Bush unaware of $4.00 dollar gas

[ssent]

This was on yesterdays news did anybody else see it. This transscript is from that press release.
Yesterday in a press interview Bush said this:

QUESTION: What's your advice to the average American who is hurting now — facing the prospect of $4 a gallon gasoline, a lot of people facing...

BUSH: Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4 a gallon gas?

QUESTION: A number of analysts are predicting $4 a gallon gasoline this spring when they reformulate.

BUSH: That's interesting. I hadn't heard that.

QUESTION: Yes, sir.

BUSH: Yes. I know it's high now.

QUESTION: And the other economic problems facing people.

Beyond your concern that you stated here and your expectations for these stimulus checks, what kind of hope can you offer to people who are in dire straits?

BUSH: Permanent — keep the tax cuts permanent, for starters. There's a lot economic uncertainty. You just said that. You just said the price of gasoline may be up to $4 a gallon, or some expert told you that. And that creates a lot of uncertainty. If you're out there wondering whether or not — you know, what your life is going to be like and you're looking at $4 a gallon, that's uncertain.

And when you couple that with the idea that their taxes may be going up in a couple years, that's double uncertainty.

And therefore, one way to deal with uncertainty is for Congress to make the tax cuts permanent.

Secondly, people have got to understand that our energy policies needs to be focused on a lot of things.

One, renewables, which is fine, which I strongly support, as you know.

Two, conservation.

But we need to be finding more oil and gas at home if we're worried about becoming dependent on oil overseas.

BUSH: And this — I view it as a transitory period to new technologies that'll change the way we live.

But we haven't built a refinery in a long time. We're expanding refineries, but we haven't built a refinery in a long time. I strongly suggested to the Congress that we build refineries on old military bases. But, no, it didn't pass.

But if you've got less supply of something, as demand continues to stay steady or grow, your price is going to go up.

Secondly, on oil, we — the more oil we find at home, the better off we're going to be in terms of the short run. And, yet, our policy is, "Let us not explore robustly in places like ANWR."

And there are environmental concerns, and I understand that. I also know there's technologies that should mitigate these environmental concerns.

I've got a bill up there in Congress now — their attitude is, let's tax oil companies.

BUSH: Well, all that's going to do is make the price even higher. We ought to be encouraging investment in oil and gas, close to home, if we're trying to mitigate the problems we face, right now.

And so, yes, there's a lot of uncertainty. And I'm concerned about the uncertainty. Hopefully, this pro-growth package will help, this — I think it's $147 billion will be going out the door, starting, electronically, in the first week of May, and, through check, in the second week of May.

And the idea is to, you know, help our consumers deal with the uncertainty you're talking about. But, yes, no question about it; it's a difficult period.

QUESTION: Now that you've found a location for your presidential library, you've got to find the money to build it. Reports indicate that you may be trying to collect as much $200 million.

Is that figure accurate?

Do you believe it's important for the American people to know who's giving that kind of money to their president?

Will you disclose the contributions as they come in?

And will you place any restriction on who gives money and how much they can give?

BUSH: No. Yes. No. Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

Next question?

(LAUGHTER)

I haven't — whew, man.

BUSH: You obviously haven't asked a question in a long time. It's like, you know — one, I haven't seen the final budget.

Two, as Donnie Evans said, who's the chairman of the foundation, we'll look at the disclosure requirements and make a decision.

Here's the — there's a lot of people, or some people; I shouldn't say a lot — some people who like to, you know, like to give and don't particularly want their names disclosed, whether it be for this foundation or any other foundation.

And so we'll take that into consideration.

Thirdly — what was the other?

QUESTION: Any restrictions on who can give? Will you take foreign money for this...

Four minutes later he said this:

BUSH: Yes, probably take some foreign money, but don't know yet. We just haven't — we just announced the deal. And I, frankly, have been focused elsewhere, like on gasoline prices and, you know, my trip to Africa, and haven't seen the fund-raising strategy yet.

This guy is totally out of touch with the public!

[Raceman]

Equally disappointing is a news report I saw this week on inflation. It said Fed Reserve is in a real quandry since inflation is at an unexpected level, and they need to cut interest rates farther to stimulate the economy, yet raise them to curb inflation. UNEXECTED LEVEL??????:confused: :confused: :confused: Hell, I predicted it RIGHT HERE the first time the US oil companies made the big money grab a couple of years ago and got it to 3 buck for the first time, AND THEN AGAIN during last year's sudden run up. Maybe the idiots that are running the economy should join Scream and Fly for financial advice. I believe Prez. Bush could get some good ideas from here too.

It didn't give proper credit to the person or persons who are responsible for this line of thinking, but somebody needs to grab em and shake em and say YOU IDIOTS.................. gas is up a buck a gallon from this time last year and gasoline/diesel fuel prices affect every single aspect of our economy. If SOMEBODY up there doesn't have the balls to reign in big oil SOMEHOW, Exxon is gonna have a 100 BILLION NET year and the economy is going completely in the tank, NOT TO MENTION the fact that with NO ACTION, and whatever the state of denial of the present administration is, the democraps are getting a red carpet ride into the Whitehouse and greater majority in congress.

If Bush CAN'T do ANYTHING to control retail gas prices in this country as some people seem to believe (I DON'T BUY IT FOR ONE SECOND MYSELF), he'd better get himself on TV and explain WHY in basic believable terms that everybody can understand instead of sitting on his hands and blaming the dems (who are of course to blame also) ONLY when somebody else brings it up, and then in a fairly uncaring/not concerned context.:mad:

I'm far from having a Phd in economics, but when you give working class tax payers a 600 dollar annual payback, and then sit back and let big oil steal it and many times that amount back in the same period, while they make net profits in 100's of BILLIONS.................. IT SURE AS HELL AIN'T GONNA STIMULATE THE ECONOMY for anybody but big oil and it's shareholders.:mad: :mad: :mad:

[chynewalkr]

if gas hits $4.00 a gallon, the only water my boat will see is rain:(

[delawarerick]

The dems are talking about bailing out the housing crisis. That is the dumbest idea to come out of their mouths. That will ruin the housing market for good. If you were dumb enough not to read the fine print then the he!! with ya. So everytime you make a mistake the government should bail you out. Gas that is another story RM you hit that one on the head a while back. Rick

[transomstand]

Don't worry guys, when Pelosi gets a Democrat majority in Congress, she's gonna fix the problem with gas prices. I read that here, over and over.

[1BadAction]

The dems are talking about bailing out the housing crisis. That is the dumbest idea to come out of their mouths. That will ruin the housing market for good. If you were dumb enough not to read the fine print then the he!! with ya. So everytime you make a mistake the government should bail you out. Gas that is another story RM you hit that one on the head a while back. Rick

thats the dems way, and pretty much the reason they own the minority vote.

this country is F'd. one party wants to rob from the successful and give to the lazy, sell out all our jobs, and hand all our military power over to the UN. the other party says that it is different, but it is exactly the same.

[Glenn]

Equally disappointing is a news report I saw this week on inflation. It said Fed Reserve is in a real quandry since inflation is at an unexpected level, and they need to cut interest rates farther to stimulate the economy, yet raise them to curb inflation.

It didn't give proper credit to the person or persons who are responsible for this line of thinking, but somebody needs to grab em and shake em and say YOU IDIOTS.................. gas is up a buck a gallon from this time last year and gasoline/diesel fuel prices affect every single aspect of our economy. If SOMEBODY up there doesn't have the balls to reign in big oil SOMEHOW, Exxon is gonna have a 100 BILLION NET year and the economy is going completely in the tank, NOT TO MENTION the fact that with NO ACTION, and whatever the state of denial of the present administration is, the democraps are getting a red carpet ride into the Whitehouse and greater majority in congress.

