Fuel Prices

[Genesis]

Capt, you want to see it solved, where you need to apply the effort is towards getting the garbage off the bank's balance sheets and into the open.

No more Level 3, no more SIVs, no more any of that crap.

The fraud has to stop all the way from the banks to the government (they changed the CPI adjustments in January - under the adjustments used before that, the CPI report for this last month would have shown NINE percent inflation, not FOUR)

When the fraud stops the premium being charged by other nations against our currency will disappear.

 

[Walter P]

"We have some of the best politicians money can buy"

I really believe that most of our elected officials come into office with nobel ideas. Over the decades the nobility of some of these folks have virtually disappeared. Politicians who get caught and are successfully prosecuted aren't even a little embarassed. They usually smile as they leave the court house --- The worse part is that our society has grown so accustomed to this criminal behavior that embarassment is not a concern.

Politicians make the rules to cover their butts and screw the rest of us - so I think it is a rare elected official that stays honorable for very long. If they do then their party leaders see to it that they are no longer viable for re-election. Look what happened to Sen. Joe Leiberman of Conn. He bucked the system, they dropped him, he said screw them and ran as an independent and won. I'd like to see him considered as VP material with McCain.

Krush - Ron Paul made a lot of statements that many of us like to hear but do you actually think someone like him could possibly beat the system?

By now you're all wondering what the h--l does this have to do with the price of diesel fuel? The answer is everything because these are the same people with no scruppels (sp) who decide what special interest gets their attention this week and what's in it for them. What a mess.... Ben Franklin, Tom Jefferson, George W (not #43 but #1) please help us now in our hour of need. Amen

 

[Genesis]

When you start showing up in DC with 100 of your neighbors it will change.

Not until.

I will note that in most representative districts a few thousand votes will change the outcome.

So if you and 20 or 30 of your neighbors each get 100 people to vote the other way, the game is over.

But 99.9% of the people won't do it, which is why it never changes.

Enjoy the high fuel prices; I'm one of the 0.1%. You can either choose to add to that and get others to add to it, or you can suffer.

Its your choice but I will beat you around the ears if you whine and complain about how horrible it is instead of acting. You either get off your duff and do something about it or shut the hell up. We've become a nation of whiners and that's supposed to stop somewhere between birth and your 18th birthday.

 

[labrador]

OK Genesis I'll be the 1st to admit that I'm not as educated as you on this subject. I do however want to do something and am willing to take another trip along with a bunch of others to make the waves you talk about. How about it guys? Maybe we could get a HOF trip to DC to voice our opinions? There are a lot of people on this forum from different parts of the country with similar concerns. We need a spokesman and I vote for Genesis and Chris ( Boss Lady).

 

[Traveler 45C]

I'll second that!

 

[captddis]

I'll go along

 

[Passages]

You're kidding right?

A bunch of affluent yacht owners marching on Washington because they want cheaper fuel for their boats???

Good luck with that.

 

[Passages]

OK, I gonna stir the pot some more.

I'm still in Europe on Business. Amsterdam to be precise. You want to see the standard of living in the US is headed? Come here because they've been dealing with scare resources for a long time.

When the ferry was crossing the channel to the Netherlands, I was first struck by the awesome size of the offshore drilling platforms. As we neared the shore, I saw row after row of enormous electric generating windmills.

Cities are clean and seem to be safe. On the road are cars, but generally much smaller than what we drive in the US. (Google "SMART CAR") Houses are neat & tidy but multi'family town houses and apartments are the norm, Of single family houses, I guess they average 1000-1800 square feet. Energy efficiency is paramounts in all major capital purchases with consevation billboards along the highway (REALLY)

Now the good news, Even though gas is 1.50 EU/l (About $9/gallon) THERE ARE MARINAS HERE. Lots of powerboats. Mostly displacement, 20-35 footers, and alot of 50' canal boats. What is missing was the gleaming new 60' Vikings and such.

Guys - don't hold your breath on seeing $2 gas ever again. The rest of the world would jump to buy it a twice that price.

 

[MikeP]

I have to agree completely with Passages - WE are not the people to be publicly complaining about expensive fuel. The majority of people in the US and especially the media would look at us like a total laughing stock.

How would you react if John Travolta et al started complaining about the price he has to pay for aviation fuel? It would go nowhere fast and he would come across like a (rich) fool to everyone.

My dad still complains that bread used to cost 18 cents a loaf. But it doesn't any more. None of us seem to be complaining about the price of bread being much more expensive then it used to be...

