Fighting the increase in Gas prices [RE-wrenches]

Tue May 29 18:20:55 PDT 2001

Dana,
Two weeks ago my father-in-law sent me the identical e-mail. I responded to
him as below.

Dick, While I'll cross the street to save 5c a gallon just like the next
guy, I want to see gas prices rise substantially, because that's the only
thing that will wake us up from our oil addiction. So please count me out on
this one.
Love, Allan

 He then responded:
A true "horns of a dilemma", right, Allan?
Let's raise the price so high no one can afford to drive their gas guzzling
automobiles and trucks and buses and planes and trains and powerplants and
furnaces and airconditioners and tractors and combines and all the other
wonders of our age that use oil.

That'll teach us to be so greedy and consumptive and addicted to oil as our
life style (I bet you love that expression) comes crumbling down around us.

Sorry, I like to get in my car and be able to go and do what I want and
where
I want.  I like to be able to catch an airplane to visit Europe or my
grandchildren or the latest show on Broadway if I want.

Is that wasteful and addictive on my part?  Who's to say?  Morality covers a
great deal of ground and one person's dogma may be someone else's nonsense.

Yes, I know our gas prices are quite low compared to most of Europe and the
rest of the world but also I know that much of that is caused by higher
taxes.

I know also that the 2.00 a gallon we pay now equates rather favorably with
earlier gas prices when inflation is factored in and that $3 gas wouldn't be
so bad. I know that as well as most people do.  We aren't stupid.  We also
know that the industry is setting us up for those higher prices, getting us
ready for them.

And alternative energy businesses will flourish more readily with higher oil
prices. That will be good, especially for my daughter and her children. And
the environment. And new and renewable power sources.  That'll be good, too.

A little bit you remind me of my old Lutheran bretheren from my youth.  They
looked out, secure in their own salvation, and saw all those others, the
vast
majority, lost, unsaved.  It's why I left that fold - No one is all right.
No
one has all the answers and you know me well enough to know that I surely
don't.

So then, "the horns of the dilemma":  Must we destroy the world in order to
save it? Sounds like the great biblical flood.  And that was over morality,
too.  But then even God said he'd never do that again.

Actually Gonzo was probably making a big joke about Chevron and Exxon, don't
you think?  I don't think it's a real grass roots movement, do you?

Write back if you want.  We'll dialogue.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dana Orzel" <slrwrk at ocinet.net>

> I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer Want
> gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united
> action. A friend of a friend, offered this good idea:
> This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day"
> campaign that was going around last April or May!
>  The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't
> continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an
> inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought
of
> this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read it
and
> join with us!
> By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super
> cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.03 for regular unleaded in my town. Now
> that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think
> that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50- $1.75, we need to take
> aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace....not
> sellers.
> With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to
> take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down
is
> if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And we
can
> do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How?
> Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN
> have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.
> Here's the idea:
> For the rest of this year, DON"T purchase ANY gasoline from the two
biggest
> companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling
any
> gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their
> prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
> But to have an impact, we need to reach literally million! s of Exxon and
> Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp out on me at
> this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach
> millions of people!!
> I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to
> at least ten more (30 x 10 =3D 300)... and those 300 send it to at least
> ten more (300 x 10 =3D 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message
reaches
> the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION
> consumers!
> If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each,
> then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level
> further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all
You
> have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (If you don't understand
> how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10
> people.... well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. How long
> would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more people
> within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be
> contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I
had
> that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.
> If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.
> PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP
> THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.
> If you're not outraged by what the oil companies are doing to us, go see
> your doctor, you may be suffering from terminal apathy! Perhaps he/she can
> prescribe something for you...

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