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How to bring gas prices down....(Find the flaw)

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Elspeth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:41 AM
Original message
How to bring gas prices down....(Find the flaw)
I just got this email this morning. Is there flawed thinking here?


THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON.

This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this summer, take time to read this please.

Phillip Hollsworth 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!
It's worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!!

I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down?

We need to take some intelligent, united action. 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 on and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $2.00 is super cheap. Me too!

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 millions of EXXON and MOBIL gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp 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 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300), and those 300 send it to at least 10 more (300 x 10 = 3000)... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group 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. But I am. so trust me on this one.

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail 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. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON and MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $2.00 RA NGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

Keep it going


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ColbertWatcher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:48 AM
Response to Original message
1. This sounds like a chain letter.
Or that Nigerian guy.
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Elspeth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. But does the strategy make any sense?
And there's only one Nigerian guy? He must never sleep.
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Cant trust em Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. Apparently I've won the lottery in the UK too
Winning the Lotto in pounds would be awesome!
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O.M.B.inOhio Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 12:13 PM
Response to Reply #4
14. They're not using Euros in England?
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Cant trust em Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 12:30 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. Nope. The pound has been stronger that the Euro for a long time
I suspect they'll be on the pound until it's financially beneficial to them.
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Cant trust em Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 12:22 PM
Response to Reply #4
15. whoops.
Edited on Thu May-01-08 12:30 PM by Cant trust em
wrong spot.
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Fridays Child Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:49 AM
Response to Original message
2. Snopes already did the work...
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ColbertWatcher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:52 AM
Response to Reply #2
8. It's word-for-word. Wow. n/t
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Elspeth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:53 AM
Response to Reply #2
9. THANK YOU
That's what I was looking for.
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NoGOPZone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:50 AM
Response to Original message
5. This is still going around?
The flaw is that other companies won't reduce their prices just because Exxon/Mobil (one company now) reduces their prices. In fact, with increased demand for their products, other companies will raise their prices.
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iamjoy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:51 AM
Response to Original message
6. SUPPLY AND DEMAND
If people aren't buying from Exxon Mobil, more people will be purchasing from other companies (Shell, BP, etc) who will then raise their prices. Exxon Mobil will then be cheaper by comparison, and most people won't have the will to maintain the boycott. The oil companies are rich, they can outwait us.

Also, what is to stop Shell, BP, etc from buying gas from Exxon Mobil to make up their shortfall.

Sorry, there are no easy fixes. As a society we're going to have to change our behavior.
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cynatnite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:51 AM
Response to Original message
7. This is an old one...won't work though. n/t
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Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:53 AM
Response to Original message
10. The best way is to vote Democratic
because a Democrat will use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for its intended purpose instead of as an excuse to keep oil off the market and drive prices up. This is the root problem, folks, an oil man's government.

The second best way is to dump those gas guzzling behemoths any way you can and get economy cars suited to your type of driving: hybrids for city driving and economy sedans for distance driving. Consider a scooter for short hops in the cities or suburbs. Also consider lowering your speed to increase the vehicle's efficiency. Remember, it's no how long you drive, it's how you drive.

Boycotting Exxon will do me some good because I own a competitor's stock. However, the main effect it will have is driving local station owners out of business. Do we really want to do that?

We saw a drastic reduction in the number of gas stations in the 70s, along with a reduction in the services the remaining ones offered. Repeating that will only cause a lot of us to have to spend a lot more time driving to get the car filled up and won't have much of an effect on gas prices.
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INdemo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 11:56 AM
Response to Original message
11. Just because a gas station does not have an Exxon or Mobile
sign does not mean it does not came from their refinery..Any jobber can pruchase any particular gas they want in fact when they load their tanker at bulk plants the gas they get could be from a Mobile,an Exxon, Marathon refinery etc..so there wasn't too much thought went into this..
At a local staion, that happens to be a Citgo,gets their gas delievered from the same jobber or gas transporter that a local Marathon staion does..
So good luck...at using this system to lower the price...
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Ganja Ninja Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 12:02 PM
Response to Original message
12. I think tar & feathers and a rope would be more effective. n/t
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aint_no_life_nowhere Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 12:02 PM
Response to Original message
13. Exxon Mobil is going to make profits of about 45 billion this year
Too bad there isn't some way to organize a non-profit gasoline company, a sort of co-op, that could buy oil on the open market and do their own refining. It would be nice if all of those mega profits could be passed on to the consumer. It's probably such a complex problem, involving the establishment of chains of distribution that it would impossible to organize. Since every oil company is making big profits and since demand is so high, it doesn't look like there's too much incentive for these profitable companies to compete with each other. They're all making big bucks.
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Rageneau Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 01:07 PM
Response to Original message
17. I had this same idea back in 1973, but gas prices went up anyway.
Pretty soon, were were waiting in line to pay 90 cents a gallon, and were happy to get it, even at those outrageous prices.

Don't count on the American consumer to change anything.

Americans are, by nature, too lazy and selfish. Once we get ours, we lose interest in the plight of other people. We leave all that to God, as in, "In God We Trust."
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Fearless Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 01:16 PM
Response to Original message
18. The ONLY way to lower oil prices is to lower consumption drastically or cause mass deflation.
That's all. Not buying from Exxon-Mobil for one day won't do anything. Everyone will buy twice as much the next day, and besides, the same AMOUNT of oil (gas) will still be used, from the same source OPEC nations, just refined by different people.
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