Feeling the heat from Americans and members of his own party in Congress, President Bush today is speaking out against price gouging. He is expected to ask state governments to investigate whether the price at the pump is being illegally manipulated. While Bush's engagement in the gas crisis is a step forward, he has for too long sat idly by as Americans have suffered under the strain of increasing gas prices. When Bush came into office in January 2001, the average price of a regular gallon of gas was $1.46. Today, the price is $2.91, a 100 percent increase over the course of the Bush presidency. It remains to be seen if Bush is serious about taking action on this issue, or if this is merely a political overture.

http://www.alternet.org/story/35472/


With gas prices at an all-time high, Democrats, Republicans and President Bush are all quick to point blame. But they're ignoring the biggest offender: all of us.

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/35464/

Man I miss gas prices being $1.46 a gallon. I used to be able to fill up my tank with like 15 dollars. Now is costs me 30+ dollars; those were the days.

$1.46? when I started my job and was driving my 1977 8-cylinder buick regal it was $.91

In New Zealand, you can look forward to paying $6.25 USD at the pump per gallon =)

I think it was around $1.18 when I started driving...

NZ? who the f lives or drives there?

I still like to remember the old Wendys commercial where you see the guys driving up the street and they run outa gas, and all they have is 99 cents. And the voice asks "what can u get for 99 cents these days? either a gallon of gas or a some chicken nuggets" Of coarse the guys go with the chicken nuggets, while pushing their car up the street to wendys, unknowing of what surprises would lie in the future of gasoline prices. Chicken nuggets didnt go up at all in price.

the_reverend said:

Just got back a couple weeks ago.

My familly lives there. I stay there a few times a year. I'm probably moving there once I'm all done with school and get sick of Ma.

Aegathis nli said:

Holy shit I remember that commercial, man it'd be great if gas prices went back down to .99 a gallon.

"Bush's other big moves, announced this Tuesday, have been to relax clean fuel standards so that states with a high environmental bar for fuel emissions can burn dirtier fuel"
ARRRGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so bush uses high gas prices as his excuse to deregulate the energy industry while telling us that he will look into the problem of price gouging, yea im sure hes gonna get right to the bottom of that. meanwhile, industry is free to pump more carbon and sulfur into our atmosphere and NOONE GIVES A SHIT because it will save them a few cents a gallon at the pump. of course long after gas prices are double what they are now, industry will still be operating under lax emissions regulations because by then this little slight of hand by bush will be a memory more faded than that of blue skies, children growing up without respiratory illness, venturing outside your hermetically sealed pod without a respirator, etc. etc. god i hate people...

i wish it were still $1.46

i remember filling my tank for like $20
now it is almost $50

SteveOTB said:

yea then our band would actually be able to afford to practice!

I remember there was one gas station when I was 16 that had gas for .89 a gallon, we used to drive around on aimless bone cruises in my friends 82 buick regal V8, the thing was awesome. It didn't matter how far you went either because gas was so cheap. I wish it was that cheap again.

Aegathis nli said:

Dude forget pratice bands would actually be able to tour and make money without having to spend it all on gas.

INFECT said:

yep, he's been trying to relax clean air laws for the past 4 years. Now they'll push it through with no problem, and no one will notice while his buddies make more and more $. Meanwhile they're talking about clean energy while trying to kill offshore wind farms in Congress before they even get anywhere...

What's wrong with Wind Farms? I don't really see a problem because the fan or whatever it's called spin which generates electricity last time I checked.

i remember in 94 or 95 there was a month when that shit was under a dollar.

INFECT said:

Well said.

not to sound too old but i remember getting my license and cheap gas was only either 80 to 90 cents

i could fill up my first car with like 15bucks

this shit is going to get fucking Mad Max Road warrior style soon!!!

SteveOTB said:

The rich people who live on the coast on Cape Cod don't want to look at them, otherwise there is no problem I can find.

I remember when i was about 5 seeing gas prices. Specifically i remember a hess station by my house had gas for .79 cents. It was always lower in the winter.

INFECT said:

I don't give a shit because no one is pumping carbon and sulfur into our atmosphere. Gas doesn't contain any sulfur or sulfur compounds. It does contain carbon compounds, but doesn't release carbon itself.

