The oily bird catches ALL the worms!

[milord]

What is the rationale behind the increases in the cost of gasoline? The oil companies haven’t made any improvements in their product. Gas is gas. There’s no new model gas, a 2008 version of gas that’s better than the 2007 model. The oil company’s rationale is simply this: we can charge what we like, and what is the public going to do about it? Nothing. What can they do about it? Nothing.
There is apparently no limit to Greed. You might think the oil companies would say, “We’ve made ten billion dollars profit this year. That’s enough. Let’s hold the price steady now.” HA! Fat chance! They obviously feel that if they can make ten billion dollars profit, there’s nothing to keep them from making twenty billion dollars profit. And if twenty, why not thirty, then forty, and so on. You get the idea. Naked, unbridled Greed is their governing motive, Greed that knows no bounds, and if it makes life difficult for average Americans, well, fuck ‘em.
I just saw a paper by the Congressional Research Service, “Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress.” It is dated April 4, 2008. The first page is headed “Oil Industry Profit Review 2007”. In part it said the following:
2007 Oil industry recorded revenues of approximately $1.9 trillion, of which 78% was accounted for by the 5 major integrated oil companies. Profits for the industry totaled over $155 billion, 75% of which were earned by the 5 major oil companies, with the largest, Exxon Mobil, earning over 25% of the total profit.
Isn’t that interesting?
$155 Billion in profit. That works out to $40.6 billion profit for ExxonMobil alone. . . Nice, huh?
So my question is this. Why can’t these blood-sucking greedy bastards lower the price of gas by, let’s say, two dollars a gallon? Why can’t these fucking ghouls be satisfied with, oh, ten billion dollars profit? Is there no way to control these bastards?
Bush, of course, is useless in this situation. Useless, hell, he’s probably delighted with it. He and his cronies must be as happy as a pig in shit. He’s not going to help the average American, for whom he and his partner in evil, Cheney, have nothing but contempt. Will Obama do anything about it when he’s president? I don’t know, nobody’s asked him, not that I know of.
So it’s up to the public, which is apparently sitting around with its thumb up its ass, drinking beer and saying “Who, me?”
It’s time to raise the hue and cry, inundate your elected representatives to get them to force the oil companies to cut back their price-gouging Greedy policies. Reduce the fucking prices. Threaten the oil companies with nationalizing them.
DO SOMETHING!

[Terry in Austin]

1. Gas is gas

And crack is crack. And a crock is a crock.

We've all been sold this oil-powered consumer nirvana, and the fact is, people hooked on it will pay anything to keep their fixes coming. That's why the pushers keep charging more and more for it -- because they can.

Don't like paying so much for gas? Don't need it.

Seriously, the petroleum age is entering its final stage, permanent decline in oil supply worldwide. Post-oil life will be very different, and the sooner we adapt, the better off we'll all be. It begins with each of us.

[milord]

3. Don't like paying so much for gas? Don't need it.

Thanks for your interesting response. Please explain how we "don't need it."

[Terry in Austin]

4. Post-oil life

It's about discontinuing our "need" for oil. It's something we need to do anyway, since oil is getting scarcer by the minute.

A small example: if you live within walking distance of work, you don't need gas to get to work. It's an arrangement that one individual has the power to make. Now multiply that by millions.

The shift to post-oil life will be a major one, no doubt about it -- at least as big as the shift from pre-oil life was, but probably quicker. It consists mostly of "making other arrangements," as James Howard Kunstler describes it. Walkable neighborhoods, ubiquitous rail and public transport, local and urban farming, localized economies, reduced consumption; the list is long.

Some things will require public mobilization and political will. Others can be done on an individual level: move to where things are within walking/biking distance, get out of debt, insulate the house, collect rainwater, grow some veggies, join a CSA, meet your neighbors, get involved with them... There's quite a bit more, of course. Postcarbon.org is a good resource that I'd recommend highly.

A lot of these choices we can start making ourselves. Soon enough, they're going to start being made for us just by the circumstances, so it doesn't hurt to get a head start!

[milord]

5. Thank you, Terry, for your response

Of course, it's not so simple. People resist change, even if it's for the better. And you're overlooking the basic stupidity of mankind in general. But it's got to be done, and as difficult as it will be to accomplish, it's got to start somewhere.
Thanks again.
milord

[gimberly]

2. Exxon knows a thing or two about oily birds n/t