If Bush CAN'T do ANYTHING to control retail gas prices in this country as some people seem to believe (I DON'T BUY IT FOR ONE SECOND MYSELF), he'd better get himself on TV and explain WHY in basic believable terms that everybody can understand instead of sitting on his hands and blaming the dems (who are of course to blame also) ONLY when somebody else brings it up, and then in a fairly uncaring/not concerned context.:mad:

I'm far from having a Phd in economics, but when you give working class tax payers a 600 dollar annual payback, and then sit back and let big oil steal it and many times that amount back in the same period, while they make net profits in 100's of BILLIONS.................. IT SURE AS HELL AIN'T GONNA STIMULATE THE ECONOMY for anybody but big oil and it's shareholders.:mad: :mad: :mad:


"Alaska residents who gathered at the high court Wednesday noted that the Texas-based company reported an annual profit last year of $40.6 billion, a record for a U.S. firm."

...and they wont do anything for these people. Makes me sick.:mad:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/02/27/scotus.exxon/index.html

Glenn

[Glenn]

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/02/27/scotus.exxon/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Glenn

[stokernick]

pathetic how the tail keeps wagging the dog!

[flabum1017]

Bush probably isn't aware of the working man either.

[The Big Al]

Gas jumps .30 cents gal in one week.

That just like Adding fuel to the fire!

ODAMA!

This looks so much like the Jimmy Carter election.

It's not who your voting for.
It's who your voting against!


Buckle down guys.

Gas prices will be the least of your worries!

[david martin]

No more lines at the gas pump!! I love this.;)
I can say that I spend over a 1000.00 a month for fuel in my work vehicles.(Now thats bad:eek: )If gas keeps on the rise I may need to sell my house and move closer to work. I moved further away to get a bigger house at a lower cost. I am now thinking to move closer to work and save the drive and hopefully the gas differance can make up the cost differance in housing.:rolleyes:
David

[Liqui-Fly]

I'd still rather pay high gas prices than welfare, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, arts and culture, historic preservation, gas taxes, school taxes, nation's highest property tax....ect ect ect. Atleast with high gas prices I know where to invest to get some of it back. You people better get over this gas thing....it's never going to change and it's only going to get worse unless you want to wipe out the possibility of any other third World countries' emergence.

[ssent]

I'd still rather pay high gas prices than welfare, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, arts and culture, historic preservation, gas taxes, school taxes, nation's highest property tax....ect ect ect. Atleast with high gas prices I know where to invest to get some of it back. You people better get over this gas thing....it's never going to change and it's only going to get worse unless you want to wipe out the possibility of any other third World countries' emergence.

Many would argue that GREAT is the nation that takes care of its poor, its sick, its underprivledged. GREAT is the nation that does not take from the poor and give to the rich. GREAT is the nation that looks to its future through education, and provides sufficient opportunity for every child to receive a world-class education. GREAT is the nation that does not undermine its citizens constitutional rights. GREAT is the nation whose citizens can democratically elect a government without fear of cheating and vote-tampering. And very GREAT is the nation who seeks peace not war.

I don't like paying for deadbeats and illegals either, but there are some people that truely need help. Disabled veterans who sacrificed so much for this country are one group that comes to mind!!

[david martin]

SSENT,I agree with you.100%. I would like to say,In my area alone you can not even rent a home for less than 1500.00 a month.You can find them at 1200.00 but you are looking to rent a crap hole.I would like to add that I live in a lower to middle class neighbor hood. I know some neighbors making 20.00 an hour and after taxes they can only afford to pay rent/morgage and utilities.I know 20.00 an hour is not much but if you get into construction you are lucky to even make that much.Its hard to make a living these days with the illegals.These type of AMERICANS will need the wellfair system if this continues.
Just my opinion,sorry if I hurt anybodys fealings.
David

[ssent]

I started this thread to show just how much out of touch our elected officials are with the public. All of congress are millionaires. I don't think high prices of anything bothers them. For the common fellow with a family to support it's all a person can do to make ends meet. These high oil and gas prices are the direct cause of all this inflation. Hell in 6 weeks time I've seen 50# purina dog chow go up $4 at my local walmart. I can't afford iams anymore. It's not just dog food that keeps going up it's everything. Does anybody else go to the grocery store with their wife? We used to spend around $150 a week on just groceries, food items. That $150 doesn't include essentials like laundry soap, toilet paper, papertowels, tampons, bar soap, dog food etc, etc... Now we're in the $200 to $250 range. Thats alotta soup, mac and cheese, hamburger. It's been so long since we had steak I can't even remember when we had it last. Its been hell of awhile. My wife makes our money stretch as far as possible. She makes alotta suff from scratch to save money. When does it all this inflation end? I think at this rate, this country and the working folks are in for some pretty tough times ahead. Everything that is hauled by truck or train has seen price increases. All freight in this country is hauled by train and truck that has to have fuel to move from coast to coast. Then when I read about the $40.6 billion exon/mobile made I realize the old saying that: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer is soooo very true!! I'm glad for the people that can afford all the high gas prices and everything else. More power to ya. But for most folks these are some hard times that are about to get much harder!

[flabum1017]

Many would argue that GREAT is the nation that takes care of its poor, its sick, its underprivledged. But we are being gutted by the druggies, slackers, workerscomp abusers and crimnals. GREAT is the nation that does not take from the poor and give to the rich. But still allow the rich to have loopholes to avoid taxes, turn affordable housing into unaffordable, sway our politicians into making laws that only help the rich and doling out multi-million dollar contracts to larger companies. GREAT is the nation that looks to its future through education, and provides sufficient opportunity for every child to receive a world-class education. Yet teaches that if you don't have money that you won't go to college, allows institution like the Negro college Fund to openly practice discrimination and pays a garbage truck driver more than a teacher. GREAT is the nation that does not undermine its citizens constitutional rights. But allows the states to put a limit on when and where we may carry guns, puts people in jail for non-violent protests and is currently tapping our communication looking for "terrorists". GREAT is the nation whose citizens can democratically elect a government without fear of cheating and vote-tampering. But end up with a president because the Chads were double punched, absentee votes got lost, voting machines were not handled properly and computers were flawed. And very GREAT is the nation who seeks peace not war. And all we do is wage wars....

[sho305]

I don't really see the point. Something like two weeks ago they said gas could see $3.60/gal this spring because oil was at $100. They said it could go even higher this summer, that this 3.60 would be before summer peak prices. I'd say the President has more to do than gas up a car he never drives. He said half the stuff right there; he said congress will not build a refinery and will not allow drilling here....what more do you people want? Have you not seen what republicans do the last 5 years in congress??? They act like democrats! They sure are not going to do a thing for Bush, and the democrats hate him or who ever a republican might be that is not Reagan. IMO it is 90% congress or more at fault.

And lastly, you people pay attention because when Nancy Pelosi gets to lead congress she and her democrats will fix all the problems especially high gas prices. You just get her voted into the majority position and she will take care of it in 100 hours, maybe 100 days at the longest she says.

Bush may not sway congress, but it is still the job of congress that is not getting done. They vote the bills, not Bush.

[ssent]

flabum1017
I agree about all the rebutals ya put in there. Those very reasons are why we have to strive to do better. To elect better people to represent the people and not corporations. Our great nation is not the great nation that it once was. As a nation we can do better. As individuals seeking preferred treatment we can not. We must unite and demand accountablity from our elected government to represent the people as a whole.

Sounds like a dream. But it's a dream we must aspire to. Or this country will succumb to the greed of corporations and die from within. Corporate greed knows no bounds and will devour this nation. It is a monster waiting to feed. Need I say more.:mad:

[sho305]

I'm not so sure corporations will devour anything, as much as Hollywood portrays them to. When we are all poor, guess who we will not be buying products from? And as stupid as they are, unions are not illegal and can form at any time. What goes around comes around, business will get the picture when sales take a dive like they are now for some and likely more to come.

