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Spoken like a True Democrat! Bush screwed everything up. Last I checked the House and Senate were controlled by Democrats and in situations such as this they have more power than the President. Any President, Republician or Democrat
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Holding off on buying gas for a week won't make any difference... we'll just be filling up again in 7 days at a higher rate than we would have today/tommorow. We will still be dependant a week from now.
We need to get rid of so many gas guzzling "vanity" vehicles that are on the road. Every time you see (or are driving) a huge SUV or a Hummer, realize THEY (you) are a big part of the problem too... not just the government or foreign oil companies. We can all get from point A to B and back on 4 cylinders as much as we can with 8 cylinders. Of course, larger families make this impossible, but look around at how many huge cars and trucks only have 1 person in them at a time.
How many of you travel a fair distance to get to work and back (I know I do)? How about looking into moving closer to your job? With the real estate market so far down, I'm sure there are some great bargains that are half the distance you are traveling now. If I'm spending $200 a month on gas to get to work and back, and am able to cut that in half, then I'm buying 25 gallons per month less than I was.... in other words, my DEMAND is down. If everyone's DEMAND was cut in half, then the SUPPLY wouldn't be worth as much as it is now.
I don't think there is any kind of "coaltiion" we can form that is gonna make one damn bit of difference to our government, Mobil/Exxon or OPEC. It's gonna take each and every one of us to USE less fuel whenever possible. It's US that need to be 'smarter', because we will never become more POWERFUL.
Alternative fuels (which I like in principal) will be years of developement down the road. It will take a huge investment by the boys in Washington (who have already shown that they neither care, nor can control what's happening now). It's up to US... as individuals, to make a difference. Pissing and moaning about it while driving your SUV 30 miles to work each day is NOT gonna get us anywhere. Downsize your own lifestyle some, and then maybe we can all afford to splurge on a trip to the racetracks a little more often!
JMO!
P.S. - I have cut down my distance between work and home from 35 miles to 17. It's still too much, but it's HALF of what it WAS!Comment
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Using less fuel does not work. Its not a supply problem. There is plenty of supply. Using less fuel will only drive prices up even higher because the oil companies will want to make the same amount of profit so they will need a higher profit to cost ratio.Comment
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Rick Williamson
Hey Rick, What company do you work for? I am retired from FPL after 33 years. I never worked directly in the plant but I worked at the plant several times. Building lines into it to build boilers or at Manatee I built a Vault to run a water pumping station. I was a line man and Cable splicer, and a Trouble dispatcher the last 6 years. Bob.....Comment
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Go alcohol!!!!
I know the reasons that have been given in the past for not running alcohol instead of race gas such as "you can't see the fires, you use almost twice as much etc, etc". But maybe the time is right for a change. With race fuel being $7.00 and $8.00 a gallon who knows where it will go in a very short time. Methanol is less than a third of that! Yes there are some changes to be made in your equipment, but they are minimal compared to the benefits. Slightly more torque, easier on parts, less engine temperature plus you don't have to worry about the dreaded "gas explosions" in accidents. I know our Sunoco race gas distributors at the track also distribute methanol. It's pretty sad when a winged sprinter can buy fuel for less than we can. Obviously they are sitting pretty now!Comment
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There was a book out recently about the "old days" of the gas shortage in 1973. Something about how it was a plot cooked up by Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon to get the arabs more money since we weren't allowed to give them money due to the Israeli situation but yet we wanted to earn their trust in diplomatic relations.
