Gas Price Relief...is it possible?

[JSojourner]

So what would you do, if you had the power, to bring gas prices down?  What do you think of the various ideas put forth so far?  I'm thinking shorter term, here.  Like this summer.

Any ideas?  Or are we better served, over the long haul, by allowing gas prices to keep climbing?

[opebo]

The only way to get gas price relief, and to ensure that we could have cheap gas for a few decades into the future, would be to destroy around 1/4 of the world's population, thus reducing demand.  So nuke the Chinese.

[tik 🪀✨]

The only way to get gas price relief, and to ensure that we could have cheap gas for a few decades into the future, would be to destroy around 1/4 of the world's population, thus reducing demand.  So nuke the Chinese.

then who will make our socks

[Ban my account ffs!]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

Walk more, bike more, bundle errands together, keep your tires properly inflated, drive the more fuel efficient car if you have more than one...

In the medium term trade in your car for a more fuel efficient one.

In the long term, build train tracks.

[Joe Biden 2020]

So what would you do, if you had the power, to bring gas prices down?  What do you think of the various ideas put forth so far?  I'm thinking shorter term, here.  Like this summer.

Any ideas?  Or are we better served, over the long haul, by allowing gas prices to keep climbing?

I'm still trying to digest what all three candidates have put forth in their "gas relief" for the summer.  I like bits and pieces of what all three are saying.  McCain wants to cut the tax.  Clinton wants to back up the cutting of the tax by taxing the oil companies.  Obama wants to take a longer term approach by taxing the oil companies and limiting their influence.

Thankfully, no matter who we get in office won't be an oil baron like this president, so he or she won't be as beholden to the interests of the oil companies.

Of the three approaches, I kinda like Clinton's the best as it focuses on the short term, but also looks at the long term.

[Jake]

It's a rather simple problem to fix if you under very basic economics. Price goes up when demand outstrips supply. So reduce the demand by using less.

Politically, banning vehicles with poor MPGs would be a nice start.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

There is no easy solution. We must reduce our reliance on gas. Clinton and McCain are shamelessly pandering, again.

[dead0man]

So what would you do, if you had the power, to bring gas prices down?  What do you think of the various ideas put forth so far?  I'm thinking shorter term, here.  Like this summer.

Any ideas?  Or are we better served, over the long haul, by allowing gas prices to keep climbing?

I thought we wanted to use LESS gas...to save the planet.  Global Warming and all that.  Right?  Al Gore, we're all going to die, polar bears and rain forrests.  Cheaper gas isn't going to make that happen.

[Meeker]

Change your lifestyle and use less gas. The days of cheap gas are over, and forcing people to pay more will ultimately be more helpful than temporary relief.

[2952-0-0]

Unfortunately, too many people still think that fuel prices will ever go down in any way.

[??????????]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

Walk more, bike more, bundle errands together, keep your tires properly inflated, drive the more fuel efficient car if you have more than one...

In the medium term trade in your car for a more fuel efficient one.

In the long term, build train tracks.

Yeah, walking around is a real option when you have to go out and run errands with a large family. Going grocery shopping is real realistic w/out a vehicle.

[Franzl]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

Walk more, bike more, bundle errands together, keep your tires properly inflated, drive the more fuel efficient car if you have more than one...

In the medium term trade in your car for a more fuel efficient one.

In the long term, build train tracks.

Yeah, walking around is a real option when you have to go out and run errands with a large family. Going grocery shopping is real realistic w/out a vehicle.

Text comprehension: F

[MODU]

I'm not really for any of the proposals made so far.  Our market is finally catching up with the rest of the world.  Maybe this will finally get Congress to open up more of the country for drilling while we continue work on hydrogen and other forms of alternative energy.

[??????????]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

Walk more, bike more, bundle errands together, keep your tires properly inflated, drive the more fuel efficient car if you have more than one...

In the medium term trade in your car for a more fuel efficient one.

In the long term, build train tracks.

Yeah, walking around is a real option when you have to go out and run errands with a large family. Going grocery shopping is real realistic w/out a vehicle.

Text comprehension: F

shut it, moron.

[MODU]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

The only position I agree with BRTD on in regards to suburbs is the lack of sidewalks lately.  Many areas in my neighborhood and local surroundings lack adequate sidewalks, especially on the old rural roads that have been widened in order to accomodate the increased traffic.  You are almost forced to drive, just for safety's sake.  I have a small grocery store less than a mile to my house, but there are no shoulders (let alone sidewalks) on the edge of the road leading to it, and the street is shaded by tall trees on both sides of the road.  It is hard to see people who do attempt to walk on it, and with the kids that like to zip up and down on it (disregarding the 25mph speed limit) make it too much of a "risk" for me to even consider walking.

