![[Dyersburg State Gazette]](http://www.stategazette.com/images/nameplate-small.png){kind=small}
Dyersburg, Tennessee ~ Tuesday, May 13, 2008
| Blogs | 
|
|
Oh those gas prices
Posted Wednesday, March 26, 2008, at 4:04 PM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link
Yes, I really did have faith and believe that one day, in the not too distant future that someone would come out and say "gas prices will take a dramatic drop within the next few months"…looks like now we won't hear those words..at least not anytime soon…
I sure don't begin to have any answers…but I know this..in making my rounds each week, that subject-gas prices--is the number one topic among a lot of people…the problem is…like groceries, we must have gas…and yes, we can all cut back and make fewer trips and stay in town 100 per cent of the time, etc. etc. But why should we ??
Remember when gas went over $2.00 per gallon and we were all up in arms ?? well…wouldn't you like to see $2.50 per gallon now ?? how good would that look ?? probably the same way that the current $3.l9 per gallon is going to look in about a year…perception is amazing….
So what is the solution…or is there a solution….will we ever go back or are we destined to continue to inch forward with gas prices ?? so many questions…so few answers……the American public is screaming for mercy…is anyone…make that anyone out there listening ?? does anyone care ??
Comments Showing most recent comments first [Show in chronological order instead] |
Hot topics Oh those gas prices(31 ~ 1:19 AM, May 2)
Score one for the phone company
Tourney Time
A New Year
Be thankful
Mailing list
Enter your email address to join our daily headline mailing list: |
![[Feed icon]](http://www.stategazette.com/images/icons/feed-icon-14x14.png){kind=icon}
Well the State Gazette could help people find the best deals if the paper would start printing the local gas prices every day. This would be a great service to the community.
The cost of fuel is going up for many different reasons. The war in Iraq being not the least of which. The war has dropped oil production in that country by almost half. The value of the US dollar also affects this as oil is bought in dollars no matter which country it comes from or goes to. Jnelson I agree with you on the war and that it should be ended. However if you pull out without setting up some sort of infrastructure your going to have the same situation we got into with Afghanistan in the 80's and when we just pick up and leave it'll be set for a Taliban style government to come and set up shop and Iraq will be the next terrorist training ground. As for the US strategic reserve. There are only 757 million barrells of unrefined crude oil at its maximum capacity. This is only enough to sustain the US at the current rate of demand for a month. It is becoming apparent that we may need to start looking harder at alternative sources of energy. Downside to that is that food prices are going up due to the cost of fuel and the use of land being moved from crop production to crops for ethanol based fuels. We are in quite a bind and it's going to take alot of work to get us out of it. I wish I had some good answers, but I don't.
I'M WAITING ON MY STIMULUS REBATE SO I CAN FINALLY FILL UP MY VEHICLE!!!
this country has its down fall but it is neither ignorant nor is it any more wasteful than the next. the government needs to relize that we are not gaining anything by having a war then rebuilding the country that we are war with. this country is in bad shape and it is only going to get worse if we dont get bush out. they need to send our children home and end this dirty war. we can not afford this war for another 2 to 3 years enough of our children has died. we get them home and stop with the building back of iraq we can then have a start of getting this country out of a recession.
A well run efficient, productive business can be compared to a thoroughbred race horse who has been bred and born to run. But even the greatest horse of them all, "Big Red", Secretariat, needed a jockey. After Big Red reached the head of the homestretch at the Belmont, the jockey was a mere passenger, but even the great Secretariat needed to be held with tight reins ever now and then. Look at Henry Ford and Bill Gates. It would be nice if all bureaucrats were as smart and talented as Eddie Arcaro, Willie Shoemaker, and Bill Hardtack........ The difference of opinion makes a horserace...... Everyone at Churchhill Downs on Derby Day has probably placed a bet........ Every one who makes a purchase on the New York Stock Exchange is placing a bet........ You puts down yo money and you takes your chances,,, that's the American way....... No accident that 7 and 11 are considered the luckiest numbers in American culture.............
