My gas prices came down 30 cents! I'm FURIOUS!!

The BBQ Pit
1

No, I’m not furious that gas came down from $1.98 to $1.67. I’m furious that it took the threat of a federal investigation into oil company price-gouging to do it.

The same day that they announce the Feds are going to be looking into it, the oil companies suddenly discover an unexpected surplus (but it’s just a coincidence!), and gas prices start coming down. But it’s just a coincidence!

I have been entertaining myself this week with the following fantasy: Aliens from outer space conquer the world. They are friendly aliens, so they give us free clean energy sources in the form of miraculous little engines that we can pop into our cars with a minimum of retrofitting and drive away.

Every oil company executive on the face of the planet then does a Peter Pan out his 22nd-story corner office window. The ones that don’t, are on the street corners, selling apples and pencils. Hah!

2

Now that’s a great fantasy. I’d pay to see those gerbil-felching mouse-squicking oil company assholes do a Peter Pan.

3

I wonder how many people think the price of gas has doubled in the last year? In fact, the price of the gas has tripled. The 42 cent tax on every gallon masked the fact that last year I only paid 56 cents for a gallon. Now I am paying $1.56 per gallon, nearly triple.
While it is attractive to bash Big Oil (Or Big Tobacco or Big Guns etc…) I would like to point out that the current increase seems to be related to a request from our own government to boost the price of oil in order to bolster the Russian economy. Nice to know that we live to subsidize the Ruskies.

So the gerbil-felching mouse-squicking oil company assholes should be the gerbil-felching mouse-squicking government assholes

I will report back with cites shortly.

4

Gas prices here in Southern California are holding steady in the $1.59/gal range, where it’s been for a few months now. How come the sudden “surplus” didn’t help our prices?

Weird.

5

Here’s a quarter, Ducky. Get a life. Like Ayesha.

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Yes, I know I said: “I will report back with cites shortly” but I have run out of time at lunch and have to go back to work so I’ll try again tonight.
I know that “I heard it yesterday on Rush Limbaugh” won’t be good enough for the pit.

7

Rush Limbaugh is aptly named, don’t you think?
What a :wally

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Ruffian, I am speaking from the Great Midwest, specifically, Illinois. We had concerned government officials holding press conferences in Chicago all last week. “Oooh, those Big Bad Oil Companies, we’re gonna get them so baaad! Just you voters sit still, now, and we’ll deal with this for ya, that’s what we get paid for, after all [heh heh].” Nobody needed to add, “–seeing as how it’s an election year”.

I found myself really wondering just how much Gov. Ryan would care if it wasn’t an election year and if he wasn’t already in deep doo-doo with the voters (big stinky scandal).

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And of course, NPR noted that when Midwest gas prices dropped (due to OPEC releasing more oil – which all commentators said would make no difference in the price – and not to government investigation, of course), the rest of the country’s prices stayed the same or rose, evening out the difference.

Coincidence, or heinous secret extraterrestrial plot? You decide!

10

A blatant troll, but one I’ll stand by:

Gasoline prices CANNOT rise too high in the US. Period. Full stop. Ten dollars a gallon wouldn’t be too high.

Flame away.

11

Andros said:

Care to justify that?

Oh yeah, the pit. Add on “you gerbil squicking, pig fetching moron-wanna-be?” just to fill in the form.

12

Funny you should ask . . .

I dislike the culture of Auto worship (cars, silly, not David B. praying to himself) in the US. I think Americans are obsessed with their cars. Now, that might be just fine, but the cars we drive are inefficient, loud, and stinky. Unless fuel becomes prohibitively expensive, we will continue to buy big bad SUVs (another rant entirely) and to hell with pollution and efficiency.

Those of us who ride public transportation are often looked down upon or feel obligated to point out “I’m only riding the bus while my car’s in the shop.” My friends were shocked when I told them my SO and I have only one auto between us. My revulsion for SUVs has caused people to think me insane. “They’re so great, I don’t understand anyone who doesn’t want more room and safety.” And my desire for a gas/electric hybrid sedan has actually caused people to call me names. “Oh, are you a treehugger?” “Why would you want a pussy car like that?”

Fuck that.

My car is transportation. It is not a reflection of who I am, or my “style.” It’s a fucking car. And ya know, if gas were 10 bucks a gallon, I’d still make it to work.

All in all, I feel that the momentary convenience of having an automobile 24/7 (with cheap fuel) is outweighed by the benefits, both to myself and to others, of walking, using public transportation and carpooling.

