Why $120 oil is good

This is going to be so off topic and politically incorrect [sorry] but I would never give my kids to somebody for the day, whether it be daycare, public school or private school. I know most people thing it's normal but we don't think it's healthy for the children/family. Nor is it often economical for many families to have two breadwinners. What's gained in a 2nd salary is often lost in higher expenses and less quality of life.

My wife staying home allows us to have one car, no child-care costs and we save money on lots of other things because we aren't over-stressed so we don't feel like we need to eat out or buy useless toys. When our kids are older, I'll stay home and education them and my wife can bring home the bacon. (We think even the best schools are too crappy for our precious angels). So getting back on topic a bit, if one parent stays home, it can actually be cheaper and certainly more enjoyable/healthy for the family and of course the environment. Think outside the box that big business wants you to be trapped in - the never satisfied consumer and working drone. There will be more options for you that way.

 

To be even more politically incorrect, you could save even more money and greatly help the environment by not having any kids. That's just me thinking outside the box. Wouldn't it be great if instead of an ever increasing global population we could start shrinking it?

 

Too much reactionary thinking here. The choice is not between public and private transportation. The real choice is sustainable transportation, public and private. It is quite possible to have private transportation and be sustainable for some (e.g. electric car and solar electicity). Car pooling is quite possible for others. Moving the work to the home, even part time, is possible for others.

The price of gas is a problem of unsustainable resources, not access to public transportation.

 

The last two word have a nice double meaning.

 

I'm glad that you would stay at home with your kids. That's your choice.

Our choice is that we both work as teachers and help to educate the next generation. We don't work for the frills and toys that advertisers sell to us - we work because we feel it is important for someone to educate the young, and because we are good at it. We enjoy our jobs and like to think we can make a difference in the lives of our students.

The great thing about America is that you can stay at home with your kids, and we can go to work. None of which has anything to do with public transportation or the lack thereof.

 

Might be a good idea just to go ahead and send them to a public school.



JMO,

~butster

 

Poor us. Maybe we should apply to the UN for aid? Our problems were created by us. I agree with your post though, that statement just sounds funny to read. We, The Herd, were too smart for our own good. We knew better than every expert and ever other country. Anyone who tried to tell us differently was a crackpot -- and never elected to public office.

 

ya ok... i can see how that statement could be misconstrued. we are like a 30 year-old star running back... the only thing we have going for us is our reputation. we no longer can perform at the level we have known previously, but our pride is slow to accept that.

when i was a kid growing up, i felt that there were no clouds in america's future. i wasnt naive, its just that the problems we faced were workable...or more likely, we did a much better job of ignoring them. we had the power, resources, brains and willingness to go out a fix it or do the right thing. sure, there is always glaring mis-steps...vietnam, the obvious example, but we still could do it.

but today's world is different... we no longer have all the answers... sometimes i feel like we dont have ANY answers. many poo-poo the parallels between the roman empire and us and the standard timeline of any free society as it emerges, comes into power, then fades. its excesses causing its support structure and strengths to be eroded from the inside out.

so u see, we are at a disadvantage, when you are on top, there is no place to go but down.

 

I taught public school and survived. I was good at it too but now I just see it as a horrible system of warehousing the young, keeping them occupied so "the man" can keep the drone masses working for junk instead of nurturing their own. Sorry to help take this off topic some more.

 

I find two of your posts in this thread full of BS.

You try to blame 1 individual for making bad choices but when you know for a fact our goverment as a whole is hard at work screwing us over.

You want to tax the hell out of gas but how much of that money do you really think will go towards mass transit? Think about it!

This is part of the problem. Too much of our money goes through the government first. The only thing the Government is good at is the Military and that is it. They get involved in too much of our lives.

Now, As for the gas prices it will only get worse unless we depend upon ourselves for our own resources. E85 is not the answer because all it does is drive up food prices and you get less fuel mileage on it just like biodiesel.

I feel the effects of the gas prices as well but i don't drive all over town just for the sake of driving. I'm pretty much from home to the Military base and then back home. I drive a 4x4 S-10 truck that will seat two people at the most. I wouldn't dare try to fit a 3rd person in the jump seat as it is quite small. it's paid off and all I have is minimal maintenence costs and fuel costs. It's a lot cheaper for me to do it this way than to have a $475 to $500 car payment and then the added costs of gas.

In actuality, If i need to buy a car it will probably be like a Cavalier or a Cobalt for around $5,000.

