These Gas Prices!

[trisha]

I just don't see why a hurricane in Louisiana has raised gas prices in Michigan a full $1.00 more per gallon. It is now $3.69 per gallon here!!

Am I the only one who feels we're being completely ripped and lied to?

[NikkiGreen]

Well, our government charges us taxes on the taxes it collects on the price per litre.

The rates went up in Canada, too, because of the hurricane. At least its a consolation that those in Ottawa are paying about $1 more per gallon than we are in the Lower Mainland. ;D

[Cassie]

its still $2.79 up the road, but I heard its went up to $3.29 in the next town over.

I wouldn't mine paying the extra in a tax, if I really knew it would be helping the people in New Orleans. and when things where settled, the price could go back down. but I know that would never happen

[trisha]

They're saying that the reason it went up so high is because the oil companies use the ports that were damaged by the hurricane. The price per barrel also went up.

I still think it's a conspiracy. They ALWAYS do this. They hike up the prices really high when people are already getting fed up with high prices, then they lower them slightly to make it look like the price is going down and people relax and just pay more than the prices they were already complaining about paying without question or complaint.

f***ing sheeple.

All the while, companies like ExxonMobile are making over 7 billion per quarter (read 3 months) in pure profit. And our president, an oil tycoon from a long line of oil tycoons, does NOTHING to stop these guys from raping us.

Well, Exxon won't make another penny from me. I've decided only to by from BP stations from now on. And it works in my favor, too, because they almost always have the lowest price. Even now, my local BP is 20 to 40 cents less per gallon then the Mobile station 2 blocks away.

[BegToDiffer]

Trisha, I know just how you feel. The gulf region is not the only place we get our oil from. Damage down there should not cause such an increase across the country, but they are going to take advantage of the situation.

Its too bad that we don't have enough people in this country to take a stand and say WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH. We aren't loud enough. Across the country everyone B***hes to their friends and family, but not to the people that count. We are so dependent it is pathetic. If everyone, for one organized day, would refuse to purchase gasoline, it would send a message. We have to stop whining and start screaming.

[Metella]

Well; I for one am also fed up. If hybrid cars were comparable in cost, I would have one. If I had the option for just a little more to put solar panels on my house I would. I would pay a little more to get out of this depenancy - but I can't affort to pay a lot more. NOW - what about our govrnmt subsidising these types of energy sources ?? !! ?? A-wipes. They do for other companies; but not ones that could both help our planet AND flip a bird to the middleeast kings. Anyone have some rally suggestions, I'm open to it.

[janetcatbird]

Trisha--
Louisiana oil refineries/rigs are responsible for a good chunk of US petroleum, that's what the problem is. Hell, I'm in the Southeast, our pipelines are down to nil. North Carolina, in some places, is at $4.00 a gallon and stations are running out! (And we don't know when more is coming.) Gov. Easley is putting holds on non-essential State Employees travel just to ensure emergency vehicles can still function. Thank God I've still got half a tank so I can get home this weekend. Dad wanted me to go fill up today but since I'm good enough for this weekend I ain't budgin'.

Somebody circulated an email that today is supposed to be the boycott--if nobody in America bought any gasoline for one day nationwide it's supposed to really screw over the oil companies. So they pulled September 1st as the date. Fat chance, with the panic runs and Labor Day traffic, but I think we need to pick another day and do it.

Normally I'm not this pissed off about stuff, but it infuriates me that with all the devastation in the Gulf the public outcry is whether or not they can fill up their Hummers. I myself have been fortunate, but North Carolina has gotten hit hard enough by enough hurricanes that my sympathies and concerns lie elsewhere. God almighty, it took six years to clean up after Floyd, we're still not fully recovered, so I'm scared to think what New Orleans is gonna face. (Can you tell I used to live on the coast?)

--Catbird

Here's a fun little music cartoon video:

toccionline.kizash.com/films/1001/178/index.php

[trisha]

Unfortunately, those "gas-out" day boycotts don't do anything. It wouldn't even do anything if everyone decided not to buy from Exxon like I have. For me it's just about how I feel my local station is really taking advantage of this situation, far more than other stations, and it's not the first time they've done it.

