ok… please do not bicker that its in all caps… thats how i recived it and didnt feel like re-typing it =P… and i put it in here instead of the off-topic because i figured more people read this forum instead of chit-chat…
I thought this was kinda cool idea… please post this on ALL forums that you go to!!! thank you!!!
IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.
AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.
THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED “STICK IT TO THEM” DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY.
THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU SPREAD THE WORD TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.
WAITING ON THIS ADMIINSTRATION TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?
REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!
WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON’T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.
I’m not trying to be a party pooper, but I seriously doubt that everyone in the United States would stop buying gasoline, even for one day. Some people’s jobs depend on the greedy consumption of petrolium, and most people prefer money to a healthy enviroment.
That would kind of defeat the purpose if you look below the surface.
Our economy depends on oil. That’s the way it works. Every major industry depends on oil on a day to day basis. Airlines, trucking lines, emergency services, etc. It would do more harm to the economy, and infrastructure in general, with all the business that would be lost and goods wasted in that one day by not purchasing gas, than if you actually did purchase the gas.
I’m not an expert on economics or anything, but don’t situations like this usually send the economy into chaos instead of stabilizing it and allowing for lower prices?.. They lead to underconsumption, which leads to heightened prices, no? shrug :yikes:
when I was a kid people did this for one day EVERY WEEK - and gasoline was only 35 CENTS a gallon
so I guess it works
BTW - we boycotted the gas stations every sunday - It worked so well that stations werent even OPEN on sundays for as far back into my youth as I can remember
It can’t hurt to try. And seeing how many people are in FIRST and if they all boycotted, that’t a large number of people and a large blow to the gas stations.
I hate to burst your bubble here… But according to the 2000 census. There are 281,421,906 people who live in the US. For all intensive purposes that is 281,400,000 people.
With FIRST we have roughly 1000 teams. So say on each team including all students, mentors, parents there are 50 people (this is an average some teams have 5 people and some 100). This gives us 50,000 people. When we do that math, 0.00018% of the country is involved in FIRST.
Now to reach 1% of the population we would need to have 75,000 teams with ~50 people (students, mentors, parents) on each team or 30,000 teams with 100 people on each. (BTW: I think this is what Dean is looking for (in the long-run) so that FIRST does have a major impact.)
I know how to reduce gas prices (and it doesn’t involve some silly boycott):
*Don’t nationalize Iraq’s oil. Right now we are turn Iraq into a Scandanavian Liberal Socialist state, which is absolutely silly. Privatize the Iraqi oil industry and let companies like Shell and Exxon come and pump that country dry! Think about it guys, we control more oil right now than any other country in the world (Iraq has second largest reserves, we have large reserves ourselves) and we are paying 2 bucks a gallon for gas? We should be paying seventy cents!
*Around 37-50 cents of each gallon of gas goes to the government (state, local, federal). Taxes are tyrannical and are driving up the cost of gasoline. Elminate them.
*Get rid of MTBE. Not only does it pollute water supplies, have carcingens, and threaten wildlife, it doesn’t work! Get rid of it!
*Kill all the elk in ANWR and drill drill! This will take awhile, but it will help America’s longterm energy future!
*Build more nuclear powerplants! I can hear all the hippies now: NUCLEAR POWER IS EVIL! No. No. No. Its the best source of power we have right now. Zero emissions, massive amounts of power, and little, easily stored waste. Even the French realize the benefits of nuclear power, they got seventy percent of their power coming from nuclear power. It will elminate competetion for oil.
*Allow the construction of more refineries. Duh.
*Get more oil from Mother Russia. A non-muslim, non-arab nation which isn’t controlled by OPEC.
About 10-12 years ago, that wasn’t unrealistic. I remember (and my parents definitely remember) that gas prices weren’t much over $1.00, and sometimes it’d drop to 90-some-cents.
In regards to stick it to them day, it’s not going to work.