Interesting read, and probably not a word of truth in it, but I always loved conspiracy theories
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Hi Bob, I work for The City of Lakeland. I have 34 years with them as of next Tuesday 4/29/08. I am what's called a Control Center Operator. I fire the boilers, and run the turbine/generators. We have 2 units that fire oil (one high sulphur and one low sulphur) and those units can also burn natural gas. Unit 1 makes 90 MW's of power and Unit 2 makes 115 MW's. Our coal unit #3 makes 360 MW's and burns about 3,400 tons of coal a day. Rick...........Originally posted by flvideo View PostComment
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Cool Rick, we had control center operators too. The plant employees were in the union with us, but the only time we saw them was contract time. They seemed to always be filing greivences about all kinds of things. I think the thing was they had them under their thumb all day.When I was in the field I left the service center in the morning and I mabey saw the super once a day, if that. As long as I got my work done in a timely manner and it didn't blow up when I made it hot I was ok. Is Lakeland union? I fully well believe that had we not had the union they would have killed a bunch of us. Especially the last several years I was there. I had a supervisor one time that came up with a dumb idea about something and I looked at him and said Think about what you just told me. He said if you think about it it won't work. And that dude signed my time sheet, scary Huh? I some times thought I'd like the plant but you mostly do the same thing every day. In the field I did something different most evey day. I got used to that at a young age and it would have been hard to change.
Are you still racing with the Southern Sportsmen Series? Bobby at CCMP had a sportsmen race a couple of weeks ago and there was 21 cars I think. Was a good show. He has been getting good car counts in all classes. I have been traveling with the United Dirt Late Model Series this year and we have had 40+ cars for every show this year. I am really enjoying that. Bob..Comment
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Are you on drugs? Methanol is over 5 dollars per gallon. It takes a bushel of corn to make a gallon of methanol. How much does a bushel of corn sell for?Originally posted by OutsideLookingIn View Post
It does take 2 times as much methanol to go the same distance as gasoline so 5 dollars per gallon times 2 equals 10+ dollars for the same distance as gasoline. Oh yeah and gas is less maintenance. Alcohol motors have to be flushed with gasoline because the alcohol is very corrosive.Comment
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Ok, Comments to some of the posts, (i'm not gonna quote everyone.) "We should pump our own oil here in the US". Why? the oil companies will still charge you for it based on the market. That's what i have been trying to tell everyone. "if we buy less they will charge more". yes, for a very VERY short spike, then they will drop the price to get us buying it again...(cheap sales are better than no sales). Frasson hit it hardest with WE need to change up and stop gobbling this stuff up! The government won't do anything because there is nothing they can do.........free business, many of you know what i mean. The owner of my company and myself now carpool and drop one another off at meeting while the other is..... wherever. It kinda sucks but that is 1 less truck in our company on the road every day.Normalcy is a myth. what is perfectly normal for the Cheetah, Becomes absolute chaos for the Antelope.Comment
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im just sick over it
the high cost of fuel is killing my business
im almost starving now
i just cant see me being able to hang on much longer
my business is down more than 50 %
so looks like i will be ridin a bike or walking
thank god i do still have a few jobs
please send work if you canComment
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gas
this is the only way empty all tanks buy from one company only buy what you need only fill up in case of emergency treat gas like abortion protest protest we pick one oil company and boycot we must get serious.stop crying and go fore the kill.if we stand alone we can not win. charlie0Originally posted by Stgbean54 View PostComment
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Why pump our own oil?
If we pump the oil out of our own country the money will be staying in OUR country that is why! We are going to be dependent on oil for many years to come, why not keep the dollars in the U.S.A and not the middle east? And when they see we are serious about getting our own oil the price will go down. Also we need to eliminate so many different required blends.
And how about the government giving up some of the taxes they take out of oil?Comment
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Right now it is costing me about $30 to mow my lawn and I need to do it about every 5 days.
I was watching a special on schools and money and they are worried about fuel prices because with the last few prices raises they are now over $2.00 a gallon. They get the gas without Federal or state taxes so that will let you know why politicians are not going to do anything about prices, 1/2 of it is going to them! Now figuring that about 1/2 is theirs it really makes the oil companies profits seem HUGE if they were made at roughly $2 a gallon.Comment
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Bob, we just voted in the union last year. And they are now working on the details to be voted on. I have been a Control Center Operator for over 27 years and feel the some way you do about your job. It's never the same two days in a row. And I love shift work. 7am to 7 pm or 7pm to 7am, 3 or 4 days in a row. Our team left the Sportsmen Series early last year. And just race at Auburndale now. Gas on and off the track being what it is, it will most likely stay that way. Auburndale had a big Sportsmen race that same night. So we stayed at the home track. Our good friend won the Sportsmen and LM races that night down there.Comment
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