Fw: Fw: Worked for eggs - How about trying it on gas?]

Worked for eggs - How about trying it on gas?

This is a good thought and it could work. It won't cost anything to try.
Think about it !!

A man eats two eggs each morning for breakfast. When he goes to the grocery
store he pays 60 cents a dozen. Since a dozen eggs won't
last a week he normally buys two dozens at a time.
One day while buying eggs he notices that the price has risen to 72 cents.
The next time he buys groceries, eggs are .76 cents a dozen.
When asked to explain the price of eggs the store owner says, "the price has
gone up and I have to raise my price accordingly".
This store buys 100 dozen eggs a day. I checked around for a better price
and all the distributors have raised their prices. The
distributors have begun to buy from the huge egg farms. The small egg farms
have been driven out of business.
He checked out the huge egg farms and found they were selling 100,000 dozen
eggs to the distributors daily. Nothing had changed but
the price of eggs.
This pattern continues until the price of eggs is 2.00 a dozen.
The man says,"there must be something we can do about the price of eggs".
He starts talking to all the people in his town and they decide to stop
buying eggs. This didn't work because everyone needed eggs.
Finally, the man suggested only buying what you need.
He ate 2 eggs a day. On the way home from work he would stop at the grocery
and buy two eggs. Everyone in town started buying 2 or 3
eggs a day.
The grocery store owner began complaining that he had too many eggs in his
cooler. He told the distributor that he didn't need any
eggs. Maybe wouldn't need any all week.
The distributor had eggs piling up at his warehouse. He told the huge egg
farms that he didn't have any room for eggs would not need any
for at least two weeks.
At the egg farm, the chickens just kept on laying eggs.
The distributor told the grocery store owner that he would lower the price
of the eggs if the store would start buying again. The grocery store owner
said, "I don't have room for more eggs. The customers are only buy 2 or 3
eggs at a time".
"Now if you were to drop the price of eggs back down to the original price,
the customers would start buying by the dozen again".
Finally, the egg farmers lowered the price of their eggs. But only a few
cents.
The customers still bought 2 or 3 eggs at a time. They said, "when the price
of eggs gets down to where it was before, we will start buying by the
dozen."
Slowly the price of eggs started dropping. The distributors had to slash
their prices to make room for the eggs coming from the egg farmers. The egg
farmers cut their prices because the distributors wouldn't buy at a higher
price than they were selling eggs for.
Anyway, they had full warehouses and wouldn't need eggs for quite a while.
And them chickens kept on laying.
Eventually, the egg farmers cut their prices because they were throwing away
eggs they couldn't sell.. The distributors started buying again because the
eggs were priced to where the stores could afford to sell them at the lower
price.
And the customers starting buying by the dozen again.

Now, transpose this analogy to the gasoline industry.
What if everyone only bought $10.00 worth of gas each time they pulled to
the pump. The dealers tanks would stay semi full all the time. The dealers
wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the huge tank farms. The tank
farms wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the refining plants. And
the refining plants wouldn't have room for the oil being off loaded from the
huge tankers coming from the Middle East.
Just $10.00 each time you buy gas. Don't fill it up. You may have to stop
for gas twice a week but, the price should come down.
Think about it.

As an added note..When I buy $10.00 worth of gas,that leaves my tank a
little under half full. The way prices are jumping around, you
can buy gas for $2.65 a gallon and then the next morning it can be $2.15. If
you have your tank full of $2.65 gas you don't have room for
the $2.15 gas. You might not understand the economics of only buying two
eggs at a time but, you can't buy cheaper gas if your tank is full
of the high priced stuff.
Also, don't buy anything else at the gas station, no cigarettes, no bread,
milk or chewing gum, don't give them any more of your hard
earned money than what you spend on gas, until the prices come down..

 

Ron,

I think your analogy to eggs is flawed in its assumptions. If consumers reduce buying eggs then the places that lay the eggs can lay off the egg layers by serving them for dinner (via the supermarket shelves) and adjust their supply to fit demand. If the market demands rises again then the places that make the eggs can bring on new egg layers.

Of course the new egg layers will be happy to have a new job and will be twice as productive as the old egg layers they got rid of. The added bennifit is that places that supply the eggs can pay their new egg layers in chicken feed.

Big oil can do the same thing. They can cut production (supply) to fit demand. Actually, big oil can cut production to drive-up price assuming supply stays constant.

