I hope everyone who voted to give Haliburten a blank check of their money is happy now. I agree. I've never seen things turn such pro big business as lately. Have you noticed that all banks now hold checks you deposit but put those you write through instantaneously. And, if you are late with one credit card payment your rates on all go up to 29%. It has became the biggest screwfest of the middle class in our history.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Chuck & Don: I don't have any technical knowledge on the subject but I agree with you both. GREED runs the oil industry, as well as the tobacco, alchohol, food, utilities industry & every other major commodity in this country. It's part of what the free enterprise system is all about & the democratic way. The rich get richer. We are all getting raped on the price of gas. Keep in mind that eventually oil will be depleted & the world will be forced to look for alternatives. Not to mention the number of people world wide that work in the oil industry. The OPEC countries will then go broke. This is centuries away but realistic. Also, much of the easy oil has been pumped & what is still available is getting harder to get out of the ground. It's been said to me that the Alaskan stuff is very crude & more expensive to refine. Venezuela doesn't like us & sells mostly to China & Mexico will be changing leadership in a few years & the front runner isn't the most pro USA & will be asking for concessions to continue selling to America. What can we do about it. Stop driving? Get serious. Call on Congress? Get serious again. The people must band together in an organized manner & show the world we won't put up with this anymore. How to accomplish that I don't know. We grumble, but it's hard to complain when most of the world lives in poverty compared to us & people go hungry. Other nations can't help their sick & elderly, and can't educate their young to end their miserable existence & stop the cycle. We are not perfect as a nation & have a long way to go but if expensive gas is the worst we have to deal with compared to the reast of the world's miseries, I'll take it for now! I'm not happy about it either. I grew up in a small family business where you treated you customer! s as fri ends & didn't try to screw them out of their last nickle and everyone in the neighborhood cared about one another. I'm afraid those times are gone. But I'm a proud first generation American, a Veteran, a husband, a father, a middleclass taxpayer, and a Chevelle Owner. I'll take this life anyday over other worldly alternatives!! BTW, I'm also a hard core Democrat!!! Sorry for the tirade but the word GREED just set me off. Thanks for listening. Happy Cruisin' Guys.Phil G. 65 SS
-----Original Message-----
From: Don <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Chevelle-list@chevelles.net
Sent: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 21:45:21 -0400
Subject: [Chevelle-list] Re: Gas Prices
There's the same amount of gas whether the companies charge $2 a gallon or $4 a gallon. The only thing that really changes is the profit margin. The oil companies, oil producing countries & the politicians all talk a lot about supply & demand & crude oil productivity & refinery productivity all causing the prices to go up & down. But that's not necessarily true. If the oil producing countries cut down on their crude production or the refineries cut down on their production, there would be less product to sell but that doesn't mean it cost them any more or less to make each gallon of gas or oil. The big companies & oil producing countries are all making record profits. They charge more money because they can, not because they have too. The American consumer is being raped by the oil & gas companies. It is simple greed. If everyone in the oil food chain cut their profits by say 1/3, everyone would still be making a good profit but the price of gas would go down considerably. They won't do this of course because they don't have too. I'm all for people & businesses making money, it's what we work for & what keeps the economy going. But when is it enough? Especially when you're talking about a necessary commodity such as gas, oil & natural gas. In our society it is a necessity. Why can't they be happy with making millions instead of billions? or at least a few billion instead of many billion? Don't you realize that even if we all gave up our performance cars & everyone in the country drove cars that got 50mpg, the oil companies would then charge $6 a gallon so they could keep their profits up. It's not the oil, it's the greed that's the problem. I remember back many years ago when they use to tell us to keep your car running when stopped for a train or a red light because it used more gas to start it than to keep it running. But many years later they admitted that wasn't really true. They just wanted to sell more gas. Remember the gas shortages of 1973? Long lines at the pumps, etc? But once the price jumped up from 40 cents a gallon to over a dollar, all of a sudden there was no more shortage. There hasn't been a shortage in the last 30 years. Oil isn't the problem friends, greed is the problem. Unfortunately it isn't going to change. Of course this is a very simplified opinion of these problems. This could be discussed for hours/days/weeks/years on end but I really just wanted to vent some. Sorry for the long winded tirade. Don ----------------------------------------- I agree, our nation has not been conservative when it comes to our petroleum resources, perhaps even flaunted or wasted them in the past and present. On the other hand there have been a lot of innovations over the years that would have provided much better gas mileage, or even taken the place of some of the gas usage only to have the companies bought out by the large petroleum companies and put out of business. I have experienced this with what used to be two different customers I had prior to their being bought out and closed down. I remember because I had to take back a lot of product back from them and had to pay back the commissions. The petroleum companies are going to do everything they can to slow the introduction of anything that will reduce the gas usage in this country and their profits. Big money wants even more money and we can do very little about it by ourselves. Chuck Speake 70 Chevelle Malibu Glen Ellyn, IL
