FlyingDog

As much as you may think marital law would scare me, I'm actually single so I'm safe. I think this is a short enough post to have not wasted much of my time, but just long enough to keep your attention span. Now post some more paranoid dillusions for us to laugh at before you get commited or you suffocate in your fullbody tinfoil suit.

Ron_H

May I sneak back in here to say that I simply want more efficient and less espensive fuel for my machine, 'cause walking to San Francisco from Sunnyvale is not cool. Should only take 2 days though and would keep me in better shape.

I, too, am seeking Dagny, but here is a link to temper some opinions around here: http://gangsofamerica.com/ You may download the entire book for free on that site. Fascinating read.

Another pertinent read are the works of Arnold Toynbee, the historian who claimed that: "Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder."


Now I will bow out and stay out of the line of fire for having stirred up a hornet's nest. Just want some alternative fuel, dats all.

FlyingDog

Thanks for the link.

The reason Mexico's gas prices are much lower than the US are:
1. They are a net exporter and a poor country, so they subsidize their own gas.
2. Most of their exports go to the US so transport costs are lower and profits are higher. (Now read #1 again)
3. US oil companies made all the capital investments in Mexico before the government violated their contracts.
4. US oil companies went back into Mexico to repair oil equipment and teach the Mexicans how to use it only to have their contracts violated yet again without getting paid (in money or oil).
5. The US is the only country in the world that guarantees the protection of oil shipping lanes. That is where that $0.25/gallon Federal gas tax goes, not to highways. We pay for every other countries' safe oil transport.

PS: When I was in Russia, gas prices were 4-15 rubels per liter depending on grade (84-100+ octane unleaded) and location. That's about $0.50-2.00 per gallon. Most stations were 87=6, 89-91=7, 93-95=8, 97-100=9.

Red UFO

Rubbish big oil talking points the reason gas is high and making 110 million in net profit a day for exxon alone is greedy white people who are looting the US during a crisis and everyone knows it. Mexico's government isn't over inflating prices and doing the blame game.


Its a sad day in this country when we have to cross the border to get cheap gas, and the Mexican Army enters the US and provides clean water to the worlds only super power that treats its own people like ****.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...910mexgas.html

In Mexico, gasoline is $2.16, and it's selling fast at border

Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Sept. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

MEXICO CITY - Mexican gas stations along the Arizona border say they're seeing a boom in business as the effects of Hurricane Katrina drive U.S. fuel prices through the roof.

Sales are up 20 to 40 percent, as Mexicans who normally buy their gasoline in Arizona flock to local vendors whose prices are a dollar less per gallon, gas station managers said Friday.

Americans account for little of the increased sales, they said, because of the hassle of crossing back into the United States and the distance from major U.S. cities.
"It's been a dramatic increase, but mainly due to our own countrymen," said Ernesto Pacheco Candelario, manager of the Los Angeles service station in Nogales, Sonora.

"Normally I'll sell 10,000 liters in a day, but last Saturday, I sold 14,000, and I'm still selling around 12,000 a day," he said. The nearby El Jet and El Rebelde gas stations reported increases of 20 and 40 percent, respectively.

Until recently, gasoline was cheaper in the United States than in Mexico. Petróleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, controls all gasoline production and sales in the country. Mexico's federal government receives one-third of its funding from Pemex receipts.

For decades Mexicans have made Pemex their primary target when complaining about high gas prices.

But U.S. prices have been rising in the past three years, and they soared last week after Katrina damaged oil refineries and drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Pacheco said his station was selling regular unleaded for 6.09 pesos a liter, or $2.16 a gallon, on Friday.

On the other side of the border, the price at the Bordermart gas station in Nogales, Ariz., was $3.15 a gallon.

In recent days, Bordermart has seen its business plummet about 40 percent, clerk Rebecca Ortíz said.

"Most of our customers are Mexican, and they're just deciding to fill up over there," she said.

It was a similar story in Douglas, where U.S. gas stations were charging about $3 a gallon.

Ten blocks south of the border, the Ruby Gas Station in Agua Prieta was selling at $2.16 a gallon, manager Valente Parra said. He said sales were up about 20 percent.

In Texas and California, where major U.S. cities are closer to the border, hundreds of American motorists have crossed into Mexico to buy gas, Mexican media reported. Pemex said Thursday that it was sending 20,000 more barrels of gasoline a day to the Texas border to keep up with demand.

Mexico is the United States' second-biggest foreign supplier of oil after Canada, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Red UFO

Ron, you should also do a google search and download a bittorrent of 'The Corporation'. Which is a very well produced 3 part TV series about the historical birth of corporations in the past and where we are today.

One thing illustrated is how these corporations became finely tuned eating machines that undermine our laws, our humanity and basically morph us in the damn borg mixed with greed of the Ferengi. Its f*cked sh*t to watch, and scary to consider where this country would be in 100 years if it don't destroy itself from greed for the all mighty buck.

It also shows a positive side of corporations, and has many pros and cons. You certainly smart enuff to watch this, unlike other people I won't name.