If you want to do something against big oil then form a bycott against "two" of the big producers of the oil. Stop buying oil from a select few will have a direct effect on the local people who run the station first and it will take a long term period to affect the bottom line of the parent company, but it can be done. Even the threat to boycott a certain brand can have an possible affect.

Jim


-----Original Message-----
>From: "Ronald. Robertson" <ronald.robertson (AT) sympatico (DOT) ca>
>Sent: Apr 27, 2006 5:31 PM
>To: Ronald robertson <ronald.robertson (AT) sympatico (DOT) ca>
>Subject: Fw: Fw: Worked for eggs - How about trying it on gas?]
>
>
>Worked for eggs - How about trying it on gas?
>
>This is a good thought and it could work. It won't cost anything to try.
>Think about it !!
>
>A man eats two eggs each morning for breakfast. When he goes to the grocery
>store he pays 60 cents a dozen. Since a dozen eggs won't
>last a week he normally buys two dozens at a time.
>One day while buying eggs he notices that the price has risen to 72 cents.
>The next time he buys groceries, eggs are .76 cents a dozen.
>When asked to explain the price of eggs the store owner says, "the price has
>gone up and I have to raise my price accordingly".
>This store buys 100 dozen eggs a day. I checked around for a better price
>and all the distributors have raised their prices. The
>distributors have begun to buy from the huge egg farms. The small egg farms
>have been driven out of business.
> He checked out the huge egg farms and found they were selling 100,000 dozen
>eggs to the distributors daily. Nothing had changed but
>the price of eggs.
>This pattern continues until the price of eggs is 2.00 a dozen.
>The man says,"there must be something we can do about the price of eggs".
>He starts talking to all the people in his town and they decide to stop
>buying eggs. This didn't work because everyone needed eggs.
>Finally, the man suggested only buying what you need.
>He ate 2 eggs a day. On the way home from work he would stop at the grocery
>and buy two eggs. Everyone in town started buying 2 or 3
> eggs a day.
>The grocery store owner began complaining that he had too many eggs in his
>cooler. He told the distributor that he didn't need any
>eggs. Maybe wouldn't need any all week.
>The distributor had eggs piling up at his warehouse. He told the huge egg
>farms that he didn't have any room for eggs would not need any
>for at least two weeks.
>At the egg farm, the chickens just kept on laying eggs.
>The distributor told the grocery store owner that he would lower the price
>of the eggs if the store would start buying again. The grocery store owner
>said, "I don't have room for more eggs. The customers are only buy 2 or 3
>eggs at a time".
>"Now if you were to drop the price of eggs back down to the original price,
>the customers would start buying by the dozen again".
> Finally, the egg farmers lowered the price of their eggs. But only a few
>cents.
>The customers still bought 2 or 3 eggs at a time. They said, "when the price
>of eggs gets down to where it was before, we will start buying by the
>dozen."
>Slowly the price of eggs started dropping. The distributors had to slash
>their prices to make room for the eggs coming from the egg farmers. The egg
>farmers cut their prices because the distributors wouldn't buy at a higher
>price than they were selling eggs for.
>Anyway, they had full warehouses and wouldn't need eggs for quite a while.
>And them chickens kept on laying.
>Eventually, the egg farmers cut their prices because they were throwing away
>eggs they couldn't sell.. The distributors started buying again because the
>eggs were priced to where the stores could afford to sell them at the lower
>price.
>And the customers starting buying by the dozen again.
>
>Now, transpose this analogy to the gasoline industry.
>What if everyone only bought $10.00 worth of gas each time they pulled to
>the pump. The dealers tanks would stay semi full all the time. The dealers
>wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the huge tank farms. The tank
>farms wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the refining plants. And
>the refining plants wouldn't have room for the oil being off loaded from the
>huge tankers coming from the Middle East.
>Just $10.00 each time you buy gas. Don't fill it up. You may have to stop
>for gas twice a week but, the price should come down.
>Think about it.
>
>As an added note..When I buy $10.00 worth of gas,that leaves my tank a
>little under half full. The way prices are jumping around, you
>can buy gas for $2.65 a gallon and then the next morning it can be $2.15. If
>you have your tank full of $2.65 gas you don't have room for
> the $2.15 gas. You might not understand the economics of only buying two
>eggs at a time but, you can't buy cheaper gas if your tank is full
>of the high priced stuff.
>Also, don't buy anything else at the gas station, no cigarettes, no bread,
>milk or chewing gum, don't give them any more of your hard
>earned money than what you spend on gas, until the prices come down..
>


________________________________________
PeoplePC Online
A better way to Internet
http://www.peoplepc.com

 

On Thu, 27 Apr 2006, ecj wrote:

> I think your analogy to eggs is flawed in its assumptions. If consumers
>reduce buying eggs then the places that lay the eggs can lay off the egg
>layers by serving them for dinner (via the supermarket shelves) and
>adjust their supply to fit demand. If the market demands rises again then
>the places that make the eggs can bring on new egg layers.

