Another I'm sick of gas prices. . .

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: akiraxtc

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
I'm curious, how often do you have to fill up your car?

I fill up at least 6-7 times a week ($160-200 a week in fuel now)....sometimes 8 or 9 if one of my co-workers is on vacation.

6 or 7 times a week? That's every day!! How far do you live from work?
People need to move closer to work. Don't live out there in the jungle and commute to work 😛
I fill up about once every 2 weeks, 240 miles on 13 gals of gas, about $30 to fill up. I live 7 miles from work though.

That would be nice, but the houses that are close to where i work are 300K. I refuse to pay that amount of money for a 1700sqft, 3 bedroom, 2 bath house.

You couldn't buy a house half that size for that money where I live. $300k might get you a 2 brm condo though.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Aharami
whatever gets these SUVs off the road.

it hurts me to pay more...but it hurts the SUV drivers more cuz they gotta fill up more often than me AND pay more each time cuz of their huge tanks

For the life of me --no matter how hard I try-- I cannot understand this irrational hatred of what other people drive.

And the short sightedness in this post is amazing. They can simply sell their SUVs and move on. Meanwhile, YOU will be stuck not only with increased gas prices, but the increased price of goods across the board.

how am i short sighted and not the people who are actually using up the gas faster than the others?? lets see here. why are the gas prices high? cuz the demand is WAAAAY higher than the supply. why is the demand higher? cuz of all these people driving gas guzzling vehicles (SUVs/sports cars/pickups...SUVs and pickups get picked on most cuz they are A LOT more common on the road)

if most drove cars that get atleast 25mpg highway, america would consume a LOT less gas...which would have a rippling effect on gas prices as well

No, it wouldn't. If gas demand went way down, OPEC would merely cut production to keep prices high.

They (SUV drivers) are paying for what they use. It's none of your business. Stop being an elitist prick and worrying about what everyone else is doing and worry about your own damn self.

BTW, to head off any future accusations: I drive a VW Passat. I don't personally like SUVs.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Aharami

if most drove cars that get atleast 25mpg highway, america would consume a LOT less gas...which would have a rippling effect on gas prices as well

That is HORRIBLE mileage. My dad's 80s boat car gets 30 on the highway, and around 8 in the city. If my dad's 4500lb, low compression, 5L, 4 barrel carb, V8 only gets 30 on the highway, I can't even imagine what kind of boat only gets 25. I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of a car thats 7000+ pounds....

 

[StageLeft]

I agree with Aharami about SUVs. They are, for the most part and in most cases, wasteful. That's my selflessness talking. Selfishly I know that they are a threat to myself if I am hit, since I'm in a smaller vehicle, and i can't see over their fvcking rooves if I want to take a right, and they're taking a left - so I have often found myself waiting for one to go, oblivious to whether it's safe for me to go or not.

And the short sightedness in this post is amazing. They can simply sell their SUVs and move on.

That's exactly the point. I'd like to see it. 25 mpg hurst me a lot less than it hurts them at 15 mpg 🙂

You wouldn't hear people whining about gas prices as much if they all drove vehicles that get 25-30 miles to the gallon. They whine because suddenly the huge vehicle they can perfectly do without is costnig them a lot more than they'd bargained for. Boo hoo, too bad! haha. I'm buying a gas-prices-rule cake if they hit $3, and if they hit $4 I'm going to dance and film it for ATOT.

I'm being partly facetious. My goal is to see gas prices to high enough that it makes a real and significant effect on the consumption habits of the general public while holding a minimal impact on other aspects of the economy which rely upon consumption of gas, regardless of its cost. If gas hit $4/gallon for a month I bet a lot of people would say screw it, I'm buying an accord. Then they'd go and do it and then gas can come back down to $1.50, so the economy is good, but their two year old expedition that they had to sell for $6k is long gone :evil:

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Yea it was on the news the amount of people riding motorcycles now.

Be cool if they made lanes ONLY for motorcycles.