It's funny were talking about how long it takes for you to actually make money back afetr buying a hybrid. Our UPS guy comes on the base once and awhile and I asked him what UPS was doing to curve the cost of fuel. he basically said they were starting to get rid of the old gas van models and buying diesels. They looked at Hybrids but could not justify spending a large amount of money on a hybrid delivery van as it would take too long to regain some money back from it.

 

I always thought gas taxes went to road funds, yet the roads in IL are so poor they fall apart when it rains. I am not exactly sure how state and county taxes are applied, but if they are percentage based and not fixed like federal, the road coffers should be overflowing, yet there is no money for roads. Where is the money going?

Yes and NO, I run biodiesel in my F350 whenever I can and get no loss per gallon, in fact I get a slight increase, and the power is the same or better depending on the blend. In fact when I run Bio I see less smoke.

 

No school for your kids then?

 

Yeah, that's what he said - no public or private school or daycare.

 

Is ethanol really driving up corn prices? This op-ed says oil is. It might have me all turned around on the subject. I'll need to do more research. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0506fuelmay06,0,481881.story

 

That describes us perfectly. Out country hasn't had any real hardship since the 70's and that was minor. I remember the rationing and shortages. I was young, but I remember how worried my parents were. When I talk with people today, they have no concept of how it could get. My favorite quote is "Well, I like my SUV. I'll just keep burning gas." Few are really changing anything.

 

Oops, they just bought 200 of them. Tell you're UPS guys to check out this link:
Green Car Congress: UPS Orders 200 Hybrid and 300 CNG Vehicles from Daimler

And if our government had taxed gas and diesel like most others, we would not have gotten used to the big cars and SUVs.

 

great link. It's good to see a Cummins in the vans

 

Wish it was still $120!!!

 

As Pogo said, "I have met the enemy,,, and he is us!"

The roots of our problems lie with the pubic policy and private actions of us all. For too long we have had it too cheap, and now we are paying the price. The tragedy is that we have seen this coming in some form or another since the 1970's

We get to blame others, but the problem is really us. We piss and moan about "the government" but we fail to work for candidates that speak truth to us, fail to vote, and then fail to unseat those that act against our interests. Because our energy is cheap, we can, as a previous poster has said, live 80 miles from our work so that we can have horses. Boo-hoo! In any sane society the horses would live in the country and you could visit the on the weekends. If you are driving 160 miles a day, how much time during the week can you enjoy and take care of the horses and the homestead anyway?

A similar issue for those that live in the sprawl of the American S.W. (Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas etc.) Gigantic urban sprawl bought at the price of "cheap land and cheap fuel" with disregard for the longer term environmental costs to society. Current residents are stuck with the choices that their parents made in urban planning, lack of money spent on transit, more on freeways that not only don't reduce congestion, but ironiclly add to it.

The solutions also lie with us. As individual we can change our lifestyles without disrupting our "quality of life" . We have cut our fuel consumption by 75% in the last couple of years with out changing our daily lives a bit. We drive a Prius @ 52 mpg up from 23 in the Subaru. I drive a Vintage Vw Rabbit pick up @ 34 mpg instead of my 13 mpg suburban. When I need the big truck, I'll rent one for a few hundred dollars a year. We have made our house as energy efficient as possible, with simple changes including homemade insulated window shades, CFL bulbs, turning off the power supply to the electronics at night etc.

We all can do these things at little impact, BUT we must demand leaders follow our lead. Any candidate who address the issue by claiming we can "drill our way out of oil depenance" should be shouted down, and vilified. (John Boener ~May 21, 2008 NPR) Letters to editors, blogs, forums like this are our tools. Money to the right candidates.

Two thoughts come to mind. "Think globally, act locally" and "Be the change that you want in the world!" Tavis Smiley. We don't inherit from our parents, but rather borrow from our children. Now more than ever we are doing this is spade. We are wracking up a debt that may never be able to be paid.

Icarus

 

I have made this prediction before, and I will reiterate it. In the early 2000s, Americans racked up massive amounts of debt, and now they are paying for it. With gasoline prices, it's the opposite. Today, we are paying for a decrease in cost tomorrow. What??? As SUVs become extinct and hybrids become prevalent, over the next five years, American oil consumption/demand will be HALF of what it was in 2007 (SUVs everywhere). Five years from now, when the demand is half, the prices will go down - and we will still be driving hybrids. Transportation will seem VERY inexpensive then. This is my prediction. And last time I checked, Europeans were NOT buying Suburbans and Excursions, nor were the Japanese, Chinese, nor Indians. Small cars are the norm in the rest of the world. Five years from now, I guarantee that you will see hybrids overseas.