Open Letter To The Public

reply to post by jpm1602


Well, it tops out at 45-50mph so your hand eye doesn't need to be too sharp.

reply to post by goose

My problem with the UK truck strike is that they are targeting the wrong thing. They are protesting the taxes, which do suck, but that isn't the source of the pain. Hopefully it will force the government to address the real issue though.

I dont know if you got your conversion right. over there they sell there gas by the liter. that may be even worse than it originally sounds.

reply to post by SantaClaus


You bring up a really good point. We outsource SO many jobs overseas, guess companies in some countries are finally starting to see -us- as a source of cheap labor.

Very smart way to go, when their customer-base is English-speaking. I am sure you've heard people complaining about their customer service rep speaking in a very thick Indian accent, and not understanding a word they say.
I never did think of it that way, other countries will more and more be seeing us as cheap labor, soon??

I cannot even imagine when truckers are no longer able to deliver the products we've come to depend on. Or the taxi drivers we need in times of emergency. Bus companies unable to get us around.

I think that if/when it all comes crashing down, we will all see hard times, before good. I think that there needs to be a transition. A starting-over period for the survivors who made it through the bad.
Maybe a bright light ahead?

reply to post by SantaClaus


You seem so set that the world will end. Well it might. But if you seem to know what will happen, why dont you do something to stop it. Telling us that we will hurt small businesses, and failing to mention that others will pop up. mayby you should do something to help, i walk or mass transit aneywhere i go. so un-like what you seem to be doing, i am trying to make a small change

reply to post by LostNemesis


With diesel prices as high as they are now, I honestly don't know how the trucking industry is still operating. My neighbor is an independent delivery driver and has to pay for his own fuel. About a month ago, I was talking to him and he told me he spent $450 on fuel that day. It is getting worse by the day.

Crazy.

LN. I am a conspiracy/worst case scenario seer with the best of them. But I hear your words ring true. Already eyeing up the ruckus to see how much gear it could stow. I hate to be so negative. But things are going south quick fast, and in a hurry.

reply to post by LostNemesis


The thing is, trucking companies are already recording large losses. I keep bringing up small towns because I live in one, and there is already some stuff disappearing from the shelves.

The housing community is the biggest problem because of such a large spike in modular housing (all transported long distances by BIG trucks).

Soon, I am sure some small towns will be completely extinct due to pricing. Large cities will be the only affordable places to go.

But me? Well I travel to many places in a short amount of time for a living. I will LOSE money this summer at my job, but its all long-term thinking.

Yes things will go bad in a big way SOMEDAY, but I don't count on it for at least a few years. Until then, I already have my moped and family-sustaining garden ready, along with h20 purification and shelter.

My point is, even if life is tough now, I won't live a different one for the sake of making a statement. I worked hard for what I have and I only expect to work harder.

Good thread by the way.

My reply to the original post:

If one needs to transport himself, go ahead and take a tram or a train. If you need a more robust transportation, you still have better choices than to supply the oil man's yachts and islands; e.g. get some electric car or an electric moped.

reply to post by SantaClaus


What are you using for a sustainable water filtration system? I have seen some gravity feeders that can get you 6000 gallons before changing filters, but you still have to buy new filters. Is there any way to do it without being dependent upon continued manufacturing of your filters?

Gas breaking $9 a gallon in UK doesn't seem unrealistic at all.
Here in Sweden we have prices of ~13,34 SEK/liter, which converts to around $8,6 a gallon.
Still, there's a not nearly as much complaints heard about the gas price than in the US - you're quite not alone with having a population largely lulled into sweet ignorance (bliss?)...

Well, here is something that can be done. Invest in green funds to begin with. Look at hybrid or even electric cars. I have a feeling pretty soon alt. energy wont be all that alt.

"They" don't want you give up your car of course. More cars = more money for big oil, more tax revenue for big government, more cash for insurance..and on and on..

I grew up in the US. I understand America's love affair with the car. The sense of freedom it gives you even whilst enslaved.

When I first moved to Switzerland it was one of my hardest adjustments. I didn't have a car and it sucked big time..It took me almost three years to come to terms with that. In Switzerland, however you don't need a car. Public transport works like a charm and not just in big cities either.

I was conditioned to believe that a car = freedom and it was very hard to get rid of that conditioning.

Now I am in the UK and let me tell you unless you live in London public transport is a big joke. My yearning to drive again is almost overwhelming and again I am feeling like having a car would mean my freedom . It is very hard to resist and I will probably break soon and get a car, which alas will play right into the hands of the oil barons.

heres something else which can be done, walk down ur local high street, wherever that maybe and when u pass people, why not say hello, u see no one really gets it, its about people, and not people above people, controlling people, its about communication and there aint enough of it, and ever wonder why, its humanisation, we are all suspicious of one another and eachother, can u imagine why in england some many teenagers are being killed, every mother F of a day its another tradegy, and u wonder why, well u deep down u actually know, these kids have been fed war, fed killing, daily hourly weekly monthly call it whatever and u wonder why, next time u wonder where this world is going, dont, think - do and that simply means saying hello to ur fellow human being, its that simple or is it ?

I myself haven't had a driver license in about 15-20 years. Pretty much through choice. Madison (Wisconsin) has a pretty good bus system. It got me where I wanted to go. My only problem is that a couple of years ago I went to a small town. One taxi company and no mass transit really to speak of. There is a train station in the town but it doesn't stop in Madison. We need improvements in our train system here.

