Neal Boortz...

[Guest Hyaloid]

Pulled this from his website (Boortz Website)this a.m. I'm a pretty big fan, and I got a kick out of this:

JUST STOP WHINING ABOUT GASOLINE PRICES

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!

[Guest Fuel]

Haha .... excellent read.

[TGO David]

Haha .... excellent read.

How's the mileage on that Hemi Ram these days?

[towerclimber37]

Nice! and pretty dead on accurate!

[Guest Fuel]

How's the mileage on that Hemi Ram these days?

It sucks, but as the article says the gas really isn't costing me that much more than it was a year ago. It's expensive to drive and that's all there is to it.

How's the mileage in your land yacht?

[molonlabetn]

Once again, Neil has hit the nail on the head... I agree.

For one, I'm alot more upset about the insane inflation of ammunition prices recently than the few extra dollars a week it takes to keep 3 gas tanks full...

[TGO David]

It sucks, but as the article says the gas really isn't costing me that much more than it was a year ago. It's expensive to drive and that's all there is to it.

How's the mileage in your land yacht?

It sucks too!

I keep toying with the idea of a 6cyl 4WD pickup of some sort (Tacoma?) but can't convince myself that I'd save enough in gas to make up for the difference in car payment.

[molonlabetn]

It sucks too!

I keep toying with the idea of a 6cyl 4WD pickup of some sort (Tacoma?) but can't convince myself that I'd save enough in gas to make up for the difference in car payment.

I had an '00 Tacoma several years ago, jacked up on 35"s, with some stout driveline mods... it still got 23-24mpg around town, and would outrun a 5.3L Silverado. I got it REALLY dirty, every weekend...

Damn I miss that truck...

But, I love my wife more...

[SkWaShDeM]

It sucks too!

I keep toying with the idea of a 6cyl 4WD pickup of some sort (Tacoma?) but can't convince myself that I'd save enough in gas to make up for the difference in car payment.

You won't. My 2000 Civic (supposedly rated for 25mpg city and 33mpg highway) gets 30mpg city and 40mpg highway. I paid cash for it two years ago. My annual insurance, gas & maintenance costs are less than 1/2 of what the payments would be on a new Civic that, at least last time I looked at one, is rated for 27mpg city and 35mpg highway. And the new one would cost more to insure.

[Donnie]

My truck gets 8 mpg around town and 12 mpg on the interstate. The next truck I get won't have a 8.1 liter gas burner in it or be a dually. I love the comfort of the truck being as it's got leather interior and a crew cab, but I can get the same cab on a smaller truck. I thought that I was going to need the extra hauling capacity of the dually when I bought it for towing equipment, but that didn't quite work out as I thought.

[Guest Fuel]

I keep toying with the idea of a 6cyl 4WD pickup of some sort (Tacoma?) but can't convince myself that I'd save enough in gas to make up for the difference in car payment.

Too funny. I had that same thought a while back. I like the Toyota quad cab truck. However, from what I could tell their V6 truck didn't get enough of an improvement in mileage over my truck to make it worthwhile.

I had an '00 Tacoma several years ago, jacked up on 35"s, with some stout driveline mods... it still got 23-24mpg around town,

How'd you manage that? According to Edmunds the '04 Tacoma V6 got 16/19 MPG. The 4 cyl wasn't much better. With 35" tires I would expect worse.

Damn I miss that truck...

But, I love my wife more...

Your wife was standing there when you typed that wasn't she?

[molonlabetn]

Too funny. I had that same thought a while back. I like the Toyota quad cab truck. However, from what I could tell their V6 truck didn't get enough of an improvement in mileage over my truck to make it worthwhile.

How'd you manage that? According to Edmunds the '04 Tacoma V6 got 16/19 MPG. The 4 cyl wasn't much better. With 35" tires I would expect worse.

Your wife was standing there when you typed that wasn't she?

It wasn't a V6... it was the 2.7 liter I-4. My std cab 4x4 with that big 4 banger was faster than the V6 Tacomas, and got significantly better mileage.

Plus, with manual locking hubs, the driveline of my truck had less friction than the factory trucks with automatic hubs. It was a 5-speed and I didn't go with super high-ratio final-drive either...

