Bubba0

Wouldn't it be great if it worked...If nothing else, they will at least
know we are outraged and concerned to the point of doing something about
it. Join the resistance!!!!

I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer.
Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent,
united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea: This makes MUCH
MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was
going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that
because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to
buy gas.It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for
them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea has come up with a plan that can
really work.

Please read it and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is
super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.17 for regular unleaded in San
Diego. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us
to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50- $1.75, we
need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control
the marketplace...not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more
each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to
see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by
not purchasing their gas!

And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely
on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on
gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest
companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any
gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their
prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact,
we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers.

It's really simple to do!! Now, don't wimp out on me at this
point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of
people!!

I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to,at
least, ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at
least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message
reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE
MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to
ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it
goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
Again, all You have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all.



If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. PLEASE HOLD
OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN.
THIS CAN REALLY WORK!

Bires

The great thing about petroleum prices: GREED In an oligarchy, you only need one member to break form and drop prices, and the hole price gouge ends. So, we wait, and eventually prices will be fine.

Also, gas prices haven't really increased all the that much, all things considered. When you consider food and real estate inflation since the late 70's (entering the information age), gas prices are right about where they should be.

__________________
Five years...

InfiniteNothing

Oligarchy? I think you mean oligopoly

__________________
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

yippiekiyeh

Damn oil barons! I think we seriously need a big push for alternative fuel sources!

__________________
Distributed.Net
I'm Trying this blogger thang...

Airencracken

One word.....

Hybrid

ahem.

__________________
"I remember my first orgasm, I just wish someone was there to share it with me..."11-05-2003 05:33 AM - Topane
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, & the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opiate of the masses. - Karl Marx
Hell is other people - Jean-Paul Sartre

Bires

Yes. That's what I mean...

LegendKiller

I am afraid you are wrong Bires. While oil is an oligopoly that is controlled mostly by OPEC, there is already some countries taking advantage of that situation to earn above market profits by selling through third-party sources. This extra bit of oil sold depresses profits of the whole organization, but also adds those profits to the rule breaker.

1. Gas prices, adjusted for inflation are NOT that high.

2. These price increases are due to many different situations, cold weather around the country for one. Once you need additional petrolium distillates than Gas, gas supply constricts and prices go up.

3. THe price structure of oil is WORLDWIDE, it is not determined by ONE company. Thus, targeting that one company will create a glut in his supply with a reduction in demand. However, if his fellow companies cannot meet their added extra demand, company A will just sell to them and STILL make his profit.

4. All you are doing is hurting the FRANCHISER of that certain gas station you are not going to. YOu are ADDING to the profits of a DIFFERENT franchiser. YOu are killing one man to help another, or another way to look at it.

You have $10 in wealth and 2 pockets. You have a $5 in each pocket. If you move a $5 from one pocket to another, you STILL have $10, but now it is in all ONE pocket. Thus, you are f'ing the pocket with no money.


Good job, all you have accomplished is make on guy richer and another guy has to lay off %50 of his workforce because nobody buys his gas.



LK

Bires

Don't be affraid. Although it is rare and foreign to most, occasionally, I will be in error. You just have to accept. That's life.
That's what I said. Thanks for repeating.
This is not entirely true. Crude petrolleum is broken down (distilled) into several fractions, depending upon what is desired. Keep in mind, however, that many fractions can be gained at the same time as others, and catalytic cracking and reformation allows us to easily change one fraction into another, if need be. The limitting factor in the US is refinery time to create the desired fractions.

So this is a sensative issue, then? OK...we'll all be over there ----> waiting for you. .

LegendKiller

The shifts in demand for a certain distillate cannot be solved by a simple push of the button. It can take weeks for a company to be able to get rid of its current stock, plus what is in the pipeline that is currently under contract. Once that is done, then they MIGHT be able to fullfill the issues with current market demand of different types of products. That is why we see sharp shifts in demand of opposing distillates cause price hikes.

As far as your fraction theory. If you have 10 gallons of oil and you need 6 gallons of gas, you can only have 4 gallons of something else, regardless of any improvement in technology or ratio adjustments. as I said before, some fractions are already contracted to be delivered, usually by futures contracts that cannot be broken. Thus, they HAVE to deliver a certain product for a certain amount of time to the detriment of other products.

Oil companies usually have ~10 days of inventory in their systems from derrick to pump. I have seen this through several financial statements. Even though one would think that this small amount can be adjusted quickly, you still have to remember that contracts usually extend past the 10 day inventory supply.


Lastly, this isn't a touchy subject for me personally. I just dont like when people believe that they know economics or when they believe they have thought out the process and then rubber stamp something they have no idea about. The lack of education is glaring and very misleading.

Bires

Yup. Another thing to get used to in life. Stuff like this is not something your average person is going to invest a great deal of time in to educate him/herself.

ArkiStan

Anybody who thinks gas prices are high in the US need to spend a couple weeks in other foreign countries. As a driver in Korea where a full tank in a mid-sized car will cost me $50-$60 (US dollars), I'd kill to have California gas rates.

bachviet

That's true but pple don't drive as much over there comparing to CA. Plus mass transportation is available.

__________________
Dell Dimension 9200 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz) | 4x1GB DDR2 | 256MB nVidia GeForce 8800GT

Dell Studio 17 | Intel Core i7-720QM (1.6GHz) | 2x2GB DDR3 1066MHz | 1GHz ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650

Intel P4-C 3.0GHz | ECS 865PE-A | 3x512MB PC3200 | 128MB PNY GeForce 6600GT

djradam

open up your own gas station... make money, and get cheap gas. or hybrid. or use those legs.

gwilks98

It sure would have been nice to have seen the a-hole that wrote that suggest using public transportation 1 day a week instead of not buying gas. (Use less gas, buy less gas, give mother nature a big hug.)

Americans...sometimes I'm ashamed to be one of em.

__________________
"I know the pieces fit, cause I watched them fall away."

"Cold silence has
A tendancy to
Atrophy any
Sense of compassion."

MJK

InfiniteNothing

I've always wanted to do that. Motorcylcles aren't sounding too bad either.