The simple truth is that it all comes down to the law of supply and demand. If we really want to make the prices go down, we have to use less every day. That means walking and biking to run local errands, carpooling to work, using public transportation, and driving in a more fuel efficient manner (no high speeds, no gas guzzling vehicles.)

Our government is not going to help us. We can only help ourselves.

My main fear is that natural gas prices are going to skyrocket, as well. Since it's the primary fuel for home heating, many people in my state are going to have a very rough winter. The rise in cost last year from the year before forced many in my state to choose between heat and food. Dozens of people died due to issues related to the cost of natural gas. Some died because in fires and carbon monoxide poisoning from space heaters, and some simply froze to death.

Judging from the lack of federal response to Katrina when something could have been done to prevent the loss of life, I doubt anything will be done to prevent such tragedies from happening this winter.

[trisha]

Catbird, you got in before me. Yes, I do care about the victims of Katrina. I'm deeply grieved that so many have died, especially when I fully believe that their deaths could have been prevented if FEMA had stepped in.

They have and army, you know.

They also have tanks, buses, helicopters, planes, and billions of dollars a year in tax payer dollars fueling them.

Where the hell are they, and why weren't they there when we needed them most?

I'm also incensed that the gov. of New Orleans has pulled police from search and rescue to stop looters. IT'S STUFF! He's choosing stuff over PEOPLE!

[Metella]

As a tanget to the gas prices:
From Yahoo News:
In August, MIT climatologist Kerry Emanuel reported in the journal Nature that major storms spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent since the 1970s. During that period, global average temperatures have risen by about one degree Fahrenheit along with increases in the level of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollutants from industry smokestacks, traffic exhaust and other sources.

Hurricanes rely on huge pools of warm water at the surface of the ocean to grow for several days. As trade winds spin the storm, it pulls more heat from the ocean and uses it as fuel. Typically, large storms require sea surface temperatures of at least 81 F.

Scientists say rising global atmospheric temperatures have been slowly raising ocean temperatures, although they still vary widely from year to year.

On Web logs, scientists and environmentalists in the United States and Europe sparred over the possible connection.

The evidence linking global warming and hurricane intensity might be fuzzy, but it highlights a potential issue worth examining right away, some say.

"Maybe a connection here is yet to be clearly established, but it is also yet to be ruled out," said Terry Richardson, a physicist at the College of Charleston in South Carolina on CCNet, a British climate blog.

Pielke and other researchers, including meteorologists at federal weather laboratories, say Emanuel's evidence is too slim at this point.

[Sirenna]

Gas is $1.30 per litre here and I expect it to rise. Oil will hit $80 a barrel. I may NEVER own a car
:-(

[Cassie]

I just got this email from my uncle and I thought of you,Trisha, and the high price of gas!!

"This is the future!!"

www.youtube.com/v/ry6w3mRm-FM

Yesterday when I got gas, it was down to $2.79 in my area. which surprises me after finding this thread that on 8/31/05 on this thread I paid $2.79

[trisha]

That's a cool little video, Cassie, thanks

Isn't it funny how shocking those prices were then, but, just as I remarked, they brought them back down just enough for people to become complacent little sheep, ready and willing to be fleeced. As for our current petroleum market ... I see no adequate explanation for the recent drop in fuel prices other than that the oil companies are doing their best to make sure that, come November, their republican LAP DOGS get re-elected.

I'd like to say that the general voting population of America isn't that stupid, but we all know that they are. All they care about is money, and, though it's probably horrible of me to do so, I've been hoping for a really nasty hurricane season to rip open the eyes of America once more before November.

[sarahlee]

Great video cassie, gives us regular folk hope. I know I'm perverse, but since hydrogen cells give off water, does this mean it will get more humid around here? By the way, I paid $2. 45 for regular yesterday, sheeple that I am.

[trisha]

saralee, you are not "sheeple." That name's reserved for those b-u-u-u-u-sh bleeters who follow blindly, without question or complaint.

Believe me, I was just as happy as you to see the gas prices fall for my own sake. BUT, I don't for one second believe that it's due to anything other than Big Petrol trying to keep thier canidates in office. The timing is just too convenient, especially considering what's going on in Iran right now.