We fill up the tank, we fill up their bank
I have long had the image that that fuel pump hose filling our gas tanks is really more like a money vacuum. We pump in 10 gallons and make a $35 deposit into the oil cartel bank account. They then take some of that money and use some of it to explore for new oil. They use another part to live large in their parts of the world. Then they use still another part to buy properties in the US so that soon will be buying oil to drive to work at businesses owned by foreign oil company wealth.
There is nothing basically wrong with this. Believe me, if the tables were reversed, we would do exactly the same thing. It is perfectly legal under our form of government and justice. We are allowing and condoning it. In fact we are funding it, aren't we? Somehow I am beginning to feel like a gerbil in an exercise wheel. I can run like hell but I will never get anywhere..
This is AutoblogGreen but I feel it could just as well be AutoblogSmart. I think we have to squeeze every wasted drop of petroleum out of our day-to-day lives. The "p" in petroleum is for "precious" and we treat it like we will never run out of it. Stretch that fuel in your tank. Car pool, walk, bike, maintain you current vehicle (proper tire pressure? clean air filter?), take a freakin' bus or train, telecommute. If you don't, when oil hits $100 a barrel, who you gonna blame? Get a mirror.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rick 2:17PM (11/06/2007)
Seeing how oil hit $94 last week I think, the $100 price doesn't seem as daunting or scary as it's just a week or two away from the $100 price point. It's already scary where we are at and it won't change until the administration changes.
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Dave Schmetterer 6:03PM (11/06/2007)
I hear you - but this is the wrong group to chastise.
Question that need answering -
why can't we have the streetcar back? Read the wikipedia entry for National City Lines or GM Conspiracy
What is better - a car that runs on free energy, or a walkable community?
Are we living too fast/doing too much?
I think these are three of the xxxx questions that we should answer and explore in our quest to improve our transportation situation.
I'm an urban planning grad student, you can't go 5 minutes without hearing the words "walkable" or "transit oriented" or "live/work". IMHO, these are the strategies that will allow us not only to live better, use less energy, but actually enjoy that classic Mustang in the garage in something other than a heavy traffic high fuel cost environment.
When we can start to measure energy/day instead of miles/energy-unit and worry about that number, we are getting somewhere.
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mike 8:34PM (11/06/2007)
I can't understand why the Environment and Energy Independence are partisan issues. You would think after 9/11 the Republicans would have been all over Energy Independence. After all Osama purposely hit the World Trade Center because it was an Economic Target.
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Jim 7:12AM (11/07/2007)
I think you can't call energy indepedence a partisan issue. I can't count the number of V8 SUV's I see driving one kid a mile to school, with a KERRY 04 bumper sticker still on it. People of both parties like to say "We should do something about this" but then most go buy another V8 gas sucker. Everyone thinks someone else needs to change to solve the problem, including Al Gore.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a conservative who favors a $1.00 a gallon gas tax and wind farms. But I also know that everyone could stop driving gas powered vehicles and the earth would still be warming, according to the IPCC, due to changes in solar radiation and cattle farming. To say a Prius or true EV is going to stop global waraming is just simple-minded ignorance.
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rar 8:29AM (11/07/2007)
The other thing that they did not say that they do with the oil money is give some of it to people that hate the western world. These people want to kill us and some of them have. Maybe if we would not have spent over 100 billion in Iraq, and spent a small amount of that money to develop Ev cars like the Volt or the Tesla. Those cars might be on the road now in great numbers. If cars like that were on the road now, I don’t think oil would be at $100 a barrel. If oil would drop low enough due to less demand, that might pinch off the funds that go to the people that want us dead.
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blackhonda 9:02AM (11/07/2007)
But see you're not getting the point of this whole war.
9/11 was caused the by our own goverment, and we in Iraq for the oil. they captured everything and now make 100% profit while little to none goes to iraq. and now they are still charging us $94 a barrel. Why? Because Americans dont care. They care about getting to work on time, dropping kids off to school and having affair with their secretary. Come home. Its Monday night football! Telling your wife to shut the fcuk up, your kid doing drugs and sex in backyard! YEAAA!
Wife onto watching reruns of desperate housewives now.
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bill 10:06AM (11/07/2007)
If we are too stupid to drill for our own oil then we need to just shut up and drive. I can't imagine a dumber bunch than what we have here in the good old U.S.A. when it comes to energy production.
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motorman 10:19AM (11/07/2007)
it is the speculators driving up the price of oil. with out the spectators the price would be $50/60. these guys took a beating in the housing market and now they are trying to make money in the oil market. if the demands softens the price will come down and they speculators will loose big time
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EnviroBob 10:18AM (11/07/2007)
blackhonda,
Please supply evidence supporting your theory that "9/11 was caused the by our own goverment, and we in Iraq for the oil. they captured everything and now make 100% profit while little to none goes to iraq."
Maybe the reason the budget deficit is shrinking so quickly is from all that oil revenue you infer.
By the way, oil was $87 a barrel (in constant dollars) in 1981, or $7 less than it is now. That's an 8% increase. Are you making 8% more now than you were 26 years ago?
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Bill 11:07AM (11/07/2007)
Diesel's coming back to the U.S.
If you've got a source of waste oil, you can make your own biodiesel for under $1/gallon.
If not, well, unlike petrol you can still store several hundred gallons of diesel legally and safely at home, insulating yourself from short-term price shocks.
Maybe we'll get that Volt by 2010, but in the short-term, if I need a new vehicle, I'm going diesel.
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Roger Bascom 12:15PM (6/20/2008)
The real driver for fuel cost is the supply vs demand. Today, the world uses about 85 million barrels of oil every day (Mbpd). We cab produce about 100. India, China and other developing countries are using more and more oil every year. By 2015 the DEMAND will reach 130 Mbpd. But, we (the world) will not be able produce, refine and ship more than 100 Mbpd. The gap between 100 and 130 will have to close by increasing price. Some think $10/gallon gas is likely -- $0.50 per mile at 20 mpg ($100 to fill a compact, $300-400 to fill up an SUV).
The gap will continue to increase. People will want even more and in 50 years or so, the ability to get oil from the ground will begin to drop as old oil fields go dry faster than new fields can be found.
The need is to provide alternate transportation at a reasonable cost -- within 8 years. Trains, buses, etc are needed. The challenge is to justify the cost of the new systems NOW. An increase in gasoline is the best way.. Use the free market to distribute the pain efficiently.
I favor increasing the tax gradually -- say 5 cents every month until the tax is $5.00 per gallon. It gives people the message and the time to change before driving costs overwhelm us -- and to induce the development and maybe pay for alternative transportation systems.
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