People...we're Getting Screwed!

[rob_just_rob]

Actually the only thing $5 a gallon gas prices will do is bankrupt the middle class. Deep pockets will not be hurt by these prices. In fact they'll probably profit further by such prices.

For those of you who think gas is going to $5 - buy some calls on a petroleum ETF with an expiry date 6 months out or so. If gas does go that high, the money you make in the markets will partially (or if you have the courage of your convictions, completely) offset the extra money you pay at the pump.

The middle class can usually be relied on to jump all over every investing fad, why not this one?

FYI - gas here has been hovering around $4/gallon for a while...

 

[Dr Rock]

We have a similar situation in London

oh, don't get me started. traffic in london is an unparalleled disaster even by the parlous standards of UK cities. livingstone et al are (literally) just blowing smoke up our asses.

 

[dong20]

oh, don't get me started. traffic in london is an unparalleled disaster even by the parlous standards of UK cities. livingstone et al are (literally) just blowing smoke up our asses.

LOL....I don't find it dangerous just frustrating, I'm probably just used to it. That said even I thought twice before I rode a motorbike in town for the first time and I 'learned' to ride bikes in Phnom Penh

Few years ago I spent several days driving a pristine new car around Beruit/South and Central Lebanon which after an initial 5 minutes of sheer terror turned into some of the most 'fun' filled days ever...and yes the car was returned in a pristene, if dusty state.

I do think that Despite Red Ken's best efforts traffic flow in central London is better than it was but outside...Zone 1....aaaaahhhh

 

[DC_DEEP]

... I saw a TV program a while back about someone who converted his diesel (an old Mercedes) to run on used cooking oil!

Also known as "biodiesel." You can't just pull up to the local McDonald's and empty their fryers into the tank, though... it does have to be chemically processed. Not a bad idea, though. I have advocated, since about 1974 (yeah, an idealistic teen I was!) using ethanol and methane for cars. They are both completely renewable. The methane could be produced and collected from landfill. I had once envisioned a scenario where crops (grains and sugar beets) would be grown, ethanol produced from a primary fermentation, the dregs put through a secondary fermentation to produce methane, and the remains converted into a completely natural fertilizer to go back onto the fields where the original crops were grown. The claims that such conversions will be too expensive are just ludicrous. The real problem is that it would be too inconvenient for those who are currently making obscene fortunes with the status quo. We do need petroleum, but it is much too precious to simply burn up in the Escalade.

 

[tallguypns]

Also known as "biodiesel." You can't just pull up to the local McDonald's and empty their fryers into the tank, though... it does have to be chemically processed. Not a bad idea, though. I have advocated, since about 1974 (yeah, an idealistic teen I was!) using ethanol and methane for cars. They are both completely renewable. The methane could be produced and collected from landfill. I had once envisioned a scenario where crops (grains and sugar beets) would be grown, ethanol produced from a primary fermentation, the dregs put through a secondary fermentation to produce methane, and the remains converted into a completely natural fertilizer to go back onto the fields where the original crops were grown. The claims that such conversions will be too expensive are just ludicrous. The real problem is that it would be too inconvenient for those who are currently making obscene fortunes with the status quo. We do need petroleum, but it is much too precious to simply burn up in the Escalade.

Biodiesel is a different animal from vegetable oil cars. Both are good ideas. Biodiesel is made from plants like soybeans and is used in place of diesel. Vegetable oil cars literally can run on grease right out of the fryer (with sediment filtered out, of course.) The catch is, you have to have two tanks. One tank contains regular diesel and one tank contains the vegetable oil. The engine must be started and warmed up using regular diesel. Once the engine is hot, you can switch to vegetable oil.

http://www.greasecar.com/

 

[dong20]

Also known as "biodiesel." You can't just pull up to the local McDonald's and empty their fryers into the tank, though... it does have to be chemically processed. Not a bad idea, though.