People, at least have the desency to do a little research so you know what you are talking about.

by "carbon" i mean carbon monoxide and the various carbon compounds that are produced by combustion of gasoline. sulfur oxides ARE being pumped into our atmosphere, but by coal and oil fired power plants, not cars. apologies for the mistake, although it has little bearing on my main point which is that these token actions to reduce the price of gas are really just an easy way for bush to undermine environmental regulations without any sort of opposition. in the long run, the energy industry will see more of the savings from this deregulation than will the public.
on a related note, its interesting to see so many people wishing for the return of $.99/gal gas (never going to happen) and not a single wish for expediated development of alternative energy sources or tougher CAFE standards or improvements in public transportation; things that might happen if there were more public demand for it.
but hey, being ignorant, insular, greedy, and short sighted is what america is all about nowadays, why fight it?
what comforts me is that in this world we're making, the poisonous atmosphere will first choke the asthmatic lungs of the lazy slobs who cant stand to move themselves under their own power, hopefully killing off the true source of this problem before its too late for the rest of us to fix things up for ourselves.

Behold, the effects of the supply and demand phenomenon. Worldwide, as well as in the U.S., there is more demand while at the same time supply has either stagnated in place, or declined. As a result, $$ go up. I learned that my first day in economics I

right, so, reduce demand and prices go down, simple in theory not so much in practice

i cant wait till it gets truely back into the reagan type years where more people are pissed cause theyre not living the american dream so they bring riffles to work and start spraying people down. i mean seriously who wants to work to pay to get to work.

let the mad max world begin

Or increase supply and the prices go down. It's easier to control supply than demand.

It's weird that consumer confidence is still at an all time high. Plus, when adjusting for inflation, these are not the highest prices we've had to pay. That was when Carter was in office and early Reagan.

PatMeebles said:
in this case its really not, you can't just make more oil, taking control of the supplies that still exist is proving to be difficult and expensive, and two of the worlds biggest population centers are becoming developed, and as a result using more and more fossil fuels, at an ever increasing rate

This is why we need biodiesel. If gas prices get too high make more chicken mcnuggets. It's a win-win, cheap gas and a glut of very very cheap chicken mcnuggets...except for the part where people get even more obese than they are now because of all the cheap mcnuggets and have heart attacks and put a huge strain on our health system.



Running the country is hard.

INFECT said:
hahahahahahahahaha i made a redundancy, gotta stop posting these caffiene/THC fueled rants

isn't gas in venezuela 12 cents a gallon now? wtf guy!

But why not just state "Gas prices up more than 100 percent over last three decades. Sure Bush is totally fumbling (as usual) through this "investigation" b.s., and is functionally inept, but as someone mentioned before, a lot of factors other than who happens to be President contribute to the price of gasoline and oil. If a Dem. had been elected, gas would be no cheaper. They'd probably raise the state gas tax, as well, to save themselves a few bucks, too. Everybody pays ridiculous prices for this shit. Hey, Bush jacked up Europe's oil prices too right? Don't spend your time whining "Bush this...Bush that. Whatever. He's already been elected and is a lame duck. Come up with a plan yourself, and run as a third party candidate. Then remember to thank both parties when they bury your chances of making the world a better place. Power to the people, right? The whole thing is just a mess and everybody's to blame. So what.

BornSoVile said:

Venazuela produces their own oil, probably more than the entire country can use, and Brazil is pretty much self-sufficent right now, they've been running cars on ethyl alcohol made from the sugar they produce right there for the past 20 years. We, on the other hand are retarded and still use oil, plus we've got all that wonderful urban sprawl which requires us to go farther and use more fuel to do anything.

PatMeebles said:


bingo. thats what I was getting at. worldwide , the amount of oil refined and produced has remained as demand has risen sharply, both in the U.S. and globally as well.

Put those corn subsidies to good use and go yellow motherfucker

INFECT said:


You cannot make more oil.. but you can change what you consider the supply. Sure it would take a while and more than a couple billion dollars. But if needed you could switch from gas to electric.

In that case the demand for oil would go waaaaayyyy down. You never know.. you could see a day where gas is 99 cents a gallon. While it is possible it isn't likely to happen.

everybody should learn how to ride a motorcycle, I get anywhere from 45-49 mpg. I ride everywhere. In the last month I have saved almost 500$. Not to mention how much fun it is!

BobNOMAAMRooney nli said:


no it isnt, you take the uselessly obese into a lypo clinic for grease harvesting to further fuel our nation. stop rewarding people for being stupid without a return on your investment. thats how i think

CTborderpatrol said:

If you can figure out how to keep sweet n' sour sauce packet prices down in the face of a glut of chicken mcnuggets I would suggest you run for President.