Yesterday I got this email forward which I’ve seen a few times before, but the conversation the ensued was very interesting. I encourage you all to continue the dialog in the comments section below. Here is the forward we got followed by the dialog below:

GAS WAR – an idea that WILL work, 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. 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 on me.
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There’s no way this will work… all that will happen is that Exxon/Mobil will lose a little market share that others like BP will pick-up. That is what an oligopoly is all about. This plan is a zero-sum game.

Here are 2 ideas that will absolutely work to bring down prices at the pump-
1: Conserve. Figure out ways to drive less, use less gas, car pool, take a bike, ride a motorcycle, use public transportation, turn off the lights, open the windows instead of air conditioning, etc.
2: If everyone kept filled their tanks at 1/4 but only up to 3/4 – we’d all be keeping 5 or 6 gallons less in our tanks. That’s a lot of inventory, we as consumers hold. Short term, that would lower prices as wholesale supplies increased. But only short term, since actual usage remains the same.

-Steven
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Steven,

I like your suggestions. America uses way more oil than we have to. Countries like China are developing so fast, creating more and more demand everyday. Conservation is key… check out the new 100+ mpg Prius, it’s a step in the right direction.

- Josh
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Steven, I would like to conserve , how about towing my formula to Nantucket in July??????

- Billy
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Sorry buddy but I don’t think this idea will work?
In my opinion, the way it works is if say Exxon and Shell were to be boycotted and their sales drop, the others will take up the demand. The others are not prepared for the increased demand so they need to go into the wholesale market and purchase more supply to meet demand.
Guess who they but it from? Right.
It may be a headache, but it does not really change much.
Still, it would send a message of consumer solidarity and frustration to the energy industry, but there is not much incentive for them to do anything in a free market.
Still more, maybe the Bush Administration would stand up and do something… nahhh.

- Ed
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All of the nay sayers are assuming that our gas prices are set solely by the market price of crude oil. This is not the case. If it were, then the oligopoly argument would hold water and the supply would just shift from one purveyor to another. This however is not the whole picture. There are two components, the crude price and the profits realized by the purveyors… ie Exxon/Mobile/Shell etc.

IF we as a large percentage of the consumers were to boycott a few of the largest purveyors, it is reasonable to assume that they would cut their profits to keep up with the other purveyors. The price of crude would not change… as Steve Friedel correctly notes. However, it is reasonable to assume that the profit margin charged could be eroded in our favor. The PERFECT example of this is the Pizza Wars of the 70’s. NYC pizza went to as low as a nickel a slice as pizza parlors tried to stay in business with volume. Flour and cheese prices didn’t change. The merchants were willing to accept smaller margins…. Now the kicker…. 6 months later the pizza prices came right back up! The public has shown that collectively they can’t stay on a diet long-term! What is the true solution? A 10-20% consumption cut combined with alternative energy. Willy Diesel… fuel from corn. The American farmers flourish again and then the Arabs could keep their deserts!
- Joel
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Don’t be fooled by the ethanol/corn as gas debate. Corn is a factory plant and a very greedy one too requiring masses of feritlizer to be grown at the speed and in the quantities that make the dollar signs roll in those greedy CEO’s eyes.

Factory farming is not the answer to our planets problems let alone eco friendly. Guess what fertilizer is made from? It may take a gallon of gas to make a gallon of ethanol when you add it all up and the run off from the farms is killing our streams and rivers. There is a giant dead zone the size of New Jersy in the golf of Mexico caused by nitrate poisoning from Fertilizer run off from the corn belt states.

Iowa has become a gigantic corn factory. The bio diversity is zero. There are fewer and fewer trees and animal friendly plants grown there. Birds have to virtually fly around it to migrate.Iowa is the equivalent of a giant paved parking lot – except it is paved with corn – looks like a good thing – but not.

I want to know where I can get solar panels to put on the roof of my car, not to mention house. It is really hard to find, I have been looking. We are so far behind in this technology. President Jimmy Carter tried to jump start an alternative energy industryitiative pre the 1979 election, support for which was stopped as soon as Ronald Reagan won. It is much further ahead in Europe where they don’t even have the amoount of sun we do, and they actually have thought about how to make them pretty too and incorporate solar voltaic cells into roof tiles so I hear. I bet you could make really neat glass ones in pretty colors…….
Now that is an idea to invest in and a way to make a difference so we don’t have to buy their bloody oil!
- Marilyn