If we had waited for private enterprise to educate us most of us would still be illiterate.......... If we had waited for private enterprise to build roads,,,,,, our great system of interstates ( the greatest engineering feat in the history of mankind) would never have existed........... The government does not construct roads......... Ask John Ford of Ford Construction Co............ Private enterprise, under contract to the government, has built our roads.......... laissez-faire capitalism went out with the robber barons of the nineteenth century...... a mixed economy with government regulation to keep the capitalists straight, is the best way to provide the most for the most people...... Have you ever seen any electrical wiring that was done in Dyersburg before building codes were passed and enforced......... that alone is enough to convince me that private industry should be held answerable to society as a whole................. Private industry is only answerable to the laws of the marketplace, supply and demand..........
government is responsible for doing the most good for the most people..... while working with the most efficient segment of the economy: the private sector.......... all democracies are mixed economies....... they're the most harmonious and most productive social structures yet devised..........
Capitalism. Pure unbridled laissez-faire capitalism.
Let private companies put up the money to build and maintain roads. Let them take all the risk -- and all the reward.
Most Americans wouldn't want to depend on the government to provide every good or service. Can you imagine what a car designed and manufactured by the government would be like? Think of the shortages that the USSR had with consumer goods.
Most Americans realize that all governments who produce goods (for example cars) do so inefficiently and at a high cost to consumers. Yet they fail to see how all governments provide all their services in an inefficient and costly manner.
Competition always brings about higher quality goods at lower prices. But what competition does the government have? If the government does a poor job of providing a good or service what recourse does the consumer, the taxpayer have? If for example I am dissatisfied with the service of a particular drycleaner, I am free to take my business elsewhere. In such a situation if enough people did such a thing the first drycleaner would be forced to change his business practices or go out of business. But what if there were only one drycleaner or one chain of drycleaners in the whole country? What if the drycleaner made laws and used force to control his monopoly? What incentive would he have to provide good service or reasonable prices? He would have none and would proceed to fleece everyone he could.
The government like the drycleaners has no competition when it comes to road building and other goods and services. I do not mean that these services should cease to be.
Nathaniel, I agree that government should let oil companies drill for oil whereever they find it. But if we abolish taxes on gasoline how are we going to fund the construction and maintenance of roads, streets, highways..... and interstates............
I agree with most of what you said, except for the last few sentences.
The answer to high gas prices is less government intervention, not more. The government drives up the price of oil in several ways.
First, it creates inflation. Since the inception of the Federal Reserve it has increased the supply of money and credit. This creates inflation and affects the price of everything.
Second, restrictions on oil companies have lead to fewer oil refineries being built. Also the government places restrictions on where companies may drill for oil. They keep the supply down while global demand for oil is increasing. This leads to higher prices.
Third: Taxes. In 1950 taxes were 1.5% of the price of gas. Today taxes are about 20% of the price of gasoline. By comparison the evil oil companies make a profit of only about 9% of the price of gasoline.
And what will happen if we demand that the government do something about these higher prices? They will in some way tax the oil companies for the dubious crime of "making too much money". The oil companies in order to make a profit and stay in business will pass this tax on to consumers leading to even higher prices.
We should be calling on our government to do all it can do to help. And the only thing it can do to help is get out of the way. Abolish taxes on gasoline and let oil companies drill for oil wherever they may find it.
Someone wrote we should be walking or riding bikes ,etc. to save gas and shut up about it. Well, it is hard to put a 73 year old woman on a bike to go to the Dr. and the grocery store. Summer heat and winter weather are not a help in TN. either, not to mention our town's business's are spread out all over and most are not near most folks homes. There are no buses or trains that I am aware of to take you to the store or the DR. I have thought of moving away from here to places you can walk and where they actually have someplace you want to go to, but I have obligations and grandchildren here. I can't just walk away from my family . I'm afraid alot of our younger people are going to go and this town will dry up even more than it has already. Look at the stores and resturants that have already closed their doors. I hate to say it but if Wal-Mart goes out we are in trouble and "They" know it. Let's face it , this is home until Curry's comes for us and we just have to do what we can but unfortunely it takes gas . The oil corporations have us by the short ones. Government could help by capping prices so they cannot go . In the 70's they were rationing gas. you could only buy so much.
the bushes, 41 and 43, are owned by the oil companies, lock, stock , and barrels(of oil that is)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yall are all just wierd. Seriously... Boycotting won't help, government is not the problem. I DO agree that Bush could be the main problem. His BEST friend is the CEO of Exxon. Does this tell you anything??????
Not buying gas for a week won't help lower gas prices. Even if it were possible, people would still buy gas before and after the boycott. The problem isn't the 'evil' oil companies. It's government intervention.
there is no way that we could be hurting that bad for oil. the government talks about all that we have on reserve there is no excuse for high cost for fuel. if the people will unite together and refuse to buy gas for one week as hard as it may be, the price in fuel will drop drastically. the oil companies are making billions of dollars every day. one week would put the hurt on them by not buying their product.
