Boortz : JUST STOP WHINING ABOUT GASOLINE PRICES

Nealz Nuze ^ | May 17, 2007 | Neal Boortz

[cweese]

My goodness, people! Don't you realize that there are things in your life that you really need to be worrying about? What's all this weeping and moaning over gas prices?

With every single paycheck the Imperial Federal Government seizes about 14% of the money you have earned. This money is put into an income redistribution fund from which you may or may not draw a check when and if you reach a certain age. Die too soon and that money goes to someone else .. not to your heirs. Live long enough and you may .. just may ... get most of your money back, though there is no legal guarantee that you'll get a cent.

Yet here you sit pissing and moaning about gas prices.

We did the math here last week, but let's pull out the calculator again for those of you who don't come here every day.

First, the figures:

According to the AAA, one year ago the price of regular was $2.929. Today that price is $3.114. That's an 18.5 cents per gallon increase over the past year.

Now we go for the average gas mileage for cars in the U.S. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that as of 2004 the average mpg for new cars sold in the U.S. was 24.7. In 1980 it was 23.1. So, to make a point here, we're going to go even below the average price for 1980. We're going to use 20 mpg.

Now ... for those of you who went to government schools, I'll do the math for you. You're driving your family of four 1400 miles to get to Disney World and back. That means you'll be burning 70 gallons of gas at 20 mpg. The gas is now 18.5 cents more expensive than it was last year. Let's go ahead and round that UP to 20 cents. So, we burn 70 gallons and each gallon costs 20 cents more than it cost last year. That's going to cost you an amazing $14.00.

Oh My God! What an incredible tragedy! What a devastating blow to your finances! You're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Florida this year than you did last year! That's $3.50 for each family member! How in the hell are you ever going to be able to afford this? Alert your local radio station news department! Call the newspaper! Sound the alarm! Americans are being crippled by these rising gas prices! Call your politician. Something has to be done about the evil oil companies! Get the government involved! We need more regulation!

Oh .. and you people driving to and from work need to be outraged too! Are you doing your share of the whining?

The average commute to and from work in this country is 16 miles. Now of course we know that cars don't get the mileage on a stop-and-go commute as they do on the road, so we're going to lower the gas mileage figure from 20 to 15. So, you're driving 32 miles (on the average) to get to work and back every day. That is gobbling up about 2.13 gallons of gas. Go back to that 18.5 cents per gallon increase over last year and you'll see that you're spending about 40 cents more for gas for your commute this year than you were last year. That would be about $2.00 a week. Less than the price of a decaf skinny latte at Starbucks. A lot less.

Oh, the humanity! You're spending less than the cost of three text messages on your cell phone every day to cover the increasing cost of gas! Tell your boss you're going to have to quit! You just can handle this any more! Get fired! Go on unemployment! Forty cents a day! That's it! Your back is broken!

Come on people, wake up! Your governments -- local, state and federal -- are stealing money from you every single day to fund vote-buying programs. Your local elected officials are ripping you off to support welfare artists and to study the mating habits of Polish zlotnika pigs. How do you think they feel when they see you griping about gas prices? They LOVE it! They steal you blind and there you sit complaining because you're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Disney World and back. They take 14% of the money you earn every day -- money you may or may get back with virtually no interest -- and you're spinning around on your eyebrows because you're spending 40 cents a day more to get to that job and back home again!

[the OlLine Rebel]

“...I don’t want the government to do a damned thing about it. I just want more alternatives to become more widely available. Surely you can’t be against that.”

Then YOU invent and/or innovate the “alternatives”.

Why do people these days act like we are all GODS, capable of coming up with ANYthing and it actually being VIABLE and FEASIBLE?

The problem with saying that we must come up with alternatives is exactly that - 1 just doesn’t go TA-DA! Presto, chango, new and truly viable fuel souce!

So because it doesn’t “just happen” fast enough for anyone, they go to the GOVERNMENT to try incongruously to FORCE these magic things to happen.

