I have a small piece of paper that I carry in my wallet that is the solution to high fuel prices. When I take this piece of paper out of my wallet I do something that could potentially strike fear in the hearts of oil company executives. This piece of paper could lead to a sharp decrease in demand for gas in the united states.

This piece of paper is a transit pass. I take the bus into work everyday. I could afford to drive my own car into work, but I chose not to. I'll be damned if I give those greedy bastards at the oil companies any more of my hard earned money than I have to. If tens of millions of people followed my lead, the world would be a better place. We would have less polutionf and our country might be able to sort out the mess in the middle east.

The only drawback to my solution is that it requires you to do something. Most people are looking for a solution that requires someone else to take action. Unfortunately, the problems that stem from our fuel use are ultimately not attributable to some corporate fat cat or other villain we can easily dispense with. The problems stem from our own personal choices.

The real villain is not an oil company executive, it is the millions of American mothers driving SUV's. The real villain is not a politician, it is the millions of male office workers that feel the need to express their inner cowboy by driving a pick up truck. The real villain is not some oil driller, but the person that drives when they could walk, bike, or take a bus to their destination. Whether you like it or not, the real villains are paying the price for the problems they created.

Anyone who has a car and uses it regularly knows that what you are proposing is a sacrifice. And the same people who head up the oil corporations have stakes in public transport. I won't deny your decision has positive aspects, but the real solution to the oil crysis is to get off oil. Let the Saudi royalty go back to selling camels.

And what does the transit system run on? Electricity. And how is (on average) 50% of that electricity generated again? (Look it up for the answer).

With people having less money for imported goods from China, Chinese demand for oil might just go down when this effects their production. Then China's demand for oil should also go down.

With oil producers charging so much for oil and it's shipping, what they import from us, if any, would have higher costs also.

I don't have available to me this kind of public transportation, but, if it were, I think I would see those fares go way up too, especially, if they buy new fleets of hybrid buses.

Truckers need to change to hybrids, just as the locomotives were designed as. Using natural gas and propane for light deliveries etc.

I think the price of oil per barrel should be frozen around 100.00 per barrel and the taxes shifted to offset the costs of production, such as oil sands from Canada. Gas should return to $3.00 gal. for regular unleaded and frozen also.

The tax money used for new production and alternatives in and around the North American continent. This could be used for lowering the costs of hybrids and high efficiency cars,especially, for those who wouldn't normally be able to afford one. Subsidized auto loans and or leasing for car pooling etc. Green credits for car pooling etc. Green credits could come back as tax rebates in the form of a gas card.

As for the war in Irag, we should get oil credits from Iraq if we haven't already. What's the latest on Iraq paying us back or any agreement?

The price for "protection" of mideast oil is apparently higher than it's worth, making the US military the enforcers.

Originally posted by Zepherian
Anyone who has a car and uses it regularly knows that what you are proposing is a sacrifice. And the same people who head up the oil corporations have stakes in public transport. I won't deny your decision has positive aspects, but the real solution to the oil crysis is to get off oil. Let the Saudi royalty go back to selling camels.

People who use their cars are complaining about high gas prices are expecting a solution to come out of the sky. The fact is that they will have to "sacrifice" or pay in some way for the solutions to problems that they had a large hand in creating.

A society that extenisvely utilizes public transport will use less oil than a society in which its citizens travel in their own cars. Even if oil companies have a stake in public transport, they will sell more oil if everybody used private autos rather than public transport.

I would agree that we should begin implementing alternatives to oil. Even if the US began a program tomorrow to eliminate the gas powered car as we know it, it would take a few years to implement the plan. It will take a few years to build additional power plants, alternative fuel stations, and other energy infrastructure. It will also take a few years to phase out the gas powered car as we know it. On the other hand, virtually every city in America has a public transport system of some sorts. People can begin utilizing those systems today and hence provide some relief between now and the time alternative solutions are implemented.

You only need 5% deposit on oil futures. Everything else requires 50%. Speculation is what has driven up prices. We have a full supply. You are making some folks very rich when you buy gas. Supply and demand have little to do with oil prices. This robber-baron thing cannot be stopped while big oil has control of governments.