No, my wife wasn't standing over me... She actually really liked that truck too, to be honest. I got rid of it because I didn't have time to go off-roading anymore (got married). So now, my 'fun' vehicle is a 90's Camaro that I've been slowly (very slowly) making more badass over the last couple years... Will be building an engine for it this coming winter. I have no delusions of great gas-mileage for it though... (that's why I drive a 35+ mpg beater to and from work, and my wife drives a Ford Focus which gets around 30)

[Guest Len]

Of course much of the increase in ammo prices has been blamed on increased costs of shipping the raw materials and finished product. Increased shipping costs are blamed on higher fuel prices. Hmmm...

Anyhoo,

To me what is more interesting is the price of gas relative to the price of crude oil. Oil prices have moderated lately (around 62 bucks/barrel), even as gas prices have gon way up compared to a couple of months ago. This indicates problems at home (refinery capacity & performance, poor planning on the part of industry, yada...)

Despite the spike in gas prices, demand has gone up 2% over last year. People will not change their driving habits or voting habits. Much easier just to complain.

As for ammo prices, I suggest the "TGO Ammo Co-op." We buy in bulk and pass the savings on to the members. Why NRA does not do this is beyond me. Too socialist, I guess.

End of Len's

Once again, Neil has hit the nail on the head... I agree.

For one, I'm alot more upset about the insane inflation of ammunition prices recently than the few extra dollars a week it takes to keep 3 gas tanks full...

[wareagle]

It wasn't a V6... it was the 2.7 liter I-4. My std cab 4x4 with that big 4 banger was faster than the V6 Tacomas, and got significantly better mileage.

Plus, with manual locking hubs, the driveline of my truck had less friction than the factory trucks with automatic hubs. It was a 5-speed and I didn't go with super high-ratio final-drive either...

No, my wife wasn't standing over me... She actually really liked that truck too, to be honest. I got rid of it because I didn't have time to go off-roading anymore (got married). So now, my 'fun' vehicle is a 90's Camaro that I've been slowly (very slowly) making more badass over the last couple years... Will be building an engine for it this coming winter. I have no delusions of great gas-mileage for it though... (that's why I drive a 35+ mpg beater to and from work, and my wife drives a Ford Focus which gets around 30)

That's not too shabby. My 95 trooper (lifted, locked, teralow'd) only gets 13-15 mpg w/ 33 and 34s.

[Guest macho999]

I have the 07 Tacoma Ext. Cab 4x4 TURD pkg, not double cab, all stock for now with the 4.0 V6 and I'm getting 22-23 mpg on some crappy steep East KY roads like 66 and 221.

I haven't had it on the interstate yet so I will find out how it does when I head to Kingsport this weekend.

I'm tracking my mpg with the Scanguage II and have it all dialed in and calibrated.

[Guest Hyaloid]

I have the 07 Tacoma Ext. Cab 4x4 TURD pkg, ....

Your truck isn't brown is it?

[shaftbass]

Well the thing about that article is that it is comparing this year to last year. Last year, prices were jacked too. Compare the prices to 2 years ago when all this crap started.

[Guest jackdog]

Go get em Reef.

[Guest Hyaloid]

If the price of gas was such a factor, people would be curbing their driving habits substantially. That just isn't happening. It's yet another sensationalization by the media.

Supply and demand, pretty simple... more demand = higher price. If people buy vheicles that get 15 miles to the gallon (myself included in that), and don't plan on spending quite a bit for fuel, then that person is not too swift.

[Guest db99wj]

The problem I have with the gas industry is that last year and the year before and the year before and the year before........the prices spiked at certain times of the year. It was blamed on supply and demand of the summer season, it was blamed on the additives they put in the gas during the winter, they blame it on ________ insert whatever lame excuse that we have heard, the prices spike, and they for some reason never go back down to the previous lower levels once "everything has settled down". That low level bar is always a few notches higher than it was before.

Oh and the oil companies are having record billion plus dollar quarterly profits...

[TGO David]

Oh and the oil companies are having record billion plus dollar quarterly profits...

I suppose you could claim that oil companies should have a conscience and do their "patriotic duty" and cut profit margins some, but really... they are in the business to make money and this is a capitalist system. Besides, most of these oil companies are foreign interests anyway, and they could care less about helping America to that degree.

