Declare your Independence from Oil!

[ColbertWatcher]

It seemed like weeks ago (actually it was Thursday) when we started a thread asking for everyone's contribution to a flyer to protest high gas prices.

Flyers Thread started by DUer fed-up

these can be handed out anytime a person goes to the gas station or anywhere else
cost is cheap at about 2 cents a piece

Do NOT leave them in a stack at the pump as that may be considered littering

Do NOT tape them to the pump as that may be defacing property

they can be posted at your local community message board (if rules permit it)


Carry the handbills with you where ever you go-pass stacks out to your friends to pass to their friends to pass out to the public at any public gathering

it is spring and will soon be summer, there are a number of places one can go to distribute flyers
when you are grocery shopping, at the movies, at a concert in the park, at your earth day festivals, at the company picnic, at the park
anywhere people are gathering


FED-UP with HIGH GAS PRIÇES?

Exxon-Mobile CEO Rex Tillerson makes $13.16 million

Chevron CEO David J. O'Reilly makes $34.61 million

ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva makes $6.61 million

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation CEO James T. Hackett makes $19.65 million

Occidental Petroleum CEO Ray R Irani makes $54.40 million

Sunoco CEO John G Drosdick makes $12.49 million

CALL YOUR REP
Joe Blow-xxx-xxx-xxxx
Josephine Blow xxx-xxx-xxxx



maybe someone here can design a nice flyer w/a better title to print out

then people can add their local reps phone numbers before making additional copies

edited to change title on handbill

edited again to add what I posted on other thread
making a simple statement with a simple solution is about all people have time for these days


if people have energy and time they can also make a larger version and stand on the corner near the gas station
they can also call their local media and let them know when/where they will be protesting these insane prices

a child's art easel works great to tape a large poster with the info on it


but once again asking people to do something drops like a lead balloon
check out the number of views and response to my (this) separate thread...

many people will bitch to each other about the deplorable state of things, but are not willing to take a little time to contact the people (legislators) that can make a change

Along the way, I came up with some more ideas:

(original post)

That's like step one.

Get the message out there that whatever solutions the GOP is coming up with solves nothing.

Whether it's their "gas tax holiday" or drilling in ANWR, nothing the GOP suggests will lower gas prices; they are basically holding us hostage.

Next step is offer solutions or ways to get involved.

Call or write your elected congresspeoples. Boycott a gas station. ???

Then, we have to figure out follow through.

They will not view any action on our part as legitimate or acceptable and will strike back.

We should expect higher prices, more threats and the worst case scenario.

We will have to think about $5-$10 gas just before the election and then a drastic drop (to help Old Man McSame)

And we have to stick to our plans (?):

1. demand a reduction in gas prices to where they were before the oilmen took office
2. keep gas taxes where they are
3. end the price manipulation
4. end the obscene profits oil corporations are making through the manipulation

But, due to a bigger story taking up the headlines, this was pushed aside.

I am resurrecting it so we can get more ideas, fresh perspective and to suggest we set a final target date for July 4th!

Flyers should be out before July 4th, of course, but we should really do something big for July 4th.

Anyone with me?

[Trajan]

1. I see nothing about the obscene profits being made ....

... from the suffering of millions of americans, AND the distress of all other business activities ....

Dude ? .... Nearly ELEVEN BILLION DOLLARS PROFIT for one company alone ...

For one fiscal quarter ....

What is 6.6 million compared to 11 Billion ?

People aren't so pissed at CEO's who make 'so little', but at the whole company raking in THAT much profit while prices skyrocket .... THAT is what is pissing people off ....

You need to WORK that anger, with what affects them most ...

Otherwise: great work ..... and thanks ...

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Please keep your ideas coming.

We've been brainstorming, and could use more people contributing!

[Speck Tater]

8. $11 billion in profits

which including diesel, fuel oil, gasoline, aviation fuel, and other distillates, works out to about 3 cents a gallon. So eliminate all their profits and you not only save 3 cents a gallon, but you give them no profits to invest in new exploration and expansion of refinery facilities, etc. Which means not only do we save 60 cents on a fill-up, but the next generation gets no gasoline at all. What a deal!

