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Originally Posted by MEDIK418
Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Maybe I forgot to finish part of my last quote. EVERYONE is going to have to stop driving so much. Did you know that we are driving MORE now than we were two years ago. On average Americans are driving more than when gas prices shot up two years ago. Not just the big rich SUV drivers (which by the way, I take tremendous offense with your reference that only rich people can afford to drive but I'll address that in a minute) but every one of the little buzzmobiles I see every time I visit San Diego.
The traffic never seems to stop 24 hours a day out there. Something else too, how many do you see in the express lanes? Not many. Phoenix, California, Washington DC, you name the place we as America are too self involved to share a ride with the people we work with every day. Oh, there are a few but there again, it seems the country wasted a lot of taxpayer money building carpool lanes that sit empty until after rush hour is over.
Theory? It's not a theory that we are running on one tenth the number of refineries we were in 1970. There wasn't a shortage then and there's none now. The plant I work in is running at maximum but our tanks are as full now as they were a month ago. The summer rush had more to do with inventories than Katrina did. Yes, there were spot shortages while the big pipelies were down but that should have corrected itself by now. And it has according to gas prices. Remember. . . .oil companies jack prices up in an attempt to make us drive less and use less gas bacause they forsee an opportunity for shortages later on down the road. It should be a harbinger of things to come, not a reason to gripe and blame politicians.
Let's address government stockpiles of crude oil. Do you actually know how much they have for us? Not even a day's worth of crude, that's how much. If you turned off the wells, the tankers coming from Russia, and the middle east, they government stockpile wouldn't last a day. It's a joke. The only reason they keep them around is that it makes politicians warm and fuzzy thinking that they have us convinced that we're safe relying on the spare oil they stocked up on. It's a joke. I'm not making this up, look in the business section of your local newspaper. It tells right there in black and white how much crude oil we go through each and every day of our lives and it makes the federal government look awful stupid when you consider how much oil is in this so-called government reserve. The only affect that releasing the oil they said they were going to was the same affect that 9/11 had on the price of gas. People THOUGHT there was going to be a shortage so they went into a panic-buying frenzy and caused spot shortages across the country. This time, with Katrina, the government said they were going to release some oil and people relaxed a little. The jobbers realized the panic was about over and prices started going down. It happens every time there's a hiccup in the oil industry nowadays.
Here's a little lesson to mull over. The plant I work at suffered through a series of really bad luck events beginning in January. Failed airfins, an explosion, a couple of fires. . .all contributed to our not being able to produce ANYTHING for 123 days. That was 144,000 barrels of crude that didn't get processed every day we were down. Did you see a jump in gas prices? Nope! not a one. Why? Because the press didn't get wind of it that's why. The good ole news media didn't have the opportunity to put America in a panic like they so love to do. We're so far back in the sticks, they didn't find out about us.
Now, let's talk about the people with the large SUVs who don't give a crap about how much we pay for gas. Your theory is full of bugjuice. Like I said, I drive one and I've had to shut down a lot of driving lately. My son who has a 120mile commute (one way) has opted to live in the town he works in for the 7 days he has to be there (7 on and 7 off) Why? Because we pay the same price for gas as everyone else and it hurts us just as much as the next guy. I've gone from driving about 3 tankfulls out every month to one. That's with two of us driving it to work. I've ressurected an old Suzuki 750 to get to work in a week or so. We look for ways to consolidate errands to make the most of the gas we have. I'm not sure how much you think a person has to make for a living to buy one of these things but it's not much more than most small cars on the market these days. (Besides that, California has more little cars running around the state than anyone and they use more gas than most other states.) I drive it because I like the room and yes, I choose to pay the penalty for doing so at the pump but don't tell me I don't hurt every time I fill up. You don't have a monopoly on cash limits here. I've got a Mustang in the driveway that's a clutch and a X-pipe away from being finished enough to drive but guess what? I spent most of the extra money on gas last month. I still stand by what I said.
You want to slow the price of gas down a bit? Stop driving so much. EVERYONE. If theres' no market for the stuff, it won't be worth as much. Another thing, next time there's a calamity like the one that happened to the Gufl coast, dont' cause the prices to shoot shy high by lining up at the pump in block long lines to get the last drop of gas before the next truckload shows up. This kind of crap feeds the media like a school of sharks. One front page headline with a picture of the morons sitting in line for gas is usually all it takes for the gasoline distributors to start seeing dollar signs. Why do I say this? Because I know several of them and they love this stuff. It would take weeks for an event like that to start affecting the gasoline and oil reserves in this country. OK, forget I mentioned reserves, insert the word inventories for that.
Anyway, I don't mean for this to be mean spirited but I'm sick of the lies that the national media is telling about anything that affects this country and on this subject, I can shed a little light. I've been in this business for over 25 years now and I laugh every time I see a story on the gas crisis. Not because of the effects but because of the lies I see in the news over it. Think of how many personal owned vehicles we have in this country. Millions upon millions. Think how much gas we would save for another day if each of those vehicles drove just 2 percent less each week. I don't have the answer buy can bet it would make a big dent in the price of gas in this country. Till then, I can promise that there are a lot of folks out there who are doing all they can to make as much gas as they possibly can with the equipment they have to work with and they'll continue to do so as long as we can.
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