*This message was FWD to me, so I didn’t write it, but I will Boycott on 5/19 (don’t know what good it would do, but if enough people do it, I’m guessing it would make a difference.
I’m pissed off that I have to spend $2.31/gallon for 93 Octane gas and $2.11/gallon for 87 Octane (regular). I’m guessing this is all I can do about it.

*Please send this message to everyone you can.
(1) Copy the message below (highlight it and hit CTRL+C) and paste it into your new email (CTRL+V).
(2) In the “To” send it to yourself, and in the “BCC” (“Blank Carbon Copy” –hides their email address from SPAMMERS) send it to everyone you know.

CUT & PASTE is as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------------

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT
PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE
OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.

AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF
OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL
COMPANIES.

THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT TO THEM" DAY
AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE
THAT DAY.

THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY
PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES
THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?

REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE GOING UP BUT AT
THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING
COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON
EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING
MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY,
WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE
YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE MAY 19TH A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF
THE UNITED STATES SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"

I got an e-mail with something similiar...but the plan was to boycott 1 supplier for the rest of the year and see how that supplier reacted...

RasDas

Joe

I'm in. Anything to get those greedy bastards. X

Yeah! Who needs gas anyway!! I got a 15 speed Raleigh street bike!! Well, I did get hit by a car one time riding it... 😕 But if nobody's buying gas, no cars! Yeah! We have to make sure this applies to Asian women too if I'm going to ride my bike on the street...

I am so in. My bicycle could use some more miles.

Thanks for posting this.

I don't understand how this would work. If you boycott for one day you are going to buy the same quantity the following day or later in the week. So the gas companies still sell their gas. Its not like the gas is going to spoil and become unsaleable if you don't buy it a particular day.

Yup. It is complete BS but it rears it's head every time prices go up.

I also read that boycotting one particular company does nothing either, as they all use each other's gas, depending on availability.

We are so screwed, it's not even funny. Only way we can stick it to them is by buying a hybrid or electric car... and if you're like me and you have the "need for speed"... that ain't happenin' any time soon.

lol, I still don't get it. If you found an old box of rare coins in your attic that were worth millions of dollars, would you sell them for $100 because it's not fair to 'gouge' someone just because what you have is in high demand and limited supply? I don't like having less money in my bank account at the end of this month, but I still pay for gas because driving my car is so valuable to me and I'm just happy they're not charging me $5.00 a gallon, because I'd probably pay it...

oh, and every single email forward like this is B.S.

Exactly why i dont forward them as well...

And yeah...paying is a pain...but i like the comfort and power of my 2003 GMC Sierra Extended Cab...

RasDas

Joe

The problem is everybody fills up on the 18th.....

Me love to bike to work whenI am able..tell myself then I buy some smokes 🙂

The boycott is not a matter of overthrowing the economy, it's about making a statement to the oil industry.

It's the same defeatist attitude that says "it makes no difference" which keeps people from excercising their right to vote.

Making statements is not "B.S.". Why should we have have our price on gasoline jump from around $1 per gallon to over $2 per gallon in a matter of only 12 years? It IS price gouging, it is price fixing and it is wrong, it contradicts the principles of capitalism.
I am a firm believer and practicioner in capitalism (I'm a salesman damn it). The essence of capitalism is laissez-faire (ie. no government involvement in business), however with government involvement, it creates a monopoly over the oil industry, and THAT is a communist system (ie. centralized bureaucratic planning controlled by a monopoly). It's a hypocrisy of our ideals as Americans.

In the political spectrum of things, I tend to lean towards the right side of the pendulum, but I am more concerned with what is *fair* and this system we have set up regarding oil/gas pricing is NOT fair and does NOT support our ideal of a capitalist society.

We don't buy gas because we want to, we buy gas because we have to. (Don't tell me "then use public transportation" because I live in a rural area. The ONLY way to get anywhere around here is via car.) If the electric companies in the country got together and more than doubled the price for electricity there would be outrage, so why should oil be any different?