No, Biodiesel is different - http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/definitions/default.shtm

Seriously, serously it was just waste cooking oil, filtered of course. Seriously funky! Have a a look at http://www.greasecar.com/faq.cfm

I can imagine boot badges- "Powered by McDonalds" :biggrin1:

 

[dong20]

Biodiesel is a different animal from vegetable oil cars. Both are good ideas. Biodiesel is made from plants like soybeans and is used in place of diesel. Vegetable oil cars literally can run on grease right out of the fryer (with sediment filtered out, of course.) The catch is, you have to have two tanks. One tank contains regular diesel and one tank contains the vegetable oil. The engine must be started and warmed up using regular diesel. Once the engine is hot, you can switch to vegetable oil.

http://www.greasecar.com/

He he sorry....I skipped past your post by accident...:biggrin1: It is a drag needing two tanks in most cases but what a cool idea!

 

[DC_DEEP]

Biodiesel is a different animal from vegetable oil cars. Both are good ideas. Biodiesel is made from plants like soybeans and is used in place of diesel. Vegetable oil cars literally can run on grease right out of the fryer (with sediment filtered out, of course.)

No, Biodiesel is different -
Seriously, serously it was just waste cooking oil, filtered of course. Seriously funky!

My apologies, gents. I had just read an article in the Sunday Washington Post. Either that article had errors, or I misread portions of it. I stand corrected on the technicals, but I think we all agree it's a good idea going to waste.

 

[dong20]

My apologies, gents. I had just read an article in the Sunday Washington Post. Either that article had errors, or I misread portions of it. I stand corrected on the technicals, but I think we all agree it's a good idea going to waste.

"A Free fillup with every third Big Mac meal you buy" I can just see it :tongue:

 

[DC_DEEP]

"A Free fillup with every third Big Mac meal you buy" I can just see it :tongue:

heheh, they got you fooled! If you think they get an oil change every 6,000 miles/baskets of fries, you are mistaken... try twice a year....

 

[Freddie53]

I guess that I was wrong, folks. I am sorry. Forgive me. ( It feels good to blame Bush though. ) Bush doesn't really have significant petroleum interests, after all. Just bad foreign policy.

The previous poster was not correct. We don't need to spend more every year tha we take in. Also when we have deficit spending, it matters who we owe the oney to. In years past. it was Americans who bought those bonds. We aren't oble to do that now. So America is borrowing money from China to keep our government afloat. In good years we should run a surplus to pay on the national debt.

Those gas prices: the oil companies and the foreign owners of oil deposits are working together to make those oil profits huge. Don't think for a minute that poor little George is helpless. He is right in the middle of the oil barons. He is making money big time and so are all his friends.

And we are paying for it.

 

[brainzz_n_dong]

Eat the artery-busting burger of choice, add in a mega-sized order of fries, a milk shake, then eat this way three times a day, and they might be able to harvest enough grease from your own body to power a car. <ugh>

 

[D_Claude Hopper]

While biodiesel may be a reasonable recycled fuel source there's still a major problem with it (which happens to be the same problem ethanol faces). To make the biodiesel or ethanol, we use more petroluem product making the finished product than we refine out of it. The only reason ANYONE makes ethanol is that cash crops are super-subsidized. Ask my 80 acres back home. Oh, and guess who owns all those wonderful refineries which are capable of making all that wonderful ethanol and biodiesel: the same companies that pump it out of the ground right now. It's really quite simple, we will pay more as a populous until the law of supply and demand is met, or the collusion stops. I don't consider either likely soon.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Front page headline in today's Washington Post: bush finally hears the anger of the people regarding gasoline prices. A major portion of his solution to the problem? Relax pollution standards. Ah, I knew it all along, it's that damned, pesky environment making all the profit.

 

[Dr. Dilznick]

Those gas prices: the oil companies and the foreign owners of oil deposits are working together to make those oil profits huge. Don't think for a minute that poor little George is helpless. He is right in the middle of the oil barons. He is making money big time and so are all his friends.

And we are paying for it.

The actual profit margin the oil companies make is like 8-9%, which is surpassed by various other industries. The bulk number of dollars they make just look staggering because of how much product they push. They got into a business with a very valuable product.

Government should've just prevented so many mergers from happening creating the quasi-monopolies we have today. Other than that they shouldn't get involved at all, (which includes allowing the building of more refineries, drilling in ANWAR et. al., just getting out of the way).