[Trajan]

12. That is patently false, and you know it ...

That eleven billion was for ONE company .... for ONE quarter ....

Your math is absolutely invalid .....

[ColbertWatcher]

13. Your numbers appear to be invented...

...if the oil corporations only made 3 cents/gallon, how did the CEO make so much?

And the oil corporations don't want to invest in new exploration and expansion.

That is just lies.

[Speck Tater]

2. Reality check.....

Reality check:

The U.S. consumes 20 million barrels of gasoline per day. At 42 gallons per barrel that adds up to 840 million gallons per day. in one year that means we consume 840 * 365 = 306,600 million gallons of gasoline per year.

Now suppose that all the oil company CEOs each made no salary at all. That would save 141.36 million dollars per year in CEO wages. Divided by the 306.6 billion gallons of oil that would reduce the price of gas by 4/100ths of one cent per gallon.

WOW! That's really a big difference.

Protesting won't make one bit of difference to OPEC, or to the speculators on various commodities markets where oil futures are traded. Nobody that matters will ever see your flyers. And if they did, they wouldn't care. So to whom are you presenting your "demand" that prices be lowered? Some fat commodities futures trader glued to his computer screen for 8 hours a day? Suppose that one trader DID want to lower prices. What could he do about it? He still has to buy and sell to and from other traders in the market. It's like putting out flyers to demand that the price of Intel stock should go up because you have some shares in your IRA. It's pointless. No one person can control the prices; it would have yto be unanimous among ALL traders, and ALL traders will never agree to act in unison to move the prices. And even if they did, that would be price fixing which is not legal.

When my daughter was a little girl she hated thunder storms. When ever a thunder storm started approaching she would grab her little toy abacus and stand at the window, shaking the abacus at the clouds hoping the rattling of the beads would scare away the thunder. Flyers would be every bit as effective as that.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Flyers are the start.

Flyers are a way to start a conversation and give people information.

Does your daughter still shake toys at the thunder?

Why did she stop? I hope it's because she knows better. And I hope the information she got was good information free of propaganda.

[Speck Tater]

5. Give people information: Start with gas in Scotland is $8.50 a gallon.

Then explain to them that Americans have long paid far too little for gas, and it's high time they started paying the real cost in the real world. Maybe, just maybe, this will be incentive enough to get gas guzzlers off the road in time to save the planet from complete destruction.

The era of cheap, readily available gasoline is over. Permanently over. From now on gas just gets more and more expensive, and subject to more and more frequent shortages.

[Trajan]

7. WHY must they go up ?

To increase profits ? ... or to compensate for higher production costs ?

Where are the EXTREME profits coming from ?

I smell a rat here ...... very close by ....

[ColbertWatcher]

10. Another DUer said it best...

"Other countries high gas prices pay for their Universal Healthcare

Our high gas prices pay for Exxon profits.

Big difference and no comparison."
--DUer LSK

[Speck Tater]

11. Supply and demand.

The amount of oil pumped out of the ground world wide peaked in May 2005, and has held steady ever since. Meanwhile, demand has continued to rise, especially from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India China) where demand is growing by double digits while supply remains unchanged.

Those "huge" profits amount to a few pennies per gallon, and the oil companies need profit that they can invest in future exploration and development, otherwise there will be NO oil for the next generation.

[ColbertWatcher]

14. Like I said before: this thread is for suggestions.

If you wish to debate oil profits, start your own thread.

And get off this one.

[Trajan]

15. Nationalize ....

FIX Prices ..... We already subsidize 'exploration' with our tax dollars, while THOSE ASSHOLES are raping the rest of the economy .....

Frankly, I find it absurd to hold ALL the rest of our nation hostage to the law of the jungle .....

IF it doesn't suit the rest of us to allow this obscene wealth, then we should do something about it, by CONTROLLING it ....

Pure and simple .....

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Or, we can tell people...

...that gas in Scotland is $8.50 due to the high taxes on the gas, which go to pay for their Universal Health Care and public transportation.

