Found this video on youtube of the trucks circling the national mall in DC today protesting insurance and fuel prices http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikRvmoLb1bo
Holy crap! They dont seem to be so happy! I find it funny that they are complaining abount fuel prices, but they dont seem to mind using it.
reminds me of gays marching to "raise awareness", i could be wrong, but don't believe their efforts will accomplish much.
The invasion of Iraq is costing US taxpayers $5,000.00 (five thousand dollars) per second X 24hrs/day. It looks like GW Bushes idea for cheap oil has backfired. I hope Washington heard your message???????? Maybe they just don't care!!!!!!!!!.........C ya.........Ray
They warned that oil could go up so I dont know where cheap oil was supposed come in... Why wouldnt they park on washington instead of drive shut the city down with trucks?
any chance you can give me a URL to some news article where bush said this?
they won't care if there hand is in the oil companies back pocket, thats just the way washington is about everything
I'm of the opinion that this is way bigger than just the independent driver trying to make a living. I am not a driver but I've been around trucks a while and I drove explosives while in the Navy and I've heard the stories. A person has the right to make a living and if they deem it necessary to go it alone then there are risk they have to except. I'm not saying driving for a company is any better, but did showing up in D.C. help the farmers? I mean did it really? I know we all have heard of Farm aid. We the people have to demand lower prices and alternatives to the current fuels. All this stuff will cost a lot of money but the efforts would be a good thing I believe but putting federal mandates doesn't do anything except cause problems. Affirmative progress is the only way we can see this through; hell I could be wrong but something has got to give. I don't think our world could handle another great depression because it would become mass chaos.
If you DON'T protest, you'll never have your voices heard...Sooner or later, you won't see any trucks on the highway. Better prepare your backyard garden beds now..
You are right but this subject isn't new and we all have known it has been on the horizon for a long time! It saddens me that our nation as a whole has little regard for optaining alternatives to the fuel prices. Our leaders are in each others pockets and doing deals instead of looking out for our future. I've got a lot of space for a garden and as long as Mother Nature keeps the land moist I won't starve and neither will my neighbors. It is gonna be a long haul for sure!
Because you can be ticketed for in proper parking. You also cause gridlock by driving. Which is the point. That way everyone in town is being directly effected by the protest
If they REALLY wanted to be effective. They should all park their trucks, in the middle of the raod, get out, lock the doors...and walk away....go home and go fishing...
then i would have them all towed/impounded...and make them pay up before they got their trucks. their protests as valid as they might be, should not impede the normal flow of traffic of other people trying to get to their jobs, schools, or hinder public safety equipment "police/fire dept./ambulances".
I agree that something has got to give on the fuel prices, how that happens I am not smart enough to figure out. I was traveling today and kept a mental record of the diesel prices. At one highway stop, a station had on-road for $4.15 and another station across the interstate had on-road for $3.97 - crazy isn't it?:beatsme 50 miles up the road fuel was $3.95. I just wish someone would offer an explanation (other than greed) for a $.20 per gallon difference in 50 miles, in the same state. We all hear the rationalization from the big oil companies that "Yes we have record profits but we are still making the same percentage because the cost of oil has risen and so is our nominal amount of profit". OK that is all great and wonderful, big oil is not screwing us, they are still making the same percentage of profit. ointhead Now let's get down to us "bottom feaders", you know the small business man. I had a 30% increase in fuel costs from Feb to March of this year. Now does anyone think I just past this cost on to my customers ? NO! I am having to eat it and still compete for jobs. I would love to be able to set my overhead and profit margin at 25% and calculate my jobs by cost, plus my O&P. There will be point in time, if the fuel prices keep rising that the trucks and equipment will have to be parked, until the cost basis of doing business catches up with the markets ability to pay for our services. I can stay at home and be broke - I don't have to work towards it.
There is the economics at work that defines prices by supply and demand. The demand is high and as of now the supply is controlled by the oil cartel. We aren't out of oil yet but production is kept low to keep prices high. Consumers have a lot of power in this game, however, they have to act as a group to make a difference. They have tried the schemes like don't buy fuel on Monday etc.etc. which really doesn't do anything to make a difference. And people aren't yet willing to alter their lifestyles and not use the same amount of gas this year that they did last year etc. There is a scenario that would work if everyone cooperated. Exxon/Mobile is the largest producer of fuel in the US. If everyone boycotted Exxon/Mobile for one week - just don't buy from them, continue to use the same amount of fuel but from someone else - they would lower their prices to get you back to them. When they lower their prices the smaller companies would do the same. If this happened every time unreasonable price hikes took place, the consumer would have some control over the price and the oil companies profits wouldn't be so high. The question becomes, how do you get everyone to understand how this would work and act accordingly.
"peak oil" is the term people should be more aware of. what it comes down to is nothing being done by big oil is illegal. immoral, unpatriotic, unethical given the tax breaks and lease prices for land both offshore and on for their use. i'll tip my hat to the truckers that at least tried to do something. way to go. :usa http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3340274697167011147 a video some may want to see.
well a cartel is not legal and yet we depend on them and so does the market! Interesting video and eye opening topics and points. And to think if we hadn't bought Alaska from Russia!
