Gas Prices

[Beer Snob-50]

This morning as I was filling up my tank at 2.61/gal, I was thinking about the 70's and the Jimmy Carter gas crisis. Many slammed him as being an ineffective Prez for his handling of this and yet we give Shrub a free pass on this. When he was made prez a second time, I asked a friend if she was happy. She smiled at me and said, "At least my taxes won't be going up!" Well, I am sure this gas spike more than makes up for the extra taxes she could be paying. And the money is going to the wealthy while taxes could be going to help those who need it.

[leftylady]

1. We went down 2 cents this morning

Up 40 in a week - down 2. All right.

[getmeouttahere]

2. Ah, the repuke mantra....

"at least my taxes won't be going up"

This is the mindfuck of all time! What will they say when we have no choice BUT to raise taxes simply to save the country?

[KharmaTrain]

3. From One Pocket To Another

To quote a Repugnican investor acquaintance when we talked about the oil prices. He first bitched he was paying close to $3 a gallon in California...but then said "well for the extra $200 I'll pop in my tank this month, I'll be earning an extra $20,000 on my portfolio". This pretty much sums up the mindset.

The game Repugnicans play very well on their sheeple is to waive that golden carrot...they're the party of the rich and thus if you hang with the rich, you can be rich, too. Those are the biggest fools cause they get fleeced the worst and keep coming back for more.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. That's evil!

Greedy heartless bastard!

[KharmaTrain]

7. I Agree...But These Are Who Own This Country

These are the "Pioneers" and "Rangers"...the ones who get a lot of bang for their buck.

I was tempted to post a wingnut investor newsletter...I get many of them...that will make your head spin as to how self-aborbed, self-righteous and outright callous these people are. And they don't care. They're so detached from "the little people"...and the only thing that matters is their net worth and connections.

[bleedingheart]

5. Imagine if we had listened to Carter and had become energy efficient?

Imagine if cars had become more fuel efficient instead of less?
....if that had happened our dependence on foreign oil would be less
.....Saudi Arabia wouldn't have our nation's nuts in their hands
......and perhaps no one would care about Hummers cuz they would have been getting 50 miles to the gallon on the low end...

But...nope...

The arrogance and hubris of the American Capitalists refused to budge...and they suppressed the technology development and just worked on making more consumer bling bling ...

[Beer Snob-50]

6. I think this should pretty much end the mantra oof..

"Let's let the free market dictate things".

[getmeouttahere]

9. You would think it would....

but I wonder. You would think, after nearly a century of things like S.S. as an example, that they would understand that the free market isn't the answer to everything.

[bleedingheart]

10. the "Free Market" looks to maximize profits which can run contrary to

public interest...but yet people don't seem to be able to understand that...I will never know why.

The fact that there are people who have started groups to promote "car choice" to rationalize their high gas bills at the tank...I just have to wonder...

[zbdent]

11. We can thank Reagan & David Stockman

for that - killing alternative energy sources research . . . Stockman killed it, and Reagan signed the death warrant . . .

[etherealtruth]

15. We ARE going to deplete the earth's oil supplies ... period!

(The oil supplies that provide ANY economic incentive).

Had we listened to Carter, conserved and developed new technologies, we would be in less trouble.

I DO worry about the impact fuel prices will and are having on me ... I fear the energy crisis will destroy "the middle" class in our country and world wide.

The real issue here is that WE must shift our focus from fossil fuels to "something" else ... the shift must begin NOW and progress quickly!

Not only has the u.S. squandered these resources but India and China have rapidly increased their consumption.

We need to help educate our citizens and leaders (OK, the chimp is ineducable and the cabal wants to cash in on the high cost of energy ... but, there are others).

It's NOT the price of gas that will destroy us long term. It IS the lack of available/affordable alternative sources of energy that will ultimately destroy us!

Sorry for the rambling rant ... I'm obviously passionate about this!

[bleedingheart]

17. my hubby and I had a huge dicussion about this over vacation

when I told him I had read that they estimate that home heating costs will go up by 58% this winter...his eyes almost popped out of his head...

[getmeouttahere]

20. I think BushCo is doing a great job of destroying the middle

class without the help of higher energy bills...that's just one more thing to help them along. NAFTA and CAFTA are the biggest middle class killers.

Geez, can there be any doubt that they want a new "gilded age"?

[etherealtruth]

21. Welcome to serfdom ...

with corporate Lords ...

I have no doubt that THIS IS THE AGENDA!

"Energy" use and production is a world wide issue that has largely been ignored in the U.S. and only minimally addressed in other countries.

[Kazak]

8. I don't think anybody is giving * a freepass, except maybe the zombies.

Have you seen his approval rating recently?

[raccoon]

13. and the corporate media "journalists." nt

[Skidmore]

12. Your friend is paying extra taxes, too.

Ask her about her property taxes, local option taxes that communities are adding to make up for lack of federal dollars, user fees such as increased toll fees (Illinois tollway doubled it's toll charges recently), state tax hikes accompanied by decreases in services, and the list goes on and on. If Dems were smart, they'd hammer this stuff until it's a pulp. But they'd rather play the faith based politics.

[fishnfla]

14. According to the IMF, oil prices are floating the Iraq economy

think about that for a minute. We pay twice: $185 bill and counting, taxpayer cost of war.

Then everytime we pay more at the pump.

Hegemony, hubris, halliburton, whatever. Double dipping is what it is

[Mutley]

16. I paid $2.77 yesterday.

Up from $2.63 about 10 days ago, the last time I filled up my car. That is the most I've ever paid. At $35-40 three or four times a month, it is less expensive for me to buy a bus pass every single day ($50 for a monthly pass, $113 to buy a day pass everyday, $140 to fill up my car; all this per month). This is really getting out of hand.

[info being]

18. Wrong, taxes go to the wealthy elite as well.

Who do you think pays the military and the contractors in Iraq?

[kentuck]

19. Is gas taxed by the gallon or by the dollar ?

Chances are people may use a little less gas with these prices, but not much.

[Mr Rabble]

22. By the gallon.

[dutchdemocrat]

23. Gas in the Netherlands

Petrol in the Netherlands is now

€1.35 per litre.

According to Oanda.com and today's conversion that is

US$1.65632 per litre.

1 US Liquid Gallon is 3.7854118 litres.

That's €5.11030593 per US Liquid Gallon

It all adds up to

US$6.26983 or...

US$6.27 per gallon for gas in the Netherlands.

Ouch.

[getmeouttahere]

24. Of course, many of them don't have to drive....

thanks to their fantastic transit system