Idiot or genius? Happy about $8 gas?

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get_nick

These snozzberries taste like snozzberries...
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Article about why we should be excited about $8/gal gas. Most of it sounds like hippie propaganda to me. I bet this guy drives a fucking h2 or some bullshit. I really don't think he considers all of the alternatives to what this will cost.

Public transit=higher taxes to fund

Newer technology in cars=high vehicle prices

confining people to local areas will lead to higher crime rates in the cities, overpopulation, more polution, overcrowding. god, look at cities like Mexico city and Beijing. They are dumps.

Financial discipline=not gonna happen. people just aren't smart enough. $8 gas changing discipline is like saying taking away abortions will make people stop fucking.

Easing global tensions? this guy is a fucktard. there has been global tension since dinosaurs. there will always be tension, gas is a minor issue compared to religion, elitism, and cross culture relations.

$8-a-gallon gas

Commentary: Eight reasons higher prices will do us a world of good



SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- For one of the nastiest substances on earth, crude oil has an amazing grip on the globe. We all know the stuff's poison, yet we're as dependent on it as our air and water supplies -- which, of course, is what oil is poisoning.


Shouldn't we be technologically advanced enough here in the 21st Century to quit siphoning off the pus of the Earth? Regardless whether you believe global warming is threatening the planet's future, you must admit crude is passé. Americans should be celebrating rather than shuddering over the arrival of $4-a-gallon gasoline. We lived on cheap gas too long, failed to innovate and now face the consequences of competing for a finite resource amid fast-expanding global demand.

A further price rise as in Europe to $8 a gallon -- or $200 and more to fill a large SUV's tank -- would be a catalyst for economic, political and social change of profound national and global impact. We could face an economic squeeze, but it would be the pain before the gain.


The U.S. economy absorbed a tripling in gas prices in the last six years without falling into recession, at least through March. Ravenous demand from China and India could see prices further double in the next few years -- and jumpstart the overdue process of weaning ourselves off fossil fuels.
Consider the world of good that would come of pricing crude oil and gasoline at levels that would strain our finances as much as they're straining international relations and the planet's long-term health:

1. RIP for the internal-combustion engine
They may contain computer chips, but the power source for today's cars is little different than that which drove the first Model T 100 years ago. That we're still harnessed to this antiquated technology is testament to Big Oil's influence in Washington and success in squelching advances in fuel efficiency and alternative energy.
Given our achievement in getting a giant mainframe's computing power into a handheld device in just a few decades, we should be able to do likewise with these dirty, little rolling power plants that served us well but are overdue for the scrap heap of history.

2. Economic stimulus
Necessity being the mother of invention, $8 gas would trigger all manner of investment sure to lead to groundbreaking advances. Job creation wouldn't be limited to research labs; it would rapidly spill over into lucrative manufacturing jobs that could help restore America's industrial base and make us a world leader in a critical realm.
The most groundbreaking discoveries might still be 25 or more years off, but we won't see massive public and corporate funding of research initiatives until escalating oil costs threaten our national security and global stability -- a time that's fast approaching.

3. Wither the Middle East's clout
This region that's contributed little to modern civilization exercises inordinate sway over the world because of its one significant contribution -- crude extraction. Aside from ensuring Israel's security, the U.S. would have virtually no strategic or business interest in this volatile, desolate region were it not for oil -- and its radical element wouldn't be able to demonize us as the exploiters of its people.
In the near term, breaking our dependence on Middle Eastern oil may well require the acceptance of drilling in the Alaskan wilderness -- with the understanding that costly environmental protections could easily be built into the price of $8 gas.

4. Deflating oil potentates
On a similar note, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently gained a platform on the world stage because of their nations' sudden oil wealth. Without it, they would face the difficult task of building fair and just economies and societies on some other basis.
How far would their message resonate -- and how long would they even stay in power -- if they were unable to buy off the temporary allegiance of their people with vast oil revenues?

5. Mass-transit development
Anyone accustomed to taking mass transit to work knows the joy of a car-free commute. Yet there have been few major additions or improvements to our mass-transit systems in the last 30 years because cheap gas kept us in our cars.

Confronted with $8 gas, millions of Americans would board buses, trains, ferries and bicycles and minimize the pollution, congestion and anxiety spawned by rush-hour traffic jams. More convenient routes and scheduling would accomplish that.