And on goes the vicious cycle of government abuse, never mind false hopes.

[lucysmom]

Not to mention how the Leftists are creating a situation through the power of the Imperial Federal Gubmint where refinery capacity is intentionally held back by blocking permitting to build new refineries.....

Would you please back that up with a link that provides specific examples and not just general statements.

As far as I'm aware, the EPA only received one request for a permit to build a new refinery from 1975 to 2000. The permit was granted.

Shell Oil Co. plans to put the brakes on production at its Bakersfield refinery in July and August, potentially shorting California's fuel supplies during the summertime driving season, according to internal Shell documents.

The planned cutback is the latest development in the controversy over the refinery, which can process up to 70,000 barrels a day of crude oil and makes about 2% of California's gasoline supply and 6% of its diesel. Shell has said it will close the facility Oct. 1 in a move that experts predict will boost pump prices by worsening the chronic imbalance between supply and demand in the state.

The internal documents obtained by The Times, including a refinery output forecast, indicate that Bakersfield will soon be producing far less than its capacity. After relatively high output rates in May and early June, Shell plans to cut crude oil processing about 6% in July and another 6% in August, according to the forecast.

http://www.energybulletin.net/717.html

What the article indicates is that here, in California - the land of environmental wackos, even the leftists don't want the refinery shut down - Shell oil wanted it shut down, and it was.

Blaming the enviormental wackos, and blaming the leftists just might deflect attention from the men behind the curtain who have discovered that constricting gasoline supplies allows them to sell less and profit more.

[colorado tanker]

I will believe gas prices are really too high for the average American when they start punishing politicians for keeping ANWR and the Outer Continental Shelf off limits to production. Until then, they’e just treating high prices as a nuisance.

[JackDanielsOldNo7]

That being said, it is not the fault of the oil companies. The world market sets the price for oil and demand is way up and the supply stays somewhat stagnant.

Gas this year is (with oil at 63.00 barrel) as expensive as it was with oil at 79.00.

Our most recent report says gasoline and oil supplies are healthy.

So why in the hell are they charging so much. Just curious.

Last year it was Iran. So what is the excuse this year.

[lucysmom]

Well, yeah that too. If the govt. is so worried about these rising prices, they should put a moratorium on the 18% taxes per gallon!!

Neal wants to add a 30% federal sales tax to the price of a gallon of gas. As far as I know, his plan does not propose to remove the federal or state excise taxes.

[ZULU]

The MSM and EVEN MORE, the “Educational Establishment” is controlled by leftwing radicals.

It was BAD back in the 1960s when I was in college, and it has only gotten worse. These “flower children” have invaded the high schools and elementary schools and are brainwashing kids with politically correct garbage.

It will be an uphill fight, but its a fight we can’t afford to loose or someday America will be Islamicized or a clone of some effete western European socialist state.

But unless we get a good communicator who is a conservative in office in 2008, things will be very bad indeed.

[thackney]

Because it's going to be pretty hard to find a dirt cheap used non-oil based fuel car.

And I have sent you links multiple time for conversion kits to gasoline cars to LPG and diesel to SVO.

You have enough invested in this issue to respond to every single person that complains about the ridiculous price of gasoline. What's your angle?

I want people to know and act on the source of our problem. The NIMBY's, environmentalists, legislators and courts that support them prevent us from producing our resources, building more refineries. The use the Tax Code to select fuels that that consume more resources than fair competition would promote.

I just want more alternatives to become more widely available. Surely you can't be against that.

I GREAT with that. Blaming oil companies and claiming we have no choice will not fix the problem. Promoting the choices that are already available, getting people to stand up to those who hold us back from our resources and building our infrastructure would be much more productive and actually make things better in the long run.

[mysterio]

You're easily one of the more intelligent members of FR so I'm really surprised by this.

I don't know about that, but thanks.

The rising price of oil is a bad thing and Boortz is wrong when he tries to downplay it.

Agreed.

