Gas prices

While I was attending the police academy(I had medical ins) through the tuition was included access to the college health clinic. Some small "copays" were sometimes applied. I once a year get a shot of Kenalog for allegies, my regular Dr who I trust and appreciate usually gives me a break for paying cash he chardes me 25 to 50 for the shot, at the student health clinic the same shot was 10 when I told the student health clinic Dr how much my Dr charged he said that their system was what to expect with Obamacare- fair low prices for the same things. [/QUOTE]



When your in college one always go to the college health clinic because its gonna be cheaper

I find it funny that those who complain about the cost of gasoline the most are usually those with the least efficient vehicles. Go figure. If you drive a Tundra, Titan, Suburban, or any of the barges you are getting what you asked for. If history has taught you anything you know that prices aren't going down over the long run. I understand that some of you rely on trucks for business, but I see UPS and the USPS are still in business. It is just rolled into the price of the product.
Gas is about $4.50 in Chicago right now, and it's cheap at that price. I think it's cheap at $5.00. A $1.00 increase only increases my gasoline cost $30 per 1000 miles, from 121.21 to $151.50, because I drive a car that averages 33 mpg. A $30 per thousand mile gasoline cost increase shouldn't hurt anyone who can afford a boat. Now if you drive some pig like the Jeep Grand Cherokee my wife mistakenly bought thinking it wouldn't use too much gas, and couldn't trade fast enough, he 1000 mile price at it's slightly less that 15MPG lifetime average is $266.00. A $1.00 increase in gas price makes it $333.30, an increase of $67.00.
A Correct Craft, or any other inboard ski boat, or any boat at all,is a pipe dream to most Americans. The US government never promised anyone a competition ski boat in the driveway of their second home, yet I see many here complaining about the sacrifices they will have to make so they can enjoy barefoot skiing. It's fun if you can afford it, but never forget how fortunate you are for your material trappings.
No one disputes that we are running out of oil. It will only get worse. We should use the resources of others as long as we can while developing other sources of energy. Natural gas is a good quick alternative. If we develop all of our oil fields that MAY be productive we will only deplete any buffer we may have as the world supply becomes tighter and tighter. Energy independence is the key to security.
I am also disappointed to see many of you "small government" guys looking to the government for a solution to your problem of not being able to afford the gas for the luxury boat you bought.
I don't feel any more moved by the complaints of the high cost of boat gas than I am of my pilot friends complaints of the cost of their 80/87 aircraft fuel. At least the federal government pays billions every year to subsidize their general aviation airport playgrounds, that's more than we, the boated, get.



Oil IS a global commodity and they aren't making any more.

What about the bailout of AIG? that was Bush that did that. Remember? When Bush drove the economy into the deep muddy ditch?

very good point john.

while i don't expect the government to "help" with gas prices, i don't expect them to do anything to intentionally "hurt" them either...

We'll see how long it takes for the economy to go into a "double dip". This is the third time since 2008 that gas prices have reached $4/gal and each time the economy has come to a halt. $4 gas has a huge effect in a rural state like Maine.

Nice ride Chris.

Chris - Are you going to pull the Tique with the Nissan? You need some SN decals for it!

Sorry for the threadjack but it was DOA already.

is that a "what's in it for me situation?"

JoeinNY wrote: David - meet reality crooks caused the housing crisis... the executive branch is in charge of keeping the crooks from doing stuff.

Not in this administration

JoeinNY wrote: David - meet reality crooks caused the housing crisis... the executive branch is in charge of keeping the crooks from doing stuff.

community reinvestment act mean anything to you?? that plus a lot of dumb and greedy people = the housing bubble and burst...

Bush squandered the budget surplus he had inherited and started a war with Iraq based on WMD's which were never there (a LIE) and began huge deficit spending...BUSH did.

davidg wrote: JoeinNY wrote: David - meet reality crooks caused the housing crisis... the executive branch is in charge of keeping the crooks from doing stuff. Joe....what crooks are you referring to? Bankers and mortgage lenders? If so, they are certainly not without some involvement in this situation, but, it was the government/Fannie/Freddie that were pushing lenders to loan money to virtually anybody that walked through the door and, they would guarantee those loans. My position is that if you left the private market to make these decisions without government intervention/interference, bankers would be much more focused on who they lent money too and would worry about getting re-paid. But as long as the government was backing and buying all the mortgages, the bankers went along with it. Am I off base here?

There hasnt been a private market in banking since before the great depression.

The private market in fact lead to the great depression, since then we have federally insured all funds and as the us taxpayer is responsible for the money being paid back we better darn well regulate how well they regulate it. For that matter there is a whole lot of money out there being lent to the banks by the federal reserve so they can lend it out and make money off it. this is free money for them, in particular if they take no risk because someone will bail them out if they screw it up.

