[floridamama]

Oh my gosh! I cannot get over how much it costs to fill up at the pump these days, and they are predicting it is only going to get worse! We are at about $3.00 per gallon here in Florida. At least today we are. Tomorrow will be higher, I'm sure.
Just had to vent! I don't know how some people (low income, seniors etc...) are doing it? We feel it in our pocket book and we are not wealthy...I can't imagine how these folks are handling it.

[babydawn]

I was just watching a news report on all of this. The whole concept behind the story was that we need to find a solution to being so dependant on foreign oil. The couple of ideas that they had were to require more car companies to make ethanol friendly cars, or to start drilling in Alaska. What does everyone else think? AND do you have any other ideas which might help the problem?

[pattiewrites]

That's about the same price as we have here. It's ridiculous, especially after the report issued a few weeks ago that showed the gas companies made unprecedented profits last year. So what's their excuse?? I've heard that there are more drive offs from the pumps with the rising costs. I can't say I blame the people. If you're making minimum wage and you need to choose between gas and food, I can see people driving away without paying out of desperation.

We definitely need to get off oil and not just foreign oil. Alaska doesn't have enough to get us off foreign oil for the long term. It's a short term solution. We need to invest in ethanol or hydrogen technology. If Brazil can do it, America surely can! My husband and I will be getting a hybrid car when the time comes that we need a new one.

[babydawn]

What was insane on this news report was it was saying that if car companies had to improve their vehicles gas mileage just one mile per gallon that it would save 1 1/2 million barrels of oil a day.

[workingdad]

A very radical idea would be to tax companies that manufacture stuff that exacts an environmental toll. If you make it too costly for GM to make an internal combustine engine that runs on fossil fuels, then you give GM an incentive to develop an alternative. Right now, there's no alternative, esp since the oil companies have created recent American energy policies.
keep applying pressure now. Right now the oil companies are getting a beating in the media because of record profits and soaring prices. People have to get mad and get organized for more action.

[seeemilywrite]

I had erad somewhere that car companies intentionally made cars taht wern't very energy efficenient just to cause people to buy more fuel, and make oil companies more money. Whether or not the article was true or not I can't really say. It does seem like there is a slight "conspiracy" going on somewhere.

[workingdad]

Originally Posted by seeemilywrite

I had erad somewhere that car companies intentionally made cars taht wern't very energy efficenient just to cause people to buy more fuel, and make oil companies more money. Whether or not the article was true or not I can't really say. It does seem like there is a slight "conspiracy" going on somewhere.

this is certainly plausible. Fuel economy is worse now that it's ever been, although the EPA milage estimates are long outdated.

[blossy]

Tell me about the horrible prices we are paying at the petrol pump. I've done some quick calculations and conversions of what I pay in Australia compared to my fellow friends in the US.
I pay equivalent to $4.39 per gallon .. it's a shocker I know!

[LisaDK]

I think we need to be very careful about blaming the oil companies. The price of gas is NOT determined by them. It is determined by the supply and demand. Has anyone considered the demand that has been put on the oil supply by China? Until just a few years ago very few people there had vehicles, but number of people who have vehicles is growing every day. As for the record profits they are making and people who don't think it is fair . . . sure if they are price-gauging that is one thing, but I don't think they are. Although it is highly doubtful that I'll ever make that much money, I don't want to be 'investigated' if I did. Isn't that what is so wonderful about America? The government wants to be so hard on the oil business, but where was the government when the price of a barrel of oil was at $10 and everyone was struggling? They didn't care then so why should they care now.

With all that said, I understand that the price of gas does pinch everyone's wallets, but I don't feel it is right to throw blame places it doesn't belong. And a final thought . . . you pay more for a gallon of milk and a cup of starbucks than you do for a gallon of gas.

[mcmama]

So what is it like now where you live, as we are into summer? Better? Worse? We had an interesting little fight here in NJ with our new governor thinking that he should make NJ self serve, and that would make everything cheaper. Regarldess of what you think of self serve, NJs gas is the cheapest around! People line up at the stations just before the bridge to NYC to get "cheap jersey gas".

He was also set to tax the people who pump the gas $1 an hour for the privilege of working here. Doesn't sound like a way to cool prices at the pump to me!