F... gas prices

i have a ford taurus that gets roughly 18-20 miles/gallon mixed driving. I commute 350 miles round trip per week, combine that with all the other driving, and we're talking 500 miles a week is fairly average.

As I am a big guy, I really don't want a commuter car because they are too small, yet I can't afford one of the newer hybrids. So call me screwed...

Seriously.

You'd THINK we would have developed an alternate fuel source by now, but NOOO. Thank the oil companies for lobbying against THAT.
It's not really the oil companies. It is the car companies. Oil companies know they'll be able sell whatever fuel we need for our cars with minimal investment. Car companies on the other hand will need to spend billions in R&D to make full lines of viable alt fuel vehicles.

Along the same line we all need to give ourselves a big fat
F...US
for not demanding more alt fuel vehicles. If there was demand from us then the car companies would do it. What a total CF this whole situation has become.

F SUV drivers too, especially hummers

Why do people feel the need to drive tanks?

Uh oh, this thread is going political.

Hybrids are not the answer. They typically cost on average $4000 more than the comparable non-hybrid model. The savings on gas doesn't offset the increase in price.

Blaming the oil companies is like shooting the messenger. The price of oil as a commodity has gone up because of stronger demand from China and India's economies, which are growing like wildfire. Middle east tensions between the Iraq war and the tension with Iran are also causing oil prices to rise. There's no conspiracy occurring between the big oil firms to price gauge the consumers, it's quite simply a matter of supply and demand when it comes to oil.

Alternative energy sources are the real answer. You have to reduce America's demand for oil in order to insulate the American consumers from oil prices.

F SUV drivers too, especially hummers

Why do people feel the need to drive tanks?

I second that. That's ONE of the reasons gas prices stay as high as they are. More need = higher prices. Simple formula.

Drive more fuel efficient cars, less gas is used, prices go down. That would be a start anyway. But I agree (to a point) to also send out an F...Us for ALWAYS wanting the beast SUV to drive one person around in.

And Matty, those are on my list right below girls who drive Jettas. That is girls at college who's daddies bought them enormous monsters of cars that they can hang their leis and and talk on cell phones causing accidents.

Hollaback girl. Woot woot.

I second that. That's ONE of the reasons gas prices stay as high as they are. More need = higher prices. Simple formula.

Drive more fuel efficient cars, less gas is used, prices go down. That would be a start anyway. But I agree (to a point) to also send out an F...Us for ALWAYS wanting the beast SUV to drive one person around in.

And Matty, those are on my list right below girls who drive Jettas. That is girls at college who's daddies bought them enormous monsters of cars that they can hang their leis and and talk on cell phones causing accidents.

Hollaback girl. Woot woot.

SUVs represent an incremental increase in demand that is a pittance in comparison to the increasing oil demand from India and China. It's a drop in the bucket and is maybe responsible for moving gas prices from $2.58 to $2.59. SUVs are not the problem with oil prices.

But I will say F SUVs in general because I think they're so unsafe. If I get in an accident with a Hummer, and I'm driving around in my Toyota Camry, I'm not standing much of a chance. Plus SUVs love to roll over. They're just bad news in general.

I hate chickenheads.

SUVs represent an incremental increase in demand that is a pittance in comparison to the increasing oil demand from India and China. It's a drop in the bucket and is maybe responsible for moving gas prices from $2.58 to $2.59. SUVs are not the problem with oil prices.

But I will say F SUVs in general because I think they're so unsafe. If I get in an accident with a Hummer, and I'm driving around in my Toyota Camry, I'm not standing much of a chance. Plus SUVs love to roll over. They're just bad news in general.

Then tell the Indians and Chinese to stop driving SUVs. They're too short to drive them anyway. :)

Then tell the Indians and Chinese to stop driving SUVs. They're too short to drive them anyway. :)

LOL

Let's look at it from another angle. Say you're a bread store owner, and another natural disaster has created a shift in supply and demand that will greatly affect the price of bread -- maybe it's wildfires across the wheat fields of the midwest.

As the bread store owner, you see that since the wildfires have consumed a great portion of available wheat, you have to take action. Even if you have just received a full shipment of bread at normal market prices, you know the next shipment will cost much more. Since you have to pay for overhead, pay your employees, pay the onslaught of federal and state taxes associated with doing business, plus a little for yourself (you're not doing this for free, right?) you know that if you charge the same amount for the bread that you did before the wildfires, you will not be able to afford the next shipment without going out of business. So what do you do? You have to increase the price of the bread that you've already got stocked on the shelf in anticipation of the rising cost of bread that is sure to ensue.

The same thing is happening with mom and pop gas stations, even franchises all over the country. The evil, cold-hearted "Big Oil" companies are often the target of scourn and ridicule, but in reality, it's all a part of supply and demand folks.