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Car Forum / Antique and Collectibles / Studebaker / April 2008Fuel Prices... again...
Gas here just went up the other day to $1.239 per liter (that's $4.69 per US gallon or $5.63 per Imperial gallon). WTF?!? If the Auto industry had kept up with progress and R&D like the Computer industry has we would all be driving 500 HP cars that get 80 MPG at 80 mPH. But the government and big oil won't let that happen now, will they... As someone once said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch," so goes it for the auto/big oil industry. Those computers that whiz you much faster these days also consume a lot more energy than that Commodore 64 of yesteryear. Still, speed is good... sometimes. Regarding oil prices.. It's the speculators who determine prices based on hysteria, greed public gullibility. Add to this poor energy policies by the guv'ment and our insatiable appetite for motor vehicles, and well, you gits what you got. I for one took action a couple years ago in the form of "reconditioning" an old '82 Honda Civic that gets around 42mpg in mixed driving. It's paid for and I have a ton of spare parts. Studebakers now are the luxury occasional experience. JT > Gas here just went up the other day to $1.239 per liter (that's $4.69 per US > gallon or $5.63 per Imperial gallon). WTF?!? If the Auto industry had > kept up with progress and R&D like the Computer industry has we would all be > driving 500 HP cars that get 80 MPG at 80 mPH. But the government and big > oil won't let that happen now, will they... Do you mean the big government that passed all of those overly restrictive environmental laws that led to the higher prices, distribution problems and fewer refineries? The same government that makes more on the gas you purchase at the pump, than the oil company that provides the gas? That big government that sill will not allow drilling our countries vast oil and natural gas reserves? The price of crude is determined by the speculators that invest in the commodities market, not the oil companies or the government Every time the price of fuel goes up the Congress or the Senate holds hearing and browbeat the bosses of the American oil companies that are owned by those Americans that invest in those companies. Have you EVER seen a report from any of the Congressional or Senate hearings? Did it ever occur to you why you never read any of their conclusions in the press? The results of those hearing is ALWATYS the same, the price increase is the result of supply and demand LOL. > Gas here just went up the other day to $1.239 per liter (that's $4.69 per > US gallon or $5.63 per Imperial gallon). WTF?!? If the Auto industry > had kept up with progress and R&D like the Computer industry has we would > all be driving 500 HP cars that get 80 MPG at 80 mPH. But the government > and big oil won't let that happen now, will they... Here's some interesting links that may help to explain too why "big oil" charges so much too...: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS; Ousted Chairman of Shell Got $1.93 Million Package http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E2D91638F935A15755C0A9629C8B63 Demoted Executive Quits Shell, Taking $1 Million in Severance http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/08/business/worldbusiness/08shell.html?_r=1&oref= slogin Severance pay could bring an epic payday for saying goodbye http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/4914331.html "In the past, shareholders were blindsided by some big parting packages, like the $400 million received by former Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Lee Raymond the year he retired," For the life of me I can't find one article I am looking for that commented on a Shell executive who retired about a year or 2 ago and stated that, with his pension, stock options and all the other bells and whistles he got after, I think it was 3 years service, the total value was OVER $6 BILLION! And we wonder why gas costs so much... > Gas here just went up the other day to $1.239 per liter (that's $4.69 per US > gallon or $5.63 per Imperial gallon). WTF?!? If the Auto industry had > kept up with progress and R&D like the Computer industry has we would all be > driving 500 HP cars that get 80 MPG at 80 mPH. But the government and big > oil won't let that happen now, will they... The computer industry? The same industry that built my X60 laptop that takes a very expensive Li-Ion battery that will run for about 5 hours on a charge? The same industry that built my Tandy 100 that will run for WEEKS on 4AA batteries?!? Plus if your car was like a PC (or even a MAC) every once in a while it would quit running or all it's controls would lock up for no apparent reason. Annoying in a computer, disastrous in