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Honestly, andros, I feel the convenience of having a car- being able to go long and short distances at a moment’s notice- far outweighs the costs of maintaining a car and undoing the damage it does to the environment.

But I’m perfectly happy with the rise in gas prices. Americans just aren’t going to bother with trying to find alternative sources of energy or with conservation until gas gets real expensive. And better to have a mini-faux-crisis and get in gear than to wait until the real crisis hits later.

Then again, I drive a Saturn and have a twenty-minute commute, so it’s not like I have to tank up that often.

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It has been said before, and it will be said again, but I just feel the need to add: “If sunbeams could be used as weapons, we’d have had solar power decades ago.”

15

Ha! What makes you think we’re friendly?

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Andros, for the most part I agree with you. I rather enjoyed making fun of my boss once for having a SUV large enough to have its own zipcode for a commute that was a stright shot on a 4 lane city street. Well, he used to be my boss.
Currently, I’m living in Chicago, I telecommute, and I just don’t have a car. I use public transportation or occasionally cabs to get where I’m going, or I rent a car the four or five times a year I truly need one.
And I’m still waiting for the tech guys to perfect fuel cells so we can have real cars with electric motors.

17

John,

Damn skippy. I didn’t hit that point as I should have. If gas prices sky, whether for real or due to economic/political petulance, we’ll see more and more efficiency. It happened in the 70s, though not to the gegree I might have wished, and it’ll happen again. Hopefully, we’ll move away from fossil fuels altogether.

NTG, once again, if I weren’t so very male I’d beg to marry you. You, as has been oft-stated, rock.

2nd Law: I harbor a pipedream that fuel cells will make internal combustion obsolete in my lifetime.

18

Actually, it may be a coincidence. It may even turn out to be that the Feds were playing politics, knowing that gas prices were about to fall.

I’m looking at a report dated 6/16 from the Congressional Research Service (hard copy, sorry). It talks about the fact that one of the many reasons midwest gas prices are so high is that the Wolverine pipeline (it runs from Niles, IL to Jackson, MI) has been out of service since early June. 186K BBl/day of gasoline has had to be trucked around the break in the pipeline, disrupting supplies to Michigan. The pipeline was scheduled to be restored on the 17th. If the repair guys hit their targets, one would expect to see a sudden drop in gasoline prices in northern Illinois and Michigan about a week later.

Oh, and you’ll likely see another drop, with broader geographic reach in the midwest, if the Explorer pipeline gets permission to go back to full pressure. Expect to see another “investigation” right before that permission comes through.

[sup]This General Questions moment has been brought to you by MobilExxonBPAmoco. “We’d lower our prices if we didn’t have to spend so much money competing.”[/sup]

19

Yes, they hit the target, sort of. Said pipeline is running at about 80%. Gas prices here in Michigan started coming down late last week. They peaked here in Flint at about $2.09 a gallon, for regular. Yesterday afternoon, my favorite gas station had regular at $1.92. Premium is still over two bucks a gallon.

So the prices are coming down, slowly. But it still irks me to have to pay over $20 to fill my Corsica.

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I’d like to throw out a big “Fuck you” to everyone praying for gas price increases.

Yes. Some people do have too much money.

Yes. Some Americans have a poor view of economy.

Yes. SUVs can suck my balls.

Yes. Some American’s aren’t exactly big on being ‘environmentally friendly’.

Notice the word “some” in these sentences?

Not EVERYONE is like that. Not EVERYONE is doing well. Not EVERYONE can AFFORD a fucking increase in gas prices. A person can’t get away with making brash generalizations about any other topic, be it sex, race, religion, politics, whatever.

But dammit, when it comes to brash generalizations about Americans as a whole, go right a fucking head.

But that’s not the point of this rant.

No. The point is that I must drive an hour to school. The point is that I drive a half hour to work.

I cannot move closer to school until the middle of next semester. I cannot move closer to work, period. I cannot go to school closer to home. I cannot WORK closer to home.

I barely fucking get by as it is. I BARELY am able to pay for my car. I BARELY am able to pay for food, for deodorant, for clothes, and for other bills.

I used to put back $80 or so for the two weeks between paychecks. Now I have to put back about $150! That means that my cash flow has effectively been cut in half.

NO, I don’t have spending money. No, I don’t have frivolous bills.

I’ve gotta live, dammit. I have to fucking live.

And I thank you for praying that my life will get harder. Assholes. Go punch a pregnant lady in the gut.

–Tim