May

31

This ain’t the late seventies.

Remember the seventies? Gas prices hit .90 cents a gallon in 1979. How about the oil embargo in 1973? The average price of gas in 1973 was .65 cents, up from .52 cents in 1972. Of course this change was not a linear .13 cent increase across the board. Rather, it was a few months in the year where there were huge gas lines, stations ran out of gas, and prices approached nearly $1.00 a gallon which was a chunk of change back then (still less than we pay now if adjusted for current times!!!) Add to all of this a flood of cheap foreign imports and American auto manufacturers nearly went into the abyss.

Why?

Foreign imports were cheaper to buy. They got mpg 2 to 2.5 times that of American gas guzzlers.

Detroit started making subcompacts and fuel efficient (for the times) cars. Remember the Citation, Chevette, Monza, Omni, Fiesta? Chevy even made a pickup truck (LUV) that got close to 40mpg (unloaded) city and close to 50mpg on the highway. Oh…how we forget.

So What happened?

Oil prices came back down and Detroit again started making gas guzzlers. Actually Detroit caused the foreign auto manufacturers to make bigger less fuel efficient cars to keep up. Fact is business is driven by consumer demand. With lower gas prices Americans could afford to trade in their cracker jack size Yugo for a roomier ride.

So?

This ain’t the late seventies. No, it is much worse (though we are a pretty clueless people these days). Less than a month ago they were predicting $3.00 a gallon gas prices and we are now over $4.00 in most parts of the country for regular. It is so pathetic that when I was filling up yesterday I began longing for the days of $3.00 a gallon gas. We can probably forget about seeing $3.00 a gallon oil ever again. And that prices did not last for very long (months). To put this in perspective, gas prices for the entire decade of the eighties ranged from a high of $1.03 (1980) to a high of $1.27 (1984).

Why?

First, there is a greater demand oil in the world than their was in the seventies. Second, do you really believe oil companies are going to reduce their prices, especially in the face of this demand?

What now?

But to make these type of cars their has to be sufficient demand for them. Trust me if gas stays at $4.00 a gallon or higher long term there will be suffient demand. The only way to deal with this is to make cars that get double the mpg of current vehicles. This way everything is relative.

What else?

The Chrysler $2.99 a gallon price rebate for three years is a good short term strategy for selling their gas guzzlers and reducing inventory. Others should follow suit. But, buyers had better be sure that they can afford the price of fuel after the three years as they will be unlikely to unload their vehicle and who know what the price of gas will be in three years.

Parting gifts…

We can quit whining too much. Most of Europe is currently paying between $8.00 and $10.00 for a gallon of gas.

As a barrel of oil is now selling for over $125.00 you will be amused to know that in 1959 oil sold for .18 cents a barrel.

May

22

Fair and balanced my ass. From an independent who is conservative in my political views you folks are off the charts. The spin on race, and the moral postering of folks like Sean Hannity only serves to try and take us away from the issues.

Maybe you chowder heads could start addressing the real issues like the daily rise in oil prices, our sinking economy, a war that we recklessly entered that is killing our sons and daughters, healthcare, and global climate change (oh, right, in the face of all the science y’all still think it is a myth). These are the issues that most of most liberal and conservative working stiffs care about.

Spin all you want. Most of us are bright enough to seperate the wheat from the chaff. And even in the face of all your postering we are still willing to give McCain a chance.  The election will be decided by the independents that hear the best solutions to these problems.

And the notion that conservatives get how business and the economy should work best… pleeeeease. Y’all are the idiots that sponsored giving unsecured mortages to people that did not have enough money to buy a latte without a credit card.

 

 

May

9

Hertz is starting to offer the Prius. I drove about 65 highway miles and 25 city miles. I see how people can get addicted trying to see how high they can get their mpg. The console has a display where you can watch how you are doing on a digital scale that goes from 0 to a 100. It calculates and displays total miles driven and your average mpg once a minute. It almost becomes a game to see how well you can do, at least it was for me on the highway. I got 53.5 mpg driving the rolling highways of Central Wisconsin, and about 35 mpg in Marshfield.

I was staying about 30 miles from the airport. Filled it back up for $5.25 (obviously it was topped off a bit more before). Drove to the airport and it was still of F when I parked.

The guy at the Hertz counter said a lot of people did not want to drive it. I thought it was a great car. Unless they come out with something with even better gas mileage I plan on buying one.

 

 

May

9

We tip the person that waits on us, the cabbie, the skycap. Why not the person that cleans our room? They probably give us more of their time and attention than any of the others. Plus, they are also not well paid and in most case lack benefits (or decent benefits). For my typical 3-4 day business trips I started leaving a five and a thank you note. If we all did this they would have a much better income :-) .

May

8

I believe the past weeks have allowed Jeremiah Wright to show his true colors. He is an American and has the right to express his point of view. One does not need to agree with him. What we must all agree on is that he has the right to speak his point of view.

Truth is that if Obama was not associated with him he would not be news.

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