I remember last year when bush promised gas relief and dropped it to 2.50 cents. Then this year its on the rise again. Pretty soon they’ll say they’ll drop it to 3.00 a gallon to help us out. Do they forget that we remember when it was 1.75-2.00 a gallon. Its just a marketing scam to continue to raise prices significantly. We need to stop believing this crap and take action. It will only get worse. Temporary solution isnt intended for long term. I love how we get scammed in our own country. The only ones laughing are the owners of these gas stations. They have america by the balls.

BULL****

well this is gayer than a scion LE xD RS 1.0

LOL, A4

As soon as the price will reach 9$ a gallon as it is in Europe, americans will start to shoot themselfs. Stop whining bitches or get yourselfs bicycles, maybe you will loose some weight.

fix your teeth you stereotyping british dick. Tic tacs are good to austin powers

Im not british you fat ****. So you can go **** yourself

Ladies, ladies. Are we on the rag today?

I love how Hillary wants to tax the oil companies. Lets stop and think about who owns Exxon Mobil? 98% of it is owned by American stockholders, people like you and I, so how the hell is that going to help the economy. Its such a f’ing headache its making me sick.

I know its hard to see gas prices rising all the time, nut let me tell you something

Here in my coutry (Portugal) gas is about €1.50 per litre, and in your country is €0.68 (i did the maths) …

And BTW our average sallary is around €7500 ($11680 USD) per year.

Now just do the maths.

PS: Forgive my english, its not my first language.

MY JETTA TDI IS AVERAGING 51MPG – TAKE THAT PRIUS!

When was the last time a new refinery was built in the US or Canada? It’s like anything else. If the demand is greater than production where the f*ck does the price go?

America should have started building refineries after the shortage in the 70’s. We would be paying $1.00 a gallon if we had.

Tough it out chumps … I called this a year ago. Watch where it is in a month … put on your Depends, it’s not done.

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I know we have the tech know how, someone need’s to bring it to the market. Soon.

There’s “nothing” perplexing about the rate of increase of the price of Diesel fuel.

Historically, Diesel and Gasoline have different price peaks. Gasoline has peaked in the Summer, Diesel has peaked in the Winter. Diesel goes up in the Winter because it’s a Distillate — just as Heating Oil is. In the Winter, more Heating Oil is made which means less Diesel can be made, which drives the price up.

The reason why last year the price scheme was reversed compared to this year, is because last year was a comparably warm Winter. This year was a historically cold winter. With lower temperatures there’s more heating oil use, less diesel production, and higher prices as a result.

Hah. Those “quotes” were supposed to be around “perplexing”, not the word “nothing”.

SigmaH., in North East winter was mild, but diesel went up anyway. I think last winter was mild in the most of the country. Johnny, made a good point: there is a shortage of refineries, they all go at 90-95% capacity and no one will be building new ones, because it is not a good investment. In addition, I am not sure if Louisiana refineries recovered from Katrina or even recovered 80%. In addition , the cost of oil is only 50% more then last year. In early 80’s the cycle was reversed by CAFE strict standard on mileage and demand for small cars. Once country will start driving hybrids and fuel efficient cars, there is a chance of stabilization of the price due to demand catching up with refineries capacity. The cost of oil will continue to go up, because there is huge world demand for it from developing countries and basic shortage of oil.

Iraq is pumping at only a fraction of its capacity because a certain world leader decided to invade the country in search of weapons of mass destruction. We found thousands of such weapons, we were welcomed as liberators; and our mission was accomplished. We are now loved the world over for having brought freedom to Iraq and promoting stability in the region. I’m looking forward to the next eight years in Iraq with McCain.

Most of these refineries aren’t even working at full capacity, and there’s plenty of oil to be drilled; eco-greenies and gas companies just refuse to drill it.

Then there’s taxes. Every drop of gasoline is taxed from the building of the refineries to the final product, not one, and I mean not one process is not taxed.

Added to that, there’s large oil companies, which make up for the largest companies in the world, with some of the highest profit margins. Those profits aren’t going back into refining their products, or updating their systems either. The government does that for them.

