Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Back to Big Oil, the Bushes, and gasoline

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Posted by Lost (Member # 417) on :

I finally came across something of use from Car & Driver].

I remember flaming Bush and Big Oil about the price of gasoline and we were curious about how the price of gas was broken down. This is from the June 2000 Car & Driver, written by the Editor-in-Chief, Csaba Csere.

Crude oil, $30.00 per Barrel
50 gallons per barrel
60� per gallon

At $1.199 per Gallon, which is what I paid on 01/14/02
14.0� goes to the feds (11.65%)
19.7� goes to the state, in Michigan anyway (16.46%)
26.2� pay for refining, shipping, advertising and profit.
60.0� for buying the crude oil from OPEC

or, looking at it buy the tank, say a 15 gallon tank that seems to be popular in C&D
$2.10 to Bush
$2.955 to Engler
$3.93 to Big Oil
$9.00 to OPEC

Of course, this is oil from OPEC, oil from US businesses should be a little less expensive.

Crude Oil & Natural Gas Prices

Barry Patroleum Online

Fame Energy

DOE Explaination on fluctuations by region

OPEC

From OPECs Site:
"One of the most common misconceptions about OPEC is that the
Organization is responsible for setting crude oil prices. Although OPEC
did in fact set crude oil prices from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, this is
no longer the case. It is true that OPEC's Member Countries do voluntary
restrain their crude oil production in order to stabilize the oil market and
avoid harmful and unnecessary price fluctuations, but this is not the same
thing as setting prices."

[ January 16, 2002: Message edited by: Lost ]

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

quote:
$2.10 to Bush
$2.955 to Engler

Don't distort the facts. They don't go to 'Bush and Engler,' they go to the state and federal governments.

So the real question is 'do the state and federal governments need your gas tax money, and do they spend it efficiently, and on what?'

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

Just a guess, roads? Subsidizing phone lines, or putting communication satellites into space, perhaps. Funding the military, national guard, police and fire? Your salary, Rob?

Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :

$1.119 per gallon, and you complain about it?

E1.26945 (E = euro) for 4.5 litres of gasoline... we should be so lucky. The prices vary, but on average a single litre of the stuff costs a whopping E1.134451 (or $1.01)! Four-and-a-half times more expensive!

Stop whining or stop using your damned SUV's.

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

Any bets on how much of that is taxes?

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

I don't understand your opposition to taxes, Omega. Jesus was quite clearly in favor of them. Then again, he was also a communist, so I guess you just ignore it all, eh?

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

quote:
Just a guess, roads? Subsidizing phone lines, or putting communication satellites into space, perhaps. Funding the military, national guard, police and fire? Your salary, Rob?

My salary comes entirely from local land property taxes, not gasoline or any other tax. so [Razz]

Still, if that's the case, what do they spend the REST of our taxes on? [Smile]

And are they as efficient as they could be, or do they still waste money hand over foot? I know PennDOT is paid buckets even though when I pass the construction sites, nothing's happening at all, or if there are guys there, six of them are watching two others work. Or for you liberals, how much money do we waste in the 'War' on Drugs?

Oh, and that whole 'render unto Caesar' thing isn't about taxes, if that was the example you're going to use. It's a call to live within the unfortunate system of the times, not necessarily to support it. Pay your taxes, not because it's right, but because Caesar can force you to, and living's better than being killed.

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: First of Two ]

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

quote:
Or for you liberals, how much money do we waste in the 'War' on Drugs?

Waaaaay too much. Stupid idea to begin with, and a stupider idea not to stop.

quote:
Still, if that's the case, what do they spend the REST of our taxes on?

Printing the very dollar bills with which people trade.
Public roads.
Rural electrification.
Government subsidized telephone wiring.
Satellite communications.
Police protection.
Military protection.
A criminal justice system.
Fire protection.
Paramedic protection.
An educated workforce.
An immunized workforce.
Protection against plagues by the Centers for Disease Control.
Public-funded business loans, foreclosure loans and subsidies.
Protection from business fraud and unfair business practices.
The protection of intellectual property through patents and copyrights.
Student loans.
Government funded research and development.
National Academy of Sciences.
Economic data collected and analyzed by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Prevention of depressions by Keynesian policies at the Fed (successful for six decades now).
Dollars protected from inflation by the Fed.
Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Public libraries.
Cooperative Extension Service (vital for agriculture)
National Biological Service.
National Weather Service
Public job training.

And from the Acts of the Apostles:

quote:
"All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." (Acts 2:44-45).

"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had… There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." (Acts 4:32,34,35)

So you'll have a hard time believing that a communist Jesus didn't think taxes were a good thing, y'know?

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Did Jesus have anything to do with these Acts, or did they take place after his demise? If the latter, than that only shows (or presumes to show) what the APOSTLES thought, not JC. And from Pete's example, we can see that what the speaders of the word thought was often very different from what the speaker of them thought.

And besides, it's a myth. [Big Grin]

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: First of Two ]

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

So you'll have a hard time believing that a communist Jesus didn't think taxes were a good thing, y'know?

Sure, Jesus was communist, by some definitions. By those same definitions, so am I. i.e., communism is great in theory, but it doesn't work in general human society. Works if everyone in it is a Christian, though. However, Jesus didn't COMMAND that such a thing be done. Some early believers just did it.

As for taxes, it goes along with simply obeying the laws of the country, so long as they don't conflict with those of God. Since our government is a representative republic, that command is not related to peaceful, lawful attempts to have the laws changed.

Posted by Lost (Member # 417) on :

First, your right, I shouldn't have put the names in place of entity, although it seemed like a good idea at the time.....