$3.75 for 87 here in N.Y.

   I'm sorry people, but I just can't see complaining about a problem we have created for ourselves. We wanted bigger, more comfortable motive transportation (SUV's, UAV's, Mini-Vans and the like) and the car makers gave them to us. We wanted comfort - not economy. Now we pay the price and we complain. Just ain't right. We as American's have the choice to do something about it, but we don't. Our driving habits have not changed, in fact they are getting worse. Our main car is a Honda Civic. Made in America and gets 35-38 miles to gallon and we got 47 MPG on vacation with it. Owned it for 6 years and they'll have to drag it kicking and screaming from my dying hands before I let it go. Don't drive the F150 too much because the mileage sucks, but I will always find the money to fill the Vette. We really need to change our driving habits to bring things back in line. Lets face it, we have gotten spoiled and lazy. Let us all take a few minutes and rethink what we are doing. Keep in mind that the worlds economy is base on oil and any radical change will put us in a world of hurt. That's my story and I'm stickin to it. I would appreciate your vote in Nov 2009. My name is Jim and I approve this message. 78SEvette2008-05-03 06:50:29

Well I just started college after finally getting outa the Army and guess what were talking about in economics 201?? yepper oil. Let's put it this way supply and demand. We got China, India and some other 3rd world skidmarks coming online and sucking down oil like it's cool, so even if we conserve their demand is still increasing. We got lot's of oil close by but the tree huggers(insert your congressmans name here) won't let us drill, add to the fact that there hasn't been a major refinery, pipeline etc.. built in the US since about the time I was born 1973. Don't forget nuclear, or hydro electric, or any type of energy infrastructure built lately. Coal anyone? nah... too dirty let's put up some windmills instead. Anyone been to the ANWR refuge in Alaska?  Plan on going, maybe hang out with the caribou? Yeah right, I thought so. Ask someone from Alaska how cool it is to hang out on the tundra, or better yet ask how much tundra there is in case we spil a little oil on some of it. Lot's of Oil n gas right here in our backyard and swimming hole's but we can't touch it. Inflation sucks but it's usually temporary. Sending our moeny to saudi, or anywhere else is just as dumb as sitting on our own oil supply. Oh yeah ask someone who drives for a living how much of an imapact a reduction of the gas tax would have on them, I bet you get a pretty different answer than a few dollars and month. Bottom line is when fuel is high the consumer pays for it, the businesses pay for it and we all get stuck driving crappy little 4 cylinders to work. If you want to get something back I really like Chevron as a stock pick, real good performer the last two years, but it probably won't go back below 90 for awhile. I'm done, sorry about that, I think I just wrote half my term paper. 

Thoughts from the Bad 1:  Gas is what it is to issue at hand is, we are paying to protect Iraq and it's oil, they are having no to little out of pocket expense for our troops, and they are stock piling billions of dollars from oil.

Bio diesel is being produced in our county and guess what all of it is being shipped over seas, they get more for it there, so our price is based on us having it but being able to purchase it.

We have no company willing to build or a government willing to allow refineries to be built, if we could refine our own the cost per barrel would be greatly reduced.

We have no clue what we will do with the amount of batteries we are going to see it about 10 years from all of the hybrds 1 will be my wife's.

if we remember simply laws of nature every action has a reaction, so we better be prepared for it reaction of hybrds, fuel cell, change in wind speed and direction from all the windmills, the earth surface changing temperture due to all of the solar panels on roofs and in dessert areas, the change to the tide table and the balance it provides once we put turbines in the ocean to harness the wave action,  yes the end is coming that is a truth i will share, when you ask, hell if i knew that i would not be a meat cutter now would i.

Anyone else remember the song from the KINKS, "misfit album" (I think) titled GALLON OF GAS, lyrics are very true.
thank you and do not vote for me, i do not endorse the ramblings of this mad man.
L
1BadLT12008-05-03 23:36:43

It will take a decade or more for Americans to change and the oil companies know it.  You can't just scrap that fully loaded Tahoe that you bought a couple of years ago.  Ok, so gas costs a dollar and a half more than when you bought the SUV, but if you trade it in for an economy car, they're going to allow you mabe $15,000 and you still owe $25,000.  You can lose it at the gas pump or lose it at the trade in.  You might as well drive the SUV a few more years and enjoy it as it will cost you the same.

There are also still some of us who don't want to change.  After having a big Dodge truck with a loaded trailer come through the rear window of my Lexus at 70mph, I decided that I'm perfectly happy to pay for the gas to haul 4,000lbs of steel around with me everywhere I go.  I bought a truck after that.  When all the soccer moms give up their SUVs and truck-based vehicles represent something less than 5 out of 10 vehicles on the road in Fort Worth, then I'll consider something smaller.

