Readers share their gas pains

Once again, the price of gasoline hit yet another record high Friday in Nassau and Suffolk.

[Bellasmom007]

The oil companies are boasting huge profits at our expense. Elected officials are a joke. Who wants to get rid of gas taxes and who wants to keep them.
No one takes into account how the high gas prices effect people. High food prices due to shipping costs. High home heating costs. And the biggest joke is salaries! They really haven't risen enough to keep up with inflation.
I am sick and tired of worrying whether or not to buy food or gas. To go see my parents or not. Even if I work, I will mostly be working for gasoline! Thats not good.
We are heading right for a depression, not recession. And the government is one big joke right now. They are doing nothing but flapping their jaws and thinking about what to do. All the while, gas companies smile and say the American public will accept everything they dish out.

[2MuchConsumption]

LI'ers need to stop driving H2's and Escalades that get 14MPG and start driving vehicles that are more efficient!

[srs]

More Newsday bias. Quote:

"Another, Michael Melody, of Islip Terrace, suggested that oil companies were not drilling enough in the Alaskan wilderness -- or Gulf of Mexico."

Why don't you take the opportunity to point out that the oil companies would love to get this oil, but Congress has made it ILLEGAL for them to do so?

[YIKES]

Hey...you can either beat them or join them...since we cannot beat them and the odds are against us...why not invest and buy a few shares...SHELL OIL's profit for the 1st qtr of 2008 was a whopping 7 billion dollars...get some of that cash and stop whining already!

[long time]

This has been coming for a long time. if you're driving anything that gets less than 25-30 mpg, you're a short-sighted fuel.
There is no reason a person should be driving a full- sized suv without having an additional endorsement on their license (a seperate driving test), and without paying a surcharge for fuel inefficiency.
Wake up, stop being so self-centered, and compensate for your "short comings" in way that doesn't waste fuel.

[long time]

This has been coming for a long time. if you're driving anything that gets less than 25-30 mpg, you're a short-sighted FOOL.
There is no reason a person should be driving a full- sized suv without having an additional endorsement on their license (a seperate driving test), and without paying a surcharge for fuel inefficiency.
Wake up, stop being so self-centered, and compensate for your "short comings" in way that doesn't waste fuel.

[Rich]

I sold my new Land Rover after 1 year and bought a Prius. Went from 12mpg to 46mpg. Yeah I took a hit on the trade, but it was worth it. Filling up $60 every other day was stupid. Now its $20 a week.

[Realist]

The oil companies do not set the prices, man I am sick of this disinformation. Prices are set by the market via speculation of supply and demand not big oil. It is a global market, you are going to have to suck it up and deal with it until an alternative is widely available.

[Scottie]

If you want the government to do anything about gas prices, you have to wait until it's not being run by a Republican from Texas with war tendencies toward the Middle East.

In the meantime, stop driving your SUV at 85 mph on the LIE.

[MCR]

Lose weight, you fatties! Your car's engine will appreciate it and you'll burn less gas!

Also, try a bicycle now and again (no, don't cover it in chocolate sauce and eat it, pedal it to town for some simple errands)

Fish Billy!

[bigger realist then you]

Realist wrote:

The oil companies do not set the prices, man I am sick of this disinformation. Prices are set by the market via speculation of supply and demand not big oil. It is a global market, you are going to have to suck it up and deal with it until an alternative is widely available.

Alternative? To what? Oil? Did you forget that oil companies have the best and brightest lobbyists working for them in DC?

If I figured out how to turn a gram of earwax into a viable fuel that would run a diesel truck for a week, the oil companies would have me assassinated before I could exclaim "Eureka!"

And believe you me, those politicians down in DC have their heads and ears full of SOMETHING...and it ain't brains.

[bigger realist then you]

A grim picture:

No matter who is elected, the price of oil will not go down until the planet is tapped out. The oil companies and powers that be know that the US is a car driven society.

Our infrastructure for the past 100 years has been built on the automobile, just as our country and cities were placed by waterways and flat lands for railroads.

I hate to be all doom and gloom, but we are headed for a nosedive of a recession, out of control inflation, and a rude awakening.

Once the mentality of "You'll never catch me riding a bicycle" dies down, we'll all be much better off.

And DOY...we will have gas and fuel left over for mass transit, trucking, shipping, etc.

Joe Blow does not need to go from 0 to 60 in a 8 MPG SUV to his mundane do-nothing job. No apologies needed for the last comment. Face fact...we all don't get to split atoms and step on the moon. We all need to get over ourselves. Do it for the children.