When it all hits the fan they can think about why we have the DMCA, longer patents, so many legal restrictions, etc. The government does not make any money if we don't either. Naturally in the mean time it will suck for us....

[ssent]

He said half the stuff right there; he said congress will not build a refinery and will not allow drilling here....what more do you people want? Have you not seen what republicans do the last 5 years in congress??? They act like democrats! They sure are not going to do a thing for Bush, and the democrats hate him or who ever a republican might be that is not Reagan. IMO it is 90% congress or more at fault.

Bush may not sway congress, but it is still the job of congress that is not getting done. They vote the bills, not Bush.

Your right. He may not be a great leader, but congress isn't coming up with any solutions that's for sure. Our government doesn't represent the people anymore, it represents corporate america and hell with the rest of us.:mad:

[flabum1017]

I'm not so sure corporations will devour anything, as much as Hollywood portrays them to. When we are all poor, guess who we will not be buying products from? And as stupid as they are, unions are not illegal and can form at any time. What goes around comes around, business will get the picture when sales take a dive like they are now for some and likely more to come.

When it all hits the fan they can think about why we have the DMCA, longer patents, so many legal restrictions, etc. The government does not make any money if we don't either. Naturally in the mean time it will suck for us....



The problem here is that the government will do what it can to bail out the big-wigs when the crap hits the fan, but the little guy who did all the work will end up in the street.

[Dave S]

The FROGs are seeing the bubbles, must be getting warm.:confused: :rolleyes: We as a nation are going down, because people don't understand change.:) China changed. It started WORKing. Than it needed FUEL to make the ENGINE of change. We now get most of our GOODS made in CHINA. Made from OIL, as Steel and Plastic goods are formed with HEAT. China builds one power plant every 3 days. China DRILLS for OIL off Cuba as we Bickker over oil profits. Big Mouth HillAndOboma just got canada Mad and put our Oil from them at risk, China is moving in as canada's new friend. The Frogs are getting DIZZY watching the Bubbles. They don't under stand CHANGE. Mexico sends people to work here. They take JOBS at the bottom. We are told that they take jobs we don't want. They live,work,drive and send $$$money to Mexico that WE don't want. Your grand son can't find a JOB so you have to held and buy him GAS. When you were young you didn't have his problems, must be CHANGE. The Frogs send their little children to SCHOOL to get smart. The teacher Can teach about Global Warming. But not about the Creator. And his 10 simple RULES. And of the cost of not following them. He gets MAD Gets a GUN and KILLS and KILLS himself. NO FEAR OF GOD. :( The frogs have a BIG FROG. He tells the how it is but they keep messing up. That Frog is called many names. HE don't care as HE HAS THE HAND ON THE BURNER.

[Dave S]

The FROGs are seeing the bubbles, must be getting warm.:confused: :rolleyes: We as a nation are going down, because people don't understand change.:) China changed. It started WORKing. Than it needed FUEL to make the ENGINE of change. We now get most of our GOODS made in CHINA. Made from OIL, as Steel and Plastic goods are formed with HEAT. China builds one power plant every 3 days. China DRILLS for OIL off Cuba as we Bickker over oil profits. Big Mouth HillAndOboma just got canada Mad and put our Oil from them at risk, China is moving in as canada's new friend. The Frogs are getting DIZZY watching the Bubbles. They don't under stand CHANGE. Mexico sends people to work here. They take JOBS at the bottom. We are told that they take jobs we don't want. They live,work,drive and send $$$money to Mexico that WE don't want. Your grand son can't find a JOB so you have to help and buy him GAS. When you were young you didn't have his problems, must be CHANGE. The Frogs send their little children to SCHOOL to get smart. The teacher Can teach about Global Warming. But not about the Creator. And his 10 simple RULES. And of the cost of not following them. He gets MAD Gets a GUN and KILLS and KILLS himself. NO FEAR OF GOD. :( The frogs have a BIG FROG. He tells them how it is but they keep messing up. That Frog is called many names. HE don't care as HE HAS THE HAND ON THE BURNER.

[1BadAction]

you want to know whos fault this is? Look in the mirror. The american people continue to vote these idiots in office. Americans continue to buy foreign crap and sell out their own manufacturing base, Americans continue to shop at Wal-Mart because they are the "cheapest". The downward spiral was started 50 years ago because people are too damn cheap and short sighted to say "screw you, take that cheap garbage and stick it in your ass" they just bought it and said "its not as good, but its cheaper" all the corporations needed was that start, and look where it leads. the fix for this WAS simple, but now it would be nearly impossible to do. I place the blame squarely on my parents and my grandparents generations.

Those early generations had the cheap product, and MY generation is going to need to fix it. Oh but wait, my generation is too damn stupid to know the difference between real news, and who married who in hollywood. Another thing that was started in the 40s and 50s. :rolleyes: The popularity of the anti-christ I mean obama just proves this fact, he has all this hype and support, but why? because he acts just like a movie star. There is nothing but an empty suit there and a shell of a person that will be nothing more than a puppet for the far left to "stupidize" the country even further. Its the first step to dis-arming the society. Once that happens, we will be the third world country, but you can bet your ass there isnt going to be any other countries giving us aid :rolleyes:

The thing that sucks about this is, it all boils down to money and power. Americans are too rich and complacent for their own good (Think about it, 150 years ago, stupid people DIED, now they REPRODUCE.) the exact thing that makes this country the worlds superpower will be its downfall. Greed is basic human nature, the more money and power you have, the more corrupt you become. There is so much monetary incentive for people in government to let this stupid **** go on, that it will never be fixed as long as the current politicians are there. Eventually the republic will collapse, taking a good part of the worlds economy with it, and HOPEFULLY there will be something to rebuild after everyone gets done fighting.

[Dave S]

Your Right 1bad ...... But I don't think China was going at 100MPH 50 years ago. But we are headed fo a crash and Poor Old Bush is not to be blamed but he will catch the heat, as no one is smart nuff to understand. Bush got handed a bag of POOP and did the best he could with what he had. He SHOULDA been more of a BOSS and stomped back the lies , but was overtaken buy the news media. He never had a chance. Gas prices are caused by the $$ decline in our buck. The Dream is over. Wake up.

[flabum1017]

1Bad, You forgot another thing that is causing this: Lack of savings. There has been a mindset of spend, spend spend. Our generations were taught to save, but nobody was listening. Look around you, you see a lot of new stuff; new houses, new cars, new streets, new buildings, new fire departments, new police departments, new schools. People always have new clothes for themselves and their children.....never anymore hand-me-downs. Nobody is or was saving for this rainy day. Credit cards got maxed, people living beyond their means, filing the ever-so easy bankruptcy. Even our politicians do nothing but spend. There are more services available to the lazy, drug addicted, homeless and spouseless people than ever before. If you don't care about living rich, you can easily swindle money from the welfare programs. And if a hurricane comes within 500 miles of you, you can get FEMA to give you a new roof and a $36,000 check for that tree that toppled over three blocks down. You got our President who got us involved in several wars that's costing us hundreds of billions of dollars every year. Our governments continue to raise our taxes (I bet Exxon Mobile didn't have to pay anything on that $40 billion profit because they "re-invested it), our local governments tell us they are lowering certain taxes only to come up with new fees and taxes that equal twice as much as the break they gave us.

The first thing we need to learn, is to stop spending, put away enough to live on for times like these.

[The Big Al]

you want to know whos fault this is? Look in the mirror. The american people continue to vote these idiots in office. Americans continue to buy foreign crap and sell out their own manufacturing base, Americans continue to shop at Wal-Mart because they are the "cheapest". The downward spiral was started 50 years ago because people are too damn cheap and short sighted to say "screw you, take that cheap garbage and stick it in your ass" they just bought it and said "its not as good, but its cheaper" all the corporations needed was that start, and look where it leads. the fix for this WAS simple, but now it would be nearly impossible to do. I place the blame squarely on my parents and my grandparents generations.

