Fuel Prices

[Passages]

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.

If you don#t vote, you deserve the government you get. Most who vote, vote with their pocketbook. With the economy shaky, most will vote for short term strategy, instead of long temr söutions.

(Aside, these European keyboards take some getting use to. What the heck is ä, µ, ß ö, § ß, €; some of the normal characters are in the wrong position as well. Anzway, das beir ist güt, auf wiederzien)

 

[Boatsb]

The fact that we vote is good. The practice of getting thousands of lazy assistance recipients to vote by taking them on a bus to register, Reading the ballots to them and promising them more cash for doing less is what is killing this country.

Next to that the younger generation wants to save the world by giving everyone free stuff. My 9 year old likes that idea too. None of the latest generation of voters has any idea how to pay for the free stuff.


Benevolence is gone in politics. It was replaced by greed. Everyone has an agenda and no one wants to get less even if it's the fair thing to do.

 

[Boss Lady]

We have a narrow window to try an utilize the ballot box. If we fail to get it done that way, the only alternative is the cartridge box.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

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.

I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to imply that you are an environmentalist. My point was that there should be an ample supply of energy at prices that we all can afford. The reason that there isn't is because we don't allow exploration and development of our own resources. If you knew the added costs due to bureaucracy and regulation, you would be amazed. Why do they need a silt fence? That's rediculous. Why do they need a permit to drill? Why is there a fee for that permit? It's just another tax. Let's start removing the barriors and costs and get down to business.

 

[Boss Lady]

Look at the mess the tree huggers gave us mandating MBTE in fuel. Probably one of the worst carcinogens next to dioxin. It is now in everything, air, water, and land. Which means it is in our food. Gee thanks, you got a small reduction in smog in you major cities in Kalifornia, and everybody east of you gets persistant carcinogens, what a deal. I think a class action lawsuit from the rest of us against Kalifornia is in order for damaging our health and the environment.

I am for reducing pollution. I am also for common sense.

Kalifornia missed the last 30 years opportunity to build urban mass transit and reduce pollution, green house gases, reduction in carbon consumption. I find it very hypocritical of the self annointed out there to blame the rest of us while doing the exact same thing. The traffic jams are legendary. So why hasn't the 10th largest economy in the world done one thing to help themselves, and show the rest of us how it should be done?

 

[krush]

My sister in law is from Paraguay. Her and my bro were down there for a month over Xmas. Anyway, the burning of the rainforrest to create farming land due to the USA burning our food supply doesn't exactly make sense....but what tree hugger BS does?

If we were even close to France and had say 60% of our electricity come from nuke, we'd free up a lot of oil.

We also have PLENTY of coal. Burn more coal! I think I may switch to burning it in my boats LOL. Coal is great......the more we burn the better outlook for me for the next couple years in my career hehehhe.



Oh, don't even get me started on education. I want the ivory tower assclowns to explain to me why they are failing to teach kids to read/write and do simple math. What is their excuse when a one-room school house of 75+ years ago had no problem with such a task?

Chris, I have hundreds of stories about the ivory tower that would make you LOL. Just last week I was called a "whiner" because I was arguing with this dumbass "professor" that made our class (8 people) do a "design project" in the middle of the semester--something NOBODY knew about going into the class. When I said "show me where this is on the syllabus...it says final report and presentation, nothing about a project or anything of the sort."

The response: "Well, let's look at it right now. *reads over it* Well, it doesn't say there WON'T be a project". WTF....I almost challenged her right there to pull that BS in the REAL world and see what happens (especially with tradesmen)....I just walked away before I got more pissed off and reminded myself that in 3 months I will be making damn close to as much money as her LOL

 

[Boatsb]

Krush you missed a valuable lesson. Theory and reality don't seem to get along. If the professor was sharp enough to explain there was nothing saying there would not be a project she understands thinking on her feet. Change is a constant and the ones who handle it best are the most successful.

 

[krush]

Krush you missed a valuable lesson. Theory and reality don't seem to get along. If the professor was sharp enough to explain there was nothing saying there would not be a project she understands thinking on her feet. Change is a constant and the ones who handle it best are the most successful.

No, I did not miss a valuable lesson. Pull that crap in the real world and see what type of environment you end up with. Sure, management does that crap all the time, but it's always why workers hate them are and way less productive than they could be.

Though a syllabus is able to be changed, there is an unwritten rule that what is on it is what the course is going to be. Call it a pseudo-contract if you wish.

Calling said professor sharp is an insult to blades and knifes.

 

[Boatsb]

Krush Wake up. That dream that you will only do what was originally thought will not be able to continue. If the American worker wants to keep a job they better be ready to do what is needed not what they want. Taking the union mindset of not my problem helped make Japan great ( American companies have all but handed them the chance to pass us over).

Innovation and the ability to make a situation work will be the best learned skills you master.

No one on this site that owns a home and or boat did it by refusing to work with their employer.

 

[Boss Lady]

LOL, Krush sounds like she got caught not having read her own BS! I had the same issues with professors 30 years ago, sounds like nothing has changed. Krush go out into the world and work for some dumbasses, you will learn what "not" to do, then start your own business. That is what I did, all you have to do is study what the competitors do, and then don't do it. We came up with a novel concept, it is called "Customer Service", we tell the truth, an estimate is the price, we deliver on time, every customer is important (they pay the bills, something most companies have forgotten), and a lot of other archaic business methods. I find that they work very well.

