Does Europe pay 33 percent to their government like we do. I'll pay $ 5.00 to $ 6.00 a gallon to have and extra 15 to 20 percent in my check.

I think that after so many years of the goverment raising gas prices around the summer time that Americans should no longer be surprised. Yes, gas prices are steady soaring but what can we really do about it. If all if America stoped driving and walked,ran, or biked it to their destination might help but how many Americans do you think will do this. Therefore, until we can all unite and try to put a stop to the insane gas prices I think that you shold either stop driving or stop complaining.

In response to Anonymous....my family all live in England and Ireland. The government doesn't take 33% of their pay...they take 50% of it. Plus they pay $3-$4 a LITER for gas. I hate to see the gas go up, and am not thrilled by the governments cut...but we are nothing like Europe.

I agree that we pay less than a lot of European countries, however it does bother me that the oil companies are enjoying record profits. We saw what happened to the economy last year when fuel prices shot past $3/gal. It had an effect on shipping/transport costs for goods, which in turn raised prices for the consumer. Even public transportation fees are going up because of higher gas prices. Personally I think the oil companies should charge a little bit less in order to help the US economy.

It may be easier for these European countries to accept the higher gas prices. And that is access to great local and regional public transportation. Maybe if we didn't spend all of our money just making I-5 wider and possibly put a rail system right down the middle. And in response to LaQuedra, what does the government do with that 50%? Can you say access to national healthcare, schooling instead of k-12 its k-college, and in your case the chunnel.

I am all for making a profit but the gas companies are making over a billion dollars a day profit at the cost of the average american? I believe the saying goes The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Pointing the finger at Europe is like your kid saying but Billy's mom lets him.... This isn't Europe its the USA. I think greed has taken over and all the gas companies see, want or care about are huge profits. It is not just the cost of gas that will increase so will everything else because it will cost more to transport it. If we can't complain about the cost of gas what can we?

CONSUMER GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work. Please read this

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's worth your consideration.

Join the resistance!

I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.

BUT, whoever thought of this idea has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace....not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out at this point.... Spread the word to all of your friends. In this electronic age we, working together should be able to reach millions of gas-buying consumers in a matter of days!

Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

Higher gas prices. Which side of the profits are we on? One side you have the consumer paying the high gas prices. On the other end you have the thousands of investors raking in the doe from the profits from the gas sales.
Who are these investors? They are everyday people like you and me who have money invested in 401k's or portfolio's invested in their retirement accounts.
When people refer to the "major oil companies" many people are ignorant of the fact that they are owned by thousands of stockholders. Not one cigar smoking idiot.
I suggest people take advantage of the rising prices of gas by investing in stock of the oil companies, then as the stock price goes up you will be cheering next time the price takes a 25 cent leap. Because it could mean thousands more for you...

I'm not an expert but I do know that when supply is down and demand is up prices go up. But, what about an artificial lowering of supply?
I work in the the tug industry. The vessel I work on and it's sister are primarily assinged to assisting and escorting tankers entering Puget Sound. Recently my vessel and our sister were shut down for a few daysdue to a lack of work. The lay up are more common.
Several years ago we would assit 2 or 3 tankers a day. Now 1 aday or less. The refinery docks are empty. This also applys to our primary competitor. And yet the refieries claim they are work at capacity. Where are the tankers? Iwonder.

As long as we take it lying down, the oil companies are going to keep sticking it to us.
I'm amazed how many people make excuses for the oil companies in their quest to make all the money.
I live in Ballard and now ride a bike and take the bus.
We have one of the best, if not the best transit system in the country - Metro busses will get you just about anywhere in a reasonable amount of time. Why not use it? Not to mention - f*%k the oil companies!

Supply and demand - Malcolm said it. Listen to him. He works for a tug company and has witnessed a sharp drop in the supply. And we keep demanding. When was the last time any of you went out shoppnig for a used car or truck. You should try it. Look at the milage on 2,3 or 4 year old vehicles. ASTOUNDING!!!! 2 year old pickups with 150,000 miles on them. My sister-in-law just bought a 2004 chevy with over 60,000 miles on it. That is nuts. People live in their cars and talk on their cell phones. Now if that pickup gets 18 mpg, that's over 8,333 gallons of gas in 2 years. What a waste.