It is also flawed in many other ways. For example, if eggs are too
expensive, just start having cereal for breakfast. Some people are trying
to convert to bio-diesel and things of this nature, but the effect is so
small that even small oil companies will not notice.

Also if the thing causing the price of eggs to go up, is that another
10,000 people moved into your area and the egg distributor can't get
enough from everyone. So now he has to go to egg farms fruther away and is
having to drive his trucks fruther to get the eggs, and his average cost
per egg has just gone up because of fuel and other delivery costs. We now
have India and China consuming more oil than they did 10 years ago. They
are huge markets. The available crude has not increased and who gets it is
a competitive bidding market.

What if egg farms have been re-zoned and due to environmental regulations
they are now all limited to how many chickens they can have, and they
can't increase their production. So the demand from distributors goes up a
little and now the distributors are comeptiting for the eggs and the
farmers are smart enough to sell to whoever is willing to pay the most.

Bottom line, when you hear about crude prices at all time record highs
(Exxon does not set the price of crude) their cost goes way up. The oil
business it far too much of a competitive business for any of them to
gouge very much (if any). Lets face it if you think one station is too
high, you just drive down the street to another place.

Calvin
http://hamptonroadsrotaryclub.com/ <<--our local club
http://www.racecarstuff.com <<--my blog
http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcalvin767 <<--my ebay stuff

 

Calvin-
I like your thought processes. You are absolutely correct. "Big Oil" is
not the reason that gas prices are so high. It's simply a matter of supply
& demand. OPEC sets the price/barrel for crude oil, not "Big Oil". When
India and China were underdeveloped countries 10 or 20 years ago, they were
not a factor. Now they are major consumers (not only oil but concrete and
steel-talk to a contractor and they'll confirm it).
So Calvin, you're right. We must either a) pay the price b) develop
alternative energy sources or c)consume less...or a combination of a, b and
c. So much for Econ 101.
Regards, Stan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Calvin Sanders" <calvins (AT) highrpm (DOT) net>
To: "ecj" <ecj (AT) peoplepc (DOT) com>
Cc: <shelbymustang (AT) carmemories (DOT) com>
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 2:13 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Worked for eggs - How about trying it on gas?]


> On Thu, 27 Apr 2006, ecj wrote:
>
> > I think your analogy to eggs is flawed in its assumptions. If consumers
> >reduce buying eggs then the places that lay the eggs can lay off the egg
> >layers by serving them for dinner (via the supermarket shelves) and
> >adjust their supply to fit demand. If the market demands rises again then
> >the places that make the eggs can bring on new egg layers.
>
> It is also flawed in many other ways. For example, if eggs are too
> expensive, just start having cereal for breakfast. Some people are trying
> to convert to bio-diesel and things of this nature, but the effect is so
> small that even small oil companies will not notice.
>
> Also if the thing causing the price of eggs to go up, is that another
> 10,000 people moved into your area and the egg distributor can't get
> enough from everyone. So now he has to go to egg farms fruther away and is
> having to drive his trucks fruther to get the eggs, and his average cost
> per egg has just gone up because of fuel and other delivery costs. We now
> have India and China consuming more oil than they did 10 years ago. They
> are huge markets. The available crude has not increased and who gets it is
> a competitive bidding market.
>
> What if egg farms have been re-zoned and due to environmental regulations
> they are now all limited to how many chickens they can have, and they
> can't increase their production. So the demand from distributors goes up a
> little and now the distributors are comeptiting for the eggs and the
> farmers are smart enough to sell to whoever is willing to pay the most.
>
> Bottom line, when you hear about crude prices at all time record highs
> (Exxon does not set the price of crude) their cost goes way up. The oil
> business it far too much of a competitive business for any of them to
> gouge very much (if any). Lets face it if you think one station is too
> high, you just drive down the street to another place.
>
> Calvin
> http://hamptonroadsrotaryclub.com/ <<--our local club
> http://www.racecarstuff.com <<--my blog
> http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcalvin767 <<--my ebay stuff

