCulture]

7. I'm more scared, and make that scared shitless about heat.

I'm in far northern MN and we've got exactly 6 weeks left before we'll need heat. I don't have the money to fill my tank.

Fuel oil runs about 10cent a gal less than gas prices... I'm seriously starting to freak out about 60 below days in January with no heat.

[catmandu57]

15. Many people will be in your shoes

The realization hasn't sunk in yet, it's going to cost quite a bit more just to stay halfway warm this year and in the coming years. We really will be looking back on the previous years with envy being able to live in a warm house when it well below freezing outside.

[KyndCulture]

22. How many poor and elderly will die this winter because of this?

Freezing to death in Minnesota is a very real possibility.

[MaineDem]

19. You reminded me to call about my oil tank

We burn kerosene and today it's $2.379. If I prebuy for the winter it's 2.669 for a minimum of 500 gallons.

Last year we only spent $300 for the entire winter!

[KyndCulture]

24. I just called too, and pulled my last bill from April.

I paid 1.94/gal in april for 200 gallons... today it's at $2.59 and the man said that by labor day they expect to see $2.85 a gallon. holy shit.

I'm hitting yard sales this weekend for electric blankets and ceramic space heaters... they can't turn off your power here for non payment between October and April... so if we have to electric heat the house half the time, we might be looking at that.

[MaineDem]

26. We have a wood stove but wood prices are through the roof too

My husband is going to order a couple cords.

Funny you mentioned electric blankets. We just bought one today. We have this chain of stores here that sell name brand things at reduced prices and they had a queen sized blanket for $40. Last I looked I couldn't get one for under $90. I feel like I saved a bunch of money there. (Doesn't make up for the fuel prices though.)

[OneTwentyoNine]

28. We use natural gas for heat but it doesn't matter--the fix is in....

Its really no different than any other corporate controlled monopoly. There are two companies that serve Wichita but your stuck with what company laid the pipe when the house was built.

There was story in the paper a few days ago on how they were pretty sure they were going to have to raise prices---no shit...I'm really shocked.

[whistle]

9. Expect the worst as Bush's policies favoring Big Oil send gas ....

...prices into the stratosphere (literally as military demands as the Star Wars defense system kick in and consumers are left out of the picture).

<snip>
US crude eases off highs after uneventful weekend
Monday 15 August 2005, 8:01pm EST


SINGAPORE, Aug 15 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures nudged lower in opening trade on Monday, backing away from a peak above $67 a barrel after the weekend passed without adding to a string of refinery outages that threatens to strain gasoline supplies.

September futures eased 25 cents to $66.61 a barrel in electronic ACCESS trade, chipping away at Friday's $1.06 or 1.6 percent surge, when prices hit an intra-day peak of $67.10 a barrel, the highest since trade began in 1983.

The contract hit new records every day last week, gaining 7.3 percent in the process. It's up 53 percent since January.

<snip>

"Now that prices have broken through the psychologically-significant $65 a barrel mark, it seems inevitable that they will test $70 a barrel before the year is out," analysts at SG Commodities said in a report.

<more>
<link> http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nSP119764&imageid=&cap=

....Capitalism in decline as I see it. What about all of the third world countries developing their own crude oil supplies and completely ignoring all environmental regulations? Muchrooming new sources of greenhouse emissions, eh.

[politicaholic]

11. May I suggest not eating?

Or perhaps shutting off the power to your house.

Many people in Asia have found it economically viable to sell one of their children to make ends meet.

You could get a third, maybe fourth job.

Have you considered doing experimental drugs and tracking their side effects as a Second job? Having shortness of breath, diarrhea, and heart murmurs are something you could do in your sleep or watching television.

All in all, we all have to sacrifice for the greater good, i.e, making G.W. Bush and his cronies billions and billions of dollars at our expense.

Serves you right for being in the ninety five percentile of income earners right?

[Contrary1]

16. "You could get a third, maybe fourth job. "

Now there's an idea. How "Uniquely American".

[OneTwentyoNine]

29. 24 hours in one day. Only having one job is so mid-nineties....

Welcome to Bush's neocon Amurika. People with three jobs is starting to happen.

[Katidid]

12. It is my understanding from a report earlier this year

that it is suppose to go up to $100 a barrel by the end of this year... it is now $64?

So, by my calculation, if the report is correct, we will be paying almost $6.00 a gal by New Year.

That is more then minimum wage in my state ... can't afford to go to work at those gas prices.

[KyndCulture]

14. that's very true, what if gas goes over the minium wage?

Sounds like a total collapse of our economy.

And it's up to 67 a bar. today.

[OneTwentyoNine]

37. Right now $66 and change....

http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/

[Hidden Stillness]

18. The "D"LC is "In Touch"

This issue alone could turn the Democratic Party around again, and make us the fighter for the American people: it is a threat, there is no solution, it affects the overwhelming majority of the population, they are angry, afraid and complaining, they want help, it is seriously disrupting all of our lives now and we know there is no justifiable reason for it. It could easily be pinned on the oil executives Bush and Cheney, and many areas of relief could be proposed immediately--release stocks from the Emergency Gas and Oil Reserves, prosecute price-gouging and freeze prices until the crisis is over, etc. Let Republicans try to fight it.

...But what are we going to get, instead? The "D"LC, hogging the cameras and microphones, as they do best, waving their dicks around, as they are doing again, and warning the country that Democrats "are too liberal for America..."

