Sunday, September 30, 2007
GAS OUT!!
NO GAS...On May 15th 2007Don't pump gas on May 15th ; In April 1997, there was a "gas out"conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.On May 15th 2007, all internet users are asked not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places.There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up.If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take$2,292,000,000.00 out of the oil companies pockets for just one day,so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.If you agree, resend this to your contact list. With it saying,''Don't pump gas on May 15th"
This is an email that was sent to me by a friend earlier this year who, rightfully so, wishes to remain anonymous. I let her know immediately what a stupid idea it was and that I would not forward it to anyone. First of all, I was a consumer of gas in April of 1997 and I don't remember any 30 cent drop in gas prices overnight and whatever these idiots might think....... this definitely is not going to make anyone in the middle east take not. It would take a serious switch in consumer patterns to make any dent in their income...... whatever losses gas stations here in America might actually feel that day, would be made up for by the sales from the day before or the day after........and lastly, the OPEC nations know that western consumers are weak and will pay whatever we have to drive our cars, look at Europe, they pay like $5-$6 a gallon ---- well, not gallons, but liters (you know, the metric system) but the equivalent of that in liters.
All of that is interesting, and all of our legislators know it, so they simply give us lip service when we complain about gas prices and nothing happens to the large percentage of tax that we pay for every gallon of gas. There is an even more important and ironic fact arises from this email though.
The girls that sent it to me lives in Oregon. And Oregon, and I believe there a couple of others, has a very interesting law. It has state mandated full service gas stations. You cannot pump you own gas in Oregon. This was quite a shock to me when I visited and was in the process of pumping my gas and some guy snatched the nozzle out of my hand. So, any citizen of a state that is complaining about the price of gas while allowing that same state to mandate extraneous employment levels at every gas station in said state, I have no sympathy for. And while I was there, I asked many of the people of Oregon why this practice continued and I didn't get a satisfactory or consensus answer. So, my immediate response to her was to start a drive to change public policy on the matter. This could lead to an immediate slashing of labor costs by 1/2 (if we take as a given that most convenient stores and gas stations could drop from 2 employees at any given time down to only 1). And thus, with market competition, a drop in the price of gas, without ridiculous emails circulating all about clogging up my inbox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is an email that was sent to me by a friend earlier this year who, rightfully so, wishes to remain anonymous. I let her know immediately what a stupid idea it was and that I would not forward it to anyone. First of all, I was a consumer of gas in April of 1997 and I don't remember any 30 cent drop in gas prices overnight and whatever these idiots might think....... this definitely is not going to make anyone in the middle east take not. It would take a serious switch in consumer patterns to make any dent in their income...... whatever losses gas stations here in America might actually feel that day, would be made up for by the sales from the day before or the day after........and lastly, the OPEC nations know that western consumers are weak and will pay whatever we have to drive our cars, look at Europe, they pay like $5-$6 a gallon ---- well, not gallons, but liters (you know, the metric system) but the equivalent of that in liters.
All of that is interesting, and all of our legislators know it, so they simply give us lip service when we complain about gas prices and nothing happens to the large percentage of tax that we pay for every gallon of gas. There is an even more important and ironic fact arises from this email though.
The girls that sent it to me lives in Oregon. And Oregon, and I believe there a couple of others, has a very interesting law. It has state mandated full service gas stations. You cannot pump you own gas in Oregon. This was quite a shock to me when I visited and was in the process of pumping my gas and some guy snatched the nozzle out of my hand. So, any citizen of a state that is complaining about the price of gas while allowing that same state to mandate extraneous employment levels at every gas station in said state, I have no sympathy for. And while I was there, I asked many of the people of Oregon why this practice continued and I didn't get a satisfactory or consensus answer. So, my immediate response to her was to start a drive to change public policy on the matter. This could lead to an immediate slashing of labor costs by 1/2 (if we take as a given that most convenient stores and gas stations could drop from 2 employees at any given time down to only 1). And thus, with market competition, a drop in the price of gas, without ridiculous emails circulating all about clogging up my inbox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