It's for these reasons I will be joining in on the boycott on May 19. It will not change the world, but it will make a statement. Money talks and a lack of money speaks even louder.

Ordinarily I'd be all for something like this, but it seems to me that if you stage your boycott at the pumps, the only people you're going to be hurting are gas station owners. Everyone else already got their money.

Take it to the source.

Mike, I support you man.

While the price of crude is up, there is plenty of oil. Our refining capacity is very thin. There have been no new refineries built in the US in many years. According to the oil companies this is due to NIMBY and environmental regulations. During this time the gasoline formulations in "high polution states" have been changed due to the regulations. When supplies are short in CA. and some other states, supplies can't be shifted from the bordering states Also, IMO, the oil companies artificially effect supply by closing refineries for "repairs" during periods of high demand. All of this has caused artifically high prices that have generated very high profits for the oil companies. Personally, I think it is high time that the government provide significant tax benefits to those companies that bring alternative, clean, energy to market. Those benefits should be high enough to lower the initial cost of that alternative energy to the point of being competative to fossil fuels.

Just my opinion.

I don't pay nearly as much in gas after I got rid of my V6 but a car that gets thirty miles to the gallon and started riding my bike. While certainly the oil companies are screwing us, I think a bigger part has to do with the SUV's we are driving, more cars on the road due to a population boom, taxes on gasoline, environmental regulations, and the like. I decided to switch cars and ride my bike more because it helps me in the bank account and I think its a small part I can do to help out the war. The less we depend on oil as a country, the less problems we will have over there. Think of it this way: Where would the Saudi's and Iraqi's get there money if the world no longer needed oil?

We'll still need oil. Petrochemicals is a huge industry. It's not just gas. But gas is the majority of it, that's for sure.

Gigarick posted,
"Ordinarily I'd be all for something like this, but it seems to me that if you stage your boycott at the pumps, the only people you're going to be hurting are gas station owners. Everyone else already got their money."

I have talked to several gas station owners, over the past month or so. They are as upset, as anyone else, over the gasoline prices. On Average, they get about $.05 a gallon, in profit, from gasoline sales. Several of them told me, that gasoline, is sold by them primarily as a service, to get people to stop into their store, and purchase Items, that make them money, sodas candy, etc. A gasoline boycott would not hurt them, as long as you stop and buy other products from them. The small wholesaler would be hurt more, by the ripple in their cash flow.
The big boys, cant hurt them, it's their game.
Later
Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)

brew, that's absolutely true. Gas station owners don't make their money off of selling gas, they do it off of point-of-purchase retail sales and/or automotive repairs/service. In the late 1970's my dad owned a gas station/repair shop, and the gas was merely a draw for customers, he'd have preferred to do without the gas.

Similar thing with movie theatres, they make only 10% off of box office, and the profit is made by the concession stand.

I dont mind the prices. Hell it's what keeps food on the table. Matter of fact things are so good here,just recieved a raise. We dont deal with the oil wells alot in my company. It's 98% gas wells(natural gas)not the crap you put in your car. Gas comes from oil.Natural gas is the stuff you cook with and heat your house with. My wife still has trouble separating the two. Besides if you boycott one day you'll just have to buy more the next. Haaaaahahahaaaaaaa!

Gasoline i should say comes from oil

Who said it was the SUVs??
No offense, but that's a bonehead statement.
I've got three young kids. Most small cars (good gas mileage)don't fit three car seats, and if they do they won't have much storage space.
Sure, a mini-van get better mileage than an SUV, but in New England you have to deal with snow on the roads and a light van is horribly unsafe.
Add to that the safety of a heavy vehicle and I'm thankful my wife was driving her Montero when an idiot driver cut across her lane and caused an accident when my wife was pregnant with my son.
Had she been in a mini van or automobile, the crash likely would have injured my unborn child.

Lastly, she drives less than 10,000 miles each year. So she uses LESS gas than somebody who drives a more fuel efficient car for 25,000 miles a year.

It's not the SUV.
Never was. Never will be.