Seriously, something needs to be done. Please, I could care less if gas is $9 in Europe, nearly half of that is because of ridiculous taxes. Has driving decreased in Europe? Nope. Has pollution decreased? Nope, it only makes up for peoples guilt for “polluting”, whatever the hell context you’d like to take that in. Europe has no more solutions other than taxing the hell out of things for penalties. Hell, what do you not have a penalty on? And the U.S has become that way in the past few years too, it’s unfortunate.

But seriously, do any of you honestly believe that demand has gone up SO much in just one month, to raise the price by nearly 40 cents? I sure don’t. Where I live, the average has crept up to $4.00 in just two weeks. I see no reason for prices to increase that much.

And that doesn’t even go over diesel prices. Thousands of truckers are out of jobs right now just because of this reason, but demand has literally stayed flat for the past few years for diesel. No, China is not consuming that much diesel, or petrol fuel. It’s particularly worrying that this is in anticipation for quite a few new diesel vehicles on the road.

Despite diesel being cheaper to produce, cheaper to refine, easier to handle, demand has gone down slightly in the U.S. and Europe, and new refining processes only raise the price by “an estimated few cents” according to analysts, it’s crept up nearly $1.00 where I live, in TWO MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!. I mean, c’mon, I’m not usually the one for bold text, but that’s RIDICULOUS.

I’m dead serious. Has anybody tried to seriously petition gas companies? And I’m not talking about a one day boycott either, I’m talking about a campaign… I have quite a bit of family that would love to get involved, including me.

Rising gas prices are last months old news. Not worth dwelling over.

howsmydriving, Iraq oil was off limits altogether for everyone, including Iraqis, until US killed their bloody dictator.

jayjc08, read something on the subject before pontificating. World wide oil production either already peaked or will peak within very short period of time (you can look up specific dates in Economist). In US it peaked 40 years ago. Since then country imports 70% of it’s oil/ BTW, our own oil is not all that great and out existing refineries are not tuned for refining it. Our domestic oil is more profitable to sell to Japan then refine in US.

jayjc:

1> The refineries are indeed working at full capacity. Refinery Utilization in the US is at 89% which is considered “full capacity”. At any given time, 10-15% of refinery capacity is down for changeover, maintenance, any number of reasons. To combat higher prices we ran our refineries at 90-95% for the past 5 years. That is a completely unsustainable thing to do; we neglected maintenance in order to keep production up. A new refinery hasn’t been built in the US in THIRTY YEARS. What worked 30 years ago, isn’t cutting it anymore.

2> The oil companies absolutely DO NOT have “the highest profit margins”. Not even close. As a matter of fact, oil companies have BELOW AVERAGE profit margins for major all companies — their margins are only A THIRD of what most major tech companies run at for example. The reason they make so friggin’ much money is because they SELL so much product. When you sell a TRILLION dollars worth of stuff, making a $100B in profit shouldn’t be unexpected in the least.

3> Demand for oil, or anything that people “need”, doesn’t have to go up much at all to get a large increase in price. All it takes is one person showing up who wants it a little more than you. If there’s nothing more for them to get, then they’re going to have to buy what it was that you wanted to buy. They offer a little more to secure the supply, you counter with a little higher offer, they counter with a higher one, you counter back. You’re both going to keep going higher until it reaches a point you just don’t think it’s worth it to go any higher. And that’s exactly what the speculators do on the markets every single day.

4> Truckers aren’t out of a job because of diesel prices. They’re out of a job because there’s nothing for them to move. Stuff isn’t being made and piling up in a warehouse for want of a truck to move it. There just isn’t enough stuff being made (or brought in) to employ all the truckers. Now, you CAN argue that the higher gas prices have caused people to buy less stuff, which means less stuff needs to be moved.

