If you are sick of rising gas prices...

If you are sick of rising gas prices, then consider this:

In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, let's do it again and not go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in many places.

To give some perspective as to how this could impact things, consider these facts:
1. There are 73,000,000+ American members currently active on forums and networking sites like MySpace, Xanga, Facebook, and the like.
2. The average car takes about 20 to 30 dollars to fill up.

If all of those members did not go to the pump on May 15th 2007, it would take $2,200,000,000.00 (that's BILLION) out of the oil companys pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day.

dude. good idea. except im in england - petrol + diesol prices are like 90p per litre - a lot.

more expensive that america - i think

Even more of a reason to "strike" then. The more people that actually follow through with this, the better. The more countries that get involved, the better.
:black:

I like the idea of fighting back. However, and I'm not trying to get anyone angry at me, but I did a ton of research into the oil companies because I was angry at them. What I found, however, made me change my mind. I found that there was none, zero, zip, nada evidence to convict them on any charges. I could not find one government or independent investigation that had any evidence to support that they are doing anything unethical or illegal. I was wrong for wanting to burn them at the stake for no reason.

Furthermore, I don't believe they're sitting on patents for alternative energy. Every single patent in the US is available to view on the USPTO website, and there's really nothing there that I could find.

I'm not one of those "big business can do no wrong" people. If you saw my rant on the cable internet company/government collusion thread, you'd see that. I just base my opinion on reports and investigations from the GAO, FTC, and several independent studies. I just cannot find any convincing evidence to indict them for anything.

Regardless, DB's idea is great. I love it. And I won't buy gas on May 15th.

Heh, sorry guys...it's your favorite site to disporve hoaxes ans urban myths

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

Village Idiot said:

Heh, sorry guys...it's your favorite site to disporve hoaxes ans urban myths

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

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I love Snopes. I had an feeling that it was too simple to work.

I'm inclined to agree with the article on snopes. If 75,000,000+ people don't buy gas on may 15th, they'll just buy it on may 16th, It's not going to accomplish anything. Unfortunate, but true. And while 2.2 billion dollars is certainly a lot of money, it's simply not going to bring an oil company making billions upon billions of dollars in profit every quarter to its knees.

Not to be a kill-joy here, but when I hear people gripe and moan about gas prices I just say "Sit down, shut up, and pay it, because there is not a thing you can do about it!!! Do you complain to the manager at Wal-Mart when prices go up? No. What goes up must come down, and it's just market fluctuation. So, sit down, shut up, and pay it."

UserofMacOSX said:

Not to be a kill-joy here, but when I hear people gripe and moan about gas prices I just say "Sit down, shut up, and pay it, because there is not a thing you can do about it!!! Do you complain to the manager at Wal-Mart when prices go up? No. What goes up must come down, and it's just market fluctuation. So, sit down, shut up, and pay it."

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I got a good raise and my car requires premium or it knocks and the sensor pulls timing, reducing hp by a good 30 or so...So, I'm not complaining.

My car runs on Veggie oil. I have to fill my diesel tank around every 4 months. I get around 3000+ miles out of a tank of diesel fuel.
Its a good idea!! I paid about 1000 bucks to convert my 03 VW TDI
This is how I deal with fuel prices and give the finger to OPEC and all the other oil worshipers.
I spend only a 7 bucks a month on diesel. and I manage to squeeze around 222mpg on diesel. It runs on both veg and diesel so theres no worry of not having fuel. You just have the option of paying for it or getting it for free from restaurants.

Village Idiot said:

I got a good raise and my car requires premium or it knocks and the sensor pulls timing, reducing hp by a good 30 or so...So, I'm not complaining.

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Same

I also agree that it will accomplish nothing. If you want to get in on the profits (which, as pointed out above, are perfectly legal), buy some stock in Exxon or another big company. Otherwise, buy a hybrid car, ride a bike, walk, or get a scooter. There are ways to reduce gas consumption...let's do those instead.

Great idea.. For $20, that gives me about a 1/4 and a half-a-tank of gas.. It's about $4/gl in Ontario, Canada..

I drive a '94 Pontiac Sunbird (stop laughing, I had no choice).. It's terrible on gas.. It has a bigger engine, and is a lot heavier than my Toyota..

My '95 Corolla was really good on gas.. I could go to Toronto and back, plus all the running around in the city, on a half tank. It's about a 3 hour drive from my place...

GAH! I hate gas/oil companies

vote with your wallet, just like steven did.

don't drive as much.
scale down.
use public transport.
support local politicians with a clear view of what it will really take to remove dependance on fossil fuels (and that does not mean corn based ethanol!).

I will be one, who will not purchase fuel on May 15th.

odds are i won't be either, but i only usually buy gas 2 days out of the month.

if you buy gas the next day it won't matter a bit.

and afaik, village idiot is right, it was a hoax. one fo those chain letter things that got passed around. i'm really surprised actually that DB started this here...

As if $2,200,000,000 would make a dent in the industry anyway...

I don't agree with the sit back and take it attitude. People have to do something or we'll just keep getting screwed. These guys wrap themselves in false claims that world issues force the price up. But should they make record profits when they raise the price if the cost goes up also? I don't think so. They are screwing us every day.

The problem is also the fluctuation in price. Usually the price of products is stable and market forces naturally bring the price down. But since gas prices always fluctuate, they never get drive down by the market. Oil companies love that and they hate to see stable gas prices.

Even if it's not legally criminal, it's morally criminal how they take advantage of the American people. It's almost an act of terrorism in itself. Since I started graduate school I moved right next to campus so I won't have to drive. The apartment is more expensive, but I'd rather that than line the pockets o these greedy oil companies (and politicians) who are taking advantage of hard-working American people.

end rant.

fleurya said:

Even if it's not legally criminal, it's morally criminal how they take advantage of the American people. It's almost an act of terrorism in itself. Since I started graduate school I moved right next to campus so I won't have to drive. The apartment is more expensive, but I'd rather that than line the pockets o these greedy oil companies (and politicians) who are taking advantage of hard-working American people.

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I like this paragraph because is always about the american people, poor american people... sorry, is just a bad joke.

Anyway, the problem is far from been originated in the US, the problem comes actually from China and the growing industries in Asia. The buy most of the oil (China consumes more oil than US), and if they can't get enough they are willing to pay more, since they are willing to pay more oil producers believe that everyone should be happy paying even more and so on. Even if suddenly all americans would just start driving hybrid cars or using public transportation that wouldn't solve the problem, remember that oil is not only for your car, but for heatting systems, electric generators, factories and more.
I believe that what D3v1L80Y suggested would do something, it would send a clear message, but it wouldn't hurt the big guys, it would affect the small distributors. Long term changes, that is hybrid cars, low comsumption cars, alternative energies, responsible use of energy in general, would affect the situation, not because it would reduce the price but because the average guy would need to buy less oil. What steven11 did with his car is a clear example of solving the problem without waiting for a global solution or action from the government.

I just wish there was an inverse correlation between gas prices and number of people on the roads.

When you all can get 300 million Americans together for more than 1 day for something like this, let me know. Pssssst, other countries buy petroleum products too. If we could go a month without buying gas, motor oil, propane, or ANY other type of petroleum based product, then the big boys would be begging for mercy. 1 day won't make a difference. One week might tap them on the shoulder. Sit down, shut up, and pay it.