I am in the process of purchasing a diesel 1 ton truck yipes I can see the looks on the faces of others already , here is the thing we have no public transport where I live The mileage on a 1 ton diesel truck at about 20-22 miles to the gallon is almost double what I would get mileage wise in a standard half or 3/4 ton truck with a gas engine (gas is just not as efficient on strong loads) I have an agreement with several smaller restaurants in the area to collect their used cooking oil which I will convert here at home to bio diesel.

I haul a lot of wood for myself and my family members as well as have the ability to earn good money hauling stuff for others locally because everyone we know of is selling there trucks and SUV..

Finally I work in a trade (telecom) where in times of emergency I need at minnimum a 3/4 ton truck (hauling emergency generators) to help get areas back online and the government always brings in a minimum of 3 tankers of diesel which they will fuel you up with for free however if you have a gas vehicle you are on your own there are couple of reasons for this but the main one is this the back up generators run on diesel as well as many of the emergency vehicles...

So I feel like my hands are tied into getting a Diesel which is okay because environmentally and personally I feel as though I am doing the right thing in that the vehicle will serve far more than one purpose and I can use recovered cooking oil and convert for fuel...

Respectfully
GEO

Originally posted by SantaClaus


Soon, I am sure some small towns will be completely extinct due to pricing. Large cities will be the only affordable places to go.

I see this the other way round.....small towns with smaller distances to walk, to work, to the store, to school. A place to grow your own food, gardens and small livestock. The houses seem to be getting cheaper there as well.....not a new house, but an older fixer-upper type.....they're there now, many standing empty....

The rail system used to do a lot to support places like this, then they did away with passenger service. ( The small town I grew up in had passenger rail service between Atlanta and Chattanooga till the late '60's or early '70's......that needs to come back, but the government and railway companies seem to be blind to the need, or intentionally blocking it's return!)

We've reduced our driving hugely......planted a bigger garden than ever, and will put up as much in our pantry as possible. I don't trust the reliability of the electricity through the next winter, so we will can rather than freeze as much as possible......

One thing that puzzles me, is the absence of home gardens in areas where I've seen them in recent years.....Are all the old 'fogies' that knew how to do this dying out?

One would think that there would be an up swing in the numbers of folks planting at least a small garden, considering the high cost of food, and the 'nowhere to go but up' pricing of fresh produce that must be trucked in over great distances. ( adding to that bigger problem for those in large cities, IMHO.)

Peppers and tomatoes are ridiculously high, even in season, especially considering the ease with which they can be home-grown......If I had no where but the front yard, I'd dig it up for at least that much!!

Please consider the following:

Why do people drive 20-30 mpg gas guzzlers?

Why do middle class families live in $300,000 homes morgaged for 30 years? If one person gets sick and can't work they lose their property and its the greedy bankers fault...which by the way are all jewish!

Why do low-income people max-out their credit card or go gambling when they can barely afford to make ends meet?

Why go on a 2-3 week vacation when you can only afford a few days?

Why own a swimming pool? Why own an expensive home entairtainment system?

Yes there is a conspiracy but many people have encouraged it by being stupid. Bad choices lead to bad results!

Originally posted by Karlhungis
reply to post by acewilliams

 

Demand is lower. This is a crisis of greed, not a crisis of supply. I have a thread going (not much traffic on it though) about how last month showed the steepest decline in US driving in recorded history. Yet prices still climb. As others have pointed out, if it were a supply issue, people would be having problems getting gas but all of the gas stations are full. This is an artificial bubble and a few people are profiting off of the suffering of the entire world. When I say suffering, I am including the people who are starving because they can't afford food since fuel has driven up that as well.

(Side note: It is funny to me that the 3 of us posting on this are all from Oregon. Maybe things here are worse than everywhere else?

EDIT: Then JPM had to go and mess it up)

[edit on 28-5-2008 by Karlhungis]

I am goin going to reply, even though I have not read all the other posts.
I agree this is an artificial bubble, to get as many dollars from people as possible, before our currency changes.

There will always be rich people while the rest of us are worried. We are going to steel coins because silver is too expensive to put in them any longer. Who has all the silver now?

Gas stations are full because people are topping of at the least before the price of gas rises in the next 24 hours.

I live in a rural area, and my boyfriend has a small grocery store that has one gas pump. Yesterday, the pump owner (gas company) sent a man out to change the computer in the pump so that it could be changed to refelct $5.00 a gallon. We told the guy to change it to reflect $10.00 at least.........gosh did he look pissed!

Originally posted by SantaClaus


Soon, I am sure some small towns will be completely extinct due to pricing. Large cities will be the only affordable places to go.

Good thread by the way.

Yes, this is a very good thead. I think people really need to consider that it seems the powers that be are trying to get a large group of people into one place with all of this.

Group them together for one large kill, in my opinion.

I just wanted to drop a line here and say that I do not believe it up to the working class moms and dads of America to fight back.

They are doing EXACTLY what they should be doing...working hard to raise their children and give them the best life possible.

There is no shame in that whatsoever,and not one parent should feel guilty that they can't quit their jobs and stick it to the man.That would be unfair to your families.

The ones who should be out there shaking the windows and rattling the walls are the young out of work "slackers" such as myself.

It is OUR responsibility,not theirs to take this fight to our government and show them exactly what Power the People hold.

Unfortunately we live in a time of extreme apathy,especially in my generation and the younger generations.It's gonna take a lot to convince some of these Entertainment zombies to put down their Ipods,Iphones,and the "I" that they represent.....namely their egos and start realizing we are just drops of water in the same ocean.

Cheers,

Doc

[edit on 5/29/2008 by DocGonzo]