Donald

from "treehugger.com" (I couldn't make this stuff up)

"Willie Nelson's Biodiesel
January 24, 2005 08:51 AM -
Hot on the heels of our post about biodiesel (and license plates declaring you veggie-fueled), we’re happy to tell you that Willie Nelson and co. are marketing their vegetable oil-based BioWillie to truck stops. Unlike the biodiesel in our earlier reports, their fuel can go straight into your diesel tank (they compare the differences and relative merits of biodiesel and straight vegetable oil here), made possible by a blend with ordinary diesel. Patriotic as well as environmental reasons encouraged Nelson to first start using biodiesel, and the materials for his fuel continue to be made by American family farming. Via MSNBC ::Willie Nelson’s Biodiesel "

Wonder if the secondary smoke is also hallucinatory...

",,,a BJ for a tank of gas if this don't stop." seems a little overpriced for the free market, must be the subsidized, government price (hey, Clinton only traded a pizza for one!)
Cheers,

IcemanG17

Who doesn't want cheap gas....I sure do & I'm sure our european friends do too....

I think this website:

www.jibjab.com

Fits into this political-sociological discussion quite nicely...my favorites are "our land" and "its good to be in DC"
Brian

Fabio421

There are quite a few ways to make "bio-diesel". Some is made from soy beans. Others are blends of petroleum diesel and veggie oils. Some are made from recycled, used cooking oil. The bio diesel I have used is the type made from soy beans. It is much more expensive than petroleum diesel at this time. The only one that is currently cost effective is the type that is mad from recycled fryer oils. There are some issues with rubber compatabilities when using some bio-fuel. I have converted pile driving equipment to run off of the soy based diesel, castor oil for lube oil and peanut based grease. It all worked well except the grease. It couldn't hold up to the severe application we were using it in. There is huge potential for this technology. There is a company that makes a small "refinery" for making your own at home. Here is a link with alot of info if anyone is interested in reading more. http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

928SS

yeah, it's called clinton gas - where the prices blow you away....get a free hand job w/a fillup...er, I mean hand wash w/every blow jo...uh...free car hand car wash w/every... oh never mind...

guess red just proves you can take the man out of OT, but you can't take OT outta the man...hehehehe.... miss ya over there buddy!!! but you're obviously doin ok here!!! that apocolypic future is possible of course - but it's built on the premise that the rate of change in fuel prices will remain fairly constant, and the economy can't adjust/consumers won't adjust, people will kill to get to work (oh, they do that already), and that everything will just come to a screaching halt cause the tanks are all dry.. except for our mad max 928's, of course...

in my reality (twisted as it may be), labor day is over, so peak demand is behind us, as evidenced by the recent (minor) drop we've seen on the west coast.... as more refineries come back on line, we'll have more fuel production capacity too.... the american consumer as "inbred" as they are have already stopped buying SUV's in record numbers and IMO the writing's on the wall for hybrids SUV's the be the only new ones being sold in the near future, as the demand for smaller and more fuel efficent stuff is already occuring....

it's not all roses as food prices have jumped, and I fully expect a round of inflation, perhaps some slower growth in the 1st quarter if the demand/consumpion fuel equation doesn't settle back down a bit... but emarging biotech (stemcell) growth is not only good for our lagging tech sectors, but will also play a key role in changing healthcare from medicate to cure in the long term - if the promise pays out like it could...that's only good for our healhcare system as it's not getting better on it's own for sure...lot's of construction going on in the south soon, and a war that won't go away also are keeping a lot of our defense/manufacturing industries quite busy, so I just don't see the meltdown... unless dubya somehow gets re-elected...ha! so kick back, relax w/that blunt and remember: it's puff, puff, pass - puff, puff, pass or else you'll freak out again....

iirc, bio fuel has been around... in CO the big thing was corn product fuel -gasahol....seemed ok, but hard on some valve seats, and it was too bad we couldn't drink it too.... seemed to be the same numbers/situation during the last fuel jump, but as supplies were available most were too lazy to bother w/it, got complaicent again...

maybe this time it'll stick to the wall, so to speak... wonder how clean it burns compared to the crap that usually is associated w/those tractor motors... gawd, I can only cringe when visualizing one of those noisy monsters in a shark...

oh yeah, mexican fuel: the additives don't seem to be the same as in the US... I had a built 454 gmc suburban in baja for years at my beachhouse and that carb was always getting gummed up, and it never ran nearly as good as on US fuel.... their 100ll AV gas was pretty good, but it was always more than in the US... IIRC, they had a refinery issue at one point (common tale), so they had to ship oil here to be refined for use down there....

FlyingDog

Refinery issue = violated contracts, stole equipment, and kicked out the people who knew how to run the refineries.

FlyingDog

Nice article... it doesn't refute a single thing I said. You can't (factually) refute a single thing I said either.

all4woody

Check out this site to make your own bio-diesel: http://www.freedomfuelamerica.com/

928SS

typical mexican crap... I've lost count of all the US investments (commerical and private) that have fallen prey to some kind of irresponsible behaivor down there - real estate to manufacturing.... if they think it's a good idea for them, they just do it.... must have learned it from us... ha!