Anybody else get this?

[TWIRKU2]

The following is sure worth a try!!
>
> 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.
>
> Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, 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 at this point...keep reading and
>
> I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of
>
> people!!
>
> I am sending this note to over 30 people. If each of us
>
> send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and
>
> those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =
>
> 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches
>
> the sixth group of people, we will have reached over
>
> THREE MILLION consumers.
>
> If those three million get excited and pass this on to
>
> ten friends each, then 30 million people will have
>
> been contacted! If it goes one level further, you
>
> guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
>
> Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people.
>
> That's all!
>
> (If you don't understand
>
> how we can reach 300 million
>
> and all you have to do is send this to 10 people....
>
> Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician.
>
> But I am . so trust me on this one.) :-)
>
> How long would all that take? If each of us sends
>
> this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of
>
> receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be
>
> contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you
>
> didn't think you and I had that much potential, did
>
> you! Acting together we can make a difference.
>
> If this makes sense to you, please pass this message
>
> on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL
>
> THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP
>
> THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.
>
> Kerry Lyle, Director, Research Coordinator
>
> Thanks for your support,

[DirtyMax]

Sorry to rain on your parade...

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

Origins:

The only practical way of reducing gasoline prices is through the straightforward means of buying less gasoline, not through a simple and painless scheme of just shifting where we buy it. The inconvenience of driving less is a hardship too many people apparently aren't willing to endure, however.

This year's litany of complaints about gasoline prices is a re-run of the same program from years past: Gasoline prices in the USA are too high; gasoline is a unique commodity whose price isn't subject to the usual market forces of supply and demand; OPEC and greedy American oil companies secretly manipulate the market to keep prices artificially high; and a simple boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline will rectify all
this.

Oil companies can manipulate their prices somewhat by controlling how much gasoline they produce and where they sell it, but they can't alter the basics of supply and demand: prices go down when people buy less of a good, prices go up when people buy more of a good, and prices go way up when demand outstrips available supply. The "gas out" schemes that propose to alter the demand side of the equation by shunning one or two specific brands of gasoline for a while won't work, however, because they're based on the misconception that an oil company's only outlet for gasoline is its own branded service stations. That isn't the case: gasoline is a fungible commodity, so if one oil company's product isn't being bought up in one particular market or outlet, it will simply sell its output to (or through) other outlets:
Economics Prof. Pat Welch of St. Louis University says any boycott of "bad guy" gasoline in favor of "good guy" brands would have some unintended (and unhappy) results.

. . . Welch says the law of supply and demand is set in stone. "To meet the sudden demand," he says, "the good guys would have to buy gasoline wholesale from the bad guys, who are suddenly stuck with unwanted gasoline."

So motorists would end up . . . paying more for it, because they'd be buying it at fewer stations.

And yes, oil companies do buy and sell from one another. Mike Right of AAA Missouri says, "If a company has a station that can be served more economically by a competitor's refinery, they'll do it."

Right adds, "In some cases, gasoline retailers have no refinery at all. Some convenience-store chains sell a lot of gasoline — and buy it all from somebody else's refinery."
A boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline won't result in lower overall prices. Prices at all the non-boycotted outlets would rise due to the temporarily limited supply and increased demand, making the original prices look cheap by comparison. The shunned outlets could then make a killing by offering gasoline at its "normal" (i.e., pre-boycott) price or by selling off their output to the non-boycotted companies, who will need the extra supply to meet demand. The only person who really gets hurt in this proposed scheme is the service station operator, who has almost no control over the price of gasoline.

[TWIRKU2]

Not my parade... I just got it from a mass email this morning.

[DirtyMax]

Not my parade... I just got it from a mass email this morning.

I know. I was just being figurative. :thumbs_up

[Nvr_Evil]

The theory of supply and demand are always present. The likely hood of even getting 10% of the population to stop purchasing gas on any one day is pipedream. My company alone purchases about 10,000 gallons of fuel per week and we are a small shipping company. Can you imagine what UPS or FED EX goes through? Inflation is inevitable, too bad the job is lacking to catch up. Ask any person that was driving during the 70's during the gas shortage or in the 60's when it was way under a $1 per gallon.

What is boils down to.....if you want it you will pay the price they ask for.