[getmeouttahere]

27. Was FDR too liberal for America?

because that's what it's going to take - an FDR-style savior - to keep this sinking ship afloat.

[Imagevision]

23. In 1985 I read a piece describing the end of the middle class

think about it, 3-1\2 years more of the Bush cartel. This country was in pretty good shape before Bush entered the program, He should be impeached for war crimes.

[MadHound]

25. Then it is time for you to start getting prepared

Trade in that gas powered vehicle of yours for a diesel powered vehicle. Then get together with a group of friends and form a cooperative to make biodiesel. Surely amongst your group somebody has the place and space to make it up and store it.

If you have a house, consider getting yourself an exterior wood furnace, complete with catalytic convertor. If you've got the place and money right now, put in a wind turbine and/or solar panels.

In you've got the yard for it, start growing a garden. With virtually the entire nation's food supply dependent on oil in one form or another, food prices are going to start jumping. Growing your own food is not only easy on your pocket book, but much healthier for you also. If you don't have the place for a garden, look into local farmers who are doing subscription farming or who are leasing out garden plots.

It is crunch time people, for gas prices are going to go nowhere but up. There is still time for people to prepare, but the time is short, so it needs to be done now.

[walkon]

30. Let's see,

What day was it that Bush signed that "Energy" bill? O.K. That was August 8. Gas was about 2.25 or so. A week later it's pushing 2.60. I guess the energy companies feel free to gouge at will since their welfare package went through. I think gas will push to the 3.00 level and hover around there for awhile. Be gettin' close to 4.00 by next Memorial Day.

Bush lies, cheats, steals and lies. Killing our soldiers, killing our economy, killing our rights. Methinks he hates our freedoms.

[Speck Tater]

31. It's only going to get worse.

There are any number of books and web sites on the subject that explain the problem quite clearly. In a nutshell, consumption of oil continues to rise while production has levelled off and in the next few years will actually start to decline. Already the Saudi oil fields are pumping up stuff that's 40% salt water and 60% crude, and it just keeps getting worse.

Oil is a limited resource, and we've hit the limit. Worst case scenario is that civilization as we know it collapses. Best case scenario is that population and energy consumption both decline in an orderly manner. But whichever way it plays out the human race has overshot the carrying capacity of the planet and we are all living on borrowed time. So this is not a one-time temporary problem. This is the beginning of what James Kunstler called "The Long Emergency" in his book of the same name.

"When it becomes apparent to a culture that their resources truly are limited then that culture must make the choice to continue with business as usually and face certain extinction, or to change their way of living to support and sustain the very environment that sustains them.

As wonderful as modern western civilization is, it cannot last much longer. As we have seen, no system that depletes resources faster than they are renewed can survive beyond the time when those resources
are gone or become too costly to extract."

(http://www.newearthdigest.com/menu/about.html)

ed:sp

[SoCalifer]

32. World War III

I have it on good word from one of a couple of friends I have who's in public office, that oil isn't as peak as is lead to believe.

So if the details he gives me is is correct, and following what history teaches me, I would have to surmise two things. Fist that the oil barons are doing similarly to the oil market which DeBeers does to the diamond market -- exaggerating the appearance of scarcity.

Secondly and much more troubling, if I am correct, is that we might be witnessing the dawning of a third global war. Just like in the first days leading up to world war two, we saw an aggressive oil grab by both Germany and Japan. Hitler as we know even titled his global domination plan the "New Order." Now I don't mean to sound like a tinfoil hat alarmist, but we do now know that the Bush family (along with a few other big name American businessmen) has a history showing support for fascism and funding of Hitler. And of course Bush Sr (along with some Council on Foreign Relations members) are on record for calling for a "New world Order".

All I am saying is: Read the signs more closely and apply history more closely. There's a lot more I could add to this, going into the serious trouble we're in with the dollar vs other currency -- along with the sad facts about our totally unacceptable trade deficits and lack of producing real goods, as well as, other issues. Taken all into context and historically applying what this oil grab means; we should all be very, very concerned that what we are witnessing may likely be the very beginning stages of a global third world war.





.

[pitohui]

39. exactly, exaggerating the appearance of scarcity

that's what they're doing all right

i assumed the purpose was profit, pure & simple

[Cynot]

33. It's much worse elsewhere.

Gasoline prices in the United States, which have recently hit record highs, are actually much lower than in many countries. Drivers in some European cities, like Amsterdam and Oslo, are paying nearly 3 times more than those in the U.S.

http://tinyurl.com/3w6yl

[SmokingJacket]

35. Yes, but the problem is we've grown dependent on those lower

prices.

Our cities are spread out, entire suburbs are unwalkable because they were planned with cheap gas in mind. Europe has great public transportation; in most places, ours sucks.

Produce is shipped thousands of miles because it was cheap to do so. Now it's not, and food costs will skyrocket.

Personally, I think gas OUGHT to be more expensive -- and towns should be built so we can walk or bike or take a tram everywhere. We should all eat local food. But those changes would take years and years to implement.

Meanwhile, we're going to be doing some hurting.

[Maine-ah]

34. a'yah. Last week we were at 2.30 something, at the end of the

week we were up to 2.51. I spent the weekend in New Hampshire and I was seeing it for 2.61.

so, anybody know of a four wheel drive vehicle that will make a steep incline that is sheet ice? And have a good clearance (so I don't scrape bottom in my driveway)

[tk2kewl]

36. .