Help Us Lower Gas Prices!!

[Dragonfire]

(The following was sent to me via email)


Subject: LOWER GAS $$$$$



I believe in a truly “free Market” and this guys idea might work to a certain degree, though I am skeptical it will work as he indicates. But read on…

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THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON.

This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this summer, take time to read this please.

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! It's worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!!

We need to take some intelligent, united action. 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 on and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $2.00 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $3.69 for regular unleaded in my town, Detroit.

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 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 se nd it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group 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 you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am . so trust me on this one.

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!

I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $2.00 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.


Keep it going,

[DemonicSandwich]

THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY...

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.

You could also spend maybe $200-$300 in parts and convert your car to run Propane fuel.
Which after calculating the amount of fuel needed to make your car as just like it would on Gas, you'll end up with about $2.50 a gallon equivalent to Gasoline.

[Tural]

No, it won't work. First of all, let's be realistic here. It's a chain email, and 99% of the time, chain emails are complete bullshit, this is one of those times. Second, indicators of where the gas you purchase comes from are scarce, if even present, at most locations. Determining which company you're buying gas from is simply impractical in almost every situation. Third, it would be impossible to gather the amount of people necessary for this concept to work. It just isn't going to happen, no matter how hard you try. You cannot convince such a significant amount of people (By the way, 300 million is about the entire US population, and that includes people who don't even drive, so it wants you to get people who don't buy gas to stop buying gas, or something. The point is that it is stupid in saying 300 million) to commit to such a significant change, and especially keep it up. This isn't an ideal world where this sort of thing works. Fourth, that wouldn't bring gas prices down. Supply and demand is a simple concept, yes, but it's not such a direct relationship. They would not lower gas prices such a significant amount over something trivial such as this. Considering the fact that over the last quarter, oil companies profited somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty billion dollars, this would barely put a dent in their pockets. Given gas cost is about 70% directly going into crude oil purchases, let's say 10% goes directly to profit, based on taxes, transportation, refining, and other costs, let's say they make that much in profit. I, for one, spend about $50 to fill my tank, and that lasts me a month going just to school and back, save a few occurrences of going elsewhere. I'll round down to three weeks for the sake of this. 52 weeks in a year / 3 weeks per tank = 17.3~ fill-ups per year. About $865 per year. Now take the 10% of that that we're saying goes to profits of oil companies, $86.5 every year. Multiply that by the three million initially suggested (Which is still a stretch) and you get $259,500,000, which is only about 1.3% of the profits. Hardly a scratch.

tl;dr: Completely illogical, unreasonable, impractical, unintelligent, and plays on reader ignorance.

Also, I'd like to point out that before Katrina, our gas prices were about $2.00 per gallon and a barrel of oil was about $50. Now our oil is up to $125 per barrel, and increase of 250%, while our gas price is now (Rounding up), $4.00, an increase of 100%. We were getting ripped off more in the past than we are now, yet nobody complained about the oil companies taking advantage of consumers. Now that crude oil is up significantly, and with 70% of gas prices going to crude oil purchases, everyone seems to think the oil companies are going out of their way to raise prices for the sake of themselves, which is not entirely true. Yes, there is that aspect, but it is not the only aspect, there is a direct economic reason for it.

That all having been said, some analysts are predicting gas prices will peak this summer, meaning they would begin to decrease sometime later this year. We can't know for sure, but we'll have to see. Either way, this chain email should be disregarded as with any other. When you can form an ideal world, let me know, but until then, let's not put idealism over realism, as that will only prove how ignorant we are. But then again, ignorance is bliss, so I guess people who think this is legitimate would be happy thinking they are doing something worthwhile, while those on the outside just see it as some weird sort of denial about how the world works.

Oh, and just to bust your balls, it was written by some angry housewife, not some retired executive. After writing this her husband asked why she wasn't making him dinner. She quickly sent this to everyone on her contact list, coincidentally populated by other ignorant and angry men and women who think this sort of thing is possible, ad infinitum, until you got it.

Why did I just type all of that.

[Remnant Samurai]

bloody hell Tural!! lol

[Dragonfire]

70% of gas prices going to crude oil i highly doubt, id like to know what ur sources r, Bush?

[Tural]

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html - 74.1%
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/gas-price1.htm - 72%
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gaspump.html - 71.8%

You realize that if it was lower, it would only hurt your case further, right? You're arguing against your own topic of discussion. Some places indicate around 50-60%, but they refer to 2006 numbers mostly. 70% is fairly accurate, as indicated by official Department of Energy numbers. The definitive source, the DoE, directly shows a 70+% portion going to crude oil. Checkmate on that point. Moving on.

I hope you're not going to make me go through this crap on every point. I don't have the willpower to argue with someone who's going to treat my comments like propaganda and continue an ignorant, idealistic tirade.