a car! And in spite of the hardships imposed by the fuel prices, NOT ONE taxing agency, has offered to back down on taxes. Seems that the oil companies are not the only greedy organizations about these days. > Gas here just went up the other day to $1.239 per liter (that's $4.69 per > US gallon or $5.63 per Imperial gallon). WTF?!? If the Auto industry > had kept up with progress and R&D like the Computer industry has we would > all be driving 500 HP cars that get 80 MPG at 80 mPH. But the government > and big oil won't let that happen now, will they... If you are contending that the "taxing" agency(s) are those that collect gas taxes, don't expect any relief there. In fact gas tax collections are way down when viewed from a historical and actual perspective. Traffic counts are down in most areas and when coupled with more economical cars, funding for highways (new and maintenance) is dropping. OTOH, gas price is governed by hysteria (speculation) and manipulation by big oil. For example, last year when oil prices fell below $50 per barrel, they managed to manipulate gas prices upward to around $3 per gal and this year even with the high oil prices, claims of shortages are just not true. There is plenty of product but again, manipulation is taking place. But, this is nothing new, right? JT > And in spite of the hardships imposed by the fuel prices, NOT ONE taxing > agency, has offered to back down on taxes. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >>all be driving 500 HP cars that get 80 MPG at 80 mPH. But the government >>and big oil won't let that happen now, will they... Shortages are maintained by restrictions on drilling and making huge reserves of oil unavailable to development to satisfy environmental lobbyists. Energy producers are free to raise their prices due to the shortage of oil created by the Congress, so they can write some nice tax deductable checks to the various environmental pressure groups so they can continue to fleece the public and erode freedom & property rights by spreading their BS about so-called global waring.. Isn't it funny how those people keep fighting against development & drilling , but never utter a peep about the invasion of millions of unassimilable aliens into the country who will use water & energy, pollute the air with the emissions from their vehicles, dump their garbage(especially soiled diapers) into the environment and cause zillions of trees to be dozed to make room for more housing, schools, and infrastrtucture. Anyone truely concerned with the environment would make the immigration invasion their top priority issue. Barry'd in Studes > If you are contending that the "taxing" agency(s) are those that collect > gas taxes, don't expect any relief there. In fact gas tax collections are [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >>>all be driving 500 HP cars that get 80 MPG at 80 mPH. But the government >>>and big oil won't let that happen now, will they... It is easy to blame big oil for the sharp rise in prices at the pump, but they are not necessarily to blame. Everyone has probably heard of "Futures Markets". People speculate on what any given commodity might be worth in the future and bid on it. With oil running around $108 bbl. it stands to reason that someone had to bid on it, at that price. If there are no speculators to bid at those prices, it drops in value. The same thing is happening to home prices, as buyers are hoping prices drop more, before jumping in. If you don't like the high prices of other things, those are most likely also being run up by the 'futures market'. While all of this 'fragile speculation' of commodities is running rampant, it is just the latest up and coming debacle. Not long ago we had the corporate book-cooking fiasco, that resulted in Sarbanes-Oxley, having affected Tyco, Global Crossing, Enron and a host of others. After that came the housing crisis, brought about by shady lenders and appraisers, hoping they could sell their 'inflated paper risk' to someone else. This worked for a while and became global. Now banks are afraid to lend, because they can't find a buyer for the risk. Hence the 'credit crisis'. Shady operators just jump from one thing to another thing, that is big at the time. That is until they get rounded up and "Do Time", while someone else fills their shoes, inventing the next great debacle. If enough people reduce their consumption of any given item, the prices drop until the market resumes buying. This goes for gasoline, food, houses AND Studebakers. I'm with you. Round up all the speculators, execute 'em on teevee and corral the rest of shady operators and make 'em do time in the 'big house' breaking rocks. I'm wondering when the average American sheeple will take back his/her rights... JT > It is easy to blame big oil for the sharp rise in