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

NO GAS ...On May 15th 2007!

I got this through e-mail! I haven't confirmed the numbers contained below, but this seems viable to me!



You could always fill-up the day before, and still send a message on the 15th, right? I'm for it! I'm sending this to my favorite "talk show" radio station!

I don't see any real effect from this so-called "boycott". Reducing actual consumption is one thing; shifting the consumption to an earlier or later day doesn't have any real effect. The oil companies still bring in that much revenue for that week.

That's true! But, most of us still have to burn gas, whether we buy it on any particular day or not.

I do know this: If everybody boycotts one particular corner station, that station inevitably lowers it's prices. Sometimes by a LOT! OTR truckers sometimes use their CB radios to boycott a particular truck stop, and it works! If everybody boycotts one particular national brand for a week, that company will notice! The problem is getting national attention in order to organize the effort.

I think the real point to the exercise above is to get people organized. Doing it the way I suggested (boycott the day to by gas), organizes participants without hurting their lifestyle. True, it may not hurt anybody, including the oil companies, but it begins the organization of consumers for a bigger fight! Getting the media involved brings attention, novelty, and the approval of the masses to this small "class action". The next time you organize a boycott, you have more people aware and wanting to participate, and are more likely to boycott a particular brand, when asked.

How do you think Texaco/Shell or Exxon/Mobil would react to a week of no gasoline sales? Even just 25% lower sales? Would they be likely to raise prices still further? I think not! If you get one national brand to lower prices, the rest either have to follow suit, or lose sales!

What's a social experiment such as this going to hurt? It can't work... if nobody tries it!

i am with you! there is no reason to raise oil prices. The only way to stop this is like you said. Don;t know if it would have an effect but way not do it. I will pass it around.
felipe

Well, I'm goinmg to be the designated cynic today. There may not be a reason for "oil" prices to go up. But, our government has mandated that we start using more ethinol in our gasoline.

Now, US ethinol production uses corn. With the increase in corn comsumption, all corn based products are going to increase in price. I think this has a lot to do with the current gas prices.

...car pool for a week.

Get off your butts and ride your bikes.

Since moving to Tennessee I have reduced my fuel consumption to 1/4 of what I was using in Florida.

The oil companies are laughing in our faces, all the way to the bank. They can do this because as a nation we refuse to do what is needed to change the balance of power, and that would be to suddenly start buying only fuel effecient automobiles large enough to meet our needs. Honestly, that's all it would take, if the majority of us would weigh needs agains wants and make our choices on the side of conservation. That's not a radical or impractical idea.

This isn't a sermon, but rather a simple observation. It's a free country, at least for the most part...for the time being.

Oh yeah, and the fact that most of the politicians who matter seem to be in the oil companies back pockets (at least indirectly), and that doesn't help either.

Not just the politicians! The automobile manufacturers are in the oil companies back pockets, as well.

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.