6. An antidote to sprawl
The recent housing boom sparked further development of antiseptic, strip-mall communities in distant outlying areas. Making 100-mile-plus roundtrip commutes costlier will spur construction of more space-efficient housing closer to city centers, including cluster developments to accommodate the millions of baby boomers who will no longer need their big empty-nest suburban homes.
Sure, there's plenty of land left to develop across our fruited plains, but building more housing around city and town centers will enhance the sense of community lacking in cookie-cutter developments slapped up in the hinterlands.

7. Restoration of financial discipline
Far too many Americans live beyond their means and nowhere is that more apparent than with our car payments. Enabled by eager lenders, many middle-income families carry two monthly payments of $400 or more on $20,000-plus vehicles that consume upwards of $15,000 of their annual take-home pay factoring in insurance, maintenance and gas.
The sting of forking over $100 per fill-up would force all of us to look hard at how much of our precious income we blow on a transport vehicle that sits idle most of the time, and spur demand for the less-costly and more fuel-efficient small sedans and hatchbacks that Europeans have been driving for decades.

8. Easing global tensions
Unfortunately, we human beings aren't so far evolved that we won't resort to annihilating each other over energy resources. The existence of weapons of mass destruction aside, the present Iraq War could be the first of many sparked by competition for oil supplies.
Steep prices will not only chill demand in the U.S., they will more importantly slow China and India's headlong rush to make the same mistakes we did in rapidly industrializing -- like selling $2,500 Tata cars to countless millions of Indians with little concern for the environmental consequences. If we succeed in developing viable energy alternatives, they could be a key export in helping us improve our balance of trade with consumer-goods producers.
Additional considerations

Weaning ourselves off crude will hopefully be the crowning achievement that marks the progress of humankind in the 21st Century. With it may come development of oil-free products to replace the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics, fertilizers and pesticides that now consume 16% of the world's crude-oil output and are likely culprits in fast-rising cancer rates.
By its very definition, oil is crude. It's time we develop more refined energy
 
ok so everyone is bitching about gas prices,ya know what,just stop,dont even pay attention to the costs,your gonna buy it either way,so y not just lose the stress??
and im not speaking to any 1 person this is people in general.
jus pay for the damn gas,stop bitching,and let things go how theyre gonna go
 
aren't you unemployed?
lets see what you say when you're commuting an hour everyday, your wages don't increase, but the price of gas jumps a dollar a gallon
 
aren't you unemployed?
lets see what you say when you're commuting an hour everyday, your wages don't increase, but the price of gas jumps a dollar a gallon

im not unemployed, but price matters not. i filled up for $3.91 this morning. 25 miles away, its $4.30 . oh well.
 
I agree with most of those points, and with injen, for once. Job and housing location is just going to have to take a greater precedent in ones life; if you care at all about the cost associated with the commute. The best thing about high fuel prices is that there will be less of those huge suvs around to block the road and to pose a potential danger if to me, if they hit me.
 
i don't care about it. ya know what, $8/gas is motivating me to simply make more money. it's going to turn me into an elitist asshole that is financial stable and doesn't really care what happens to everybody else.

it's just that idiots like this guy don't consider both sides of the situation.

lets say it increases labor. labor could increase illegal immigration in search of cheaper labor. raise standard wages. increase the cost of goods sold and take more money out of the pockets of the middle and lower classes.

it's so easy to have a "solution" to the problems at hand, but the ripple effect is horrible. I remember walking out of the store last year and someone was getting paid to gather signatures. they were touting, "make schools better, decrease classroom size, blah blah blah". well, i looked into, sounded good. but it would raise the sales tax ANOTHER 1.2%. fuck that. there is ALWAYS a give and take.
 
thought i'd pipe up here and say the obvious -- it isn't just fuel costs rising, it's impacting the cost of a lot of other stuff too. UPS rates have gone up significantly in the last 6 months to account for their rising costs, and shipping anything using any method is getting painful. we can expect to see the cost translate into higher costs for pretty much everything that gets distributed across our country (food, etc). the fact is our country doesn't have a viable plan b in place, so we're all in a tight spot while that gets sorted out. i'm not so much bitching about the cost of fuel as i am bitching about how much i'm going to have to adjust my lifestyle to accomodate the costs. i'm with get_nick on this one. show me the money.
 
8 dollars a gallon? Sounds about right... one dollar per year of lesson learned.