prices at the pump, > but they are not necessarily to blame. Everyone has probably heard of [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > prices drop until the market resumes buying. > This goes for gasoline, food, houses AND Studebakers. > I'm with you. > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > JT You gotta' be kidding, right? With obama & hillary the democrat party front runners in the upcoming election, do you think the people in this country will ever wake up in time? ROFL And McCain ain't no bargain either. Sadly enough.... >> I'm with you. >> [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > country will ever wake up in time? ROFL And McCain ain't no bargain > either. Sadly enough.... I think that I'll spend the next four years in the PI and just party 'til I cain't walk. Maybe I'll even find a used Studebaker to tool around in... JT > It is easy to blame big oil for the sharp rise in prices at the pump, > but they are not necessarily to blame. Everyone has probably heard of > "Futures Markets". People speculate on what any given commodity might > be worth in the future and bid on it. With oil running around $108 > bbl. it stands to reason that someone had to bid on it, at that > price. HANG the speculators! When oil FIRST hit over $100 BBL it was tracked to ONE PERSON who says he did it just to prove that he could. He immediatly turned arround and SOLD those shares AT A LOSS of over $600. He did it on a lark. >>It is easy to blame big oil for the sharp rise in prices at the pump, >>but they are not necessarily to blame. Everyone has probably heard of [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > turned arround and SOLD those shares AT A LOSS of over $600. He did it on a > lark. Yes, but it helped pave the way to current prices by establishing a new threshold. JT (who thinks that all speculators should be shot) But there are no shortages. This is concocted entirely by big oil in concert with the guv'ment and speculators. This administration has presided over a nearly 400% rise in energy prices, double digit increases in food prices et al. I am no longer in favor of drilling but favor a changeover to new technology. It is time to bury the internal combustion engine. It is only a matter of time where electric vehicles will be the norm and hopefully most power will not be generated by fossil fuels. Of course, I really don't care a whole lot as my little gas sippin' Honda just passes by gas stations one after another... JT > Shortages are maintained by restrictions on drilling and making huge > reserves of oil unavailable to development to satisfy environmental [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] >>>>all be driving 500 HP cars that get 80 MPG at 80 mPH. But the government >>>>and big oil won't let that happen now, will they... > But there are no shortages. This is concocted entirely by big oil in > concert with the guv'ment and speculators. This administration has [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > I am no longer in favor of drilling but favor a changeover to new > technology. It is time to bury the internal combustion engine. Except for the Studebakers! DGH >> But there are no shortages. This is concocted entirely by big oil in >> concert with the guv'ment and speculators. This administration has [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > DGH Not to worry, the internal combustion engine would be around for sometime which in itself would lower fuel prices. Simple evolution indicates though that it is time for new technology which is within grasp. All it would take is strong national leadership (like the JFK "go to the moon" program) to bring it about. It certainly is in our national interest to limit our consumption to product(s) that we can produce domestically. I'm sure that we'll still be driving our Studebakers well into the future... JT Time for the manufacturers to start selling Kei cars...and every other one a 3 cyl diesel turbodiesel like the Smart car (was), that can go 80 mph all day long and still get better than 60 (US) mpg, including running the AC. A neighbour has averaged about 75 mpg Imperial (about 60 per US gallon) since new with his Smart, and still gets about 83 (66 US) on long trips at 65 mph+. He drives a lot with his. (he can afford to) Jim B on PEI >>> But there are no shortages. This is concocted entirely by big oil in >>> concert with the guv'ment and speculators. This administration has [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > JT People are grumbling about the price of gasoline and there are plenty of cars on the market that get 30 MPG or more and plenty that can get more than 35 MPG. The fact is buyers apparently do NOT want to buy the cars that get 36 MPG. They will settle for 30 MPG to get a vehicle that suits there needs