 

there is a key flaw in the plan
it does not matter so much the number of eggs you buy at a time but the eggs
that are bought over time.
if you eat the same number of eggs per day but buy your daily dose of eggs
every day than you have bought the same number of eggs that you would if you
buy them once a week. the big difference is that you are spending more gas and
time to buy you eggs every day instead of once a week.
if you do this the store will get their eggs in smaller packages but not
smaller quanities and when you buy a product you are also buying the package
(even though you will throw the package away). over all you cost per egg will go
up because the packaging will cost more per egg and the handling will be more
per egg.

the only way to really change the demand is to change the consumption.
I used to drive a full size silvarado extended cab will all the options. I
really liked by truck(even though it was a brandX) but got tired of the gas
mileage. when it came time to buy another truck I was looking at the new F150
and really wanted it but was considering buying a Toyota for the better mileage
and lower cost. the cheap side of me won and I bought the Toyota, my gas
cost went down and I was kind of happy for a while. gas prices kept going up and
I kept adding the miles to my new truck so before long I again was unhappy.
so now a carpool with a friend at work and we have each have cut our gas cost
and have cut the mileage on the vehicles. unless you change the overall
amount you are buying, you will not get their attension.

bob

 

Thank you all for the underwhelming support. (lol)
Someone advocated boycotting Exxon and or Mobil for a period of time in an
effort to lower gas prices. That just won't work in Canada, because neither
Company is here. We have a bulk tank farm just outside our City. Every gas
wholesaler's tankers that deliver gas to the individual gas stations pull in
there to fill up - except Sunoco.
So in our case, boycotting Shell or Esso or Pioneer or..............would
have no effect since they all dip into the same pool of oil regardless of
who refined it. Again, in Canada, the biggest beneficiary of high gas prices
is government. They take a large chunk out of every liter sold, then charge
a federal tax of 6%, soon to be 5%, on top of that - tax on tax, so they
have every incentive not to regulate prices. I guess that any one plan won't
work in every situation, so my "egg" analogy may not work everywhere, but I
think it will probably work here. I'm going to give it a try. Incidentally,
in a Canadian national newspaper this morning, Honda is expecting a sales
increase in the order of 6% solely because of the rising gas prices and
their introduction of even more fuel efficient cars. As for alternative
fuels, they are a good idea, but unless the big oil giants, and the North
American automobile manufacturers (read the big 3) are forced by regulation
to either adopt these alternative fuels, they will be an interesting
sideline. Until governments of every stripe get behind the conserve -
manufacture more fuel efficient cars - stop the gouging by all parties - and
lowered consumer expectations of huge horsepower cars, we better get used to
high prices.
Incidentally, on a recent trip to Spain, we paid the equivalent of
$1.32/liter, roughly the equivalent of a US quart. Now that gets pricey.
As for OPEC setting prices, one has to wonder why the American and Canadian
oil producers have to follow suit? That spells "a chance to make a huge
windfall" to me. I wonder if the American and Canadian oil folk got
together, if together, we produce enough crude and gasoling to be self
sustaining? Not sure anyone has checked this out, and not sure it would be
in "big oil's" interest to do so. One also has to wonder where the money
comes from when one of the big American producers just gave a "retiring"
executive a $400 million package.
Anyhow, off the bully pulpit and back to enjoying nice weather and a nice
car.
This is a great discussion for certified car guys to have. We need to have
more.
Have a good one everyone.
Ron

----- Original Message -----
From: "STAN SIMM" <SSIMM (AT) triad (DOT) rr.com>
To: "Calvin Sanders" <calvins (AT) highrpm (DOT) net>; "ecj" <ecj (AT) peoplepc (DOT) com>
Cc: <shelbymustang (AT) carmemories (DOT) com>
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 3:59 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Worked for eggs - How about trying it on gas?]


