So when do you think it will be a good time to stop buying

[wundermaus]

Gasoline Yeah - Yeah... I know... it's a tired, old topic... Boycotting gasoline is futile because we need it to drive our cars to get to work... to go shopping... to deliver goods or services...

But do you see what we have become? Cowards. Mindless consumers. Stupefied and pacified.

The supply and demand of gasoline hasn't changed that much from last year to this year... yet the price has skyrocketed. The cost of refining gasoline hasn't increased so ALL that extra money we spend to fill our tanks goes toward PURE PROFIT to the oil companies. Will the increases in the cost of gasoline stop when we can no longer AFFORD to go to work? Will that be the breaking point - enough is enough? Or are we going to finally organize a national boycott and stand up to the robber barons? Are we are so thoroughly manipulated and brainwashed by the corporate owned and controlled media that we can't see we are pitted against each other? Are we already defeated before we start? I hope not. Maybe this price gouging is a good thing... maybe finally we will be moved off our numb butts and to ORGANIZED ACTION.

In California the avg price of gas is now $4.50 a gallon... in a few weeks it will an even $5.00 a gallon. Diesel is over $5.00 a gallon right now. Those ridiculous fuel cost increases will translate across the entire economic landscape. You think this summer's gas prices are bad?... wait until this winter's food prices! You ain't seen nothin' yet... Start stocking up on those zero percent credit card teaser rates... and you thought slavery was a thing of the past... funny thing about history... '29 ring any bells?

[Speck Tater]

1. I assume you are driving a high-mileage car and using public transit ,

and doing everything else possible to reduce your consumption of gasoline?

The problem is, contrary to what you claim, the supply and demand picture has been getting worse for a couple of years now, and is considerably worse now than it was a year ago.

[wundermaus]

5. The problem is as I claim:

The price increase have nothing to do with supply and demand. It has all to do with cronies in places of power and greed. As for me personally and your implications that I am somehow responsible because of the car I drive and the amount of driving that I do, fuck off.

[Speck Tater]

7. You claim...

You claim "The price increase have nothing to do with supply and demand."
I claim "The price of gasoline is being driven higher because space aliens are secretly teleporting oil off planet earth for their own uses."

Now what is it that these two claims have in common? They are both presented with no supporting evidence whatsoever. That gives my claim equal standing with yours.

The facts are these:

1. Some economists, traders, politicians, and people with no understanding of oil geology are claiming that it is greedy speculation, or corporate price manipulation, and are providing NO evidence to support that hypothesis.

2. Many experts in the oil industry, including the International Energy Agency, and many very well respected oil geologists are claiming demand is outstripping supply, and provide the figures to back up that claim.

Facts trump ideology every time.

Evolution is fact, supported by the fossil record. Creationism is idle speculation totally unsupported by any evidence.

Global climate change is fact, supported by a huge mountain of evidence. Global warming deniers present no evidence, just wishful thinking.

Oil depletion is fact, supported by a growing body of evidence. Assorted conspiracy theories are idle speculation totally unsupported by any hard facts and figures.

In point of fact, the average American consumes far more than their fair share of world petroleum. All Americans must share the blame for wasting energy in prodigious amounts. But then we're Americans, by God. We deserve more than everybody else. It's our God-given right to rape and plunder the planet for our own selfish ends. We've got ours. Screw everybody else.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. two things

1.- Peak Oil, it's real and it's here

2.- National strike

[Hekate]

3. I assume you have a horse and buggy. Most of us don't have that option....

At the outset of the first Great Depression, my mother's dad owned a Ford dealership in Colorado. One thing that really cut into his business was that farmers could just go back to the horse -- even to the point of catching and breaking wild ones. They were that close in historical time to a horse-based economy that it made sense. Grandpa survived for awhile by inventing a snow-plow -- we have some photos of the contraption -- but ultimately he lost the business. He ended up working with the CCC for awhile.

You do understand that in the past 80 years the entire country has transformed and been rebuilt to accomodate personal transportation, not mass transit. Nearly all of us live in cities or suburbs and are dependent on our cars to travel to work, if nothing else. Those who don't work not only don't eat, they don't have medical care for their families.

It's all well and good to talk about national strikes and gasoline boycotts, but it ain't gonna happen. Under the circumstances I think mass carpooling is a lot more doable. Start with mass carpooling and throw your energy behind meaningful mass transit.

Hekate

[lapfog_1]

4. Actually, there has been a precipitous drop in gasoline consumption

in the US... some 5% to 8% from this time last year.

If sales were going to affect pump price, they would have already.

Not to mention that the national boycott day won't, by itself, affect consumption one little bit.

Peak oil, drop in the dollar (needed to pay off our war debt), plus rampant speculation are pushing the prices up and up.

[hfojvt]

6. I have been mostly bicycling for about 4 years

even before that I rarely drove the 3/4 mile to work. I even biked 18 miles to visit my congresswoman the other day. Plus I recently started using cloth bags instead of the oil-based plastic ones for shopping.