[Franzl]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

Walk more, bike more, bundle errands together, keep your tires properly inflated, drive the more fuel efficient car if you have more than one...

In the medium term trade in your car for a more fuel efficient one.

In the long term, build train tracks.

Yeah, walking around is a real option when you have to go out and run errands with a large family. Going grocery shopping is real realistic w/out a vehicle.

Text comprehension: F

shut it, moron.

that the best you can do?

[bgwah]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

Walk more, bike more, bundle errands together, keep your tires properly inflated, drive the more fuel efficient car if you have more than one...

In the medium term trade in your car for a more fuel efficient one.

In the long term, build train tracks.

Yeah, walking around is a real option when you have to go out and run errands with a large family. Going grocery shopping is real realistic w/out a vehicle.

Emphasis on "large" in your case

[??????????]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

Walk more, bike more, bundle errands together, keep your tires properly inflated, drive the more fuel efficient car if you have more than one...

In the medium term trade in your car for a more fuel efficient one.

In the long term, build train tracks.

Yeah, walking around is a real option when you have to go out and run errands with a large family. Going grocery shopping is real realistic w/out a vehicle.

Emphasis on "large" in your case

Did you supply Dave his fellatio quota for the month? 

[Joe Biden 2020]

Guys, lets calm it down, please, and get back to the topic at hand.  This could turn nasty real quick and I don't want any flame wars going on.

Thanks.

[JSojourner]

I am in complete agreement with everyone here who has suggested all kinds of alternatives for gasoline.  Walking, biking, battery and hybrids, better Mpg vehicles, more investment in alternative fuel.

I am surprised, however, that no one has mentioned price controls.  In many states, if a utility wants to raise rates for electricity, water or natural gas, the proposed rate increase must be reviewed by an independent board or commission.  In Indiana, it's the IURC.  Alot of times, the IURC approves the increase.  Sometimes, they reject it or modify it.

While this is not a price control exactly, it is a control or a restraint.  I just don't understand why there is virtually no initiative to restrain or control the price of gas.  As other posters have rightly pointed out, even at $4.00 a gallon, the U.S. will still be better off than a lot of countries.  And those who feel passionately about alternative energy welcome higher prices, believing the more expensive gas gets, the more aggressive people (and lawmakers) will get in seeking and funding alternate fuel research.  So I understand that and can accept it.  If that's the way we want to go, great.

I'm just surprised there isn't an equally strident call for either outright price controls or some sort of monitoring commission that reviews and approves, modifies or rejects price increases.  If the obscene profit margins, executive compensation and shameless CEO bonuses of big oil aren't enough to justify some sort of restraining impulse, I don't know what is. 

ANWR is also an option many are willing to consider.  I'd be willing to consider it, too.  If advocates of drilling could prove that there were more than four to six months' worth of fuel up there.  As to The Decider's claim that drilling can now be done in an environmentally safe and conscientious manner, I might believe it -- if I heard it from someone whose head wasn't so far up the ass of big oil that the oil CEOs can taste brylcream.

[Jake]

Big Oil isn't pushing prices higher. They've been just as corrupt, self-centered, and powerful in government the past century, but prices have stayed low. The only reason they're spiking now is because the two largest countries on the planet are now industrializing.

[Gustaf]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

Walk more, bike more, bundle errands together, keep your tires properly inflated, drive the more fuel efficient car if you have more than one...

In the medium term trade in your car for a more fuel efficient one.

In the long term, build train tracks.

Yeah, walking around is a real option when you have to go out and run errands with a large family. Going grocery shopping is real realistic w/out a vehicle.

Emphasis on "large" in your case

Still reformed and polite, I see. Nothing like the old Bgwah at all.

[Franzl]

There is relief:  They're called two legs and a heart beat...

Walk more, bike more, bundle errands together, keep your tires properly inflated, drive the more fuel efficient car if you have more than one...

In the medium term trade in your car for a more fuel efficient one.

In the long term, build train tracks.

Yeah, walking around is a real option when you have to go out and run errands with a large family. Going grocery shopping is real realistic w/out a vehicle.

Emphasis on "large" in your case

Still reformed and polite, I see. Nothing like the old Bgwah at all.

With all due respect, the person he was insulting has never been very polite, to say the least.

[??????????]

neither have you franz.

[jesmo]

Use Public Transit.

There, problem solved!