5> China IS most definitely consuming “that much diesel”. China is purchasing 20 PERCENT more crude oil this year than last. Diesel in particular is up a STAGGERING amount, with imports of refined diesel being up TEN-FOLD year-over-year. It’s mind-blowing demand growth for gasoline is only offset by its demand for diesel which is growing THREE TIMES faster. That’s an incredibly MASSIVE growth in a market that is extremely supply-constrained (refined oil products). Diesel fuel growth is so tight in China that it actually has has to resort to rationing it out in an attempt to curb the growth. The demand is growing faster than China’s ability to refine or buy it.

6> How do you plan on “petitioning” oil companies? Plan on not driving to work? To get food? I think it’s safe to say that a large portion of people are ALREADY “campaigning” by limiting their travel to only what’s necessary. You’re not gonna get a whole lot better than that.

Actually, it is not a bad a bad idea! If we stop driving to work or to supermarket and either walk or drive bicycles the demand will go down and will cost us nothing. We also will be fitter physically and supersizing would have less effect on belt line.

The oil companies are to blame, oil is a business lets not forget this. Just look at these record profits they made. When we americans start making better auto choices prices will go down its supply and demand. Higher prices will cause people to buy more fuel efficient cars and trucks. Gotta love free market economy it will force the the big three to make more efficient autos.

I save on gas by burning dvd’s and cd’s, haha bitches.

maxzorin, yeah right and gas will magically drop to 2 bucks a gallon, and BlackX, **** EUROPE.

Gas prices have doubled in the last 2 months where I’m at.

Sigma- Part of the reason for refineries not working at “full capacity” is they’ve simply aged over time. Very few refineries have really been brought “online”, at full capacity for the last few years. Only in the past month have refineries actually been working at higher capacities, usually in the summer months.

I need to badly rephrase that statement. No, oil companies do not have some of the highest profit margins per barrel of oil sold, but make fairly large profits on every barrel of oil they sell. Yes, that’s because they sell a lot of oil, but recently those fairly set profit margins on a barrel of oil have moved up and down. Overall profits however have been significantly up.

Speculating has been driving the price of oil up for sure, but regardless, 39 cents in one month? And if that’s so, why aren’t prices dropping further, as speculation decreases? Even further, I find it odd they have yet to find faults with their system of bidding more and more on oil.

Chinese diesel consumption has been on the rise, but from what I have read from currently to 2004, China has always been behind the United States in terms of diesel consumption for vehicles. Despite China using a good four or five times more diesel fuel then a few years ago, they still remain behind the U.S., which in comparison to Europe doesn’t consume to much diesel in terms of vehicles.

The U.S. consumes approximately 50 billion gallons of diesel each year. I’ve had a ditsy time trying to find figures on total consumption of diesel in China, but all sources point at overall consumption being about 30 billion gallons of petrol per year. Note that as of now, China is consuming more petrol than diesel, and I’ll leave you to find that figure for diesel. China has increased oil production by about 1.8 million barrels a day since 1970.

And truckers are going out of business indeed, very much so because of diesel prices. I’m curious where you came up with that, and although that may hold some truth, an increase in diesel prices of 42% over a few weeks is hitting hard. It especially hits independent truckers with small contractors. For every 10 cent increase in prices, 1,000 trucking businesses go broke nationwide. With that 42% increase comes an overall 6% decrease in profits just by fuel alone for a truck that consumes 600 gallons of diesel, and most truckers don’t make that much, not to say some have great salaries but not many.

And you don’t need to get so defensive; I was simply asking if anybody knew of any petitions going on at the current moment. As a matter of fact, truckers are on petition as we talk right now, they’ve been “snarling” traffic since late March. The American Truckers Association is calling for President Bush to decrease miles per hour to 65 and release some oil from reserves. Now, I don’t know how much a plan like that would help, but just an example.

Aside from that, I don’t have much to petition; I’ve driven quite a few cars, but usually ride my bike 4 or 5 miles a day; not a long commute. Trucks here for anything that I can’t carry in the Taurus station wagon, and that’s mostly for usual commutes… and great at camping.

The government needs to permanently relax fuel blending regulations immediately. Those alone are respnsible for 20-30 cents per gallon on our fuel prices. Repealing fuel blending regualtions will have the following effects.

