CarbonRevo

Finally, someone smart stops through. We should have sticky'd that thread on how Mobil 1 IS NOT fully synthetic anymore. Amsoil is what I run. 10w-40 High Performance (in my truck and soon my S2). I got my oil at the cost my "dealer" paid, and that was something like 7.60 a quart (no markup). I bought 5 Quarts plus their High Performance Oil filter and it cost me right about 50 bucks. Sure, it's an expensive oil change for a 1500 dollar truck, but I drive 3000 miles every 2 months. A regular oil change would run me about 25 bucks I'd say, and I'd have to do it every 3k miles, and it wouldn't be full synthetic. Now, I have full synthetic, and the option of 15k miles or one year while only paying 50 bucks. Regular oil changes would cost me 75 bucks to match that. Seems cheap to me, and well worth it!

What else I don't like, is people trying to act like snobs, as if Wal*Mart isn't good enough for them. Just because you drive a Porsche doesn't mean you're too good to go to "TrashMarts".

schwank

Yep, that's exactly what I am saying... Sprawlmart is not good enough for me or my community. I don't want low paying jobs, gigantic stores that sell gallons of pickles and Mobil 1. I will buy my stuff from smaller locals or online from places that are worth my support.

Heck that sales worker makes less in an hour than you pay for a quart of M1. That's SAD.

PuttingThePoorBackInPorsche

So you obviously think selling out our country to the Chinese is a good thing. You obviously think that allowing a foreign government to have unprecedented control over our economy is a good thing.

Nice to know who's side you're on. Ni-hao comrade!

bigred1001

Certainly not because I own a Porsche. If I owned an "84 Olds Firenza hatcheback that was partially caved in on one side, I would not buy from them. Best price does't equal best deal all the time, when suppliers have to build products that fall apart to meet contract costs.

bigred1001

i also love a society that will gladly fork over 10.00 at starbucks for 2 15 cent cups of coffee, but will bust my ***** over 40.00 on a d/w that I spent 90 minutes educating them on every aspect of it and every other dishwasher in the store

bigred1001

BTW, Sorry to go so OT.

Legoland951

Mobil 1 is just another product cheapened to make more $. However, I don't think buying goods from a country is selling out as we bought from Germans and Japanese. Most of our goods are from overseas. Manufacturing will not be our comparative advantage. therefore, we will lose in the long run if we compete. Its the same reason why we are not picking fruits for a living. Our economy is tied into everyone else's and everyone else's tied into ours. Japan, South Korea, China, and Taiwan are the largest holders of US dollar (U. S. debt) in the world. Anyone of many countries can affect our economy but without our debt driven hyperconsumerism, their economy will suffer too.

The sad thing is, most people including myself are pretty ignorant to whats really going on. This government does not like informed people therefore consistently lie to its people with just about everything. Its the reason why the younger generation don't know when they are being royally screwed. We owe 8.8 trillion in national debt http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ and I believe sooner or later that sky will fall. Who's head is it going to fall on? The young and the ignorant. Yes someone (Bush) is spending that money and YOU OWE THAT DEBT and will have continue to pay taxes barely to pay the interest of that debt FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. People who are older are spending that money right now so all you 20 something year olds and younger are screwed with no vaseline and don't even know it. I know where to put my money so I won't have to pay taxes legally during retirement. Do you? If not, be patriotic and find out as most rich people I used to have as clients know. If you want to do something about it, vote for someone who wants to balance the budget so no more foreign governments will gain control over our economy. Get out of your personal debt and vote every politician out of office who continue to increase national debt, which is pretty much every president in the last few decades. Ask yourself, are you debt free? If not, your serving a master as a voluntary slave.

Here is a very simple chart showing where our $ is going. Over 400 billion dollars a year goes to pay the interest of our national debt. http://www.federalbudget.com/ Just spend 3 minutes and read the beginning.

CarbonRevo

What has got Mobil 1 that hasn't hit Amsoil or Royal Purple is "on the shelf" selling. I couldn't find Amsoil in my area, until a Subaru friend happened to find an avergae joe being the middle man and selling for cost. If Walmart got ahold of Amsoil or Royal purple, everyone and their brother would be running it, and like someone already mentioned...Walmart would get the cost down cheaper then what a actual Dealer has it at. Most people don't know what Mobil 1 is (STILL), so Mobil 1 is pumping it out as fast as they can, while they can. Let the people find out it's not really any better then Havoline, Penzoil, or Quaker State (IMO), and it won't be selling as much. They see the cheap price and think "damn, that's cheap for a full synthetic, and my buddy Earl swears by this stuff". Yea, if only they knew. I've never run, and never will run Mobil 1. I'll run Amsoil until I find the need to step to Royal Purple.

And to those too good for Walmart...

You claim to be going to average shops and buying the higher items, when you could buy it at walmart and save money which will rack up over the years. It's like living in a million dollar home when a 400k dollar home would be more then enough. It's wasting money, and ignorance I believe. Just how SURE are you that your products from the smaller stores are really a U.S. made things? Hardly anything sold in the U.S. is U.S. made these days.

About the only thing being made in the U.S., would be the urine and **** that comes from your body, but even that's questionable...

V2Rocket

My grandfather worked in the petroleum industry for 20 years and spent alot of time working on different grades of oils...definitely a knowledgeable person on the subject.

He told me that the 944 motor and its parts (bearings and whatnot) were designed to use mineral oil (natural stuff), not synthetics...

Hence the Pennzoil 20W50 in my car.

hacker-pschorr

I hate WalMart but I love Sams Club.....

luckett

US treasury securities are not callable (actually a put) by the debt holder. You are trying to oversimplify a very complex macroeconomic scenario that will not play out the exaggerated fashion in which you describe. It is in China's best interest to have a strong US$ to keep demand for their goods high. To affect the trade balance, the yuan currency rates are managed, not free floating.

Legoland951

U. S. bonds are not callable and its not a put (you are confusing it with options) but are sellable in the secondary market very easily. Its like the stock market where most of all stocks bought and sold are in the secondary market and not IPOs. If someone stops buying U. S. new issues and dump their holdings by billions of dollars in the short run, it will send the bond market market in a spiral. Its really not that complex. Page 17 of a South Korean government announcement stating a possible diversification of their foreign currency holding sent the U. S. bond market in a panic a couple years ago. They had to issue a statement afterwards specifically stating they are not decreasing U. S. dollars before the market stabilized. This is just a HINT in a minor government report and not an actual announcement to sell or an actual sale so imagine what could happen. Simply put it, if you own a lot (majority for example) of stock in a company and decided to sell it all, the price of the stock will decrease and people with enough money can manipulate the market one way or another. This is why they have prearranged block sales between specific parties when large quantities are traded so it does not affect normal trading.

luckett

I am not confusing anything here. A debt security that is callable or putable has an embedded option. If the holder of a security has the right to sell it back to the issuer the embeded option is a put, not a call as refered to by the previous poster.

Central banks conduct open market operations all the time, but in the long run market forces dictate equilibrium, not an individual market participant.

iloveporsches

I've heard German Castrol (special formula, bottle is labeled as made in Europe) is supposed to be great.

FWIW, horsepower TV or one of those shows recently ran a test with Royal Purple and an LS2-powered Pontiac GTO. I don't remember what full-synthetic was in the car, but when they replaced the engine, trans, and diff fluid with RP, the car picked up almost 10 RWHP.

Your mileage may vary.

iloveporsches

Was he a triboligist? There's a difference between working in the petroleum industry and being a lubrication/ friction expert.