Government isn't the answer. The only thing that government needs to do is get out of the way by lowering taxes.
i saw this morning on the news where the trucker are deciding on going on strike, if so watch out for the gas prices then. Who knows maybe that is what we need is for someone like them(a big company like that)to do this so that our so call president will do something about it. Who knows anymore
I don't think a boycott that lasts a few days will have any effect on the price.
yes it is true americans do spend to much of their time wasting thing and not enough time fixing them. Like why are people buying vechiles that only get 8miles to the gallon or less. Just because they have a sale on them doesnt mean for you to go and buy them, start saving for your future,not what you want now.
instead of talking about it, we(as americans) should stop buying gas for two days and see how that effects the gas price..
We should reduce the tax on beer too.
Even though the tax on a gallon of gasoline is a fixed rate........ it's still about the same percentage of the cost as the tax on beer...................
It's like .50 a gallon in the middle east.
The average consumer can't control how many barrels of oil are pumped every day. But we do have some small control over prices. If everyone that buys gas called their Congressman and demanded that the tax on gasoline be lowered, you would see a cheaper price at the pump. I'm not saying that prices would fall to where they were five years ago. But in today's world of rising energy costs we shouldn't do anything to artificially inflate prices.
Jibbajabba, you made some very good comments that a lot of people don't want to hear, but that's life and that's the same thing I've been saying for years. We as Americans think we deserve everything given to us, when in fact the only way we get what we want is to work for it. I heard it rumored on the radio on 3-27-08 that the truckers are gonna start striking due to the price of diesel fuel. You think gas is high now? Wait til truckers quit delivering gas for our regular vehicles, bread, milk and eggs to our grocery stores. Buckle in folks it's gonna be a bumpy ride til someone steps in and straightens this out. It's going to have to be a grassroots campaign to make the most noise we can, to say we need help. The price of fuel isn't just affecting our social lives, which I'm definitely not cruising on the weekends so I could care less about that. It's affecting our livlihoods. It's affecting the groceries we as families can afford to purchase.
Amen!!!!!!!!! jibbajabba
CodeyH, you say that no single entity can get a grip on it, and you're right. Why is this? It's because the oil companies are getting rich off of upping their gasoline prices because the Saudis raise the crude oil prices (and by the way, if we didn't do drilling in TX, LA, and Alaska our gas prices would be unbelievable). On top of that, the oil companies benefit greatly from a sluggish, crippled American automotive industry that continues to produce inefficient vehicles (a car that uses more gas is a car that causes people to buy more gas, thus the cycle continues). Fuel efficiency stds are terrible in the US when compared with other countries.
"Americans shouldn't be subjected to this and shouldn't have to live like this"
No, that's not true. Americans need to learn to conserve instead of destroy. We are an overweight, wasteful, and ignorant country. We travel one person to a car and bitch about gasoline prices. We need to realize that you can actually travel with buses, trains, and bikes. If we'd learn to ride a bike every now and then, we wouldn't be so obese.
What have any of us done in order to conserve energy and save money? Have you put a tankless water heater on your house? I know I'm not doing enough, so I don't complain.
"Get off this, get on with it
If you wanna change the world shut your mouth and start this minute" - Cracker
You are right there are many things that affect the price of gasoline. Taxes aren't the only thing that influence price, but they do play a part. My comments were made just after I listened to a speech on the subject of neutral taxation. A neutral tax is a tax that is neutral to the market. Supposedly it does not affect consumers, just producers. There is no such thing as a neutral tax.
The oil prices, are something that the U.S. really has a limited control over. Speculative pricing due to production by OPEC and the Saudis can easily drive prices up. It's not the government, and it's not 'the big oil companies' (although Exxon's not hurting). It's a slippery slope that no single entity can get a grip on.
Yeah it could be worse, but it could be a lot better too. The way I see it, government has a big hand in pushing gas prices up. Everyone complains about how the "evil" oil companies are "making too much money". What we should do, some people say, is tax these evil rich guys and show them who is boss! Well guess who pays the taxes? Not the oil company, they just raise their prices. The consumer pays at the pump. Just another example of how the government screws things up.
And don't get me started on the Fed and inflation.
When George Bush gets out of office it'll go down.....
Gasoline is eight dollars a gallon in England,,,,,,,,,, be more optimistic and grateful.................