 

[Boss Lady]

The point you are missing Passages is not directly the price of fuel. It is the dollar. Bernanke is killing the dollar in order to bail out the banksters and wall street. They should all be charged under RICO for running a habitual criminal enterprise. By artificially depressing the dollar we are seeing capital flight, and everything we import is automatically almost double the price it was less than a year ago. Inflation will kick into high gear for somethings, and deflation will crush other things. Stagflation like we suffered for a decade in the 70's, and we really didn't come out of it until the Reagan's second term. The policies he put into place, gave Clinton the good economy he inherited. Bush is living with the legacy that clinton gave him. The rediculous monetary policy of Greenspan, and the non-regulation of the financial system by both Clinton and Bush have killed us. We supposedly fixed the problems in the wake of "ENRON", but I'll be damned if Eron was nothing more than a road map for how to cheat the people. Sarbanes-Oxley was supposed to make accountants and CEOs responsible. How many indictments have handed out on Wall Street for "Off balance sheet" crap????

If I go to Washington it won't be over high gas prices, it will be for selling the American people down the toilet. Just remember that I told you so. Bush is a "New World Order" guy. Reagan bought us some time and saved us from Socialism. Now we are headed straight for Facist rule. We cannot save what has already been lost. The only next step is to take it back. That won't happen as long as they can keep Joe 6 pack fooled. They will promise him anything to make that happen. Just like the new deal "two chickens in every pot", this time it will be "no foreclosures', well who is going to get screwed? You will. If you are invested or are a tax payer, the "no money down" crowd will get a free ride at your expense, the two crooks in this deal (the borrowers and the lenders) will get bailed out, and leave you the investor holding the bag.

 

[Genesis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7EFiZYe6uU

 

[Passages]

Chris - The issue of the devalued dollar is not lost on me. My discussions with my European associates confirms their price for fuels, though high, have been stable over the past coüple years. Thät pretty much tells me it's a currency issue not a commodity one.

I try to avoid sounding like a Genesis Ditto Head but this overseas trip I'm on is focused on Energy & Climate Change, best practice sharing knowledge exchage. Putting aside the Climate Change debate, we can agree on the following:

Monetary policy of the past decade are unsustainable, short term stop gap meaures doomed to fail. Resulting in a greatly devalued dollar, and a huge burden to lower income US citizens. Something must be done to convince those in power that we accept mistakes that have been mad, take our medicine however distasteful and perhaps in 3 or 4 years we can dust ourselves off and get on with it.

Our energy policy is laughable. We need to exploit known oil reserves, drilling in areas off limits before. This is a temporary measure to buy time. Concurrent with that we must expand or refining capacity and develop clean coal technology. Alternate fuels must be mainstreamed. NOT from food stock but from cellouse, algae and waste byproduct. WIND & SOLAR, TIDAL energy are key components to our strategy. Tax & other incentives must be provided to encourage R&D and commercialization. (Side note - Yesterday I took a train through Germany and noticed half the houses had solar panels)

And if you want to see who is to blame for this situation - look in the mirror. I am guilty as well. We need to change the way we use energy in all aspects of our lives. We#ve enjoyed an energy free ride, it was fun, but the party is over.

Runing a fuel guzzeling sportfishing boat for recreation is probably the greatest example of insult to the coming energy crisis I can think of. At the risk of being blunt, how can we justify our boats and keep a staight face. Don#t get me wrong, I love nothing more than spending time on the water with friends and family, but the era of planning hulls is rapidly coming to an end.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I disagree 100% about needing to change our lifestyles and use less energy. The energy is there and we just need to have less regulation so that it is profitable to go and get it. There is no reason that we can't live as we did from the 1950-80's. There are more known oil reserves than ever before. We also have nuclear technology that could produce cheap electricity. The only thing holding us back is government. We have fallen prey to the environmental socialists. This talk of changing our lives to fit into their idea of utopia is nonsense. They have corrupted the media into making a majority of people feel guilty for burning fuel and having a high standard of living.

We need to wake up and get going on new nuclear plants, new refineries and new oil wells. And while we're at it, lets exploit some more of our natural resources like coal, iron ore, timber, and the like. A good economy runs on natural resources and manufacturing. We need to reclaim our prominence in that area. And since the only reason we lost it was due to over-regulation, then it seems pretty obvious how to reclaim it.

 

[whaler23]

Cmon, you guys remember that post about nuclear powered Hatts right? That's where the future is. I'm with SkyCheney we know where it is but can't cut down the trees to get to it, sorry, technology on forest renewal and quick growth trees is cutting edge, no pun intended, so are wind farms, but like he said, a certain politician says not in my backyard, hmm, where did his family's money come from, oh yeah, diesel powered trucks to bootleg booze back in the 20's -30's. Again, which politician apparantly has a mega yacht up there in Hyannis town who just polluted the ocean with oil/fuel in his bilge pumping it overboard.

I do agree that the dollars weakness contributes to a lot and for the most part we will pay for it for the next few years.

