Being robbed

Thanks for the info, I was just curious after reading a few peak oil articles & yeah I can see why the Brit's are miffed as well, they are self sufficient according to these #'s.

 

If you have time have a look at the well produced Oz Peak Oil Documentry from our Public Television channel which carefully explains both sides of the debate. click Broadband below link. ( starts with a clip from Mad Max 2 ) :thumb:

Peak Oil Documentry Link:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20060710/default_standard.htm
or as Tinyurl
http://tinyurl.com/ypo6no


Play Full Version. Should automatically step through the chapters.

 

Hey what we need to remember is that the higher petrol prices go the more people are going to ride motorbikes. Besides it is ruining the world climate so maybe it is not such a bad thing for petrol to cost a bit more. I ride my bike to uni because a. I don't have to pay $5 for parking and b. I save $5 on petrol. My bike is saving me about $50 a week and I get to ride it, woohoo

just my 2 cents worth

 

I take advantage of the price issue - once upon a time I used to get some level of scruitiny from my wife over "stuff" I bought for my bike. Did I really need new tires this year? Why do I need those Givi saddle bags? Didn't you get a tune up last year? To be fair, the price of "stuff" can add up pretty quick.
But since my Veefer gets twice the mileage of my truck, she's all for my riding to work as much as possible, and gives my no grief whatsoever when it's time to spend a little cashola on maintenance and upgrades.
So this year it's tires, tune-up, fix that nagging busted speedo...
and perhaps even new forks springs - we'll see how that one flies.

 

No matter how close you get a refinery, you are never likely to get that benefit.
Even if there were a company willing to offer that, thanks, but I will pass.

Gas prices will continue to go up.

Stand up to who?

 

So are you saying you don't vote? And yet you still want to complain about the choices made?

 

At least for me, overall cost per mile is cheaper in the cage than the bike. You have to remember to not just include gas, but the cost of tires ($250 for 2 that last 5-6,000 miles and 10-12,000 versus $500 for 4 that last 50,000 miles), higher priced oil, filters, various other parts.

the exact balance will be different for all of us obviously, depending on what we drive, tire choices, length of commute, year of VFR, etc
but just 'cause your bike gets better mileage, doesn't mean it is a money saver per mile, it might still be, but doesn't have to be

but I can actully even get better mileage out of my car, than out of my VFR, so if gas went to $6 a gallon tomorrow, I would be more likely to drive my car than my VFR

 

But see, you're doing it as well, talking immediately about taxing people and restricting our movement (because that's what 'being efficient with fuel' really means if it's going to have any measurable effect). It's like the whole world has been conditioned only to think on this issue in terms of a) putting costs up, which effectively means tax hikes and pricing people out of using fuel and b) discouraging use which effectively means making people move about less freely.

Where's the talk about developing alternatives? Real, effective alternatives that can reduce the need to use fossil fuels in as many cases as possible while still allowing freedom of movement. As far as my bikes are concerned I'm a petrolhead; the idea of electric bikes, for example, just doesn't appeal; with my cars on the other hand I couldn't give a toss what they ran on as long as they do the job. Really work at developing useful and effective alternative technologies and then use legislation and tax breaks and other sweetners to promote the use of hybrid or electric or other alternative technologies for commuting and day to day car use and public transport and haulage, and in a decade or less we could take millions of oil burning cars off the road. But where's the will? Certainly not among givernments who are happy to tax us to high heaven, and the public just seem to repeat mantras fed them by the media, governments and the environmental lobby.

What about changing our societies so that we have less NECESSITY to use oil rather than stopping people from using it even though the need to move around is just as great?

Whether or not there is a peak oil crisis looming and whether or not climate change has anything to do with mankind, the responses we are seeing at the moment are agenda driven, not innovative or designed to get the best solution for us, the road users.

There's a kind of madness abroad

 

Dude you get 50000 miles out of your car tires and better mileage out of it than your bike. What kind of car do you drive? There is no way my car is cheaper to run than my bike, not even close!!

 

It is easy to find car tires with warranty ratings of 40-000 to 60,000 miles. Not performance tires for a 911, but all season, name brand, radials for the "family sedan" is a piece of cake.

The VFR sucks as far as gas mileage really, when you compare it to other bikes.

 

DerSTuka is right...it is hard to find a more secretive business than the Big Oil. They don't WANT you to know. Misinformation abounds. But trust me (and my BS degree in Geology), they are every day perfecting new methods to find, extract, process, and mostly, PROFIT from what is left in the ground.

 

But that is what business does, make a profit, otherwise the business goes out of business. That is what capitalism is all about.

 

Spike is right, of course. When the business being discussed is the stereo company, or the bike company or the pool table company, I think we all completely understand. But here is the question for society: when it is your water company your food company, and your energy companies...is it OK for THEM to be intensely secretive?

I am not sure.

 

The utility companies are I think highly regulated and tightly monitored everywhere. I know they are in the 4 states I have lived in, and I would guess nearly everywhere else.

is the burning of gas really for the "good of society"
does it matter the vehicle? the reason for the trip? whether public transit could have been used?
where do you draw the line? it is tough, cause we won't all agree

are, and I am actually asking, I don't know, the major gas companies really that much more secretive than say Coca Cola? or Charles Schwab?

 

interesting...

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/13/news/economy/gas_gallon/index.htm?cnn=yes

 

My opinion is that, fundamentally speaking, all businesses (big businesses) are similar. They want to make the most profit they can. Not just A profit but the MOST profit. Is that wrong? No. It IS capitalism. But, if I choose to pay too high for a non-essential product (say, a Harley Davidson), that is my choice. But, is it right when something essential costs me much more than it "should?" You say regulated...well, ever hear of the scandals to rock the rate commissions in many states? How about the California electric scandals a few years back? If you assume that governments and rate commisions are all above board and without graft, I suggest that is too simple of a view. I WANT them to be...I just don't think many are honest and have the interests of the common man in mind.

Ultimately my responsibility, as a consumer, is to buy into the "system" or not. If we all banded together and voted with our money, we COULD change things. Most of us are too busy and make enough money to just pay the bill.

(P.S. don't forget, oil goes into much more than your fuel tank...so many essential products are derived from oil)

 

Accounting is an art, not a science. Enron ring any bells? If you're a CEO or CFO and already know the end result you're wanting, the accounting can, and often is, adjusted accordingly, GAAP principles be damned.