1. Increase the yield on a barrel of oil converting to gasoline.
2. Increase allocation efficiencies by only offering 3 blends of gas – regular, plus and premium instead of reformulated gas.
3. Reducing fuel overall fuel consumption by switching to more efficient regular fuel blends instead of oxygenated fuels, which reduce fuel efficiency by as much as 10 percent per tankful.
4. Increase refinery capacity by reducing downtime required for switchovers.

Of course, the oil companies wouldn’t like these ideas since it would force them to charge less and encourage competition in the refining industry again.

The enviro-green wackos won’t like it either since it will reduce the cost of driving.

The same thing needs to be done for diesel except that they also need to repeal the EPA Tier 2 Bin 5 requirements for diesel passenger car emissions and move to a standard that is more attainable. Doing so will allow us to use a less refined diesel which takes less energy to refine and clean. According to a wikipedia article, diesel costs 25 cents more than it would otherwise.

Of course, with the demonrats in charge, I expect nothing to get done.

Bloody Americans. Fuel is still a dime a dozen where you live.

**** you GT Pro, i like how you sum up ‘Americans’ like we all voted to make gas higher, it aint like we’re celebrating coz we got alot of oil/gas. my pockets are getting hit by this **** too dickhead.

As far as any comments from some of our European friends go… I can certainly appreciate the price you pay at the pumps, but instead of just making snide remarks and telling us to deal with it, could you maybe just try to look at if from a perspective other than your own? How long have you been paying so much for gas now? How long have you had to make adjustments and cope with such a thing. Have your fuel expenditures doubled in the past year? Have they quadrupled in the past 7-8 years? With that said, have you also enjoyed any raises in your salary during that time? For many Americans, their salaries have been stagnant for years, if not decreased… the only ones making more are those already at the top who have no real need to make more. Everything has gone up in price dramatically without any real increase in income… We have no viable methods of alternative/public transportation outside of the big cities… and most people live too far away from work to ride a bike or walk. What’s even worse is the fact that some of you seem to almost derive a certain amount of pleasure from all of this… things are getting rough here, do you honestly want them to get worse? Because honestly, were the American economy to take a sharp nose-dive (ie – not just a recession, but a substantial depression), do any of you think such a thing would have positive implications for you and the world, et al? Just food for thought…

Anyway – I’ve already come to the conclusion that we’re only getting some of what we deserve for having elected some retarded cowboy, not once… but twice. Hopefully this will leave us with a bitter enough recollection to prevent us from ever doing it again.

normal petrol fuel jumped over the $ 9 / US gallon mark yesterday in Germany…
two days ago the price was 1,51Euro /liter = $ 8,82 for a US gallon
now we are at 1,58Euro/liter = $ 9,20 for a US gallon

for the guys beliving we pay such prices since years… as I started driving in the good old days of the DMark one liter petrol was under 1,- DM… less than 45-50cent Euro, today ~20 years later I pay 3 to 4 times as much… the fuel cost have exploded the last two years… now they are completely crazy with price jumps of 10cent/liter up and down within 24hours..

1st post! Great site!

I got sucked in for $4.26 the other day here in GA. Checked some gas website right afterwards and found $3.89 in the same area for 93 octane. I don’t see gas getting cheaper. Time to invest in oil?

The root cause for high oil prices at the pump is our politicians. They allowed big oil companies to merge.

This took away competition. They have no incentive to increase capacity or take market share. They are all sitting in their boardrooms with the same strategy, sit on their hands and keep supplies tight.

^Rene has it right. All the other BS aside, no competition means no incentive for the oil companies to stop the gouging. Come on people! When my costs go up, my profits go down. Oil company profits go through the roof! Doesn’t that tell you this whole thing is being manipulated? Remember the rolling blackouts in CA a few years ago? We heard every day that the grid was so over taxed – prices shot through the roof and they had to shut power down during the peak of summer heat. Later we found out it was all Enron manipulating the whole thing… Do we really believe this isn’t the case here? Come on – prices were realtively stable, then Katrina hit. Ever sonce we’ve been on a roller coaster. Something smells fishy to me!

