sirdrakejr wrote:

Come on folks, get real!

Last year I was paying about $2.90 a gallon for diesel. This year so far I have paid UP to $4.40 a gallon. So the difference is $1.50 a gallon more this year. So if I tow my 35 foot 5th wheel 1000 miles this year it will cost me about $135 more at 12 MPG when towing. So is it worth stopping what I enjoy for a measly $135?? Sure the total sounds bad but the real difference is not bad enough to give up a lifestyle.

It isn't like we were paying NOTHING last year to travel. You have to compare the true costs of RVing this year against the past. We aren't that bad off. Let the "doom and gloomers" wail and weep. If they stopped to think about it, they would agree, this year is bad but not enough to stop RVing.

Am I wrong?
Frank

eltejano1 wrote:



One other thing - someone in the thread pointed-out that if we cut consumption by 10%, OPEC will simply lower production by that amount to maintain the price...reduce supply to maintain high prices just like some think is happening now.

Quote:


Maybe, maybe not. By this logic if they raised the price to $100,000 a bbl people would consume moreI don't see your point. How much oil could anyone buy at that price? Seems to me that consumption would be almost non-existant, demand would plummet and so would prices. - or any one of a dozen other combinations.

Simple fact is that OPEC only controls 40% of the total,they don't have to control it all, just enough to make us bleed--maybe 10-15% would do it under the present conditions and as oil prices go up, non-oil sources of energy become economically viable.True but it's the rapid transition and voyage into uncharted waters that's going to create more problems.

There's a lot of potential upside to this whole thing, if we are willing to see it and act on it.Though some think the best way to teach someone to swim is to throw them off the dock in ten feet of water. People need time to learn and adjust -- wait, I see my neighbor doggie paddling toward his dock at this very moment -- he's adjusting very well because his boat ran out of gas. Before that, he couldn't swim at all!

The politicians have to come up with an effective, realistic game plan that serves the citizens -- which probably means they will lose lobbist money -- that's why real solutions are tough to accomplish. That's a major problem and it's why they take so long to address problems and then eventually water them down to make it appear as if they accomplished something.

Removing big oil tax breaks and ethanol subsidies would be a start but see how successful or fast that idea will take hold. They'll want a study and won't act until after the elections, if then.

Edit: fixed double wording and clarified a sentence (poor proof reading)


* This post was edited 05/25/08 12:31pm by traxtermax *