4 dollar gas and its effects on metalworking at home

[lazlo]

You remember the election in 2006? year-and-a-half ago, consumer confidence was a two-and-a-half year high. Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon.

Crude oil prices were already at a crisis point in 2005.

In November, 2005, Congress dragged the same 5 Oil CEO's to Capital Hill, and the oil execs claimed the (then) historically high $60/barrel was a cyclical anomaly, and that oil prices would go back down. Then they were dragged back in 2006 (before the elections), when oil hit $75/barrel -- same story: the record crude prices, and their historically high profits, were seasonal anomalies. Now, nearly three years later, oil is over $100/barrel, with no end in sight.

Has nothing to do with the Democrats (or Republicans). Neither does the sub-prime lending crisis, which triggered the stock market retraction (since many mutal funds traded on Wall Street were padded by re-packaged sub-prime mortgage investments).

And like Evan says, the war in Iraq isn't helping things: the overall cost (including long-term veteran support) is over $3 Trillon USD, with no end in sight. According to the Economist, we're spending $2 Billion a week for the "War Contractors" (Halliburton, et al.).

[tattoomike68]

I see gas prices have not stopped people from driving huge king cab 4X4 pick up trucks all over town.

I can see driving a rig like that to haul tools and materials to a job site or haul a large boat or camper.

Instead you see the 400 LB soccer mom at the Burger King drive through getting a triple whopper meal. Maybe they need a 375 HP motor to haul the hog beast size woman around town.

[lazlo]

I see gas prices have not stopped people from driving huge king cab 4X4 pick up trucks all over town.

Instead you see the 400 LB soccer mom at the Burger King drive through getting a triple whopper meal.

Ain't that the truth. Texas generates more CO2 (from burning hydrocarbons) than every nation in the world except the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, India, and Germany. Here in Austin, which is the Yuppie Capital of the World, everyone drives gigantic Suburbans, Hummers, Sierra's, Tundras which have never touched bare dirt.

I was watching a documentary on the Science Channel "What Happens When the Oil Runs Out?", and they mentioned that the US consumes over 1/4 of the world's daily oil supply, but we're only 5% of the planet's population. To put that in perspective, they said the average American burns, per capita, 11 barrel of oil a year. The average Brit burns 4 barrels of oil a year, and the average Chinese citizen burns 2 barrels of oil a year.