^^^ I agree, prices for gas were decent prior to Katrina and then when it hit they blamed the price hike on the refineries in the Gulf Coast being down… what is their excuse now. I completely concur with the notion that this entire thing is a bunch of bs manufactured for purpose of increasing profits.

“Europe has no more solutions other than taxing the hell out of things for penalties. Hell, what do you not have a penalty on?”

So true, they even have a TV tax… that is right, a tax for owning a TV.

“”Using a television without an appropriate licence is a criminal offence. Every day we catch an average of 1,200 people using a TV without a licence. There is no valid excuse for using a television and not having a TV Licence, but some people still try – sometimes with the most ridiculous stories ever heard. Our detection equipment will track down your TV. The fact that our enquiry officers are now so well equipped with the latest technology means that there is virtually no way to avoid detection.”
– from the official website of the British Television Licensing Authority, May 2003″

nagmashot- What gets me aggravated though is when someone from another country, often Europe, totes themselves as having a harder time. Americans have longer commutes, travel much more and there aren’t really any alternatives, like what was already said.

But like I said earlier, what gets me really worked up is about half of the price at the pump in Europe is taxes. You have your first taxes on petrol and diesel, then you have value added tax, and then your taxed at the pump once again. The UK’s taxes are 188% on fuel, for about 5$ worth of taxes on your fuel. You could be experiencing prices just about 30 cents higher than ours with similar taxes! And you should be able to have lower priced diesel… diesel comes to Europe through America, and Petrol comes to America through Europe (excess refineries), but taxes have defined your prices once again.

I wonder when you guys will stand up to what your politicians are doing, not to say you guys are liking it over there, but seems to me that no intolerance has really grown since Hitler…

Rene Curry- That’s also very true, but even before they were merged, they didn’t have much incentive. They more or less worked, and still do as a big co-op group.

Is that picture of the gas pump supposed to be evil looking?

Right now, in southern Ontario, the gas price is $1.25/litre. Who’s to say that’s too high a price for fuel? If some people pay $1 or more for a bottle of water, why isn’t that argued as vehemently? Gas should be expensive if its source is finite and non-renewable.

Present stats show demand is outstripping supply globally … so prices rise. Granted, supplies are being restricted by the Middle East to only meet deman but those machinations are another conversation. As long as the balance exists as it does, things will not get better.

Again, watch what happens in the next 30 days, it’s not over … and what will happen when oil eventually hits $200+? This isn’t a game or a dream … adapt or suffer. Buy gold. The US dollar will resume its freefall to below .70 USDX. Things will get MUCH worse. Complaining will not change anything. Investing to offset pain will change everything. Take control of what you can and prosper.

Prices have never been so high and I’m loving it — love to see the white trash morons who bought large SUV’s pay through the nose.

howsmydriving –

You’re a real crusader, arent you? I agree that people who bought SUV’s in the last few years are missing a wheel, however.

I didn’t know only “white trash morons” bought SUVs… Don’t know where you’re from exactly, but around these parts there are infinitely more SUVs parked in the driveways of middle to upper-class suburban developments and quaint (ie -expensive) little towns than there are in the driveways of trailer parks.

Besides… I also thought “white trash” only bought domestic makes… strange how a good deal of those SUVs are imports. Hmm…?

Join the Revolution Folks

With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can’t just stop buying gas.

But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all get together to force a price war.

Here’s the idea: For the rest of this year, DON’T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies ESSO and Shell.

If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Esso and Shell gas buyers. It’s really simple to do! Now, don’t wimp out on me at this point…keep reading and I’ll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

That is the Canadian version… Americans should boycott Exon and BP

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) .. and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)…and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers.

If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!

If it goes one level further, you guessed it….. THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That’s all!

(If you don’t understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people…. Well, let’s face it, you just aren’t a mathematician. But I am, so trust me on this one.

continued

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all in. I suggest that we not buy from Esso and Shell UNTIL 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!