Those early generations had the cheap product, and MY generation is going to need to fix it. Oh but wait, my generation is too damn stupid to know the difference between real news, and who married who in hollywood. Another thing that was started in the 40s and 50s. :rolleyes: The popularity of the anti-christ I mean obama just proves this fact, he has all this hype and support, but why? because he acts just like a movie star. There is nothing but an empty suit there and a shell of a person that will be nothing more than a puppet for the far left to "stupidize" the country even further. Its the first step to dis-arming the society. Once that happens, we will be the third world country, but you can bet your ass there isnt going to be any other countries giving us aid :rolleyes:

The thing that sucks about this is, it all boils down to money and power. Americans are too rich and complacent for their own good (Think about it, 150 years ago, stupid people DIED, now they REPRODUCE.) the exact thing that makes this country the worlds superpower will be its downfall. Greed is basic human nature, the more money and power you have, the more corrupt you become. There is so much monetary incentive for people in government to let this stupid **** go on, that it will never be fixed as long as the current politicians are there. Eventually the republic will collapse, taking a good part of the worlds economy with it, and HOPEFULLY there will be something to rebuild after everyone gets done fighting.

WOW!!!

Hats off to the 1bad!!!

[transomstand]

I always love the endless headlines here about Exxon profit.

General Motors loses 40 billion, not even an honorable mention.

If they had an internet in 1968, all these threads would be about GM. Just cross out Exxon on the current threads. "GM runs the country, they make us drive certain cars. They hold the country hostage" The mantra of every long haired, unbathed, dope smoking, ignorant liberal I couldn't stand when I was young.

These people are now disguised, and harder to find. I've uncovered many, and found they have names like Clinton, Pelosi, Biden, and a host of others........

Lets all adopt the attitude that we should punish Exxon, just like we did GM:rolleyes:

[transomstand]

Sorry, almost forgot,

IT'S BUSH'S FAULT!!!!!!!

[sho305]

You start looking at all the stuff liberals do to facilitate that and it gets scary....

Poor public education that is liberal slanted
Advocating irresponsible/destructive lifestyles
Entertainment and news media that does their work and sells it
Division of the people, enhancement of racism
Obstruction of any program that might rectify problems they cause
Propaganda to their means such as how 'evil' guns are and how everything is our fault (Iraq) or we did a poor job
Sensationalize social issues and cloud over economic issues
Near absolute control of courts, congress, education, maybe soon the President
Follow the course of failure obvious in other cultures that did fail
Result in society that is less productive, less educated, less most things


Where is Nancy Pelosi anyway? After a year of total FAILURE leading congress she is nowhere to be found in this election media madness. Funny how that works? Maybe she is hiding under a rock someplace? I never see her on TV and we all know how the libs love air time....she was on the news every 5 minutes when she got in there. Obviously she owns the media, or they would take a look at her. If Bush farted we would still be hearing a jingle-bell fart song made from Bush's one recorded fart next Christmas, with the whole cast of MSNBC laughing in sync to it....however Nancy is free from any examination with total failure of the controlling democratic party in congress under her leadership.

GM? Yeah another tactic of the liberals: conjure up an 'evil' entity to point fingers at. It must be something that has nothing to do with the huge problems we have today, something that is not really based on fact so it does not matter if we are right or wrong. How about we sell global warming to the people and not worry about anything else. Maybe we can investigate some other meaningless drivel that will bore those watching so much they will go away so we can get back to our beer and hookers while the price of gas doubles again. We will blame Bush, and stick that bill to drill/explore for domestic oil in the trashcan....LOL!!! It will be great fun! We had Nancy say we would fix it by fining the oil companies but the sheep will forget that in a month, and if they don't the oil companies will just pass that cost on to those idiot people we have created anyway!!!! Win-win, lets party! In the meantime we will have the media ignore things like Bush's AIDs program in Africa that has saved a huge number of lives, even though that stupid AIDS thing was our battle cry not long ago....but the sheep forgot that as soon as we stopped saying it.:D :D :D Give me another beer!!!!

[1BadAction]

bro... you should see how the liberal ****** prius drivers badmouth GM for the "hybrid" thing. they say its a tactic to lower the cafe standards on all their big vehicles. totally disregarding the fact that a truck will pick up 250% of its MPG in the city and still maintain its utility, wheras a car might only pick up 20% better economy. :rolleyes: just another potshot in an ocean of idiocy and dumbing down of this country.

THS MFing PERCENT SYMBOL REPLY PROBLEM IS DRIVING ME NUTS!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad:

[sho305]

Yes, and where were the liberals when they took the large trucks OFF CAFE a few years back? Why would they not want any hybrid or diesel that saves fuel????????????????????????? Yet I don't hear them.

[transomstand]

Where is Nancy Pelosi anyway?


Well, it's the weekend........ I know, riding home on her Boeing 757 burning 1500 gallons of Jet-A per hour, thinking up new laws to make me conserve energy:rolleyes:

[1BadAction]

Well, it's the weekend........ I know, riding home on her Boeing 757 burning 1500 gallons of Jet-A per hour, thinking up new laws to make me conserve energy:rolleyes:
this statement would be funny if it weren't true. :mad:

[Euroski]

The more we have to spend on necessities for living the less there is for the "fun stuff" in life. Such as, boats, electronics, computers, new car or truck, etc... Someone who is spending an extra $100 in gas or heating oil just ain't going to be buying that new LCD TV, or boat prop!:confused:

[transomstand]

The more we have to spend on necessities for living the less there is for the "fun stuff" in life. Such as, boats, electronics, computers, new car or truck, etc... Someone who is spending an extra $100 in gas or heating oil just ain't going to be buying that new LCD TV, or boat prop!:confused:

That is, of course, true. The problem is, most Americans live way beyond thier means, so they can't adapt when times become tough. The extra hundred bucks in gas should mean that we have to make choices, adjust priorities, it shouldn't mean financial ruin.

It should mean that we make a choice to go boating once a week instead of twice, or riding to work with a coworker a couple times a week.

[flabum1017]

That is, of course, true. The problem is, most Americans live way beyond thier means, so they can't adapt when times become tough. The extra hundred bucks in gas should mean that we have to make choices, adjust priorities, it shouldn't mean financial ruin.

It should mean that we make a choice to go boating once a week instead of twice, or riding to work with a coworker a couple times a week.


I have done things like cooking at home more, dropped the hi-def and HBo from my cable, disconnected my landline (use only the cell now) and take fewer trips. Business slowed to a crawl at work, so no more overtime, raises are hard to get and tips are few and far between. still, my rent continues to increase, electric and water still climbing and taxes are costing more and more. I'm thinking of finding a cheaper place to live, but that will mean my boat will have to be stored outdoors.

Unbeleable that the poverty level is quickly approaching 50K a year.

[1BadAction]

I've cut back on the un-necessary trips, planning where I can to get all my stuff done in one shot. over the past 2 months its saved me about 50 bucks in gas per week. I'm back to using $35 a week like I was 4 years ago with a manual transmission car that got twice the mpg (and gas was 1.90 a gallon). Does it suck, yea, but maybe $5, 6 or 7 dollar a gallon gas is what its going to take to get people to stop wasting.

[transomstand]

I've spent my whole life in poverty, the only time the Ventura was ever indoors is when it was in the showroom:D

[ssent]

I've spent my whole life in poverty, the only time the Ventura was ever indoors is when it was in the showroom:D

Amen. We have never owned a new vehicle. Every house I'ved purchased has been a fixer upper. Our baja is 21 yrs old, my truck is 10yrs old, my wifes vehicle is 5yrs. We dress in walmart fashion. Other than eating nothing but beans and rice I don't how much cheaper I can live. Last summer what few times we did go boating we sat mostly on the beach with everybody else. Yeah there are a couple activities I could take from the kids. But I'll sacrifice somewhere so my kids won't miss out on what they love to do. Unlike transomstand I do have a garage for the boat.:D

[stokernick]

Pedro,it's not that I live beyond my means,it's that means are way beyond me!