[Joe Cop]

Bellasmom007 wrote:

The oil companies are boasting huge profits at our expense. Elected officials are a joke. Who wants to get rid of gas taxes and who wants to keep them.
No one takes into account how the high gas prices effect people. High food prices due to shipping costs. High home heating costs. And the biggest joke is salaries! They really haven't risen enough to keep up with inflation.
I am sick and tired of worrying whether or not to buy food or gas. To go see my parents or not. Even if I work, I will mostly be working for gasoline! Thats not good.
We are heading right for a depression, not recession. And the government is one big joke right now. They are doing nothing but flapping their jaws and thinking about what to do. All the while, gas companies smile and say the American public will accept everything they dish out.

The oil companies are making profits you are correct. But I have a question, why do people go into business? Isn't it to make a profit??? One other point that you may not be aware of, the oil companies DO NOT make the price for oil, it is the futures market which is completely independent of the oil companies. This is supply and demand at work on a world scale. China and India are developing rapidly and using more and more oil each day causing greater demand. The USA is not in a bubble with this. We could be but the environmental wackos don't want any more drilling in the USA for oil and we the USA haven't built a refinery in over 35 YEARS!!! We have enough oil in ANWAR and off of our coasts to be self sufficient but NOOOOOOO a caribou might have to duck under a pipe out in the middle of no where. Oh and BTW since our wonderful Dems won't allow drilling in our off shore waters the Chinese have gladly started along with the Cubans. Doesn't that make you feel safe?

[TomIslander]

Scottie wrote:

If you want the government to do anything about gas prices, you have to wait until it's not being run by a Republican from Texas with war tendencies toward the Middle East.
In the meantime, stop driving your SUV at 85 mph on the LIE.

YAWN. Your ignorance is almost frightening. Since when does the executive branch of the federal government set gas prices? The constitution wasn't amended to include that last time I check. Its the law of supply & demand. So quick to blame Bush, while for the last 8 years he has tried to prevent this exact thing from happening, but thanks to Pelosi & Co. in Congress, it did happen. So you can thank your fellow libs for what is happening. Bush wanted to start drilling in Anwar and in the Gulf, but democrats blocked it. Bush wanted to ease restrictions on contructing and updating oil refineries, who blocked it, the libs. Most are the people bitching about the price of gasoline are the same people who were against domestic drilling.

[Mike Savage]

I'm driving a V6 Sonata and frankly by the standards of what we SHOULD be driving, that's a limousine. The NYTimes reports today that the sales of small cars has jumped during the month of April.

[No One Gets It]

Rich people can and will drive anything they want because they can afford the price of gas even if it doubles in the next year.

It's the idiots who want people to think that they're well off but really aren't who shouldn't be driving the big gas guzzlers now.

And, how many idiots are out there?

Way too many.

[Mike Savage]

I also think that small bikes (mopeds) are really cool. Honda and Suzuki have some fine models but I'm not buying until the roads get a little safer than they are now.

[Hockey fan]

TomIslander wrote:

<quoted text>
YAWN. Your ignorance is almost frightening. Since when does the executive branch of the federal government set gas prices? The constitution wasn't amended to include that last time I check. Its the law of supply & demand. So quick to blame Bush, while for the last 8 years he has tried to prevent this exact thing from happening, but thanks to Pelosi & Co. in Congress, it did happen. So you can thank your fellow libs for what is happening. Bush wanted to start drilling in Anwar and in the Gulf, but democrats blocked it. Bush wanted to ease restrictions on contructing and updating oil refineries, who blocked it, the libs. Most are the people bitching about the price of gasoline are the same people who were against domestic drilling.

IDIOTS: AMERICAS CANCER. Sounds like spin to me. To read this, you would think that Bush has actually tried to accomplish something in the last 8 years. That is, other than fleecing the American public.

[Mike Savage]

<<<<Fatal one-car accident in Elmont>>>>>>

Take a look at the picture that's related to this article. The car looks like a smashed tin can but the tree only has some bark scraped off near the bottom of the trunk.

Thems trees sure is really strong and hard!

[Mike Savage]

TomIslander wrote:

<quoted text>
YAWN. Your ignorance is almost frightening. Since when does the executive branch of the federal government set gas prices? The constitution wasn't amended to include that last time I check. Its the law of supply & demand. So quick to blame Bush, while for the last 8 years he has tried to prevent this exact thing from happening, but thanks to Pelosi & Co. in Congress, it did happen. So you can thank your fellow libs for what is happening. Bush wanted to start drilling in Anwar and in the Gulf, but democrats blocked it. Bush wanted to ease restrictions on contructing and updating oil refineries, who blocked it, the libs. Most are the people bitching about the price of gasoline are the same people who were against domestic drilling.

Actually fat americans driving at 90mph in their SUV's impervious to what's going on in the world are the american cancer.