I’ll bet you didn’t think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference

i know some one who invested in an energy mutual fund for 25000 last year and it’s value has gone up 14000 already

Bubs Solo… I don’t mean to be an ignorant ass right now, especially as you and I have tended to agree on several topics thus far.

But seriously… I loathe people who send that **** to my email… The last thing I want is to have to see it in the comments section of sites like this.

i say **** the rest of the world lets burn coal again we can drive steam cars ., massive amounts of torque,

to AMGoff:
Here in the Netherlands, the pump price hits a new high almost every week. But the weakening of the dollar against the euro has offset most of the rise in crude oil prices. Nevertheless, it hurts.

It’s a matter of perspective. To me, gas prices (and for that matter, taxes in general) in the US have always been irresponsively low. Look at what Europeans were driving in the fifties. Untill this day, the difference in average vehicle weight and engine power remain staggering.

What you say makes me appreciate what the economic downturn in the US means to ordinary people. The Dutch economy has seen some very good years, contrary to the US economy.

All that however, can’t undo the cultural rivalry between Europe and the US. Most Europeans look at the US with a mixture of admiration and resentment. Some values we share, some we firmly don’t. (could go on a bit on this…)

I never buy gas from Exxon or Mobil stations. Usually I go to BP Amoco because they are usually the cheapest, by about 10 cents/gallon, in Brooklyn.

It is amazing to me to learn that economics which was born in England is more accepted as a science in USA. I have yet to come across the chapter in economics which promoted taxes. Majority of American people are understanding of idea that government is less productive then private enterprise. Therefore if you tax less and keep more you will achieve more with your own money then giving it bureaucrats and politicians to waste on their whims. That is why politicians in US who advocating government intervention in people lives usually loose.
I spend a lot of time in Europe and I see firsthand that countries with large tax penalties are not doing as well as those with less tax burden. Unfortunately for Europeans tax on fuel is always the same as cost of fuel, that is why price diference between cost of fuel in Europe and US. In difence of Europe, they have great public transportation and cars are actually luxury. In US distances are much greater and public transportation will make sense when there will be billion of us, not before. I don’t want to think what the price of gas will be then.

400horseSS Gas prices will not magically drop this process takes time. But prices are up partly because demand is up ie- lots of thirsty vehicles on the road. Also the oil companies take advantage of market conditions inflating the prices claiming market instability. This is the way they do business all we can do as consumers is use less of their products. This means driving smarter not harder.

“It’s a matter of perspective. To me, … taxes in general in the US have always been irresponsively low. ” Dindel

That is the most ignorant comment I think I have heard all week. Because the US Government is [seemingly] not out taxing the hell out of people to the point wherein you are giving away nearly half of your earnings, it is “irresponsible” to this jackarse. The US Government wastes enough money as it is and does not need anymore to go blow on useless projects… see Iraq and Afgan. Also, what clowns such as the aforementioned person need to consider when discussing the “low” state of US taxes is that the US has a lot more people to tax therefore they can be spread out a little. Furthermore, you also have to factor that Americans are taxed at the Federal, State, and Local/City level… so taxes are FAR from low. From your paychek you have a Federal Income Tax, a State Income Tax, the Social Security Tax and t/Medicare Tax… and owing property brings on more taxes and so does buying goods and services.. hell, the taxes on a cellphone bill literally take up half a page. The US Federal and State Governments tax the hell out of people, they just spread it out so that the stick they are shoving up your arse hurts just a little less. [1.48 pm not am]

^^ Well said…

Just out of curiosity… why do you always insert something like ,”[1:48 pm not am]” at the end of all your posts??? I’m assuming you’re somewhere in the China/Singapore/Western Australia region… but still, it’s just a little odd in an OCD kind of way… LLN only timestamps on Eastern Standard/DS time probably because that’s where their server is.

^^^ Your assumption is correct, I am in WA so the time stamp that it gives is always the opposite of what time it is for me, hell, sometimes the day is wrong dependent upon what time it is here…. and not really OCD… just a personal funny-ha-ha for me when I noticed that my stamps are on US EST not WATime. [5.09pm not am]

Well said x 2 VictorRaikkonen.