Also, what you're suggesting is the end game; we have to figure out the steps to take people from where we are now, to the end game.

This thread is for people to suggest the steps, not just the end game.

[freefall]

20. Finally, someone on this thread is dealing in reality. The era of cheap

oil is over, also cheap natural gas. It is the law of supply and demand and the fact that there exists a limited amount of these resources on Earth. We, in the US, could do a lot to help ourselves by curbing our unthinking waste of every resource available to us. We are likely to be forced to do this and change our lifestyles drastically. The fact that politicians have ignored the reality of limited resources and allowed and encouraged profligate use for the past few generations has not helped. Even if huge resources are discovered under the Arctic or in other equally hard to get to places the cost of recovering those resources will be so high that the price of gas and heating oil and everything else that has been subsidized by cheap oil, such as food and medicine, will continue to go up. The best we can do is to start adjusting to the new reality. When you are making decisions about where to live, etc this is the information you need to be taking into account.

Read James Howard Kunstler's "The Long Emergency." Here is an essay based on the book:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7203633/the_long_emergency

There are many books, websites, DVDs, etc dealing with this topic. Nevertheless the ignorance of Americans on the subject is appalling.

www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net is only one resource but a place to begin.

Much of this information is depressing. There were approximately 1.5 billion people on Earth at the beginning of the oil age. There are now about 6 billion. Many analysts predict by the end of this century Earth will have experienced a die-off and we will be back to the 1.5 billion level. That is of course if the human race survives at all.

Peace,

freefall

[Trajan]

6. This is price gouging, pure and simple ....

IF prices are escalating quickly, while profits are escalating just as quickly, then it is pretty clear the extreme profits are the result of the extreme pricing ....

The escalating prices are causing pain across the entire range of businesses and industry that are NOT petroleum-related .... We can reasonably conclude that the extreme profits being made while the higher costs hammering NON-petroleum business is counter to the interests of EVERYONE except the oil companies ....

I say: Fuck them ..... Nationalize their asses .... For the good of the citizens ....

Reduce the profits to a reasonable level, and DROP THE PRICES ACCORDINGLY ....

[Speck Tater]

16. The big oil companies control less than 10% of world oil.

The other 90% is already in the hands of Nationalized oil companies.

For the big oil companies to try to manipulate prices is like the tail wagging the dog. They don't have anything like the power or leverage to move prices. They are the small potatoes in the big world of nationalized oil.

I know, everyone wants a scape goat for high prices, but simplistic answers, while deeply satisfying emotionally, just don't get it done in the real world.

[Trajan]

18. After all is said and done : The EXTREME profits speaks for themselves ....

The people should not have to suffer while a few run naked in fields of gold ...

It is our government; Let the people do what they can to recoup those losses and return them to the national treasure chest .....

For that matter: A nationalized petroleum industry could reap those profits, or suffer the 3 cents loss per gallon you so triumphantly explain ...

This much I know: people are hurting, and energy costs have much to do with that pain ..... Why arent the oil companies sharing that pain ? ..... Why is it only the PEOPLE who must take the hit while they dance on golden pavers ? (Metaphor) ....

It is obvious that there is an unfair asymmetry here .... I say re-balance the scale ....

[Warpy]

17. The only way to lower gas prices is to lower per barrel oil costs

and the only way to do that now is VOTE DEMOCRATIC. Get these oily bastards out of office and get somebody in there who will use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for its intended purpose, to flood the market and knock prices DOWN. This bunch of oily thieves are using OUR MONEY to bloat the reserve on $120/bbl oil to KEEP PRICES UP.

In the meantime, if higher prices will get Joe Sixpack out of his 10 MPG penis extender, maybe they're not such a terrible thing.

We need a combination of a Democratic government and conservation to make any lasting change. Investment into alternatives is also absolutely necessary, but don't expect that from oily thieves, either.

[ColbertWatcher]

19. You have identified the enemy and it is...

...the Republican voters.

What I hope we can do is help open their eyes about where the money is going, and what we will be losing if we follow GOP policy (cut the taxes and drill in ANWR).