[Guest db99wj]

Nothing against profits, working on the part personally But you hear them complain that they don't have the refining facilities, the infrastructure, the out of date drilling facilities that can't keep up with demand, well spend some of that profit for upgrades, new facilities, etc so that they can keep up with demand.

Anybody know what the price breakdown of gas really is? How much is the gallon of gas, how much tax is on that gallon, and where is that tax going? Is it multiple taxes?

[Guest Hyaloid]

Nothing against profits, working on the part personally But you hear them complain that they don't have the refining facilities, the infrastructure, the out of date drilling facilities that can't keep up with demand, well spend some of that profit for upgrades, new facilities, etc so that they can keep up with demand.

Anybody know what the price breakdown of gas really is? How much is the gallon of gas, how much tax is on that gallon, and where is that tax going? Is it multiple taxes?

I am sure that they would, if not for the many environmental regulations, and the fact that no on ewants a refinery in their backyard.

If you look at profit margins, the gas companies invest so much in drilling and research, and other associated costs, they on a % basis are actually less profitable than you local corner banking institution.

[TGO David]

I'm going to throw this out there for the sake of conversation...

Over the past 25 years... America has been lured away from producing petroleum from it's own natural reserves by the temptation of cheaper oil overseas. As more of our money was spent with OPEC, more and more American petroleum companies shut down because they couldn't compete with the cut-rate products coming from the Arab world.

Today we have a domestic petroleum industry that is pretty much a lifeless shadow of what it used to be one short generation ago. And now that OPEC has set the hook firmly in our jaw, they have ratcheted prices back up and taken away the cheap fuel that we had come to depend on. We've allowed ourselves as a nation to be sold out for the promise of "cheap energy" and now find ourselves completely dependent upon foreign oil sources.

If you think that this wasn't the master design of the Arab emirates to begin with, you're kidding yourself.

Compounding the problem, we have domestic sissies (Democrats, Liberals, Environmentalists, etc.) who staunchly refuse to allow domestic oil companies to drill in places where American oil resides. Alaska, the coastal areas, others... completely off limits because a few a--hole organizations, which are probably being subsidized by foreign oil conglomerates if we were privy to the truth of the matter, stand between us and energy independence.

We're fighting an enemy within AND without.

The same thing has happened to the domestic steel / iron production companies as well, but it's the Japanese and other Pacific Rim countries who lured us away with cheaper metals. And Americans, lazy and eager to pay less, have allowed it to happen.

America is being sold to foreign interests, part and parcel. It's been happening for the past 50+ years but anyone who has had the intelligence to spot it along the way has been discredited as an extremist, alarmist wacko or as being anti-global economy. Only now are more mainstream Americans starting to see that the alarm that's been sounding for so long wasn't just a few zealots crying wolf.

So, America finds itself at a crossroads. Do we as a nation retake control of our natural resources and tell the rest of the world to go fist itself, or do we allow our children's and grand children's legacies be sold off to the lowest bidder?

WAKE UP, AMERICA!!!

Just my $0.02 USD worth.

[Guest db99wj]

I'm still learning more about the oil, gas issues of the world, seems there are a lot that goes into it, on a world wide scale politically, environmentally, etc. I do know we are better off then the rest of the world as far as prices are concerned. Learning a lot here.

I am sure that they would, if not for the many environmental regulations, and the fact that no on ewants a refinery in their backyard.

If you look at profit margins, the gas companies invest so much in drilling and research, and other associated costs, they on a % basis are actually less profitable than you local corner banking institution.

Banks are struggling (relativity speaking) as well, because of outside companies. A 1 branch bank can compete with the larger banks because of outside 3rd party companies that can provide credit cards, investment programs, lending (outside the box of standard bank lending), leasing services, etc, here in Memphis, there are, the last number I heard anyway, 54 different bank/credit union charters in Shelby County alone. Are they profitable, very. As profitable as in the past, not quite.

My big issue today is how am I going to fit a family of 6 in my Jeep Grand Cherokee? My wife has a mini van and we will max out the seating capacity in a few months. I'm not driving a mini van. So I am going to have to look at a bigger SUV or just take her van everywhere we go as a family. I do like the Jeep Commanders and I do like the 4 door Wranglers, they seat 5.

I get 15 and 18 in my Jeep, with a 4.7L V8, 2" lift and 245/75/16's which are a hair short of 31". My thought is I sure as heck didn't buy it for the fuel economy!!!