The French revolted once, they can do it again. Take a hint people in Europe – when the government starts taking more than half your earnings, it’s time to do something nasty.

Victor, correct ideas albeit slightly misguided. Iraq and Afghanistan are not exactly government sponsored or initiated projects. perhaps in WA state you were not aware of attack on World trade Center in NY, but it happened. The attack was orchestrated out of Afghanistan by their goverment with association with terrorist organization which placed government in charge. US conducted proper response. Iraq is a costly error. But it was committed based on information available at the time: Hussein himself admitted that he was acting as having WMD and everybody (US & UK) weren’t about to have another WWIII started by a madman. Actually there is a war going on since 1993 (first World Trade Center attack with loss of American lives). The war is carried on enemy territory vs here. Think this way: offense is the best defense.

Taxes in US generally on lower scale of world countries. Could be less, but we have congress to thank for that. They are on the front line of spending for their pet projects. Most presidents did not show their penchant for spending (except Kennedy), but congress is full of it. And to be honest, any congress either democratic of republican.

^^^^ Mmmh, I was referring to the cost of both wars and neither of them achieving a result that justifies the amount of tax dollars spent… regardless what what the propaganda machine [Bush cabniet, FOX "News"] says I will forever believe that the US gov did not have a good reason to enter either country due to lack of planing. But, this is a car forum, not a political forum so I digress and will state in closing that I lived in a states for a number of years and was there for 9/11.

ACtually, I lived in Saudi Arabia during the 80’s and early 90’s. I was there during the first Gulf war in January 1991 and recall receiving gas-attack training. It was well known that Saddam had warheads fitted with chlorine and mustard gas and used them routinely on dissenting parties in the North. After all, how do you think his commander “Chemical Ali” got his name?

The reason why France and Germany so vehemently opposed invading on WMD grounds is because the missile delivery systems were made by both France and Germany. This is what you call “eating out of both troughs.” It’s considered politically heinous.

test

What I don’t understand is why E85 prices seem to follow gas prices. The fuel is 85% not gasoline, so shouldn’t its price increase simply be marginal? A few months ago I could get a gallon of corn power for $2.45, now I’m lucky to pay $3.60 for it (regular is $4.09 by me).

@Victor,
Even FOX is critical of the Iraq war. You know somethings up when a conservative news outlet criticizes a conservative government. I’d like to nominate John McEnroe for president.

E85 is getting more expensive, because those who can use it will use it more. Corn and soy bean (main ingredients for E85) are used to produce E85, but there is shortage of both products and prices most likely to follow gasoline prices. Generally speaking, gasoline should be cheaper: less expensive process and more plentiful output. I saw program on bio fuels and Brazil is using sugar cane for bio fuels. It yields 9 times fuel for each unit of sugar cane. Corn yields 1.3 times (for ton of corn you get 1.3 tons of alcohol). Not very efficient and expensive.

@xyunya,
Yeah corn ethanol is horrifically inefficient, but the new cellulosic stuff looks quite promising.

Xyunya- Seriously, all I’ve ever seen you post is pretty much ****. Why should I think that post is any different?

Demand for E-85 has barely gone up in the past eight years. The production of E-85 still under total capacity, by nearly half a billion gallons. When your talking about only six billion gallons a year, less than the total amount of liquid sweeteners consumed every year in America, there’s some leeway for that extra production. Demand by far is not stripping out supply.

Corn and soybeans are actually very high in demand, and are meeting up with total supply, but in reality soybean prices have been hitting record all time lows in the past year. Soybean stocks are actually increasing.

If you look at the big picture, you have to wonder however why these large companies chose soybean and corn. It’s another product that they can inflate, and theres no reason why it should be in the $3.00 range. Even when ethanol production was at an eighth of where it was now and supplies were similar in the 70’s and 80’s (no, I understand there wasn’t much of it around, but there was however a demand that did meet supply) it wasn’t nearly as much as it currently is; even adjusted for inflation.

I don’t care