Bottom line - if you want to get at the demand side of things, STAY HOME!!! Quit driving to the store for every little thing. Hitch a ride to work one day a week. That would be a 20% use reduction. Then drive a friend one day a week to help him/her do the same.

At around 90MPG my 125cc Scooter gets me to work for less than $5 per week. I have nothing to complain about except the rain :)

Sure it doesn't replace a minivan when you're hauling kids around, but you can't beat it for commuting.

Actually, Don, the type of gas boycott you are describing cannot work. You may read up on this topic by going to http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

Thanks for the idea, though, and keep the thoughts coming!

Elizabeth Berman
Assignment Editor
KING 5 TV

Supply and demand is the name of the game with gas companies. Look at the hov lane on your way to work in the morning. It appears that gas prices aren't high enough to get people out of their cars.

Let us remember that England is about the size of Whidbey Island. There is no comparison at all of our country to any European country. Most can cross their country in less than 100 miles. Most Americans cant even get to work and back home in less than 100 miles. We just cant use that comparison. It is funny that the gas companies say rates are based on per barrel but their pork barrel isnt empty. They continue to report record profits, while sucking us dry..

I think that gas prices are fine because we live in a market economy. Why does everyone fault the gas companies for making what they can off of a commodity that people will pay for. Isn't that the American Dream?

Until Americans decide to make life choices that will lower their dependence on oil and gas, they have no right to complain about prices.

It is a selfish mentality to say that one can live in the big house in the 'burbs, drive the SUVs, and contribute to the traffic commute mess and then to whine about the cost of gas.

I live in the 'burbs and my husband and I find that the best thing to do for us and our family is to purchase gas economical vehicles and we are even moving to downtown Seattle/South Lake Union in order to cut down on our contribution to vehicle emissions and gas consumption.

Maybe if other people try looking at what they personally can do rather than look to "Big Brother" for a bail-out then we wouldn't even be having this 'crisis'.

With the price of gas increasing every hour, why aren't more people looking into buying a fuel efficient motorcycle? Many models get well over 40 mpg, and they are great fun for things other than just commuting.

i think these gas prices are ridiculous becouse i am 16 years old and had my licence for less than 2 months and i still have to walk and how are kids supposed to afford gas when it is 3.00 a gallon all i have to say is it is bull shit and i dont care what anyone says it is BULL SHIT and somthing needs to be done about it.

listen up c k sorry not everyone is a rich bitch like you maybe they cant get new fuel economicle cars like you, i live in a very small town and ya know what i know alot of people drivin old ford trucks that can barely make rent so dont tell me gas prices arnt a problem becouse weather you know it or not people are loosing alot of there hard earned money to horse shit gas prices..... have you ever set a choker or slung riggin or threw a rapper on a loggin truck... i didnt think so how about climbing a 300 foot tree to cut the top out of it probably not so dont tell me to buy a fuel efficiant car becouse i work 12 hours a day and still can barely afford a beer and a cable tv logging is the hardest work you will ever come to see and i do it for a living and i have a nice stay at home wife and she cant hardly go anywere either so how about you shut your dickhole and preach about somthin else

My answer to gas prices--Heavy windfall tax to be used for development of alternative fuels(Bio-diesel etc)and be sure toi let them know where the money is going.

Perhaps you folks might do well to educate yourselves a bit about Peak Oil! Start with www.theoildrum.com.

You know, my employer does not give a cost of living raise every year so my big thing is that prices keep going up and I get no raise. I dont mind paying 2.50 a gallon but they need to come up with a price and just keep it there. For example, when gas dips to 2.20 a gallon keep it at 2.50 that way when things go up we can still stay at 2.50 casue we were paying that all the time! THat is all Im saying. If you dont like it to bad that my opinions, if you want to know more you can contact me!

Try living on $955.00 a month social security disability for TWO (2) people. These gas prices suck big time. It's not just the gas. Everything in the grocery & department stores goes up right along with it. Another summer halted and stuck at home for us. We can't afford to go ANYWHERE. Not even across the state.

All this whining about gas prices yet we don't seem to be changing our driving habits. The Drive-Thru at Jack-In-The-Box is 10 cars deep. In the time I park, walk in, get my food and leave the line has only moved two cars.

