Ok, it won't be the solution but it will be a way to get your message heard LOUD and CLEAR.

I have an idea that will shut down the big oil companies or at least slow them down to a crawl.
You all have heard that if we stop driving for a week (ALL of us), oil companies would be begging us to buy fuel.
And we all know that would be next to impossible to do as you can't get 2 people in theis country to agree on crap any more.

Here is my plan and it is a damn good one. It will only take a small handfull of the US population to acomplish.
It is sort of like a Convoy like back in the 70's.
We all drive down to the refineries along the coast. hundreds and hundreds of us. The streets would be clogged and at a stand still with everyone having no choice but to have one HUGE Tailgate party!!
In the mean time, there are not enough police to even think about trying to tow us away and not enough tow trucks either. Not to mention you can't tow a Cummins that is CHAINed to 50 other Cummins trucks!!!
Now while all this is going on, the big oil folks will be loseing Millions of $$ because the can't move the oil from the refineries.
The only problem I see is figuring a safe legal way to slow or stop the railroad that carries the fuel up north.

This would be the BIG story on all the major New Networks and a shot that would be hear round the world. The more people see whats going on, the more people drive down to be a part of it.

I call it "Operation Eye for an Eye" . They screw me and I am going to screw them!!
Can you imagine every Oil burner along the Gulf Coast packed in like sardines in front of these refineries? Ford, Powerstrokes and Cummins alike!!
The air filled with SOOT and the noise of a thousand Straight pipes!!

 

You do realize that most fuelsare sent from refineries to distributors using great big piplines, right?

 

you want lower fuel prices. . .then declare open season on these enviro wackies. . .we dont need to shut refineries down, we just need to have a larger refining capacity. The last oil refinery was built back in 1978, and they have been closing ever sicne due to tighter and tighter restrictions on these refineries.

loosen the grip on these guy's and prices will come down. . .BTW, if the "law makers" of this country have their way and increase taxes on oil. . .who do you think will pay them

 

Unfortunately Buzzy, we'd all spend a ton on fuel to get down there in the first place.

Look, there's only one way to do it: stop buying fuel, period. For me, I work from home and really only have to pay up when I take long trips. But for most people, there's just no way around it. Drew's right to an extent. It's just the way the market works, especially the market paired with this political system that has us by the *****.

 

We're all impressed by your imagination and exuberance, but I don't see how that would help. If you could actually bottle-up some of the refineries and cause them to limit production or deliveries, it would cause fuel prices to increase. (economics geeks take note: decreasing the quantity supplied on a given demand curve causes an increase in price)

Oil companies are not the enemy here. They are a necessary middle-man. They buy crude oil on a world marketplace (or pump it out of the ground themselves), refine it into the products we buy, and distribute it to every corner of the globe. What's wrong with that? When the price of crude goes up on the world market, the price of fuel naturally goes up as well. As the economies in Asia improve, they buy more petroleum, which increases world demand. The oil companies make about 10% profit, which I think is reasonable for a publicly traded company. I don't directly own any oil stocks, but if I did I would want them to make a decent profit.

If you think the oil companiesare making too much money at your expense, you could always buy a few shares of the stock yourself. Then you could go to the annual shareholder meeting and demand that the company make less money!

 

I think people should just stop crying about it. It is what it is. Prices are not going to come back down. There not going to be steady, (for longer than a couple of months anyway) there going to go up. If your having a problem putting fuel in your full size, 7000+ lb, fuel hog truck. Sell it. It's really a very simple solution to the price of diesel, if it's too much for you to have to pay, to play. Sell it,and get something that can go 30 mpg.

 

Joel. . .I think the profit margin for oil companies is less than 10%. and yes, Fuel is a futures market. you are basicaly paying for what it will probably cost your local store to refill its tank. the stores themselves are making not much more than 2-3 cents per gallon of fuel. It is the government that is realy raking in the dough. 50-60 cents per gallon if not more. so if you look at it, the government is making more of a profit on fuel than even the oil comapnies.

We all need to push our representatives in Washington and tell them to lift the restrictions on ANWAR so we can truly see what is up there.

 

THAT is a good idea. ANWAR could be a mini-Kuwait, but we don't know because of Congress (primarily Democrats). They won't even let anyone drill test wells to see how much petroleum is present.

You're also right about the enviro-kooks. They're perpetually indignant about every energy related project, and apply a full-court press to any sort of progress. Power plants, refineries, pipelines, oil drilling, etc, all get held up by their arrogant meddling.

If we could open up a smoothly flowing source of domestic oil, plus add a few big refineries, it would take a lot of upward pressure off the price of fuel.

 

Drew and Joel hit it on the head!! Drill in the US. Call your GOV. and complain and complain. Sometimes it actually works. And yes, mostly Dumocrates!!! Although there are a few Rep. that don't hit on all 6 cylinders either. Hay Drew, run for office!!! you got my vote and my girfriends.

 

I saw on Fox news a couple of days ago that the U.S. gasoline reservesare larger now than at any point over the last 14 years. I don't get it. Everyone says that the refineries can't keep up, but that contradicts my first statement.