 

[Boss Lady]

Passages, you have hit the nail on the head. The Europeans have not seen price increases at the pump, because the dollar is falling and the euro is rising. All the average J6P understands is that oil costs $110 a barrel. He thinks the evil oil companies just raised the price because the can. What is really happening is oil is priced in dollars (at least for now), and the antics of the banks, wall street, and Bernanke have made investing in dollars so unattractive that we have capital flight and a falling dollar. The dollar to euro exchange is 1.59 dollars=1 euro. The dollar has lost 40% of its' value in the last few months. How much has oil gone up? There you have it.

If we had an energy policy (I think we should call this leadership) that focused on the best use of oil and other high density fuels for transportation, and use other fuels and energy sources for generating electricty we can better maintain our way of life.

The delusional tree huggers, have brought us to our knees and are the most hypocritical bunch who know the least about the topics which they proclaim so loudly. I was laughing my ass off when Kalifornia was have black outs. Gee, guess what happens when you don't let anybody build new power plants. Eventually you run out of capacity, Duh! The same goes for oil refineries. Who forced the end to developing Hydro power in the United States? Remember the snail darter? You want to talk about clean, renewable power? Ok, then how come we can't use it? They don't want wind power either, because it kills birds and is an eye sore. I am sure that they will treat tidal power the same. These people want us to live in the stone age. I am ready to introduce them to Darwin, personally.

We have not found any new "cheap to extract" oil, but plenty of oil exists. We need a coherent energy policy and a long range plan. The American people will respond to it if it makes sense.

We also need to make noise now about the dollar situation and the make the banksters eat their problems now, and put a bunch of them in jail to boot. Call, write, and visit you officials now. Every one of them has a home office within easy driving distance, if you can't go to Washington.

 

[Passages]

I disagree 100% about needing to change our lifestyles and use less energy. The energy is there and we just need to have less regulation so that it is profitable to go and get it. There is no reason that we can't live as we did from the 1950-80's.

WOW, ummm..... OK, If you have the bucks, I guess you can continue buying as much fuel as you want. Ain't life grand?

For the majority of us however, living within our means and trying to ensure a favorable standard of living for our children is a greater priority. At the same time enjoying the here and now is important too.

I am NOT a treehugger BTW. I just try to promote sustainable strategies for business & indusry.

 

[captddis]

I agree with Sky as well. There is no shortage of fuel only a shortage of people to do the intelligent thing and allow the extraction of the fuel. Hell, China may be drilling in the FL straights but our own wackos will not allow drilling 160 mi out. BTW I live on the beach so don't tell me that I don't understand. Then there is the downside to conserving. We will get charged more to make up the lost taxes from lower fuel sales. [ Already happened here when we cutback our water consumption]
While I agree about being more effecient, Boats are a very small part of the overall useage. The soccer moms driving Escalades and Excursions use way more fuel. A good start locally would be to end bussing and go to neighborhood schools.

 

[Boss Lady]

Our government is manipulated by the lobbyist on "K" street. Neither of the major political parties have a platform that provides any leadership that deals with how our country plans to deal with the challenges we are facing today or in the future, as 300 million Americans begin to compete for resources with the rest of the 6.3 billion people who want the same resources. Instead our political leaders find that they have to pander to hundreds of special interest groups. The idea that we should stop wasting fuel on busing kids will run into conflicts with the Utopian crowd who will sacrifice anything at the alter of creating the perfect world. We make it almost impossible for working parents to be involved with the schools and then we wonder why we have so many problems. I grew up with neighborhood schools, I think it is the best solution. However, certain groups will cry foul immediately because some schools will have more resources. However, every summer you see parents moving to different school districts so their kids can be in the best schools. The social manipulators cannot win, all they can do is impede the process. Instead of raising the education level of the poor, we have in fact lowered the level for everyone. North Carolina's high school drop out rate is 30% today. So much for professional academia running our school systems.

If we don't start working together to resolve our real problems, then it it will be every man for himself. If you are concerned about the future for your children, then we have start being pragmatic and tell the wierdos to go to hell. If they don't like it, they can go somewhere else. None of this is easy, but without any kind of plan we are definetly lost.

 

[captddis]

Chris,
My wife has been a devoted teacher going on 31 years. If most people knew half of what goes on in schools, there would be a rebellion. I do not know how many times I have told her I wanted to go to a conference with her. Parents bring their lawyers to parent/ teacher meetings!! The 60's flower children/ wackos are running the education system now. They can't have a Christmas tree in the room. No Easter bunnies, no Halloween decorations, diversity training, can't hold a black child back if he/ she fails..................
The dumbing down of our kids is real.

 

[Genesis]

Our government is manipulated by the lobbyist on "K" street.

Lobbyists get one vote. Corporations get none.

You get one vote.

The fact that you (collectively) refuse to use it is why the lobbyists have power.

Period.