The housing bubble was an easily forseeable result of the fed holding interest rates at record low levels for a record long amount of time to stimulate the economy. (which if the bush tax cuts worked shouldnt have needed the stimulation). The finacial crash was the work of the crooks that falsified morgage and housing information, pushed through a ton of variable rate morgages that should never have been pushed through because they were only sustainable at those record low rates. But aside from those actually falsifying morgage,inspection, and valuation date that was just companies taking risks that werent all that smart...

The real crooks then sold that risk and called it gold and barney had nothing to do with that..

The levin coburn report was not that far off in concluding that

"that the crisis was not a natural disaster, but the result of high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; and the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies, and the market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street"

The repeal in 1999 of glass-steagall started us down that road. When you allowed banks that take in our deposits and are fdic insured to now have investment interests it was only a matter of time before they figured out how to transfer the risk of a bunch of non government insured high risk investments over the deposit side of the business. Too much money involved to think that it wouldnt happen. With the complete seperation of glass-steagall in place the investment businesses and the deposit businesses could be trusted to each work in thier own best interest. Once we tore down that wall there was no way it would work without serious oversite, because in the new combined businesses it was in thier best interest of the overall business to transfer that risk to the government.    

Problem is that people that dont believe in government dont want to do the day to day drugery. I dont blame them.. I liked it better when we simply didnt let one company get into both business position. Worked pretty good for 66 years even.

Joe...I can't imagine two Federal Senators (Coburn and Levin) not acknowledging that Fannie and Freddie, two Federal GSE's (Government Sponsored Entities) were at fault for the melt down. Why, I am shocked!

I am sure a number of things went wrong with the system when it collapsed, but, in my estimation, the government pushing homeownership through Freddie and Fannie played a HUGE role. Why is it that the tax payer has had to bail Freddie/Fannie out to the tune of $150 BILLION + so far, and every quarter they come back looking for several more billion to keep them going. I doubt it was because of excellence in financial stewardship

Now, back to my point on Barney Frank. I found an interesting news clip that Fox News did several years ago about the timeline to the meltdown, and Frank's denial anything was wrong. He claims in this clip F&F were in sound shape, and the government would never have to bail them out. Well, so much for that....$150 BILLION later.

Not sure how to put this in You Tube format, but, here is the clip...

Fox News Clip on Frank/Fannie/Freddie

I also think that it was all the MBE's (Mortgage Backed Securities) that caused a lot of the problems too. Bankers were realizing that things were going wrong as a result of bad mortgages, so they monetarized them and ended up trying to make chicken crap into chicken salad, and sold them as investments. That only lasted for so long until the mortgages started going bad. So, again, the thread leads back to bad mortgages which originated where???

Not saying I blame it all on F&F&F (Freddie/Fannie/Frank), but, I would bet without their involvement, things wouldn't have gotten as bad as they did.

Come on Joe....admit that others can be just a little right sometimes

Joe...I can't imagine two Federal Senators (Coburn and Levin) not acknowledging that Fannie and Freddie, two Federal GSE's (Government Sponsored Entities) were at fault for the melt down. Why, I am shocked!

I am sure a number of things went wrong with the system when it collapsed, but, in my estimation, the government pushing homeownership through Freddie and Fannie played a HUGE role. Why is it that the tax payer has had to bail Freddie/Fannie out to the tune of $150 BILLION + so far, and every quarter they come back looking for several more billion to keep them going. I doubt it was because of excellence in financial stewardship

Now, back to my point on Barney Frank. I found an interesting news clip that Fox News did several years ago about the timeline to the meltdown, and Frank's denial anything was wrong. He claims in this clip F&F were in sound shape, and the government would never have to bail them out. Well, so much for that....$150 BILLION later.

Not sure how to put this in You Tube format, but, here is the clip...

Fox News Clip on Frank/Fannie/Freddie

I also think that it was all the MBE's (Mortgage Backed Securities) that caused a lot of the problems too. Bankers were realizing that things were going wrong as a result of bad mortgages, so they monetarized them and ended up trying to make chicken crap into chicken salad, and sold them as investments. That only lasted for so long until the mortgages started going bad. So, again, the thread leads back to bad mortgages which originated where???

Not saying I blame it all on F&F&F (Freddie/Fannie/Frank), but, I would bet without their involvement, things wouldn't have gotten as bad as they did.

Come on Joe....admit that others can be just a little right sometimes

Woops, not sure why the double post. It took forever to download???

The Keating Five...McCain...hummm