They do, it's called the shoulder 😀

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong

Originally posted by: akiraxtc

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
I do service work on computers/printers/robotics/etc. I drive as much if not more a day than you do in 2 weeks on my truck, and my wife uses 1 tank a week on her jeep. (she's a realtor though her office is only about 4 blocks from our house, she has to show people houses in town.)

I guess it's really worth it for you to get a hybrid.. it would offset the premium much faster than most people the way you drive 🙂

yea, I'm thinking of trading my truck in on an escape hybrid, (if gas prices continue to climb) but the hwy mpg is only 28 (only 8mpg more than my dakota), so it's not enough to justify the added cost of the vehicle payments yet.

A hybrid that only gets 28 mpg on the highway???? Damn... my Mirage with a 4-banger gets 32... 29 in the city...

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I agree with Aharami about SUVs. They are, for the most part and in most cases, wasteful. That's my selflessness talking. Selfishly I know that they are a threat to myself if I am hit, since I'm in a smaller vehicle, and i can't see over their fvcking rooves if I want to take a right, and they're taking a left - so I have often found myself waiting for one to go, oblivious to whether it's safe for me to go or not.

And the short sightedness in this post is amazing. They can simply sell their SUVs and move on.

That's exactly the point. I'd like to see it. 25 mpg hurst me a lot less than it hurts them at 15 mpg 🙂

You wouldn't hear people whining about gas prices as much if they all drove vehicles that get 25-30 miles to the gallon. They whine because suddenly the huge vehicle they can perfectly do without is costnig them a lot more than they'd bargained for. Boo hoo, too bad! haha. I'm buying a gas-prices-rule cake if they hit $3, and if they hit $4 I'm going to dance and film it for ATOT.

I'm being partly facetious. My goal is to see gas prices to high enough that it makes a real and significant effect on the consumption habits of the general public while holding a minimal impact on other aspects of the economy which rely upon consumption of gas, regardless of its cost. If gas hit $4/gallon for a month I bet a lot of people would say screw it, I'm buying an accord. Then they'd go and do it and then gas can come back down to $1.50, so the economy is good, but their two year old expedition that they had to sell for $6k is long gone :evil:

You do realize that will have no impact on the rich and upper midle classes, minimal impact on the middle class, and dramatic impact on the lower classes. In other words, trying to use gas prices as a means to socially engineer what people drive only fscks the poor. For everyone else it's just a minor pain, or no pain at all.

I find it funny that the same folks who claim to care about the poor the most, are the first to fsck them over with socially engineered economics like this. (Tobacco prices are another one that merely fscks the poor)

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Yea it was on the news the amount of people riding motorcycles now.

Be cool if they made lanes ONLY for motorcycles.

They do, it's called the shoulder 😀

I thought they get their own lane when they're in a stretcher and the ambulance sirens are on 🙂

I'd love to own a motorbike and I would drive it all over the place, but they are way too bloody dangerous for that. If there was a bike lane I'd consider it, and possibly even be able to sell it to Mrsskoorb.

 

[isasir]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
People, the price of gas is almost entirely outof the hands of the government. If I'm not mistaken in Alabama (I realize that CA is an example of super-taxation) I pay like $.18/gallon fed, and $.18/gallon state. That's 32 cents out of $2.10 that I pay. It's pretty small, and road repairs have to be funded by SOMETHING. So taxes are 15-20% on gas, which isn't unreasonable IMO.

Either step up production by OPEC and other distributors, or increase refining, or lower demand. But it's not bush's fault, and kerry won't be able to do a damn thing about it either, except take the grossly irresponsible move of tapping into emergency reserves. This is merely a stop-gap and short-term patch.

Fuzzy math? 😉

 

[StageLeft]

You do realize that will have no impact on the rich and upper midle classes, minimal impact on the middle class, and dramatic impact on the lower classes. In other words, trying to use gas prices as a means to socially engineer what people drive only fscks the poor. For everyone else it's just a minor pain, or no pain at all.

