Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Don't pump gas on May 15th!

Lemme just put in my two cents (have ya ever known me to shut up anyway?)

If nobody buys gas for one day, it simply means that those who would have to fill up on the 15th will fill up on the 14th or 16th. defering for one day isn't gonna go anything. It may send a message, but we still require gasoline or we're walking.

I'm all for sending a message- believe me, here we are in Texas - Houston, for cryin' out loud - and I see gas over three bucks. But, taken in context, the US consumes only a fraction of world production although we import over 50% of what we need. Anyway, what I'm saying is that China, India, the rest of the world also use oil - and in much more inefficient ways than we do. China and India, for example, are paying for their economic boom in some really horrible pollution. BTW - the world bitches to us about greenhouse emissions. Maybe they should look at the way the third world belches out greenhouse gasses, to say nothing of the other forms of pollution they emit.

OK... so that's established, but what's my point? It's that we account for only a small portion of the total demand for gasoline, and for one day, well, not buying wouldn't do anything except hurt the independent retailers. If we're gonna make this work, then the thing to do is to target the COMPANY OWNED outlets. Otherwise, we just end up hurting the mom and pop owned stores. If we do buy gas on the 15th, then the thing to do is only patronize the independent outlets - bypass the company owned outlets.

I'm all for sending a message. The short and long term issue has to do with supply and demand. We've known about this impending energy shortage ever since I was a kid in the middle 1960's - they were talking about America's production peaking in 1969. Guess what - they were right. We've been through price and supply shock time after time - 1973, 1979, 2005... but nothing has been done to wean us away. Hell - we see Hummers advertised for criminey sakes! Yeah - we hear this line of crap about how we have to do something about out energy appetite, but really, outside of a few minor tweeks to the engines, and a few tweeks to the transmission and making the car smaller, lighter, and a bit more unsafe, well, where's the FUNDAMENTAL change in propulsion? And why?

Answer - the technology is there, but it's just too expensive an alternative. Fuel cells would work, but hey - it's bad enough when you get into a wreck with gasoline. How about these same yahoos on the road blasting around with 15 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Then they get into a wreak. Uh huh. Just watch that liquid H and O2 go up. And, it's just not economically feasible. There is a marginal rate of substitution that has a cost far exceeding what we're willing to pay. I for one am not going to pay $60,000 for a small fuel cell auto, when I can get a gasoline car for say, $13,000 . or a used car from Enterprise for even less. Solar cells? Not enough output. And what when it rains or is overcast for an extended period - like in the Pacific Northwest? Ok... use batteries charged with hydropower. Yup. And get 50 miles. Diesel? Well, more efficient than gas, but still a hydrocarbon. And have ya priced that stuff lately?

Bottom line - I'm ALL FOR the messgage. Just know who your targeting when we do it.