By the way, there are more stupid people than smart people in the world. You might as well get used to it now. Just learn to tell the difference quicker so you don't waste valuable time. They are good at doing that too!

When in Rome do as Romans, so if you have an idiot professor, don't fight it, just find out what makes them tick so you can be successful in their environment. I got in a pissing contest with an English professor (frustrated, unpublished poet) , it cost me the difference between an A+ and an A-. I was asked to comment on her so to be published work, and I told the truth (big mistake).

 

[Walter P]

A beautiful thing about our country is that when enough people get angry, eventually things happen. In the late 70's we had (gasp) Jimmy Carter and enough people were so upset with his policies that his re-election effort was a major disaster. (as it should). We (our country) have been perhaps the most benevolent people ever as a nation. We help our former enemies rebuild after the most devestating war in the history of the world. We carry fairness to a fault regarding race relations, other religions, social status, environmental concerns etc. even when it helps destroy our way of life and the list goes on.

All the points brought up by Jim (Passages), Sky, Genesis and all the other posters (sorry for not mentioning everyone by name) are valid - no they are right on the money.

I believe that the strength of the written word is greater than the spoken word, particularly with elected officials. Not that Karls recomendation won't help, it will, but send lots of letters as well and encourage your friends and family and anyone else to follow suit. Hint - don't just copy a standard letter. Personal letters, preferably handwritten in your own words using the general theme would be most effective. Also don't be shy about follow up letters a couple of weeks later. It probably would be a good thing to send copies to the media. Keep the letters short and to the point otherwise they will probably not be read in their entirety.

We need to reestablish our manufacturing base. Grow food not fuel unless it does not impact negatively on our economy. Get real with environmental laws - what ever happened to cost/benefit ratios. We have plenty of known oil reserves, maybe not 25 or 30 dollars a bbl of it shouldn't be $117.00 bbl either. I agree that we need to produce more electric from nuclear. We started the technology and we are a pittiful follower of many other developed countries such as France. We need to harvest some of our own lumber - spotted owls or not. Actually I love spotted owls.....Broiled.

We need someone like Teddy Roosevelt in Washington desperately. I also think that some major corporations have grown too large and powerful for the good of our country. A hundred years or less ago it was not unusual for certain things to have some sort of govt. control. Most states even today have such things as a Public Utilities Commission of some sort, presumably to protect the public interest and well being. My goodness I better stop, I'm starting to sound like a socialist. God forbid, but we should have some sort of safeguards to protect our collective interests as a nation. Oh yeah, before I close -- screw the greedy bankers and the jerks who knew damn well (or should have) that they really could not afford their McMansion. I don't want to pay for them either. Compassion - bulls..t, responsibility yes.

Walt

 

[mix]

Walt ,and all the rest -that posted here-I am not going to add my "2 -cts"-since ya'll said it for me-in spades.Besides, my poor 1st mate hears enough of my ranting when the evening news comes on .Our wonderful Country is on the path of a 21st century Roman Empire.The barbarians are at the gates. Mix

 

[MikeP]

Sadly (for us) no nation remains at the forefront forever. Rome didn't (though they had a pretty good run!) and we won't either. I'm just hoping that we remain somewhat influential for a while but with the rapid ascent of China and India into the world marketplace, we may be lucky to be in third place in the not too distant future.

We can still kill more people than anybody else militarily but how much actual use that is nowadays is questionable - demonstrating our ability costs us a fortune in money and resources anyway...

As someone here at the marina said today, "In a few years we'll be sitting around saying, 'Remember when gas was only $3.50 a gallon?' "

 

[Genesis]

Chindia is in much worse shape than we are.

The difference is that their reaction to the fraud and games was to raise interest rates and hike reserves. Their government doesn't put up with the sort of crap that's going on here.

This has crushed their stock market BUT they've still got a hell of a lot of people into a commodity boom and a major problem trying to feed them...

Food shortages don't end well.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

Bottom line for me is.....

Plan on topping off my tanks in the next week...MAYBE 100 gals.

That means I can do my " normal" trips we are use to in the summer.

We normally take a couple of evening cruises with friends onboard... 2-4 hrs.

A lot of it is just to go downtown to The Landing and spending the weekend.

But I see us running the genset a lot less while there.

My problem is, come late summer or early fall when I need to fill the tanks again..... 300 gal ?.... Will I, as a basic working person be able to pay for it?

 

[Maynard Rupp]

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.

Sky, you are exactly correct. Are we geniuses or are our elected officials idiots? It sure looks like I really started something with this thread, eh?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Sky, you are exactly correct. Are we geniuses or are our elected officials idiots? It sure looks like I really started something with this thread, eh?

You sure did start off quite a debate. Everyone has an opinion on this one. Energy prices affect us all and we are accustomed to using it for everything we do. Our lifestyles are such that everything is electrified and even our recreation usually involves energy. We love fast cars, racing, boating, motorcycles, snowmobiles, etc. And why not? We invented most of this stuff for our own comfort and enjoyment.