[FLHTbiker]

Just paid $4.45 for super to fill up the bike today. 4.5 gals and that sure took care of the $20.00 bill in my wallet. I know quit bitching and ride but it sure does hurt, especially when I just had to fill up the work P.U. this morning which was $122.80

[Art_NJr]

Originally Posted by FLHTbiker

Just paid $4.45 for super to fill up the bike today. 4.5 gals and that sure took care of the $20.00 bill in my wallet. I know quit bitching and ride but it sure does hurt, especially when I just had to fill up the work P.U. this morning which was $122.80

Very long read, but here's the major reason why:
The Oil-Price Bubble - Frank Shostak - Mises Institute

The other is the fact that we haven't built any new storage or refinery facilities in the U.S. in over 30 years & it'd take an army of lawyers 7-10 years just to get the permits to start. Makes no difference how much crude oil you've got if you've got no more places to put it or refine it into finished products.

But it's the monetary policy discussed in the article lnked to above that's the major cause. Compare commodities with each other, e.g. gold vs. oil; silver vs. wheat; copper vs. soybeans, etc. & you see that the relationship between them doesn't change much & certainly not drastically. The rising price in dollars is merely the symptom - the falling dollar is the problem.

[FLHTbiker]

One thing that could help in Oregon is to get rid of the gas jockeys reducing the cost to a station owner who then could pass the savings on to the consumer. Oregon has one of the highest gas prices in the nation and a big part of that is having to pay the hourly wage of these people. You can't pump your own gas in Oregon as the state feels it is unsafe. They say it provides Jobs however they could then go to work in the fast food restaurants getting rid of the Mexicans who don't speak English.

[Art_NJr]

Originally Posted by FLHTbiker

Oregon has one of the highest gas prices in the nation and a big part of that is having to pay the hourly wage of these people. You can't pump your own gas in Oregon as the state feels it is unsafe.

I lived in Portland in 1975 & it was the same way back then - 1st time I'd ever seen a law prohibiting you from pumping your own. But the wages paid to those who pump the gas don't amount to much of the total cost.

In high school I pumped gas in full service stations, back when there were little incentives like S&H green stamps to induce you to go to one station over another & gasoline was less than 25 cents/gallon. Company paid for uniforms for each day of the week you worked that were sent out & dry cleaned so you'd always have a fresh one & each brand tried to look more spiffy than the others. Wash your windshield, check your oil & tire pressures - that was automatic, but even then it didn't affect the overall price much.

Here's another (long) article that gets into the real issues:
Economics 101: The Price of Gas - Sterling T. Terrell - Mises Institute

As long as the politicians & the "news" media focus on the symptom rather than the problem, nothing will be done about it.

[ironhorse]

yup 120 for the main tank and 440 for the bulk tank gotta luv it sure are seeing a lot of bike trikes, pedel and moto, vw's, and my daughter just picked up a volvo 240 dl for a 100 gets about 30+ to the gal my second son parks his nova unless its work or a date, and my oldest is starting on his new sporty, going to look at a 74 bug for the wife today i could join ya and bithch about it too cause i do any way but al's right demand and supply, theft is on the rise for copper alumminum and of course gas, and diesel were still slowly spiraling downward and when we hit bottom, it might take quite a while for the dust to settle, just wonder which pres. will get to take the credit for that

[FLHTbiker]

Originally Posted by Art_NJr

I lived in Portland in 1975 & it was the same way back then - 1st time I'd ever seen a law prohibiting you from pumping your own. But the wages paid to those who pump the gas don't amount to much of the total cost.

In high school I pumped gas in full service stations, back when there were little incentives like S&H green stamps to induce you to go to one station over another & gasoline was less than 25 cents/gallon. Company paid for uniforms for each day of the week you worked that were sent out & dry cleaned so you'd always have a fresh one & each brand tried to look more spiffy than the others. Wash your windshield, check your oil & tire pressures - that was automatic, but even then it didn't affect the overall price much.

Here's another (long) article that gets into the real issues:
Economics 101: The Price of Gas - Sterling T. Terrell - Mises Institute

As long as the politicians & the "news" media focus on the symptom rather than the problem, nothing will be done about it.

Yep it adds a lot when you not only consider the wages but also the extra insurance the owners pays, the OSHA regs they now have to adhear to for employee's and the State required Workers Comp. Insurance that they are required to have in place. I was talking to one station owner the other day and he said he would fire them all if he could. Said most are lazy, won't even clean a windshield and they steal from him (oil, paper products, money, gas, peoples credit card info). He like many station owners would love to see self service, then a lot of his headaches with employees would be gone.

[2fastnaz]

First time I drove into OR. I was coming in from ID. Don't remember the name of the little town. Anyway Sunday morning, town half asleep I jumped out of the truck and grab the nozzle poke it in the tank and this teenage girl comes running out and freaking out. The look on her face was priceless.

I don't remeber the fuel being that much higher when I lived there. But that was when gas was still around $1.00 per. YOu guys are paying about $0.35 more per Gal than we are right now.

I ran a mobile station in Eugene during Gulf War 1

[FLHTbiker]

The motorcyclist groups were finally successful in having the state of Oregon state in a new amendment to the law that a motorcyclist can pump gas into their own tank with the following exceptions: Get this, we have to wait for the attendant to come over and hand the pump to us. We are not allowed to touch the pump or pump handle while it is still in the pump for the purpose of dispensing flammable fuels. We can't even put our own credit card in the pump. Once we are done filling the tank then we must stand their with the nozzle in our hand and wait for the guy or gal to return so that they can put the nozzle back into the pump cradle. Is that just frigging nuts or what. On more than one occasion I have had one of those so called attendants pull the pump nozzle out and point the nozzle right into my face while their hand is on the nozzle pump lever.