I find it funny that the same folks who claim to care about the poor the most, are the first to fsck them over with socially engineered economics like this. (Tobacco prices are another one that merely fscks the poor)

I don't claim to care about the poor all that much 😱

It won't hurt the rich, but the rich aren't the ones who represnt vast amounts of cars on the road anyway. Gas could cost $10/gallon and it won't stop somebowy worth $70 million from driving a 9 mpg exotic to work.

Most of those in the middle class will - and are - feeling the pinch from gas prices. It's not people making $12k/year driving SUVs. It's mainly the middle and upper class, and this would shift the vehicles they (middle, since upper middle and rich are a minority) drive towards more economical ones.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I'm being partly facetious. My goal is to see gas prices to high enough that it makes a real and significant effect on the consumption habits of the general public while holding a minimal impact on other aspects of the economy which rely upon consumption of gas, regardless of its cost. If gas hit $4/gallon for a month I bet a lot of people would say screw it, I'm buying an accord. Then they'd go and do it and then gas can come back down to $1.50, so the economy is good, but their two year old expedition that they had to sell for $6k is long gone :evil:

like that idea! but i doubt gas prices are gonna go down to $1.50 once they hit $4.00. oil companies and OPEC are gonna be like..."oh shoot..we can make bank! lets keep gas prices high even though we can lower it"

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: TheAudit
Thankfully, I just changed jobs and I work much closer to home, no more 40 mile one way commutes.

Unfortunately, I haven't changed jobs and that is my one way commute right now. 🙁

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

You do realize that will have no impact on the rich and upper midle classes, minimal impact on the middle class, and dramatic impact on the lower classes. In other words, trying to use gas prices as a means to socially engineer what people drive only fscks the poor. For everyone else it's just a minor pain, or no pain at all.

I find it funny that the same folks who claim to care about the poor the most, are the first to fsck them over with socially engineered economics like this. (Tobacco prices are another one that merely fscks the poor)

I don't claim to care about the poor all that much 😱

It won't hurt the rich, but the rich aren't the ones who represnt vast amounts of cars on the road anyway. Gas could cost $10/gallon and it won't stop somebowy worth $70 million from driving a 9 mpg exotic to work.

Most of those in the middle class will - and are - feeling the pinch from gas prices. It's not people making $12k/year driving SUVs. It's mainly the middle and upper class, and this would shift the vehicles they (middle, since upper middle and rich are a minority) drive towards more economical ones.

For the middle classes, higher gas prices, even doubled to $5 a gallon merely mean a few less dinners out. For the poor, it means much, much more. Possibly not being able to drive to work.

But then, the elitists who feel the need to dictate what other people drive don't understand, and/or care about that. They'll just push for more government programs to prop-up the people they screwed with their failed socially engineered economics.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Yea it was on the news the amount of people riding motorcycles now.

Be cool if they made lanes ONLY for motorcycles.

They do, it's called the shoulder 😀

I thought they get their own lane when they're in a stretcher and the ambulance sirens are on 🙂

I'd love to own a motorbike and I would drive it all over the place, but they are way too bloody dangerous for that. If there was a bike lane I'd consider it, and possibly even be able to sell it to Mrsskoorb.

Hehe... well hopefully this expensive gasoline stuff will speed up the development of Hydrogen as a fuel. Don't need fuel cells yet... just need to switch to hydrogen instead of gasoline. Ford already has a Focus that's fully converted and runs just fine on Hydrogen. Not sure about fuel economy and stuff like that... but... that is definately the next step in my opinion.

I wonder if the a-holes in the middle east realize they're going to end up eating their sand and drinking their oil if they force the rest of the world to pay such outrageous prices for oil that they switch to an alternative fuel. I once heard if JUST the US cut oil consumption by 5%, it would bring the middle east oil companies to their knees because of lost sales. Don't know how true that is... but it really does sound like a "bite the hand that feeds them" sort of scenario.

I think we could elminate all imported oil completely in 10-15 years. We could use synthetic oil as lubricants, hydrogen as fuel, and nuclear power plants to provide electricity to make the hydrogen. Without using oil for gasoline and diesel fuel... there's not much left other than heating oil, and possibly jet fuel is there? Jet engines could pretty easily be converted to run on grain alcohol I'm pretty sure, which would do wonders for farmers in the US.

