Dear Editor, Aug. 23/05

If we choose to drive huge, gas guzzling, four-wheel drive pick-ups, SUVs and military vehicles for personal transport with the rational that we need such vehicles because they are safer and carry our gas guzzling toys, then we have no moral right to complain about the high cost of gas.

In the early 1970s, when an artificially-created fuel shortage drove crude oil prices to the equivalent of $90 a barrel in today's dollars, we turned to smaller, more fuel efficient cars.

Demand and the price of gasoline soon plummeted! Apparently we have forgotten that lesson of supply and demand. As motor vehicle engines become more efficient due to design improvements we choose to buy larger, more powerful vehicles that give us higher performance and more amenities and luxury instead of ones that give us better fuel mileage. Now we complain about the high cost of gasoline and for that matter, the high cost of cars.

I would suggest that I and the rest of us hedonistic North Americans were to drive smaller, more fuel efficient cars, use public transport more and ride our bicycles or walk where possible, not only would we have a cleaner environment and be physically fitter, the price of gas would very quickly come down. As it is, if we continue our profligate ways with gasoline, it will not be long, before we will be looking back very fondly at cheap, two dollars a gallon of gas.

Thomas Laprade
Thunder Bay, Ont.

...you sound like the rabid anti-smoking fanatics who want everyone to stop smoking for the "good of society"....

quote:

Originally posted by Raoul in Colorado:
...you sound like the rabid anti-smoking fanatics who want everyone to stop smoking for the "good of society"....

Thomas is no anti-smoker.

I couldn't resist posting the gas thing

Thanks Jim

To be on the safe side here is my sig.

http://thesnowbird.tripod.com/letters1.htm
http://thesnowbird.blogspot.com

quote:

! These companies import Middle Eastern oil: 
Shell..................205,742,000 barrels 
Chevron/Texaco.........144,332,000 barrels 
Exxon /Mobil...........130,082,000 barrels 
Marathon/Speedway......117,740,000 barrels 
Amoco...................62,231,000 barrels 
If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 
BILLION! 
oil is now $55-$60 a barrel) 
Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil: 
Citgo.................0 barrels 
Sunoco................0 barrels 
Conoco................0 barrels 
Sinclair..............0 barrels 
BP/Phillips...........0 barrels 
Hess..................0 barrels 
ARC0..................0 barrels 

BP and Amoco have recently merged so I wonder if they now import oil from the Middle East? Probably 95% of gas stations around here are BP/Amoco, Shell, or Exxon and I'd prefer not to make Saudis richer if I could. Then agai, alot of gas stations don't necessarily buy there gas from the parent company but from a local distributor who could be getting it from several sources so it probably doesn't make any difference at all.

The price of gas or oil is set by the markets, not the producers. OPEC has an impact only when they reduce production to lift prices, that is not what is at fault for the current prices.

We are buying goods from China and the surrounding countries. The people making those goods are now able to afford individual transportation cars of their own. The plants where they work are also buying oil to run them.

We are now sharing whatever is produced with a larger pool of consumers.

At the same time, this country has not added any refining capacity for over 20 years. Refining around New Orleans supplies the midwest - nobody wants a refinery in their back yard. Most of our oil is imported thru ports around New Orleans, along the Mississippi river.

When OPEC cut oil supplies in the early 70's the federal governemnt added a fuel tax to finance alternative energy development. This tax has been spent on things like the tunnel under Boston, roads and bridges to nowhere, and other pork barrel projects to get various people reelected.

Don't blame the source countries for the price of gas, oil, or natural gas. Blame us for building aircraft hangers in the suburbs to live in, high powered vehicles to get to work and shuffle our children to socceer practice.

We are to blame, for one because we continue to buy these fuel hogs that we drive in alone to work and clog the highways each day in bumper to bumper traffic.

We move further and further away from civilization to escape from noise, pollution, and crime. We then spend endless hours trying to get from point A to point B, along with our neighbors, waving to each other in traffic.

The traders set the price based on being able to get the product for us to comsume.

The only way to reduce the price is to reduce demand. Rent a room close to work and visit the family on weekends. Or move closer to the places you go on a regular basis. Spend some time with the neighbors and see if together you can get where you need to go. Better yet think about where you have to go and determine if you really need to go there.

There was a time when daily necessities were within walking distance.

Bruce,
Almost 3 years ago I moved into my city because I wanted to stop the commute to and from work. I found a small apartment within 3 blocks of where I work. I enjoy my daily walk immensely, even in the coldest and snowiest of days. I never have to worry about getting to work. And here is the rub:
With all the local ammenities of neighborhood and very local businesses (restaurants, bars, neighborhood taverns) I am an unwelcome guest. I smoke. My husband and I are now looking in the very near future of having to move out of the city to a more "environmentally" friendly living area. Those who would not treat us as lower class citizens. I am middle aged, children grown and off to their own lives and had thought I had gotten to the stage of life where I've done right by society (work hard, play hard and pay my dues) to enjoy my work, surroundings and lifestyle without complaint. I was incorrect in that assumption. (shame on me again!)
So Bruce, I've tried to do the right thing. I will only state that I am tired of those who would "legislate my behavior".
Thanks for listening.

Well I do agree with Gretchen, too bad she stopped singing with her little can of Skoal-which contains no second hand smoke!! My point in responding to the gas price post was to show no matter how much one tries to "do the right thing" in the eyes of the antis, it's never enough. Those that would make this a perfect world would have us all in our own individual bubbles - no smoking, no drinking, no touching, and soon no eating of your favorite indulgences (pick any and all). I'm old enough to say I fought the good fight in the '70s for NOW here in Madison, WI, I fought the good fight for GLBT rights in the '80s & '90s, and I am now fighting the good fight for MY RIGHTS in the '00s. Work hard, play hard and stop LEGISLATING MY BEHAVIOR. I now put my vote where my mouth is, and will continue to do so. and I might just lite up where ever I feel the need, because the next fight may be ....and I'll be there for you.