The first little town that 2fastnaz was talking about is probably Ontario as it sits on the boarder between Idaho and Oregon along Interstate 80. I pulled into their one year while driving my MAC tool truck that I just purchased in Georgia and the girl attendant sprayed fuel all over the side of it. I drove that truck all across the states pumping my own gas without even one problem.

I guess Oregon thinks were all to stupid or dangerous to pump our own. I'll get off my soap box now.

[Sleepy]

Yep got coaught in Ontario Oregon with nozzle in hand a bunch of years ago...they weren't impressed, neither was I....but a great place to ride it is..once you leave the gas bar. 4.45 for super? mmmm it'll be whatever my bill will run on without pinging is whazt it'll get....up this way it's cool enough to run regular for most applications...two up pulling the trailer ain't one of them tho.

[Slimjim]

I just returned from a cross country trip in my diesel PU. I was paying as much as $4.79 and saw it at $5.03 in Colorado. When you spend $100 on every fill up and get less than 20 mpg, you feel it. Makes me wonder why I bought a truck like this. The diesel fuel used to be cheaper than gas but it's now out of sight and it doesn't look like it's coming back.

[SK]

I know one of the biggest reasons is refinery capacity. So I say we build a refinery just across the border in Mexico (less restrictions). Just might create a few jobs there that don't have to cross the border looking for one.

That, and drill the hell outa Alaska!

[freerider8]

Originally Posted by FLHTbiker

Just paid $4.45 for super to fill up the bike today. 4.5 gals and that sure took care of the $20.00 bill in my wallet. I know quit bitching and ride but it sure does hurt, especially when I just had to fill up the work P.U. this morning which was $122.80

I know how you feel my man and believe me the rest of America is right there with you. I just wonder what the new presidential candidates are going to do about it, the sad part is what can they do. In my opinion, all they do is make mostly empty promises to we Americans just to get elected and then do nothing about what they said they would. But as far as the gas prices goes and the oil companies basically controlling the price and the demand being great, and if you dont buy it you cant go anywhere or even get to work unless walking is an option for any of us. Where I live public transportation doesn't even come to my area so I have to drive to get to work or anywhere else for that matter so until we can start to control how much of the gasoline we use the more the price is going to climb. We have to stop using so much so that the oil companies have even more of a surplus so that they don't have anywhere to put it and have to lower the price, but then how can that last? We simply have to try and conserve as much as we can to save ourselves money which in turn will help our own wallets.

thanks for listening to my rant and opinion.

[SPORSTERBOY]

Try not to even look at the price any more, because i'm going to pump it anyway up to 4.00 on the regular now, can't wait to see it at 4th of july. As far as the presidental canidates, I would think they would press the issue of gas a little more for votes, but you never here them, even seems most of the time the news and media avoid the situation, we all accept our fate, just like when Bush got re-elected.

Less the caps for ya art does it come out real big on your end or something?

[Art_NJr]

Originally Posted by SPORSTERBOY

Try not to even look at the price any more, because i'm going to pump it anyway up to 4.00 on the regular now, can't wait to see it at 4th of july. As far as the presidental canidates, I would think they would press the issue of gas a little more for votes, but you never here them, even seems most of the time the news and media avoid the situation, we all accept our fate, just like when Bush got re-elected.

Yeah & all 3 of the chuckleheads are part of the problem - check their Senate voting record on things such as restrictions on building new storage & refinery facilities, pumping more of our own oil & driiling where we already know there's more. All they do is point the finger @ the big bad oil companies, which would spend some of their billions in a "New York Second" on new facilities, if they were allowed to.

And another thing people don't realize is that the oil companies we're familiar with only have about 9% of the market - the other 91% is controlled by oil companies owned by foreign governments - Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, just to name a few. As mush as Exxon-Mobil, Shell, BP, Texaco, etc. would like to corner the market, there's no way they could. If you want to see what the major problem is, read the articles I posted the links to above. Until people understand that, they'll just keep fussing about the symptom.

Less the caps for ya art does it come out real big on your end or something?

Yep Looks like you're yelling all the time

Not like I don't feel like that myself sometimes - especially when it comes to politicians

Well, looks like Obama sewed up the Democrat nomination - wonder who he'll pick for vice pres.? Not that it matters - unless he picks Billary & then more of the same McCain wouldn't have a snowball's chance in Hades. But just like it has been since Reagan, it's the lesser of 2 evils.

[SK]

About the only thing I think any of the candidate can do to effect gas prices is to get our economy going better and strengthen the dollar, which sucks right now. That, and we just need to reduce consumption..promote riding motorcycles.

Did anyone see that 3-wheeled contraption on the NBC news the other night? Looks like a small airplane w/o wings and averages about 150+ mpg as a hybrid (there's also an all-electric version coming out). They were able to drive it from LA to NY on one tank of gas, which only holds about 10-12 gallons. It also accelerates from 0-60 mph in about 4 seconds, and will do upwards of 90 mph. I think the retail cost is going to be something like $27k or so..not bad. It's really lightweight, so don't know how it'd do in a crash test, but motorcycles don't fair too well either. It attributes it's mileage to being lightweight, and extremely aerodynamic.

[wvak47]

Proposed new traffic sign

[Red Rider]

Did ya see where South Dakota voted to allow a refinery for the first time anywhere in the US for 30 years? Thank you South Dakota!

[FLHTbiker]

Cool