 

[StageLeft]

For the middle classes, higher gas prices, even doubled to $5 a gallon merely mean a few less dinners out. For the poor, it means much, much more. Possibly not being able to drive to work.

But then, the elitists who feel the need to dictate what other people drive don't understand, and/or care about that. They'll just push for more government programs to prop-up the people they screwed with their failed socially engineered economics.

I think maybe we have different opinions about the middle class. The average family in the US makes what like $70k/year? Let's say they drive 30,000 total and their vehicles get 20 mpg combined. You increase gas from $2 to $5 and that's costing them $4500/year from their take home. That's GOUGING their income, especially since so many people in the middle classes have such a terribly poor grasp on personal finances that they're barely keeping above water anyway.

In regards to the poor not getting to work, well you'd have to be a meal away from starvation to be that poor that this it no longer allowing you to get to work. Anyway I see a lot of lower-class people driving vehicles with crap milage - big boats, older suvs, etc. Maybe it's time for them to trade up as well.

This doesn't change the overall indisputable fact that gas guzzling vehicles are wasting a finite resource. Catering to people's good intentinos doesn't work and never will. You have to hit them where it hurts and that's in the pocket book. Unless the government is going to step in rationing and things of this nature (No, Uncle Sam can't step on our god-given right to drive an SUV!), well then it's only going to happen with punishing gas prices.

Another benefit of all of this is that the suv lovers still want big vehicles, and this will open up an increasing market for hybrids and alternative energy vehicles. That helps _everyone_, and decreases the western world's reliance upon the middle east.

When it all comes down to it I see SUVs is a gross waste, and truly representative of the human condition of greed and reckless consumption. I see gas prices as the cure, so life is good.

 

[PanzerIV]

Jeff7181, this morning on the way to work they were mentioning that diesel engines can use vegetable oil with no modifications! I haven't heard of that before. Yes, that would be great for farmers. They said there was a place that was getting vegetable oil and reselling it for .90 cents a gallon in the NE.

 

[StageLeft]

I wonder if the a-holes in the middle east realize they're going to end up eating their sand and drinking their oil if they force the rest of the world to pay such outrageous prices for oil that they switch to an alternative fuel. I once heard if JUST the US cut oil consumption by 5%, it would bring the middle east oil companies to their knees because of lost sales. Don't know how true that is... but it really does sound like a "bite the hand that feeds them" sort of scenario.

Well unless the middle-eastern hellhole nations have rampant political change and retool their economies away from the heavily over-exaggerated reliance upon oil exporting, when it does run dry, be it in 10 years or 50, they're going to find themselves even bigger crap fests than they already are. The only thing keeping half those places afloat is oil exporting, and they have seemingly little interest to move away from that. I bet we'll see a big spike in terrorism and war in that region of the world when that day comes, if they're still running essentially as they are now.

 

[StageLeft]

Jeff7181, this morning on the way to work they were mentioning that diesel engines can use vegetable oil with no modifications! I haven't heard of that before. Yes, that would be great for farmers. They said there was a place that was getting vegetable oil and reselling it for .90 cents a gallon in the NE.

I think that you need to watch your filters, but yeah they can run on vegie oil 🙂

 

[Jeff7181]

In regards to the poor not getting to work, well you'd have to be a meal away from starvation to be that poor that this it no longer allowing you to get to work. Anyway I see a lot of lower-class people driving vehicles with crap milage - big boats, older suvs, etc. Maybe it's time for them to trade up as well.

There are people in that situation in this country... using food stamps to feed their family, using their paycheck to pay for a roof and utilities and possibly medication... spending twice as much on gasoline to drive to their crappy job may not prevent them from eating, but it could prevent them from buying medication and various other things.

When I was a senior in high school 5 years ago, I use to buy gas on my way to school as low as 89 cents per gallon at a Total station. If prices were unusually high, I paid 1.10... so in the last 5 years, gas prices have doubled... THAT is insane considering my dad can remember paying 40-50 cents per gallon 30+ years ago.