I have, however, tried to economize some.  I am only 30 minutes from downtown by bus.  If I don't have to leave the office for meetings or errands during the day, I'll just take the bus two or three days a week. Even a couple of days a week knocks $100 off my monthly Chevron bill.   And when a 5000# Dodge truck slams into the rear of a 30000# bus at 70mph, you might feel a slight bump, but thats about it, no airbags, no drama, no insurance claims, no rental cars, nothing.  

Shoot, I didn't buy some big ol SUV or Pick-Em-Up Truck..........I just bought 2 vettes to put gas in.........

      Who fuels gas prices?

By MICHAEL SCHULER, Times Leader Staff Writer


When motorists go to the pumps, consumers are no longer paying for the
cost of fuel. They are paying what others “think” the price will be in
the future.

Supply and demand, oil shortages, refinery troubles, war . . . aren't
the culprit as they have been in years past. No, according to local
distributors -- today's gas prices are now under the influence of
investment banks and brokers who in just the past few years began
selling crude oil on the futures commodities market in a manner similar
to selling cattle or oranges.

“There is no shortage problem. We don't have any trouble getting the
product,” said Doug Cash, president of Belmont Carson Petroleum. “It's
more about market speculation. Worldwide, demand is increasing and
that's part of the reason why, but most of it's speculation.”

According to Cash, crude prices were once set by “supply and demand,”
but around 2000, deregulation of the industry changed how the price of a
barrel of crude is determined.

“It's traded like stocks are now,” Cash said. “It didn't use to be that
way. But now, you can buy futures of crude oil which is driving the
price up and down.”

Crude prices are traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The result has been higher prices at the pumps, but those benefitting
from the increase are not the gas stations where motorists buy gas.

The prices are cutting into the business of Belmont Carson Petroleum,
which buys fuel from the major oil companies.

“It's killing us. First of all, we are a delivery company, not an oil
company -- we don't actually have any wells,” Cash said. “Our trucks get
5 miles a gallon and diesels $4.30 a gallon so the prices are hitting us
hard, too.”

Another common misconception is that gas stations are profiting from the
increase. Despite the brand names on the illuminated signs in front of
most service stations, the Ohio Petroleum Marketers and Convenience
Store Association reports fewer than 3 percent of convenience store gas
stations are owned by major oil companies. And the few stations that are
owned by the major oil companies are being sold off, Cash said.

According to Don Crozier, one of the owners of Shadyside Pennzoil in
Shadyside, his station only makes 3 cents per gallon.

Because he tries to keep his prices low and competitive, Crozier said he
has been attracting plenty of business from customers in both Ohio and
West Virginia. However, customer spending habits and the popularity of
debit and credit cards are starting to take a toll.

Every swipe of a card results in an 8 cent transaction fee for the
station, plus a 2 percent batch fee charged at the end of the month,
Crozier said. While some customers fill up their tanks every time they
pull into a service station, there are others who prefer to buy a fix
dollar amount of gas every time they pull up to the pump. With credit
card fees and higher gas prices -- the result is a loss for a business
owner -- especially when $10 worth of gas used to buy 5 gallons and now
only gets a customer 3 gallons.

“What kills me is when somebody gets $10 worth of gas and uses their
debit card,” Crozier said. “I make 3 cents a gallon, so on that
transaction I just lost 2 cents.”

Crozier said he has actually considered removing the credit and debit
card option for fuel purchases.

Cash also said the current prices and oil companies make it impossible
to give credit to their customers.

“The oil companies don't give us any terms and make us pay anywhere from
five to 10 days,” Cash said. “With a tanker load of fuel costing over
$30,000, nobody has that kind of money. It's tough to give anybody credit.”

As far as consumers go, there are a few things that motorists can do to
get better gas mileage. They can drive on properly inflated tires and
slow down.

Simply not buying gas for a day or two won’t do anything to cut the
price of fuel -- especially since the major oil companies have long ago
sold their ownership in service stations.

“Those stations are owned by local people,” Cash said. “So when people
say they are going to boycott Exxon or do something like they, all they
are doing is hurting their neighbor.”

Article Source

Prices will continue to rise, regardless of what we do.

Don't feel so bad, some of the largest gas refineries are right here in good ole' Baton Rouge and up and down the river, but we are paying about as much as you are experiencing without the long haul of trucking it in, go figure!