Cartels aren't legal in this country, but I don't think that holds true for the world in general. I'm not 100% certain on that though. I was actually just talking with a guy at work about the whole "don't buy from Exxon/Mobile" thing. Even if people were disciplined enough to follow through, it wouldn't do anything. The other companies would quickly run out of supplies and just buy the extra from Exxon/Mobile, who be be happy to sell it. You may annoy their accountants for a little while as they run some new numbers, but not much more.
For those that think that impeding traffic, blocking intersections etc. is going overboard, and that the trucks should be impounded or towed...might I remind you, that this Country, which is overflowing with taxation, was created to stop unfair taxation. I guess it's a good thing that the "signers" weren't worried about their homes or possessions being impounded, we might all be speaking "proper english" yet..
They can be married here in Massachusetts looks like they accomplished something.
The best thing we can do is elect the right people into office that will not back down to the sierra club and alike. Some many peole bash big oil, but our goverment make way more $$$ then they do with there taxes of fuel and they ain't the one drilling, refining it, or ECT.
What I get a kick out of is people saying the government should tax big oil more. They dont seem to stop and think. These companies sell a product, at a reasonable profit margin. They are not going to eat the cost of an additional tax. Wheres that money going to come from? They are going to pass it on to the gas pump, and therefore, passing the tax back to the people that wanted to use it as punishment in the first place. I can understand, using the ragheads oil before we use our own. So if the world ever does run out we have our own supply, and a chance to convert completely to another fuel. That being said, we still need to start using more of our domestic supply. Lets start doing more offshore wells. The one that gets me is we can not drill in areas around florida, yet Cuba is allowing Chinesse companies to drill within miles of our proposed well locations. Anyone see anything wrong with that? We need to use what we have. That being said, a lot of the price point issue is due to the weak dollar. A lot like the late 70s and early 80s. Top that off, china is devaluing its currency to keep their products cheap. Top that off with a strong demand from China and India, add the speculators trading oil. It all leads to these prices.
Well said Turbo, most people do not understand that corporations do not pay taxes, it is passed on to the consumer in the form of higher cost. I saw a political campaign flyer for H. Clinton the other day. It had 3-4 pictures across the page with captions under each one. The only two that really stuck in my head was one that said " I want to strengthen the middle class with blah,blah,blah ". The last picture on the far right said " I want to tax large oil corporations and make them reinvest in new fuel alternatives" So Hill, let me get this straight - You want to help the middle class gain strength and help us out and you are going to tax big oil to make them pay their fair share. To me the biggest cost increase facing the middle class is the fuel prices - gas and diesel. Gas for the family car and we all pay for the diesel increases in everything we buy. Tax the oil corp.'s more and the price of gas goes up further, putting pressure on the middle class. I laughed so hard at that flyer, but the real problem is most folks just don't understand basic economics and business. (Victims of our modern public education system thats to busy teaching self-esteem and political correctness instead of writin' and 'rithmatic - but that is another issue) When a large corporation has an increase in costs, IE - new taxes, these new costs are put into the economic model and prices rise accordingly. Don't get me wrong I am not taking up for big oil or their insane profits - I hate the SOB's, but they are necessary evil. I wish I could guarantee my profit margin regardless of how much my costs go up like big oil does.
i'm all for right of protest, demonstration, saying your piece...saying your piece does not entitle you to the right to be heard...nobody is forced to listen. i say protest, demonstrate all you want, have at it...but when you start affecting other people's lives and livlihood, their safety...that's yet another story. were your house on fire, or your wife and children home alone with a burglar in there with them, and fire depts or police depts couldn't get to them in a timely fashion because there was a mile of abandoned trucks blocking their path....or if you were just late for work. or missed your daughter's piano recital...you'd think differently about just abandoning your truck.
Illegal Here's another fact also-illegal people cost more money in this country than the war! All the people complain about the war-what about this??!! Hear all the lip service from the political arena about the war but on't address this??
Well after digesting the original video clip and thinking about big-oil and the world leaders it seems to me we all are in for a long ride, we’ve been given much and pretty much spoiled so if we jammed up we all are going to have to learn to do without-or say it don’t matter and whine while we do our jobs while forking out the cash. This global market and oil consumption is a really big picture and one I suspect we just can’t get out of no matter how much oil is under our soil. We couldn’t afford to close off our borders and just use our supply without some sort of backlash in the “global” markets. Oh yes this might take many years but the fact is as long as china and india and many other rapidly developing nations have the pull we are just along for the ride. Just keep in mind the affects of greed and how everyone gets a piece of the action after the fact!
This sums it up... No taxation without representation http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/det/639254501.html
I for one dropped my fuel usage by near 1/3 in the last couple years. I quit driving my pickup(10 mpg) and got me a sheet-box that gets 30 mpg. As much as I HATE driving it, it's a necessary evil. We've been fat and sassy for the last 15-20 yrs, and now that everyone is spoiled rotten, the reigns have to be pulled in big time to just survive meagerly. The people that are really hurting are the ones still trying to live the BIG dream-on credit cards! Deeply in debt and getting worse. The story I always remember is the start of one of the Mad Max films.....showing how the "fuel stopped" and kaos started. Back in the 80's is seemed far fetched....now it seems closer to a reality.