[sho305]

I been saving money on food easy, just go to the discount stores like aldi and savealot. I can't see a difference in most things, that way I can do stuff on the grill all the time and eat pretty good. Still go to normal store for a few things but I get sticker shock there, even on sale stuff can be more than what I pay at the other places. I buy some stuff at sams in bulk, like their bath supplies are quite reasonable, soap, meat, etc but you get a lot. I buy 5lb of meat and if you freeze it flat it thaws fast so that works nice. Best part about that is you don't need to go to the store as often, and I never run out of soap/etc.

Used to work at an office and go walk at a mall for lunch. I bought tons of clothes because we went past the closeout rack every day. I have nice shirts from sears and kohls I got for $4 off season. I don't drive anywhere I don't need to, make all trips at once/etc. I drive a little car now not my truck, I tuned it all up and air the tires up to max. Been doing all this for years now so I can put money into house and other things, get them done. Heck I just got my first 5.1 HT amp I ever had, no time for movies and stuff so I never got one. Bought a broken one and fixed it, just have to hook it up now. Pretty sad it took this long as I like audio and movies. Have no car payments right now, that helps too. What bothers me the most is MI has sucked since '01, and now things look to get worse....no end in sight because there is no change/improvement/fixing in sight. Every year here people don't get raises but do get increases in healthcare deductions....and the price of gas/milk/taxes/insurance/everything just keeps going up. We make less almost every year since 2000.

It costs me enough to drive to the lake all the time, so no I don't boat much anymore. It is like gas is just a waste to buy now, so I don't unless I have to. Often I can get it cheaper at sams here, saves a couple cents. Sure is less fun than before gas went up. I remember getting 12gal every weekend of premium for the inline. I didn't like to carry more than two cans in the car to the lake. Of course now that the gas companies control the market here, gas is usually cheaper out at the lake than here closer to a big city. Figure that out, never in my life was it that way before....but nobody cares. It used to be cheaper the more a station pumped, now it is cheaper the poorer city you go to.

My brother wants to get a hotrod car with minimum 400hp V8. He says he wants to go tear around while it is still affordable. He thinks in next decade it will not be. I have one boat inside a family members building, the rest are outside covered but that is not hurting those ones. Starting to look pointless to keep them now.

[Hydrophobic guy]

thinking up new laws to make me conserve energy:rolleyes:

Come on now Pete she did re-do the capitol cafateria.
And lets not forget those steroid investigations.
This is historic stuff their accomplishing.

[sho305]

Pelosi outlawed cigars in the congressional living room, I always wondered if she did that for Hillary.

Save energy???? Sure that is why I have a diesel car - NOT! Because the EPA has nearly outlawed them. No sense in burning 1/3 less fuel for the life of the vehicle, and now with the new emissions they will get worse mpg because the emissions regs are just plain stupid and apply to gas engines. Where was CAFE this last decade???? Don't get me started on all the things those do-nothing reactionary idiots in the government have done/not done that limit the energy savings a person can get. And why is diesel so expensive?

Did anyone see what the price of wheat did? Get ready.

[transomstand]

Come on now Pete she did re-do the capitol cafateria.
And lets not forget those steroid investigations.
This is historic stuff their accomplishing.

Your right, I should give her more credit. My life is soooo much better since the Dems have a majority:rolleyes:

I was wrong, all those guys who debated me before the last Congressional election were right:rolleyes:

I'm sure I'm wrong about gas prices now, once we get rid of Bush and elect Obama, gas will be a buck and a half per gallon again. Then he'll bring the troops home and that will fix the economy.

I better call up and place my order for a new Venom with a 300X, gas will be cheap and plentiful and I'll have so much cash, I won't have enough room to store it...........

[Cobra1racer]

800 bucks to "stimulate the economy". If these A-HOLES want to stimulate the econmy get gass do to a real price so people can go out and spend money on junk. $800.00 will fill an SUV 10 times. Wow so that's 10 weeks out of 52 that you won't feel the hit in your wallet. Bunch of BABOONS running this country.

[jmg944t]

I put $140 in the tank of my pickup yesterday. $3.79/ gallon of Diesel. I also happened to be over a friends house and he showed me a piece literature from when his mom got her new VW in 1983. A Rabbit diesel. The literature stated 61 MPG. THAT WAS 25 YEARS AGO!!!! That car went over 400K miles before rust killed it. Let me know when to expect progress....:mad:

[transomstand]

I had a customer in on Thursday, obvious from his name and accent he was German. He thinks Americans are nuts, whining about 3 buck gas. He talked to his mom the day before, she was complaining she paid 9 bucks a gallon:eek:

Forgot to ask him if it was Bush's fault:rolleyes:

[sho305]

I put $140 in the tank of my pickup yesterday. $3.79/ gallon of Diesel. I also happened to be over a friends house and he showed me a piece literature from when his mom got her new VW in 1983. A Rabbit diesel. The literature stated 61 MPG. THAT WAS 25 YEARS AGO!!!! That car went over 400K miles before rust killed it. Let me know when to expect progress....:mad:

Read this and see what got the best (and note what the hybrid did): http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060424/FREE/60417021&SearchID=73244466514443
Then think about how environmentalists and the government want us to burn less fuel....or so they say. That was 2 years ago, or what 700 and some days somebody could have done something.....like Nancy maybe except x7.

[1BadAction]

I had a customer in on Thursday, obvious from his name and accent he was German. He thinks Americans are nuts, whining about 3 buck gas. He talked to his mom the day before, she was complaining she paid 9 bucks a gallon:eek:

Forgot to ask him if it was Bush's fault:rolleyes:

The german government doesnt let millions of illegals in the country diluting the payscale to the poverty level. They also tend to buy their own products over ones from other countrys. Look at what someone doing your job makes over there, its embarrassing.

[Riverman]

Yes they do, Turks do all the dirty work there, many of them are illegals. Plus since the fall of the iron curtain they had to inherit the social nightmare that is East Germany.

True though, they tend to buy their locally made stuff. No Wal-Marts there.

[jmg944t]

Read this and see what got the best (and note what the hybrid did): http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060424/FREE/60417021&SearchID=73244466514443
Then think about how environmentalists and the government want us to burn less fuel....or so they say. That was 2 years ago, or what 700 and some days somebody could have done something.....like Nancy maybe except x7.

and they made it illegal to import to this country.....

There are some TDI Jetta's available used around here with low miles... Time to go car shopping. My current commute is $40/day in my 2006 F350 Dually. If I did it in the Jetta it would be $12. Hmmm $28 x 24 days a month = $672/ month!!! That is MORE than the F350 payment!!! Some people own homes for that!! I'm going shopping. I suggest alot of you with big commutes do the math for your commutes. I knew it was bad but until now I had no idea.

[sho305]

Around the time of Katrina, my brother knew a guy that flew over 4 states to buy a used jetta TDI and drove back. I would, but my little car gets 25 or better average and around 35 highway. But mostly I don't have to drive that far right now. That is the way I see it, just pouring it down the drain if you have to drive distance with a hungry vehicle.

[david martin]

and they made it illegal to import to this country.....

There are some TDI Jetta's available used around here with low miles... Time to go car shopping. My current commute is $40/day in my 2006 F350 Dually. If I did it in the Jetta it would be $12. Hmmm $28 x 24 days a month = $672/ month!!! That is MORE than the F350 payment!!! Some people own homes for that!! I'm going shopping. I suggest alot of you with big commutes do the math for your commutes. I knew it was bad but until now I had no idea.
I bought a ford fusion becouse gas was killing me in my f250.I drive 60 miles a day one way to my shop.The car is cheaper to drive and more comfortable.It pays for it self and I still save the work truck on miles.
David

[1BadAction]

watch those jettas, some of the monday and friday cars are real lemons.

