My vehicle will now hold over $100 worth of gas.  I use about one tank a week.  That will affect my life to the tune of about 400-450 dollars a month.

The truckers who haul my groceries and every other thing I buy have to charge more to pay for the gas, so everything I buy is going up in price.  The government story about no inflation is about as true as most of what the government has to say.

Everything I buy for my business costs more, so my product costs more and fewer people can afford it so I make less charging more.  

Right now, the oil companies are hiring every warm body they can get and they are happy as a bunch of pigs in the mud, but the rest of us will have to tighten our belts until such time as we have to eat them.

Unlike the Government (at all levels), we have to live by a budget.  At the top of the list are things like basic food items, mortgage payments, utilities, gas for travel to and from work, ...etc.  Once those needs are met we look at things we would like to do including projects around the house and vacations.  Outside of that, what ever is left over can go for restaurants, donations/charities, and clubs/organizations.   We have just started to curb our participation in clubs and organizations to include the political ones.   Until the polititians can figure out how to budget, they don't get anymore of my money through donations.

Each morning we listen to how gas prices are going through the roof, kind of like Chicken Little running around screaming that the sky is falling. Each day we still go to the same filling stations that get their oil from the Middle East. As a result, we keep putting money in the hands of the very people who are taking advantage of us.

I don't even want to get into the fact that our own government has vast oil reserves,
and new areas discovered (Colorado/Utah) with quantities of oil that rival quantities in the Middle East, along with companies capable of removing the oil from the shale at cost efficient methods. But, to address the problem directly, we only have to do one thing.

Instead of going to your usual station like Shell, Exxon, Chevron or other companies who get their oil from the people who hate us, buy your gas from the companies who do not get their oil from the Middle East. This is all you have to do. After months of those barrels sitting at the port, I guarantee you will see those prices drop like never before. The following companies are the ones to buy from:

Sunoco, Conoco, Sinclair, BP/Phillips, Hess, ARCO, Pilot, Flying J, Love's, Race Trac,
and Valero.

I buy all of my gas from Valero. There are plenty of stations around town and throughout the state. If you can't do that one simple thing, then you deserve everything you get.

Robert Hughes

I but all my gas from Valero, too and I think they ought to name a wing of their new headquarters after me since I must have paid for it by now.

The thing is you don't hurt the Arabs and their toadys and partners in the rest of the world by not buying their oil.  That would only work if no one anywhere bought their oil.  No western boycott of Arab oil could possibly work, with the west more addicted to oil than any junkie ever was to heroin.  Once the oil is out of the ground it does tend to go to the closest buyer and that is mostly someone in the industrialized west.  If you think of the international oil market as a bathtub full of oil with lots of spigots filling it and lots of pumps pumping it out, you will see a more realistic picture of how it works.  The people who put most of the oil in the tub are dictating the price you can get it out for, even if what you wind up with came from 10 miles down the road.

It would be nice to break OPEC, but they could very well break us.  Marx said that all wars are fought over wealth.  That is one thing he got right.  As more and more pumps keep pumping that oil out of the tub, there could well be more than high gas prices to worry about when you talk about oil.

The constantly increasing cost of energy will effect all of our lives and in some ways we can't even foresee.  The only real cure for this looming fiasco is the development of alternative power sources that really work.  

Can we pick one day when no one  goes to the  gas pumps.I wonder what kind of effacts this would have.I am in my late 50s and in my life time I saw gas for as low as 17 cents a gallon now I find this 3.00 per gallon hard to accept. I never imagine that it would be expensive just to cut my lawn.....

I'm about your age Roger and I pumped gas as a teenager for under 10 cents a gallon.  I have a friend in the oil business who says that a one day boycott would throw a huge monkey wrench into the oil companies and they would drop their prices for a while.  They make a zillion gallons of gas a day and if no one buys it today, it will still be here tomorrow along with another zillion gallons they need to sell.

Thank God for Costco, their gas is the lowest I've seen anywhere and also the milk.  I'm happy to be a member of such a great company.

TIPS ON PUMPING GAS

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... But here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.75 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon..

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about 4 mill ion gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3)stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your g a s tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have ! in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporat es faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.
DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!

WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON

Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor!

An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.

Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis.

Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my fri! ends.

I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell........................... 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco ...........................! .62,231,000 barrels

Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans. If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now $100+ a barrel)

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco................0 barrels
Conoco................0 barrels
Sinclair........ ..........0 barrels
B P/Phillips...........0 barrels
Hess.....................0 barrels
ARC0..................! ..0 barrels

If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations near you.

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.

Why are we not making nice with Mexico, Canada, Venezuela and other periphery countries to obtain our oil?  Why are we lock-stepped with OPEC and their whim?  It seems we have numerous opportunities at our own doorstep to deal with this current crisis while alternative fuels are developed.  The heck with summer vacation!  I feel for independent truckers who keep this country supplied at every level of consumption.

Rob W.

I blame the democracts for high gas prices.