Yes we are complaining too much. You only have a right to complain if youre going to be one of the few who is taking action and taking the bus, bicycling or walking where you need to go. If youre not changing your habits then shut up and let it go!

paul did you know that when you shut of and start your car you are wasting more gas if you let it sit for 5 minutes in about the average car

paul did you know that when you shut of and start your car you are wasting more gas if you let it sit for 5 minutes in about the average car

Im not sure where you get your information on the highest gas prices but over here on vashon island we have ben paying 1.20 or more for almost 4 months get with the program

paul: gas prices are high, but try living on the san jauns our gas prices are 20 to 50 cents higher than any where on the main land and bellingham does not have the highest prices for gas friday harbor does

I also think the gas prices are horrible. I work 40 hours a week, go to school 16 hours a week and have to pay these high prices. I have thought about a motorcycle but I have 2 kids to haul around so that makes it quite difficult. With prices going up and up, it makes it hard for someone like me to make ends meet. I would like to know where the money goes as well. I don't like being screwed n=by the government no more than the next guy, but something needs to be done about this. No everyone has the luxury to go out and buy another vehicle to save gas, and where I live, public transportation is not availavle, I would have to walk a very long way just to catch a bus. And I am not willing to try that with 2 kids, too dangerous.

Unless there's collusion (and there isn't any evidence of this yet) by oil companies, prices are determined by demand and supply. Why is this so hard to understand? Yes the oil companies are raking it in. It's called capitalism. Americans keep praising capitalism when prices are low and even go around the world preaching it, but when oil prices go up, capitalistic practices are suddenly a bad thing. The American public wants investigations and price controls. They complain about price-gouging, all while driving with 1 person per 5000 pound SUV/truck that gets 15 mpg. Have you seen real estate prices lately? Where are the calls for price controls for real estate? Duh.

I was going to send a copy of the letter I sent to the President, but after reading some of the coments I decided to add my 2 cents. I am aware that in Europe the gas is far more expensive then what we have paid for here. But what got me is the profits the Petroleum Executives are making of our hard earned monet, so here is my letter.

Mr President Bush

I know you are a very busy person, but I hope you can take a few minutes and read this email from me, it not only concerns my but just about everyone in the United States.
I am sure it has come to your attention MR. President that the price of gas has been soaring and soaring, and I don't mean searing as in the flight of the beautiful bald eagle.
Yesterday I found myself watching the news, and just about died when I heard how Exxon has exceeded profits in this past quarter. Not only that MR> President, but they had the gall to celebrate this. I now know how it feels to be raped by a company. And the companies Like Exxon, Chevron, Texaco etc, all make millions if not billions and more, and who suffers, not them not the rich executives no they have more money then we can even dream of, and I do dream big.
I am sure even you don't have to worry about gas, since its our taxes that pay for your trip, but to see those men celebrating of my hard work, that make me ill.
And then what made things worse is to hear that there is nothing the US Government can do about it, do they line your pockets and elections so much that you can just say NO MORE, this has to stop somewhere.
I work hard, I bust my a-- every day just to be able to pay my bills and have a place to sleep and a home to eat, guess what MR. President, now it looks like the fat executives have taken that away.
Its sad when one can't even take a small drive into the country to relax because gas prices have made impossible, and mind you I have a good car, keep it up, and make sure I get the best mileage I can, but to no avail, for as long as you permit men and woman like the ones that run the Gas refineries to rape not only me but this nation, well Dear sir then we are honestly. Well I can't use the word I want for it wound not be very lady like, and I would like you to read this e-mail one way or the other, that is if you even care about us little people.
Remember our constitution ""We the people for the people"" least you forget that we voted you in and we certainly can remove you from the office.

Sincerely
Jara

ryan, I read that turning your engine on and off is equivalent to about 20 seconds of running time, not 5 minutes.

This is America...we are a capitalistic society, are we not? Ask yourselves if any of you owned oil companies, would you not do the same thing? The richer people get it seems, the greedier they get and the tighter their grip on their money becomes.

One way to solve the problem would be to stop buying/driving these huge gas guzzeling SUV's. It would definitely reduce demand. I drive an 11 year old Jetta and I only fill up every other week, sometimes every two weeks.

By the way, gas companies only get 10% (I believe)of the profits that they make...our government takes a much bigger chunck than they get. I am not sure what the percentiage is, but it is huge compared to what the oil companies get. Then, on top of it all, we pay 9.5% at the pumps.

Do the research and you will find it is not the gas companies that are gouging us...it is those who are pumping the gas from the earth...