That being said, it is not the fault of the oil companies. The world market sets the price for oil and demand is way up and the supply stays somewhat stagnant.

Yes, I agree with this. Although sometimes I do wonder if the choked down refining capacity is something that is on purpose rather than purely a result of NIMBY. That being said, we are now paying for not learning our lesson in the mid 70s.

This is also coupled with the falling value of the dollar thanks to the spending and fiscal irresponsibility of the GOP over the last years.

I agree completely.

We can't do much about supply as the OPEC nations would just cut their production in response to our added supply to the market and wait us out. We can, work on demand, however, and not something as silly as ethanol.

I am hoping for nuclear power plants, biodeisel, and eventually hydrogen if the technology improves.

We can make the dollar stronger again by forcing our government to have fiscal responsibility.

Agree.

Something that makes me upset on these threads is the attitude that most people who complain about gas could easily solve their problem, that they are silly for complaining, and are hypocrites because the don't complain about the price of orange juice. I've seen that argument here countless times, as if our nation's economy runs on orange juice the way it runs on oil. Call the complainers silly hypocrites, fine. But the health of the economy depends on those silly hypocrites having some discretionary income left to spend on products other than gasoline. It can't continue like this forever.

[thackney]

This is also coupled with the falling value of the dollar

Would this have a lower impact if we produced more oil domestically?

[JeffAtlanta]

And on goes the vicious cycle of government abuse, never mind false hopes.

Actually, this is one of the few valid purposes of government as it does directly affect national security and the economic well being of the country.

The price of gasoline could be dropped tomorrow if state and federal governments would reduce the gasoline taxes and offset the lost revenue by cutting spending.

[Realism]

Please review this chart and tell me where gasoline retail sales are up so drastically to justify high demand pricing.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_cons_psup_dc_nus_mbbl_m.htm

[cweese]

You have a link?

[the OlLine Rebel]

My point was people want Government to somehow force people to come up with great ideas that will save everything.

Reality is that you can’t even expect that good ideas are ever going to happen, much less come to fruition and actually be truly efficient.

[JeffAtlanta]

Would this have a lower impact if we produced more oil domestically?

In the short run, I believe the answer is yes, but then government spending would soon just catch up again. That is one reason why I don't think drilling here is that big of deal as far as price. An even bigger reason would be that OPEC would mostly likely just cut production limits enough to stabilize prices again and just wait us out.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I think all you’re showing is the US.

You need to expand to the world market.

[Dianna]

I have a problem with a company doubling it’s profits in just 2-3 years when it it pinching the pockets of 1/2 of America.

Hmmm, I wonder what the profit is on tampax or diapers.

[Jokelahoma]

They don't have to go up dramatically overall, just in relation to the supply, which is currently low. Demand could, in fact, remain constant, but if the supply drops, prices rise. It's all relative. If supplies stay steady and demand increases, prices rise. If supplies decrease while demand stays the same, prices rise. Demand relative to supply drives price.

Lack of refineries and the need to change over every spring and autumn due to EPA regulations creates a shortage. So, take a moderate to large steady increase in demand, leave your refining capacity at current levels, and then drop available supplies, and what do you think happens to prices?

[Jokelahoma]

In fact, based on the chart you linked, current refining is only producing ~87% of what it did in December of ‘06. That’s going to cut into supplies.

[lucysmom]

I think many of us, me included, could make a lot of cuts in our spending. We just don’t want to. We would rather gripe instead.

And if we're willing to make those cuts - what happens to the businesses whose products and services we are sacrificing?

[thackney]

Please review this chart and tell me where gasoline retail sales are up so drastically to justify high demand pricing.

It is supply and demand. In spite of high prices demand this May is higher than ever.

U.S. Weekly Finished Motor Gasoline Product Supplied
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/wgfupus2w.htm

At the same time, gasoline stocks are very low.

But it is going to get better. There are many refinery expansions and upgrades going on. The high prices make importing more desireable and provides more capital for still more investment into production.