 

[StageLeft]

There are people in that situation in this country... using food stamps to feed their family, using their paycheck to pay for a roof and utilities and possibly medication... spending twice as much on gasoline to drive to their crappy job may not prevent them from eating, but it could prevent them from buying medication and various other things.

Give them gas stamps. problem solved.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: PanzerIV
Jeff7181, this morning on the way to work they were mentioning that diesel engines can use vegetable oil with no modifications! I haven't heard of that before. Yes, that would be great for farmers. They said there was a place that was getting vegetable oil and reselling it for .90 cents a gallon in the NE.

It's possible... but more likely that they'd use grain alcohol since it burns cleaner and I'm 90% sure it produces more power than vegetable oil.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

There are people in that situation in this country... using food stamps to feed their family, using their paycheck to pay for a roof and utilities and possibly medication... spending twice as much on gasoline to drive to their crappy job may not prevent them from eating, but it could prevent them from buying medication and various other things.

Give them gas stamps. problem solved.

So... instead of allowing them to buy gas at lower prices, you'd rather have the price inflated so much that now you and I pay for their gas when they increase the federal income tax to fund this gas stamp program?

*EDIT* By the way... I consider myself and my family middle class, and we have a household income of less than 50k per year... and that's all three of us combined.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

For the middle classes, higher gas prices, even doubled to $5 a gallon merely mean a few less dinners out. For the poor, it means much, much more. Possibly not being able to drive to work.

But then, the elitists who feel the need to dictate what other people drive don't understand, and/or care about that. They'll just push for more government programs to prop-up the people they screwed with their failed socially engineered economics.

I think maybe we have different opinions about the middle class. The average family in the US makes what like $70k/year? Let's say they drive 30,000 total and their vehicles get 20 mpg combined. You increase gas from $2 to $5 and that's costing them $4500/year from their take home. That's GOUGING their income, especially since so many people in the middle classes have such a terribly poor grasp on personal finances that they're barely keeping above water anyway.

In regards to the poor not getting to work, well you'd have to be a meal away from starvation to be that poor that this it no longer allowing you to get to work. Anyway I see a lot of lower-class people driving vehicles with crap milage - big boats, older suvs, etc. Maybe it's time for them to trade up as well.

This doesn't change the overall indisputable fact that gas guzzling vehicles are wasting a finite resource. Catering to people's good intentinos doesn't work and never will. You have to hit them where it hurts and that's in the pocket book. Unless the government is going to step in rationing and things of this nature (No, Uncle Sam can't step on our god-given right to drive an SUV!), well then it's only going to happen with punishing gas prices.

Another benefit of all of this is that the suv lovers still want big vehicles, and this will open up an increasing market for hybrids and alternative energy vehicles. That helps _everyone_, and decreases the western world's reliance upon the middle east.

When it all comes down to it I see SUVs is a gross waste, and truly representative of the human condition of greed and reckless consumption. I see gas prices as the cure, so life is good.

You and I have vastly different ideas of what the purpose of a government is.

I also find it funny that no one complained about minivans and fullsize vans, yet there is this huge uproar over SUVs. Anti SUV folks are as much sheep as the SUV drivers themselves.

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Jeff7181, this morning on the way to work they were mentioning that diesel engines can use vegetable oil with no modifications! I haven't heard of that before. Yes, that would be great for farmers. They said there was a place that was getting vegetable oil and reselling it for .90 cents a gallon in the NE.

I think that you need to watch your filters, but yeah they can run on vegie oil 🙂

The irony here is that diesel vehicles are the big sized SUVs like the Ford Excrusion and trucks, yet diesel is running much cheaper right now not to mention this vegetable oil thing I hadn't heard of. So, in essence the guys with the biggest gas guzzlers of all can save the most the way things are right now!

 

[isasir]

Originally posted by: Amused
I also find it funny that no one complained about minivans and fullsize vans, yet there is this huge uproar over SUVs. Anti SUV folks are as much sheep as the SUV drivers themselves.

Who the hell drives a minivan to look cool? 😉