[FC] Re: Does this seem right? Boycott time????

[Wild8bill at aol.com]

I think gas is cheap for what we get out of it. I don't WANT to spend more; 
but I think $5 a gallon isn't unreasonable if you think of all the production 
and transportation costs involved in getting a gallon of gas to your local gas 
station. Add to that all the taxes involved, and the operation and maintenance 
of the gas station and you're talking real money. The utility that we as 
consumers get out of gas is pretty high; whether it be for business or recreation. 
I know a lot of businesses that don't even factor in the cost of gas as part 
of their operation because it's such a small percentage of their expenses. I 
think that will all change now. We all know that petroleum products aren't 
going to last forever. I was told in grade school in the 70's that we would run 
out of gas by 2010. That was wrong, but crude oil isn't infinite, and with China 
becoming more industrialized and needing more crude oil, the world supply 
will dwindle pretty fast (if China attains the same usage that the USA currently 
has per person, it alone will need 90 million barrels a day; current world 
production is only 70 million a day).

So, doom and gloom aside, enjoy it while you can. Offset your personal gas 
cost by getting a 40+mpg car to do your errands, and drive the guzzler for 
recreation only. We got a brand new Scion XA for $13k that gets 45mpg, and modern 
conveniences like air conditioning and power steering sure are nice! I need a 
truck for my work, so I'm eying diesels.

The future is electric motor driven vehicles. How we generate the electricity 
to power them is still up in the air. Hybrids are nice because you generate 
your own power and can actually drive across the country without plugging in; 
but they still use gas. The major road block is electrical storage. We need a 
Manhattan Project size effort to develop efficient electrical production and 
storage (batteries). After we can generate and store all the power we need, we 
can thumb our noses at OPEC. When they finally go dry, they'll all go back to 
sheepherding as the major industry of their respective countries; just like 
before oil was discovered.