[Dave S]

Poor and cheep all my life....... so I am ready. Know how to save bucks.:cool: Make big bucks on good investments.:) Some don't pan out.:rolleyes: Stay away from lottry and stock market.:D Boats don't use much gas when drifting.:D

[Hydrophobic guy]

Bunch of BABOONS running this country.

Thats an insult to baboons! :mad:

[brotherxb03]

Bush is unaware that he has skid marks in his pants.

[sho305]

:confused:

[1BadAction]

:confused:

being drunk is fun.

[Wile E. Coyote]

I think the point is being missed, i dont care how much mileage you save in your car....just exactly how do you think the food gets to the supermarket, power is generated for your home, heat your home, (and that heating oil gets there by truck too), rubber, cosmetics, plastic, the list goes on....my fuel bill is the least of my issues, my food bill has almost doubled, i had a 100 dollar electric bill 58 of which is the glorious fuel surcharge....gas may be 4.00 a gallon, but the impact on the rest of our lives will cost alot more.....:o

[Hydrophobic guy]

I think the point is being missed, i dont care how much mileage you save in your car....just exactly how do you think the food gets to the supermarket, power is generated for your home, heat your home, (and that heating oil gets there by truck too), rubber, cosmetics, plastic, the list goes on....my fuel bill is the least of my issues, my food bill has almost doubled, i had a 100 dollar electric bill 58 of which is the glorious fuel surcharge....gas may be 4.00 a gallon, but the impact on the rest of our lives will cost alot more.....:o

Most people are oblivious to the fact that the worlds economy revolves around oil. I just had my truck towed and when he showed up the guy who owns the towing company was apologizing for having to charge what he did because his fuel costs are up. I've had to go from straight trip charges to mileage charges in my business. When our president has no clue of what the price of fuel is its a problem. Makes me wonder what else he doesn't know about.

[rjdubiel]

cutting down on drinking during the week will save ya $100.00.

i save more but my job sucks more and my liver isnt as happy:eek:

[sho305]

He knows, he has wanted to get more oil for years. High oil kills the economy and is opposite to what he wants. It is funny: getting more oil supply would drop the price of gas, yet democrat or republicans in congress will not do it! But Bush is the 'evil oil barron' because of what? Because he wants more oil to lower prices? Is that it? Do Americans want to pay $5/gal for gas or what? Duuuuuhhhhh. Talk about people riding the short bus. He has tried for a long time, I think he knows congress will do nothing and he has given up. People will just suffer for it; suffer for their own stupidity while they listen to the liberal media pin this on Bush who has nothing to do with it. Otherwise Nancy would have done something this past YEAR, right? Has our liberal hero failed us?? Oh no....

Bush knows there is no way the USA can pay for what it owes, healthcare, SS, and on and on if this economy is not strong. Until you admit that fact that your liberal education never taught you, you can't understand. Congress makes the law and policy in the USA, period. When they tell the President to screw off like they have, then the President has no effect on policy and can't drill for new oil or fix any energy problems we might have. He can only ASK when it comes to domestic issues and unless he has overwhelming support of the people or is a major mover/shaker like say Reagan was, he will get nothing congress does not feel like giving. And we sure can see that congress is mostly interested in doing nothing important. They need to be voted out until they do their jobs so I (and my family/friends) don't have to suffer their idiocy and complete absence of management skills.

That government signed NAFTA, they allowed the DMCA, they allowed patent extensions, and they allow our ridiculous legal system to continue dragging this country down. On top of that they never kept up with refinery demand, will not allow oil drilling, will not allow diesel vehicles, did not keep up with CAFE, will not lift a finger to manage healthcare costs, and did not foresee this most obvious future energy crunch and prepare for it. But we can't fire them, we must vote them out.

It is hard for me to see why people do not understand that the President is primarily an international figurehead. You liberal democrats should be hot, after all congress with a significant portion of republicans going democrat since Bush got in has nearly been under democrat control the whole time. Now Nancy is in control and they have done EXACTLY the same work they did the year before and before that: none. The democrats have been a larger failure than the republicans who tried to be democrats; the democrats spent all the money and Bush was dumb enough to sign off....and what do we have but a bucket of * to show for it?

They taught me this country was great when I was a kid, all I have to say today is wt* are you (people) doing. They don't ignore one problem, they ignore thousands. Your future paycheck rides on this buddy, is there anything else in your life the government controls that is more important to you?:confused: :confused: :confused: How are you going to be 'free' and live your dreams with no money in the USA?

[Mastercraft241]

my uncle was telling me how there's a SURPLUS of oil and wall street is the one driving up the price of oil:confused:

[sho305]

my uncle was telling me how there's a SURPLUS of oil and wall street is the one driving up the price of oil:confused:
Aside from the fact that the USA does not have refineries (when hurricanes and refinery fires cause price hikes), when was the last time you saw a gas station run out of gas?

The free market will run the price up A) any time they think there is a lot of demand and/or not enough supply B) when there is low interest rates to borrow on margin to trade and no regulation controlling them, if they can get away with it.

Fact is people are still happily paying for it, and the US is the largest user and makes no effort to change the supply/demand/trading equation. The media thinks it is funny (the liberal media who "cares" about the poor guy!) and I guess nobody has told their congress rep to do anything about it.

Food will go up a little for increased transport costs/etc, but wait until things happen like wheat is now....going way up because farmers are planting only corn for ethanol. This next growing season cold be very interesting.

This is the kind of thing we will see more of. I don't know about you, but this is a sign that scares me. http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/one_in_three_public_school_stu.html

[eli]

the end is near, read your bible!!!!!!

[Brad Zastrow]

So this means you guys like Eli with your twin outboards will need to run on only one engine this summer to keep the cost of fun lower. I plan to have the wife row my boat as I heard it is good for her chest muscles. ;)

[sho305]

The end is 2000....no wait, must be someone screwed up and it was moved up to 2012:D ;) Maybe the spaceship could not make it in time.

Stuff is screwed up because nobody manages it. My issue is that will affect me in a negative way, and the next generation will be totally screwed by these inept greedy idiots.

I never voted to make this a third world country, and that is what they are turning it into. I do have confidence it will get fixed to a point at some time, but just how many decades will everyone have to suffer and go without when we would not have to if they did their jobs. You don't just stop using oil in 5 minutes....we were going to in the 80s and then they forgot all about that after a while. Meantime I lose out on boating, and there is little excuse for it.

[sho305]

This thread cracks me up the more I think about it; what do we have:

Bush has said he wants to source more oil for years. Doing that is about the only short term thing we can do to drop prices. Congress is the only one who can do it, and the republicans are half democrats these days plus the other half of democrats are against any new oil. We see what the supposed republican congress did, we see now what Nancy & democrats are doing. So in the end Bush is the only one who wants cheaper gas for you but you sheep have been trained to hate him by the lib media.

So keep on hating, and keep on paying more for gas like you are told.

I wonder if poor people who spent all their money on gas are more inclined to vote liberal....

[mk30h]

Guy's
face it the world supply of oil is limited, and it's going down fast. The oil that is found in alaska would supply less than a few months of US oil consupmtion - thats it.

There is very little unexplored area left in the US for oil. It's gone and it aint comming back for another 30 million years or so.
The Saudis have grossly inflated thier reserves to maintain thier pumping quota- it's downhill from here.

This is a real problem, our economies are globally interlinked through cheap oil. Why do youthink that 80% of the stuff in Walmart can be made in China and shipped here and still make a huge profit. Once the cheap oil is gone, location will again be important.

