LTTE re: fuel prices. Please let me know what you think.

[lumberjack_jeff]

"Congress also must understand they've got to pass an energy bill. You see, an energy bill will be good for jobs. An energy bill will be good for national security. We need an energy bill that encourages consumption." - George Bush, 4/23/2002

When he took office, regular unleaded gas was $1.38/gallon and 73% of Americans had jobs. Today, 71% of Americans have jobs and we pay four dollars and twenty-nine cents. Oil companies send this money to the country (Saudi Arabia) which supplied 80% of the Sept 11th hijackers.

The Bush burn-it-if-you-got-it "energy policy" was written by oil company executives convened by Dick Cheney and resulted in less employment, worse national security and a quadrupling of fuel prices.

The average family has a gross income of $48,000 and owns two cars which are driven 12,000/year and get 25mpg. Since Bush took office, gas has doubled in price every 36 months. At that rate, in less than 48 months, gasoline will account for all the discretionary spending for every family in the bottom half of incomes. Can you afford to pay $10,000/year for gasoline? If you work full-time, that's $4.80 each work hour.

To make matters worse, government heavily encourages turning corn into ethanol fuel, so our food supply is now tracking the price trajectory of fuel.

If you voted for this guy, I suggest not admitting it at the local gas station. Or the grocery store. Maybe not anywhere.

What can be done? 1) allow the import of small, efficient diesels. 2) fund full scale production of algae-derived oil for biodiesel use. 3) prevent Republicans from running things.

Jeff

[Hydra]

1. Throw the oil companies out of Washington

That would fix everything. They are sitting on any alternatives we have, and they and the "defense" industry are the only ones profiting from this insanity.

[ThomWV]

2. Look at your 4th paragraph

Your 4th paragraph needs to be strengthened. You have the basics lined up but you need to take it a little farther. Here's an example; You say that the average family makes &48K and drives 24,000 miles a year. While I doubt that the US average is 25mpg I'll use your number, that's 960 gallons of gas a year. Back when Bush took office it was $1.50 (don't know the real number, you fill it in) so that gas cost $1,440, today at $4.05 a gallon that same gas cost $3,888, an increase of $2,448 per your average family. You go on to say that the cost will soon eat up all the discretionary income we have, but you did not give a source to show what the discretionary income is, or was. Also, the $10,000 number you used was over the top, but $5,000 would be a pretty reasonable number to use based on the calculation above.

I think if you do these things your argument will be stronger.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. Thanks for the feedback.

The second paragraph indicates that on 1/21/01, RUG was $1.38. I got that price from http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/mogas_history.html

For the purposes of this letter, "discretionary income" is 20% of gross income of a median family. Over the last 88 months (since Bush was inagurated) gas has inflated in value 1.3% per month, but that inflation rate has been accelerating. Since 6/6/2005 it has inflated at 2% per month.

At a 1.3% monthly inflation rate, the price 48 months from now will be $8.00. At 2% per month; $11.09. In the interest of choosing round numbers, I picked $10,000/year (which equates to a 1.85% rate of monthly inflation).

[RebelOne]

3. Great letter. I like the paragraph about not admitting you voted for Bush. n/t

[Andy823]

4. Take oil and food

Out of the commodities market! Big corporations are buying up both gas and food, and forcing prices higher and higher in order to make huge profits, and this is hurting the whole world! Leaders around the world need to crack down on those who are using the markets to get rich off the suffering of others.

[Fumesucker]

5. Build small, efficient diesels here in the US?

Why is that not an option?

We have the diesel know how, just look at Gale Banks.

http://bankspower.com/DmaxTypeR-ProjectOverView.cfm

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. No domestic manufacturers make small diesels.

IMHO, they won't do so until a market for them is established. That market can be established if the ones that are built elsewhere are imported.

[taught_me_patience]

10. Not a good idea

Diesel exhaust is very bad for the environment.

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. No. Misleading at best.

The five main emissions for petrol and diesel cars are:

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)

Hydrocarbons

Particulates

Diesels are only worse than gas engines in the area of particulates. Unfortunately that's the only one you can see. In terms of CO2, the diesel engine puts out much less, and can burn a fuel which is entirely carbon neutral.

http://www.stealthtdi.com/Emissions.html

[taught_me_patience]

13. I live in Los Angeles

Particulates (smog) is a bit of a problem here. We don't need more diesels smogging up the air worse than it already is.

[central scrutinizer]

7. the "doubling" calculations are wrong

If gas was $1.38 when he took office then after three years it would have been $2.76 (that would put us at 2004), then three years after that it would be $5.52 (2007) and if that trend continued until now, 2008, gas should be $6.95 a gallon. 1.38 * 2^(t/3)

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. It has been 88 months since he was sworn in.

That equates to a 1.3% monthly inflation rate. This means doubling about every 54 months. However, the recent (last 36 months) monthly inflation rate is 2% (doubling every 36 months). The rate of inflation is itself increasing.

If anyone wanted to argue the math it is very easy to draw a trendline on the data projecting a 6/6/2012 price of $10/gallon or more.

[central scrutinizer]

14. I was just working from your sentence:

"Since Bush took office, gas has doubled in price every 36 months."

Maybe change it to: "In Bush's second term, the price of gas has more than doubled in those 41 months ....."

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. The sentence could have been worded better.

The inflation didn't begin until Bush's policies really began to take effect. The price of fuel has doubled twice in the last 77 months. It was $1.05 on 12/17/01.

[zbdent]

9. don't forget the fact that the Republican-controlled Congress gave the oil companies

(who came crying to them, hats in hand, crying poor) massive tax breaks (corporate welfare), a mere two weeks before they announced HISTORIC PROFITS ...