Sunday's Sun features a story about a couple of Naperville-area Realtors who bought one of those conversion kits that make a diesel engine run on vegetable oil. At $4 a gallon for gas and even more for diesel, they figure the $1,000 kit will pay for itself in a matter of months.
What are you doing to save money on gas? Driving less? Looking to trade in that SUV for a compact? Rethinking that summer drive to the Grand Canyon? How are you coping with the high gas prices? And how do you pay for gas--cash or credit?
I can't imagine why anyone would drive to downtown Chicago to party anymore when we have everything in downtown Naperville.
Our girls are more beautiful than the Chicago girls.
Our streets are safer.
There is no cover charges at the door.
Parking is FREE at Naperville Residential Taxpayer Expense! Awesome!
Only fools go to downtown Chicago who have hundred dollars bills to burn. I don't!
Thus I stay in Naperville and I have cut my gas expense literally in half!
I have been doing less driving than normal. They recently put up a new Super Wal-Mart near our home and the place is withing walking distance. Any thoughts of driving anywhere for vacation are pretty much out the window right now until further notice.
I pay for my gas with straight cash. Fortunately, there are still a few stations around here that allow you to pump first, then pay. I hate going to BP Amoco because the way they have their pumps set up, if you prepay for say $25, the pump will flow smoothly along until it registers like $24.20, then will drag for almost an additional two minutes before it hits the full $25. I have complained about this repeatedly, but the only answer I get is that they cannot set the pumps to slow down any higher than 80 cents before you hit the amount you paid, which I think is bogus. So I now avoid these kind of prepay stations whenever I can.
Only think I have yet to see are the customers out front of BP Amoco's main headquarters on Ferry Road holding up signs protesting the current high gas prices. I don't see marches being held demanding lower gas prices. I don't see Congress getting flooded with letters, emails, and phone calls demanding action on high fuel costs. All I see is the guy standing outside his car pumping his gas and grumbling about the high costs.
So where is the outrage? Where is the anger? Where are the calls for action?
Or are we now a nation of sheeple?
We are definitely driving less. We have eliminated any unnecessary trips and combine errands as much as possible. I also either take the Pace Bus or ride my bike (3 miles) to the train as much as possible. I've considered buying an electric Razr-type scooter to ride to the train, but I can actually bike faster than the scooter goes (8mph). And I can certainly benefit from burning a few calories I already own a relatively fuel-efficient car and am still paying for it -- maybe the next one will be a hybrid or electric? I pay cash for gas!
CarlG wrote:
"Only think I have yet to see are the customers out front of BP Amoco's main headquarters on Ferry Road holding up signs protesting the current high gas prices"
CarlG, Don't blame the player, blame the game.
In case you hadn't noticed , crude oil is at record high price, and that price is set by speculators in the commodity markets. They raise the price if a camel farts in an Arab country. The high crude price equates to the high pump price. The oil companies adjust their price accordingly to the higher cost of crude, just as any other business does when their costs go up.
By RJ on June 29, 2008 7:21 PM
CarlG, Don't blame the player, blame the game.
In case you hadn't noticed , crude oil is at record high price, and that price is set by speculators in the commodity markets. They raise the price if a camel farts in an Arab country.
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Really RJ, camels fart and the price goes up! And RJ smokes the Camels!(You know RJ Reynolds owns the Camels..lol)
Sorry it does not work that way.
Warren Buffet explained this is a crisis caused by new long-tem sustained demand from developing countries such as India and China. If they ever got to driving cars like us Americans do, the price of a barrel a crude would top 1000 dollars easily. It has nothing to do with speculators in commodity markets who may affect day to day prices but not long term.
They can raise the price of crude oil in a day or two. Or bring it down for a day or two. Maybe even for a week or two! But they can not cause the long term increase from 60 bucks to 149 bucks for a barrel of crude that we have seen in the last year or two.
I think you better follow Warren Buffet a little better for your information. Most speculators were wiped clean in the bubble of 2000-2002 while feeding us baloney! They probably indirectly wiped the pension funds of our police and firemen clean, too!
While we sit back and take these increases the Saudi Shieks are laughing and farting their a$$es off at our expense. Our economy is going in the tank and will only continue to get worse. Crime will eventually rise as people will be desparate for gas and cash. If the environmentalist would of let us start drilling on our own land 30+ years ago we wouldn't need the middle east and be in the mess we are in today. The ethanol thing is working either. All it did was drive up the price of food and what good does it do when to takes more fuel to convert and transport.
Imagine being a country not dependent on anybody.
Actually, there are oil traders in Cantera II.
I drive my hummer to the mall to save gas
RJ wrote:
"The high crude price equates to the high pump price. The oil companies adjust their price accordingly to the higher cost of crude, just as any other business does when their costs go up."
It's true that businesses will usually raise prices or cut costs to MAINTAIN their profits when the costs of raw materials increases. But oil industry profits have done far more than just maintain during this run-up---they've gone through the roof. How do you explain that?