If any of you *REALLY* weren't expecting something like this, well... another hard lesson learned.
 
ok so everyone is bitching about gas prices,ya know what,just stop,dont even pay attention to the costs,your gonna buy it either way,so y not just lose the stress??
and im not speaking to any 1 person this is people in general.
jus pay for the damn gas,stop bitching,and let things go how theyre gonna go

Just keep paying... just keep paying... just keep paying...

They LOVE that attitude.:usa::usa::usa:
 
aren't you unemployed?
lets see what you say when you're commuting an hour everyday, your wages don't increase, but the price of gas jumps a dollar a gallon
unemployed at the moment,yes.........
but that irrelevant..i still have to put gas in my car.to look for jobs,and do what i need to do..
 
$8 will put stress on employers.

i'll basically tell my boos, i'm done comuting.
I can do 100% of what i do at my house.

give me a gas card, fire me, or let me work from home. your choice.

$8 says they let me work from home.
 
thought i'd pipe up here and say the obvious -- it isn't just fuel costs rising, it's impacting the cost of a lot of other stuff too. UPS rates have gone up significantly in the last 6 months to account for their rising costs, and shipping anything using any method is getting painful. we can expect to see the cost translate into higher costs for pretty much everything that gets distributed across our country (food, etc). the fact is our country doesn't have a viable plan b in place, so we're all in a tight spot while that gets sorted out. i'm not so much bitching about the cost of fuel as i am bitching about how much i'm going to have to adjust my lifestyle to accomodate the costs. i'm with get_nick on this one. show me the money.

I can attest to many things at UPS changing, dacheat, as I have worked there for thirteen years. I'm a dispatch Supervisor and we have had to cut a lot of the runs in our department because people are not shipping as much as well. The volume has been down a lot as of late and lots of drivers are being sent back down to package. No one is happy about it really. It is just interesting how much all of this has affected everyone in general.

Nowadays whenever I go to the pump to fill up, I just fill up and don't bother complaining about the prices. I'll leave that part to someone else. haha Even so, I am with all of you that are asking how we are going to accommodate during this time if we are not being compensated for rising EVERYTHING costs.

I got a second job a month ago to help me financially and my build, and now it seems that it will be helping me fill my tank up. haha Sad but true.
 
I too agree with Injen. There isnt alot we can do. Just pay the damn gas. I hate filling my gas tank cuz it drains me BUT what the hell, its not like the president or any other rich congressman will listen. We are run by an oil man for crying out loud! They will and have beem making every bullshit excuse they can think of just for us to fill their pockets.

"Ohh its for our troops","ohh its because and oils plant blew up" and others have been the excuses. I remember being promised that once we "invade" Iraq and take Saddam that we will have oil at a record low...bullshit once again. Our troops are still over there busting balls getting killed and someare even getting shitty medical treatment. Like that Hospital in the news awhile back ago. So what happened to our tax dollars and money that we payed at the pump? And why does the gas just jump 3 fucking cents in a matter of 24hr before ANY holiday? were getting reamed in the ass and there is nothing we can do about it.
 
who is "they"

Well, we can start at the end with the oil execs, there's enough money flying out of their asses to keep them perpetually levitated two feet of the ground. Next from there are the big shareholders and "good boys" as they're called. They push laws across that make the moneygrab easier, yet look good to the common man. You might know one of these as the "Gas-Tax Holiday". After that it's across the pond to the dry deserts of Saudi Arabia. You know, that place where the 9/11 hijackers came from, and ultimately into the hands of terrorists and insurgents which kill our men and women on a daily basis.

That's "they".
 
Well, we can start at the end with the oil execs, there's enough money flying out of their asses to keep them perpetually levitated two feet of the ground. Next from there are the big shareholders and "good boys" as they're called. They push laws across that make the moneygrab easier, yet look good to the common man. You might know one of these as the "Gas-Tax Holiday". After that it's across the pond to the dry deserts of Saudi Arabia. You know, that place where the 9/11 hijackers came from, and ultimately into the hands of terrorists and insurgents which kill our men and women on a daily basis.

That's "they".
:bs:
gas prices are related to global supply and demand, and the cost of getting it out of the ground. the days of spending $1 a barrel to get it out of the ground are also gone. Not saying that i love the gas prices, but with the recent hikes in price we still get it cheaper then most oil importing countries in the world.
 
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