[JacksonCougar]

I have to agree with Tural on this: this idea can only exists in a perfect world: since this is not a perfect world it is doomed to fail.

I hate Canada's economic choices :\

But hey, at least you Americans are happy taking all our oil for dirt cheap! >_<, whilst we still have to pay the same price >_<
/rant

[Dragonfire]

I don't have the willpower to argue with someone who's going to treat my comments like propaganda and continue an ignorant, idealistic tirade.

Im not that kind of person, i was just curious about ur sources, thats all, so sit bk and relax

[Rockymods]

Dang, Tural really covered everything in that. All you really had to say is that it wouldn't hurt them and we would all believe you heh. But I still thank you for explaining to us the realism.

[Grimdoomer]

It just isn't going to happen, no matter how hard you try.

Thats exactly why these things don't work. Because some people think certain things in life are just impossible. Well nothing is impossible, just because we can't do it preasently, does't mean we won't ever be able to do it Nothing is impossible we just have'nt figured out how to do it yet If people who thought the same thing as you tural actually tried this, we would have achieved this long ago. Im not isulting you or your opinion, but im just giveing you my opinion on your opinion.

[Tural]

Realism vs. idealism. You are idealistic. This world is not ideal, it just isn't. I'm not stating that it wouldn't work if people actually committed to it, I'm being honest in saying they never will. It won't happen, it just won't. Hope all you want, say it's the outlook causing the downfall, but in reality, that's not going to change anything. In short, yes there is some importance in the mindset, but even if it was changed, people could still never commit on a large scale, for reasons detailed earlier. Let's spend less time buying into ignorant, stupid chain emails, and more time investing in alternate fuel sources, so we can stop fucking ourselves over. If you're going to be idealistic, at least pick a good thing to be idealistic about. Fuck gas prices, ideally we would have little-to-no dependency on oil.

[Dragonfire]

Speaking of alternative fuels, our economy is ging about that all wrong, i mean electric is god and all, but the idea of plugging a car in to charge it is just retarded, instead a classmate of mine had another idea that i think would be awesome to see in rea life, though im NOT going to say what it is bc i said i wouldnt, im not even gonna give a hint bc someone would know or guess the right answer right off the bat

[Tural]

Hydrogen, 'nuff said.

[Dragonfire]

Hydrogen, 'nuff said.

Hydrogen is OK, but seems to be at a stand-still with production

[Tural]

Indeed. We need more research into it.

[Dragonfire]

Hydrogen i think would cost more to produce than it would in gas savings

Instead my classmate's idea is better, (lets call him Bob for now). Bob's idea involved a "fuel" that is everywhere and unlimited

[Tural]

Yeah, water, which is what you would use in a hydrogen powered car.

[Dragonfire]

Yeah, water, which is what you would use in a hydrogen powered car.

Wrong! Water isnt "everywhere"

[Tural]

Who cares? Water is a perfect solution. Have it split with electrolysis, which would use energy generated by the car, thus infinitely renewing itself, save times you may have to charge it, say the first time, or the car sitting for an excessive period might do it. Oxygen or whatever you're suggesting has no practical solution at this time, so you can claim it all you want, but there is no scientific basis to suggest we could power a vehicle on it, so keep dreaming.

[Dragonfire]

Actually Bob has made a prototype and did the math, the minimum speed in over to keep the charge is 15MPH, so me and him WILL keep dreaming

[Tural]

Now you're just inconsistent. Either state the plan blatantly, or stop discussing it. You're honestly saying "Let's talk about this, but I won't tell you what this is, so no matter what I say it will not make sense and you can't discuss it because you don't know what it is." If you are not going to state it, do not even bring it up. You're just wasting everyone's time with your roundabout crap.

[Dragonfire]

Now you're just inconsistent.

[Tural]

There is nothing funny about that statement.
You directly referred to a fuel, then just after that stated that the car would be keeping charge. Hence, your latter post states that the car will be powered on its electricity, not the fuel being put into it. You are inconsistent. State the full idea or stop talking.

[Dragonfire]

Tural, open ur mind a bit, im stating keeping a charge as in the motor is electric, BUT the primary fuel to keep everything in motion is NOT electricity

[DoorM4n]

i mean electric is god and all, but the idea of plugging a car in to charge it is just retarded

Uhh...how is that retarded?

Quick idea that popped into my head: (feel free to bash it, I am looking for thoughts)

What if the rise in gas prices is an attempt to remove a majority of gasoline powered vehicles? We are in a global crisis involving green house emissions, so what how is the gov't taking action? They are rising the gas prices to get people to buy more fuel efficient vehicles. They could be doing us all a favor... :p

Tural settle down. Damn, everywhere you go you cause a disturbance.