The only problem with eliminating taxes altogether, however, is the fact that the American government is using part of these funds to compensate for what debt the nation does have. If we rid ourselves of taxes on oil, we will forever be in a hole that we cannot dig ourselves out of. =/
I go 2 weeks at a time without buying gasoline, so I don’t think wendsday will be a problem.
I’d say the problem lies more with the car companies and the American people. Car companies keep putting out bigger and bigger SUVs and trucks, and Americans keep buying them, like the consumer whores we all are. Yes, some people need larger cars for their jobs or because they have large familes. Why on earth does Toyota have 5 different SUVs to choose from?
I could keep rambling, but, I have no need for a large vehicle. As it is, my camry is too large. Stop wasting the gas, America.
I could sit here and poke holes in your arguments for the rest of the day…
Here’s the main points-
We don’t control Iraq, we have already established a provisional government with members from all 3 sects of Islam, and are working with them so that they can run their country with full autonomy. If you’re talking about military power, then sure, we have the ability to control their oil, but for all practical purposes, we don’t.
What’s wrong with Socialism? Look at Norway, and how good they live. They get paid for vacations in greece, EXCELLENT free healthcare, childcare, and the list goes on. There are some downsides, but it is not a system like communism that just doesn’t work.
I don’t know what you’re referring to when you say ANWR, but I’m going to assume you mean Alaska. If you look at the facts, that oil overall will not significantly reduce our dependency on oil from the middle east, and will destroy pristine wildlife.
Wait, you don’t like MTBE because it kills the environment, yet you want to kill a bunch of animals and irreparably destroy protected wilderness? Which one is it?
Unless you’ve figured out some way to put nuclear reactors in vehicles, nuclear powerplants will not eliminate our need for oil. Your argument that they produce very little, and managable waste is also untrue. We have tons and tons of nuclear byproducts, most of which are sitting in Yucca mountain, which was said to not be a safe place for storage in a recent study, I believe (It’s sitting over a fault or something, I think…)
Have you ever heard how much Europe pays for gas? I believe the average LITER, not gallon of gas is something like $4. That is why the French government is trying to find alternate power sources., among other reasons.
People like you are the ones that make foreigners think America is full of ignorant biggots, which isn’t an entirely false idea. Your entire argument is centered around only yourself, and not the larger picture. Since you like how France is handling their energy needs, why don’t you move there, then try to get a driver’s license, which will cost you something like $2000, and then have fun paying 2-3 times as much for less gas than you would get here. And you wonder why the middle east hates us so much when you make comments like that about arab nations…
I don’t even know why I’m wasting so much time responding to the ridiculous claims of someone like yourself.
P.S. Yan- I remember my parents telling me about the gas shortages of the late 1980’s. I dont know about back east, but around here you could only go get gas on certain days, and only some ridiculous amount like 4 gallons or something, for a ridiculously high price.
Getting rid of the gas taxes would be nice but it won’t happen.
Gas tax serves several purposes.
First it builds the roads. No money, no roads, nowhere to drive on.
The second purpose is it serves a Pigovian tax. It is an incentive for people not to buy huge SUVs and to drive as much as you want. They want you to think. Hey gas is 2 dollars. Maybe I should by a more fuel efficient car that doesn’t kill the environment.
I like the high prices. Maybe it will force some people to think about what they are doing driving a SUV or will help spur development in renewable energy sources in cars.
We hunt down every still-functioning FIRST robot, and stick a seat on it. Thirteen seasons, a few thousand robots, a lot of oil in the long run.
Point and laugh at every truck and SUV that does not have a trace of mud on it, or any other sign of use as a workhorse. (I will, however, make an exception for luxury SUVs with obscenely large wheels. They just keep spinning!)
Drive more mopeds. Those things get crazy mileage…and you can park about six in the space of one car.
Require any driver who gets less than 20 MPG to take their wallet out and whack themselves on the head…before paying. (Afterwards, it’d be too light to have an effect!
