A bit of relief

If you have a Discover Card you should sign up for the July-September 2008, 5% back on all gas purchases.  It should help you out a little bit at the pump.  It will also save you a 5% on hotel purchases as well. 

$4 Gallon Gas

I really did not want to have to write another story on gas but I thought since gas is now $4 a gallon it must be talked about.  This is a historic event in America right now.

So the cost is extremely expensive and is causing consumers to shift their spending from other things to keep gas in the tank.  Here is the break down on all the hidden fees from a gallon of gas.

The estimate of $4 per Gallon breakdown:

Gas Stations. They only take about .8-.13 cents per gallon and that is not even profit. 
Taxes. The government takes roughly .40-.52 cents per gallon of gas and half of that goes to the Fed.
Transportation. Moving the gas from the refineries to the gas stations cost about .25-.35 per gallon.
Refining. Exxon, Valero, Chevron take about .30-.37 per gallon to turn the crude oil into gas.
Crude Oil.  This is the most expensive part of the process and cost on average $2.50-2.70 per gallon currently.

I think the part that bugs me the most is the government and their tax cut they get from it.  They tax my paycheck, my property, food, and everything I buy.  And for some reason they always need more money.  We need someone who can balance the books in this country. 

How you can reduce the price of gas

We have all read the articles on how to make gas prices go down.  Some examples are to not fill up for 1 day and others were to boycott a big player like Exxon.  We all know those will not work because if you skip one day of filling up you are either going to fill up the day before or the day after.  Here are some real ways that I thought would be a good way to make the fill ups at the pump less often and decrease the demand of gas.

1.  Ride the bus one time/or multiple times a week instead of driving alone to a places
2.  Walk to local places and get some exercise
3.  Prioritize errands so that you take the most efficient routes
4.  Empty your trunk of anything you do not need back there.  Lighter the car the better the gas mileage will be.
6.  Check the air pressure on your tires
6.  Ask around work to carpool with co-workers
7.  If you are a multiple-car family try to reduce down to 1-2 cars and share.
8.  If you need a new car consider getting a hybrid
9.  Ride a bike to work and other places
10.  Get a motorcycle/Scooter

Just imagine if everyone out there did one of these things consistently and the impact we could have on reducing gas prices. 

Do you have any other ways to make trips to the pump less often?

 

Gas prices suck

The gas prices are getting out of hand.  It is funny that Bush comes out and says there is really nothing that the government can do about it right now.  I am not a big fan of government intervention anyway, but i find it super funny at how easy Bush got the stimulus plan to happen. 

At any rate, I saw Chrysler is now offering if you buy some of their cars that they will guarantee you $2.99 per gallon of gas for three years.  I noticed that all the cars that fall under the deal are SUV’s.  If people are going to buy a car because of that then whatever.  I want cheaper gas prices.  Maybe when a car company guarantees me Gas for $1.50-$1.99 a gallon then I might get a car from them. $1.00 a gallon would be most preferred.  

Is there any good reasons for gas prices to be this high?

Economy update and some questions

I have been super busy recently.  Much has happened since we last talked and here are a few things on my mind about what is going on in the economy.

Gas prices each week continue to go up.  For the last three weeks when I have been filling up I have paid $33, $37, and today $45.  Wow! When I was filling up today I saw way more motorcycles recently in the valley.  I can only imagine that more and more people will be getting bikes.  Since I sold my car recently maybe I will get a scooter.  Probably not!  The point is Gas prices need to go down and I really can’t imagine people will keep paying these high prices.  When I am driving places now I even think of getting the most out of my drives.  If all consumers can cut down on Gas usage could we drive the price at the pumps down?  How do we get cheaper prices?  Oil keeps going up and so does my credit card bill.  If you can try to carpool.  If you need to go down the street to the store to pick up a few items, get some exercise and walk.  A final thought on Gas for all of you who are getting money back on the stimulus package from the government it looks like they gave it to us to pay for gas for a few months. I hope gas prices get better.

The stock market continues to roll like a coaster.  I hope all of you are sticking in it for the long run.  Keep funding, this will not last forever.  If you are a day trader good luck to you. 

The housing market is still tanking.  I saw a news story the other day and realized that more and more people are walking away from houses even thought they now can afford the payment.  People were saying why pay for a house that has dropped 100k?  I wonder if there will be any enforcement on all these people who are walking away.  I have a big post on this matter coming up soon.

Global Warming is getting on my nerves.  I hear so many people talking about it everywhere.  Many out there who think they know all, keep telling us to worry about this Global Warming and that we really need to take care of our environment.  My one question on this whole matter is that how can we for sure be experiencing global warming if local news professional can’t even predict rain, temperatures in the weekly forecast?

Okay that is all that is on my mind.  Looking forward to every ones thoughts.