The party is ending whether we like it or not, conservation will stretch the use by a few years, but amount of oil is finite.

Putting one head in the sand won't change this reality, its going to happen.
It is not going to be pretty.

[Brad Zastrow]

So I need to start working on that fusion reactor project in my garage?

[Dave S]

Frogs Seeing.................And its not global waming.

[jmg944t]

Well I looked at a TDI diesel Jetta this morning but didn't have time to spend buying it. I am going back Tues AM hoping its still there. I have done a bit if looking around and there are quite a number of people getting 52+ MPG. I'll own this car for less than than 2 tanks of gas/ month in my F350 dually...

[FLMIRAGE]

Well I looked at a TDI diesel Jetta this morning but didn't have time to spend buying it. I am going back Tues AM hoping its still there. I have done a bit if looking around and there are quite a number of people getting 52+ MPG. I'll own this car for less than than 2 tanks of gas/ month in my F350 dually...

Not to jump in, but I just filled my Duramax with diesel at $3.79 a gallon. Looks like they have an answer to those high mpg alternatives they will still get their money. Diesel .20 higher than premium is just plain stealing. Bush is a dumbass!

[sho305]

No oil left? I thought China found oil right off the Florida coast?

That is true, oil is not infinite. However I can't really buy a fusion powered car yet and there is still a lot of oil left, particularly oil that is harder to get like the oil sands. IMO the government should have, and in the future should facilitate easing into this change. More efficient vehicles they will not allow...more oil in short term or just to calm markets, nope....use all the corn for ethanol and upset our food supply, yes they can do that. Ethanol is a good idea IMO, but corn is pretty inefficient for it unless they can improve output. They are a bunch of losers on nearly every front in addressing this issue....like most issues, if they even bother to address them. Oil has been cranking for what 5yr now? Man, I am 5yr older! We will all be dead by the time this congress does a thing about anything...that way our kids will get the hose, how considerate.

[sho305]

Bush is a dumbass!

That is right, stupid Bush wants to drill for oil here...that would be a terrible idea!!! :rolleyes: Who would want more oil, that might drop the price and we sheep don't want that.

[Hydrophobic guy]

That is right, stupid Bush wants to drill for oil here...that would be a terrible idea!!! :rolleyes: Who would want more oil, that might drop the price and we sheep don't want that.

As we all know Bush is the root of all evil it says it right in the democrat play book.
Come on now everybody knows its all about the Cheney Bush Iraq oil conspiracy.
I've never met an oil man who didn't want to drill for oil on his home soil that contained oil but,
evidently these rocket scientists believe that its true.

[FLMIRAGE]

That is right, stupid Bush wants to drill for oil here...that would be a terrible idea!!! :rolleyes: Who would want more oil, that might drop the price and we sheep don't want that.

Oh god a politician. I was merely blaming him for the ignorance he has towards the economy and acting like he never heard of the $4.00 a gallon prediction:mad: .
You can drill an oil well in the middle of my living room and I could give a shoit. All the tree huggers can kiss my asss. We need to stop all imports or at least balance the trade(ha ha) on everything not just oil.
Since sho305 is pro-Bush,who are you going to vote for if you could pick a canidate right now to fix this country?:rolleyes:

[transomstand]

Why is someone who doesn't blame Bush for everything pro-Bush?

Can't people not afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome just be neutral-Bush?:confused:

[Hydrophobic guy]

if you could pick a canidate right now to fix this country?:rolleyes:

THEIR IS NONE !! :mad:
We currently have to pick between three total losers.
Two of which have the added bonus of being socialists.

[jmg944t]

I now have the most fuel efficient car available. Best of all it isn't some toy car that sounds like your driving around in a tin can. I topped off the tank after the ride home from the dealership... I'll let you folks know what I end up with for milage. I expect the cold weather will keep it down to 46-48 MPG. For my specific circumstances if I can drive 1000 miies in this instead of the Dually per month this car has cost me no more than I would have spent anyways on fuel. I can do that easy!! If I can use it for 2000 miles more than the dually I save a couple of hundred by BUYING the car.
:D
After seeing 2 of these Jetta TDI's sold before I could look at them in 2 days I suggest anyone interested in doing what I am doing keeps an eye out and moves quickly if one is available. Apparently I am not the first to figure this out:o

[sho305]

I don't think Bush is ignorant, but his hands are tied and he is lame duck so why should he care anyway. I heard 3.60 a couple weeks before this, but I had not heard $4/gal either. Next week it will be $5/gal but does it really matter....not IMO because the conditions still exist for it to go up so likely it will. Until that changes who cares...congress does not care so we should not right?

The only one even close to conservative is McCain, and he is a turn coat half democrat. IMHO only a conservative will get our economics back in order but then again it may not matter because the President has little to do with national issues as seen by the way congress ignores the President today. I'll say the new President will mostly only influence international issues as none of them carry enough weight for a huge victory and huge following. I really doubt the do-nothings in congress (both parties) will care what the new President says either, though someone like McCain may (not sure) have more/stronger connections to get something done than the others will. He has been in there much longer, much more accomplished, and yet I have no inclination to vote for anyone that has been involved in the DC do-nothing crowd that got us so deep in this hole we are in.

If you look at the things Bush wants I think we would be much better off if congress had done them. I don't agree with all of them, but we are creating a much larger mess today than we ever should have. Worst of all they do nothing about anything year after year. So, I'm voting against anyone in office otherwise. Note they changed the law here years back so that the word 'incumbent' can not be on the voting ticket.

The day will soon come where we can't do the most basic things like have healthcare, SS, government services; yet here congress is wanting to spend on illegals of all things. The poverty rate for children in schools here has skyrocketed, and they are hugging the illegals that don't even belong to this country. They should take a look in the mirror, or at their passport to see what country they are from. But they are above the law and can openly support breaking it every day. Funny how I can't do that, but if this gets bad enough it will happen and it will be ugly. At some point the people will want their country back.

The socialists are on a never ending quest to recruit more stupid and entertained people to vote for them, pretty good stock to have in your country eh? Now they don't even have to be from this country, "we will import them screw your citizen requirements nonsense." Export the jobs and import the votes, that is the game. The poor and ignorant are much easier to control, and that leaves all the power and money for those in the big house right? After all, if you don't have any money in the US you don't have any rights/freedoms either. People of this country always wanted better for their kids, but that most certainly has changed.

[bigshrimpin]

Just thought I'd add this to the thread.

This was an interesting article about steve forbes predictions on oil prices in 2005.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/08/31/cnoil31.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/08/31/ixcity.html



Mr Forbes said the whole concept of the strategic reserve was pushing prices higher. "The speculators know now that no matter what happens to the price of oil Uncle Sam is there buying almost every day," he said. "Stop the buying and in fact throw some of that oil on the open market, boy that would throw it in turmoil and send the price down."

The oil market has become a target for investors, since the returns have been significantly higher than those from the stock or bond markets in the past couple of years. Fundamentally there is enough oil to go around. Stockpiles are full and Saudi Arabia has promised to step up production to 11m barrels a day.

"This is sheer bubble speculation. I'll be blunt, there's hardly a hedge fund in North America that hasn't speculated on oil futures," said Mr Forbes. He added that when prices did fall, the impact would make the dotcom collapse "look like a picnic".

[bigshrimpin]

Between the economic stimulus packages . . . free SUV write off - accelerated depreciation (25K/year) beginning in 2002 . . . . to

Thanks to the 2003 Tax Act, many small businesses can instantly deduct up to $100,000 worth of new and preowned equipment in the year it's first placed in service ($102,000 for 2004 after adjusting for inflation). The new $100,000 allowance is for tax years beginning in 2003 through 2005. The name of this generous break is the Section 179 depreciation deduction, and it can reduce both your federal income tax and self-employment tax bills. (You may get a state-tax deduction too.) Without it, you'd have to depreciate most business equipment over five to seven years. (Before the 2003 Act, the maximum Section 179 write-off for tax years beginning in 2003 and beyond was a mere $25,000.)