I don't like paying the high prices for fuel but what gets me is what its doing to our schools. The budgets are being wiped out, schools are trying to find ways to cut other areas to cover the expense of fuel for the buses and I read today one school district closed school for two days. They were paying over $14,000 a month compared to 7000 a year ago for fuel for their bus routes. There just has to be a better way. The thing people need to keep in mind is its not just the fuel prices, its the cost going up on products trucked to stores, public transportation etc. My husband is a truck driver and the loads have almost doubled in price over the last few years due to fuel increases. We pay that at the store. Its affecting other areas of the economy. Between that and the huge jump in heating costs...I needed about a $4 a hour raise. Thank god my husband and I make enough money to cover these things...I know so many that are really hurting right now and its not becuase they run around in big SUV's and waste alot.

REMEMBER THE BOSTON TEA PARTY!!! Maybe it's time to act out like the Patriots did back then. If the immigrants can gather millions of people out to demonstrate against our government, we could certainly gather thousands of people together to block oil shipments from coming in to our harbors and stop loads of fuel from leaving refineries. It would only take a couple of days of doing that to get the oil mogle and governments attention. Tell them we don't want their crap.

Every single year we put up with this perennial raping and listen to all of these lame excuses about why they should raise the prices. C'mon. We're not a bunch of sheep. We're humans with more brains than that. Although they treat us otherwise. Mostly because we just keep paying their prices and let them treat us that way.

STAND UP FOR YOUSELF AND SAY "WE'VE HAD ENOUGH". QUIT BEING A SHEEP!!!!

We have all heard that the price of gasoline is skyroketing out of sight. I was interested in the investigation in the Bellingham area and blaming it on the Canadians that are buying fuel in Watcom County.
I live int the San Juan Islands, a short distance from Bellingham, but the present price of our unleaded regular is now at $3.519. So far I have not seen any place that can top that.
The good news is that if you gas up before you get on the ferry, you can fill up with the cheaper full on the mainland and stay in the islands and not buy any gas. Or if you are really pinching your pennies, you can park your car in Anacortes and walk on the ferry. Inspite of all come on over and visit us, we need your money so we can buy our high priced gas for ourselves.

"Posted by: Jon Meredith at April 19, 2006 04:49 AM

Let us remember that England is about the size of Whidbey Island."

Wrong.

It is smaller than US but the UK is the size of the state of Oregon. Both are a little less than 100,000 square miles. It is twice the size of New York state.

Coorection:
UK as a whole is about 100,000 square miles but that includes Northern Ireland and perhaps other territories. England alone is about 50.000 square miles. Whidbey Island only 212 square miles. Long but thin, only a few miles wide. Still England is almost 250 times bigger in land area than Whidbey. Looks like roughly 300-350 miles long by maybe 150 miles wide. They do need rooom for 40+ million people.

I think what people are SO upset about is the fact that yes, we live in a free market economy, and we do have choices as far as what car we drive, where we live, what fast food restaurant we choose to go to, but as far as purchasing gas, we have NO CHOICE!! I heard someone saying that we buy bottled water for $3/gallon, but complain about gas, but in these times we have a choice on whether we are going to actually buy that bottle of water or use the water out of our taps that is already paid for from our regulated water utility bill. I feel the oil industry needs to be regulated just as if it were a utility - even the cable company has to ask to raise their rates, and THAT, my friends, is a luxury! We are being SCREWED (for lack of a better term) by the oil industry - every time a hurricane forms in the atlantic ocean, they drive up the price 10 cents a gallon on the notion that we "might" have a shortage, then it never happens, and the price never goes back down (and why is that fair to the rest of us anyhow, we don't even get our gas from that region of the United States!). What is going on here? They are making $93 million dollars PROFIT per DAY (think about that - every single day!) - and here we are trying to raise our kids, drive to work, put food on the table, and we can't even afford that - our budget is really stretched thin right now! We drive 2 older Honda Accords for the good gas mileage, and we almost can't even afford that now. Public transportation around here is a complete disaster - it would take my husband 2-1/2 hours to go to work each way on public transportation (5 hours a day on the bus???), we can't compare ourselves to Europe because our infrastructure is completely different, and they have an amazing public transportation system. Heck, the people I know that live in Europe don't even have driver's licenses, they simply don't need them.

Change will never happen anytime soon - where do you think the Bush family got their money?? The OIL INDUSTRY. Something is just not right here.