The Great Gasoline Scam!

So now we are paying $3.30 or more per gallon. Why? Because we are getting a royal shaft.

Think about it. The price of crude at the well head has not increased. But, the traders, fearing that there MIGHT be a shortage in the future, are driving up the price investing in futures. Yes, sometime in the future they will be paying more for crude. But not now!

So why has your local gas station suddenly increased the price by $.30 or more? Because they are giving us a royal shaft! The gas in their tanks was delivered last week or even earlier. It was purchased under a contract that may have been in effect for 6 months or more. Whatever! The cost to the station has not yet increased. So why have they raised prices? Because they can and get away with it. If you ask them, they will say "Oh, the price has gone up because there is a global shortage." BALDERDASH! We have a several month reserve sitting in tankers.

What can we do about it? Nothing! Oh yes, if you could somehow get all the drivers in an area to agree not to buy from a single station, whether BP, Shell, Exxon or whoever, that would have an effect on that brand in that area. But all the other stations would continue to rake in their obscene profits.

It will be interesting to see, at the end of 2011, how many billions in profit the major oil companies are reporting.

So do you feel loved? No way! We are all getting the royal shaft, and not even getting a hug and kiss afterward.

Beware of AARP

I received a very chatty email from AARP, telling me they had found an article about me in the local newspaper. That was a complete surprise to me! I hadn't given any interviews to the local paper.

They provided a long, complicated link to this so-called "article." There, I found the article, complete with a long quote from me supporting one of their pet projects. There were several sidebars supposedly explaining how I had organized a local group in support, or how I was the leading local "activist", or how I was going to Washington to lobby for their project.

There was only one thing wrong with all these "articles." They were all LIES!

That's right. Someone at AARP had made up all this crap, using my name. I wonder did they think I was so old and stupid that I was going to be impressed to see my name in print?

I probably should sue the arrogant SOB's for libel. Their actions certainly fit one of the definitions for that. Else maybe I should send them a bill for using my name in one of their lobby/advertising schemes.

One thing for sure. They are now on my permanent shit-list. I have already told them, in clear, precise language which even such ass-holes should understand, that I never want to hear or see them again.