and wants. Look at what they are buying, the number one seller, for most every manufacturer, is not their midger or small car but their midsize cars. Take note of what you see on the highways, people are still driving as fast and a far as ever and I still see a lot of campers and motor homes on the roads. What we should be concerned about is the price of diesel fuel. Up until the end of 2007, before the newest federal regulation for diesel fuel, the average cost of diesel fuel was 50c LESS than regular gasoline. Since the regular went into effect diesel in now 50c a gallon MORE than premium gasoline. Diesel trucks only get around 6 MPG. Everything we buy is and will continue to go up, because everything we buy is transported by truck. Even the food we eat us produced by using diesel fuel. > Time for the manufacturers to start selling Kei cars...and every other one > a 3 cyl diesel turbodiesel like the Smart car (was), that can go 80 mph [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Jim B on PEI > People are grumbling about the price of gasoline and there are plenty of > cars on the market that get 30 MPG or more and plenty that can get more than [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > will continue to go up, because everything we buy is transported by truck. > Even the food we eat us produced by using diesel fuel. Which illustrates the ignorance of transporting commodities long distance by truck when rail is a lot more efficient. Trucks should be limited to local deliveries in surrounding areas near major rail hubs. JT >Which illustrates the ignorance of transporting commodities long >distance by truck when rail is a lot more efficient. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >JT CTX?? was running an ad on NPR recently over that fact.. they stated that the AVERAGE cost of transporting anything by rail is 436 MPG per loaded ton. to make that in perspective, your POS Ford SUV that gets 7 MPG would have to get at LEAST 250 MPG to equal what the trains can do. As far as the lots of cars get over 30 mpg- I walked into my local Ford AND GM dealer and ASKED- you got ANYTHING AVAILABLE that gets a REAL 30mpg, NOT that crap EPA rating, and BOTH said NO. Ford has a hybrid but it is highly NOT recommended you use it for highway driving at all- its fine surburban or city but not on a 30 mile trip one way. GM's I dont know about, but they are not in any demand around where I am for some reason. I see some Prius now and then, and if I was looking at a good MPG vehicle that would be it. NEITHER Ford or Chevy as far as I have seen make ANYTHING small that gets over 20 mpg epa rating. Was looking at a price sticker on a new ranger, as equipped it was $38k, and the epa rate said 17 mpg. Sorry-not interested. --Shiva-- ** Posted from http://www.teranews.com ** >>Which illustrates the ignorance of transporting commodities long >>distance by truck when rail is a lot more efficient. [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > > --Shiva-- Which is exactly why I resurrected an ol' '83 Honda Civic that gets an honest 42 mpg in mixed driving. While I paid a whopping $100 for the car in 2005 and poured another $500 into it, it's paid for, cheap to insure and is virtually glued to the highway like a sports car. And, even the radio works! JT >Which is exactly why I resurrected an ol' '83 Honda Civic that gets an >honest 42 mpg in mixed driving. While I paid a whopping $100 for the car [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >JT I have a 92 Ford Festiva, milage sucks, I only get 36, and should get 45+..LOL --Shiva-- ** Posted from http://www.teranews.com ** "But the government and big oil won't let that happen now, will they..." I find your theories intriguing, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter. > Gas here just went up the other day to $1.239 per liter (that's $4.69 per > US gallon or $5.63 per Imperial gallon). WTF?!? If the Auto industry > had kept up with progress and R&D like the Computer industry has we would > all be driving 500 HP cars that get 80 MPG at 80 mPH. But the government > and big oil won't let that happen now, will they... Unfortunately, fuel prices aren't the only thing affected by oil prices. I suffered major sticker shock Saturday when I got a fertilizer bill. Urea (nitrogen)- $515.79/ton, 18-46-0- $925.32/ton and potash (potassium)- $605.26/ton. Fewer than five years ago the 18-46-0 was $249/ton and potash was $157/ton. Paul Johnson Paul Johnson wrote: >>Gas here just went up the other day to $1.239 per liter (that's $4.69 per >>US gallon or $5.63 per Imperial gallon). WTF?!? If the Auto industry [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > was $157/ton. > Paul Johnson Um, jis wot do youse plan w' all dat urea? <G> JT |
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