New and preowned "heavy" SUVs, pickups, and vans used more than 50% for business purposes are eligible for the $100,000 Section 179 write-off (as is, for that matter, most other small-business equipment, such as home-office furniture or software). So say you spend $60,000 to buy a superdeluxe heavy SUV that's used 100% in your self-employed business activity (meaning you conduct your operation as a sole proprietor, LLC member, or partner). Provided you make the vehicle purchase before year-end and start using it for business before then, you can probably deduct the entire $60,000 cost on this year's business tax forms. (This assumes you don't run afoul of the net business income rule explained below.)

The catch? Only that your newly acquired vehicle must be used more than 50% of the time for business purposes. But as I'll explain below, setting up a business office in your home can give you a big leg up in meeting this requirement. Before we get to that key point, however, here's a little more background so you'll understand how the Section 179 break works in this context.

[bigshrimpin]

Don't forget about Ethanol that also increased price . . . another fantastic idea.

[bigshrimpin]

2006 was the first year ever . . . that the average American had NEGATIVE savings. 0 or less.

[FLMIRAGE]

Sho305 Well Said!

[sho305]

People have to get a clue and vote, that is the thing to do. We used to have lots of money but now we don't. Healthcare, SS, energy, and other lame policy is killing us while income is down because we don't manufacture anything anymore. It is an equation that just can't win. Making new stuff is how you make the most money, that is why China is growing its economy at a huge rate.

IMO money is the key; if I don't have it I suffer. No boating, no dinner out, no whatever your hobby is. I think the people retired right now are in the golden age, I hope it is not true but if anyone can see brightness in the future for people that have to work a while yet let me know. Yeah we still have it pretty good, but our leaders are clueless it could be much better and I expect the best. It is not right for me to really feel that they are clueless when I look at the issues in some detail.

[bigshrimpin]

Sho - I know very little about economics, but it seems like the inflation (while very painful to all of us) could drop the value of the dollar to the point where we can once again manufacture goods at attractive prices to the rest of the world?
In addition inflation might also fix the people who are upside down housing market, allow the government to pay off the massive debt accrued by rebuilding our defenses and the war => more quickly, etc. etc. I'm just trying to make sense of the situation and understand what's happening . . . I just have a hard time believing that everyone of our elected officials are as stupid as GW behaves (that's just not the case). They maybe corrupt greedy bastards, but they seem to be achieving their goals. If you looks at the actions of the government rather than listening to the bullcrap media, it paints a very nice picture of a country that is rebuild it's defenses (at all costs) while giving massive handouts to oil industry. These appear to be the priorities of this administration plain and simple, despite the lip service to the public.

[chynewalkr]

Sho - I know very little about economics, but it seems like the inflation (while very painful to all of us) could drop the value of the dollar to the point where we can once again manufacture goods at attractive prices to the rest of the world?



i dont see any sign of this where i work, in fact i see the opposite. in the past year i have seen a landslide of what was quality made product being replaced by cheap chinease parts. :(

[sho305]

Devaluation of the dollar can help exports sure, we just don't have much to export. The original idea with NAFTA was that we would export manufacturing, but get paid for exporting technology to make up for it....as well as benefiting from cheap labor....and then after they made some money they would by stuff back from us. Problem is they just stole the technology and microsoft did not make anything off of them. Sure the CEOs are making hay with cheap labor, but sooner or later they will run out of customers because nobody here will have any money and abroad they are not buying. Technology is moving very slowly here because of DMCA and patents anyway, so soon we will be surpassed by others and then what will we have? You can't create anything new here, and now you have opened the road to create that new stuff much easier elsewhere. They write software in India like crazy and don't get dragged into court. They have a free economy that we used to have before everything was legalized and regulated down to where you can't do anything unless you are a lazy-stuck-in-the-rocking-chair huge corporation that can afford it.

Here Sony has you arrested for copying a CD, there they copy off DVDs and Windows OS/etc by the millions. That protectionary stuff does not work out in the big bad real world. It has succeeded in stalling our technology for many years. Sony nearly single handedly held back the DVD burner for 5 years. Now the corporate idiots have chosen bluray, again some proprietary junk that will do nothing more than screw the people. It is just a hopped up DVD that holds more info, but if you want HD movies you are gonna pay. The whole idea is they will dumb it down and slow it down with protection until it will barely do its job of playing a movie, and not be good for anything else. It takes my DVD forever to get playing unlike my VCR. Just like my new computer takes twice as long to boot as my slow old one. It is all just another chance for someone else to get the jump on us while we stand still waiting for the lawyers to get paid enough before they give us a substandard near useless but required product. In the old days they broke up monopolies but today they think it is great. Remember when they broke up Bell phone and you could buy a cordless phone? Wow, that was a huge deal back then because technology was let free in the market.

Now you have all this other stuff too: ultra expensive healthcare, high tax base, high energy costs, and on that kill your purchasing power....with no opportunity of increased income in sight.

Housing took a dive because it was speculated up so high with low interest rates. Stupid people took out loans they never should have.

Big oil makes money when the price goes up sure, but they do not control the price. They do control refinery capacity that is dangerously low but they will not build one because the EPA has made it so expensive due to emissions requirements. Congress will have to tell them to via energy policy, but do not see the need to do so. It is the government's job to ensure us an adequate supply and they are not, the price spikes from refinery fires/etc are OUR fault not the price of oil.

Defense, well you have a choice to make when you get attacked and a pile of your people get turned into dust. What would you do? It cost money for a military, not much more if they are working rather than practicing. It is the President's job to protect us and I'd say he did/is. If he is so wrong then what is the democratic congress doing about it?

[Euroski]

What year TDI? Auto or standard trans? I work at a VW dealer and can answer any questions. VW has a new diesel coming out later this year that should top 60mpg. So I'm told.




Well I looked at a TDI diesel Jetta this morning but didn't have time to spend buying it. I am going back Tues AM hoping its still there. I have done a bit if looking around and there are quite a number of people getting 52+ MPG. I'll own this car for less than than 2 tanks of gas/ month in my F350 dually...

[jmg944t]

What year TDI? Auto or standard trans? I work at a VW dealer and can answer any questions. VW has a new diesel coming out later this year that should top 60mpg. So I'm told.

Its an 05 5 speed. I just got back from a 100 mile trip at 53 MPG:D I got it for $16K. I am not at all excited about the car but the money saved in fuel is exciting. All in all it seems like a pretty nice car.

[sho305]

53mpg, that is great. I'd have one but I don't put that many miles on so my little 4 banger is not too bad. You can't find one for sale around here.

[Euroski]

What's critical is changing fuel filter every 20,000miles and running the VW spec oil. which is synthetic. BTW the fuel can be changed in about 15 minutes and all you need is a Torx T30 driver. I been told if you don't use the VW spec oil it can cause camshaft lobe wear because the injectors run off the cam and can have pressures of near 25,000psi. Other than that it's a great engine/car with few problems. Check out http://www.dub-tech.com/ where a few of us VW dealer tech's hang out.



Its an 05 5 speed. I just got back from a 100 mile trip at 53 MPG:D I got it for $16K. I am not at all excited about the car but the money saved in fuel is exciting. All in all it seems like a pretty nice car.

[jmg944t]

Thanks for the info! I'll change the oil and fuel filter just it case.

[jmg944t]

Update:
I averaged 55.1 MPG on a 125 mile trip today... So far I have driven it 275 miles and the tank is still more than 3/4 full. Todays 125 miles cost me $8 in the F350 it would be $35:D THe car has a mileage readout that refreshes every 2 seconds or so. Down any hill on the highway I can keep it over 100 MPG at 70 MPH!! Uphill is a different story... 38-40 MPG