> Calvin-
> I like your thought processes. You are absolutely correct. "Big Oil" is
> not the reason that gas prices are so high. It's simply a matter of
> supply
> & demand. OPEC sets the price/barrel for crude oil, not "Big Oil". When
> India and China were underdeveloped countries 10 or 20 years ago, they
> were
> not a factor. Now they are major consumers (not only oil but concrete and
> steel-talk to a contractor and they'll confirm it).
> So Calvin, you're right. We must either a) pay the price b) develop
> alternative energy sources or c)consume less...or a combination of a, b
> and
> c. So much for Econ 101.
> Regards, Stan
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Calvin Sanders" <calvins (AT) highrpm (DOT) net>
> To: "ecj" <ecj (AT) peoplepc (DOT) com>
> Cc: <shelbymustang (AT) carmemories (DOT) com>
> Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 2:13 PM
> Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Worked for eggs - How about trying it on gas?]
>
>
>> On Thu, 27 Apr 2006, ecj wrote:
>>
>> > I think your analogy to eggs is flawed in its assumptions. If
>> > consumers
>> >reduce buying eggs then the places that lay the eggs can lay off the egg
>> >layers by serving them for dinner (via the supermarket shelves) and
>> >adjust their supply to fit demand. If the market demands rises again
>> >then
>> >the places that make the eggs can bring on new egg layers.
>>
>> It is also flawed in many other ways. For example, if eggs are too
>> expensive, just start having cereal for breakfast. Some people are trying
>> to convert to bio-diesel and things of this nature, but the effect is so
>> small that even small oil companies will not notice.
>>
>> Also if the thing causing the price of eggs to go up, is that another
>> 10,000 people moved into your area and the egg distributor can't get
>> enough from everyone. So now he has to go to egg farms fruther away and
>> is
>> having to drive his trucks fruther to get the eggs, and his average cost
>> per egg has just gone up because of fuel and other delivery costs. We now
>> have India and China consuming more oil than they did 10 years ago. They
>> are huge markets. The available crude has not increased and who gets it
>> is
>> a competitive bidding market.
>>
>> What if egg farms have been re-zoned and due to environmental regulations
>> they are now all limited to how many chickens they can have, and they
>> can't increase their production. So the demand from distributors goes up
>> a
>> little and now the distributors are comeptiting for the eggs and the
>> farmers are smart enough to sell to whoever is willing to pay the most.
>>
>> Bottom line, when you hear about crude prices at all time record highs
>> (Exxon does not set the price of crude) their cost goes way up. The oil
>> business it far too much of a competitive business for any of them to
>> gouge very much (if any). Lets face it if you think one station is too
>> high, you just drive down the street to another place.
>>
>> Calvin
>> http://hamptonroadsrotaryclub.com/ <<--our local club
>> http://www.racecarstuff.com <<--my blog
>> http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcalvin767 <<--my ebay stuff

 

the large gas distributors are all over. out here the gas is the same and
the additives are metered in as the gas is filled to make the gas one companies
or another. the brandX gas stations get no additional additives than what
comes in the gas as is.


the problem is getting people to organize to send the message. the people
who participate will only be a blip on the radar for a moment in time. as much
as I would like to send them a message, I do not think it will get through the
fog

bob

 

Uncle Sam gets how much $ ._ _ per gal. in tax revenue and it increases each
penny that the price goes up and they don't have to do anything and you
think Uncle Sam is going to force the price down?

I'd like to say that I'm mostly in Republican thinking, but all those guys
have stocks and connections to big oil over or under the table.

Remember........ POLITICS

Poli - Many

Tic - A blood sucking insect!

Sorry to have to vent on this wonderful forum......

Looking forward to cranking up the KR this weekend. If any of you get your
car out this weekend, drop us a line on anything neat that happens or maybe
a picture.

Dan


----- Original Message -----
From: "STAN SIMM" <SSIMM (AT) triad (DOT) rr.com>
To: "Calvin Sanders" <calvins (AT) highrpm (DOT) net>; "ecj" <ecj (AT) peoplepc (DOT) com>
Cc: <shelbymustang (AT) carmemories (DOT) com>
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Worked for eggs - How about trying it on gas?]


> Calvin-
> I like your thought processes. You are absolutely correct. "Big Oil" is
> not the reason that gas prices are so high. It's simply a matter of
> supply
> & demand. OPEC sets the price/barrel for crude oil, not "Big Oil". When
> India and China were underdeveloped countries 10 or 20 years ago, they
> were
> not a factor. Now they are major consumers (not only oil but concrete and
> steel-talk to a contractor and they'll confirm it).
> So Calvin, you're right. We must either a) pay the price b) develop
> alternative energy sources or c)consume less...or a combination of a, b
> and
> c. So much for Econ 101.
> Regards, Stan
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Calvin Sanders" <calvins (AT) highrpm (DOT) net>
> To: "ecj" <ecj (AT) peoplepc (DOT) com>
> Cc: <shelbymustang (AT) carmemories (DOT) com>
> Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 2:13 PM
> Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Worked for eggs - How about trying it on gas?]
>
>
>> On Thu, 27 Apr 2006, ecj wrote:
>>
>> > I think your analogy to eggs is flawed in its assumptions. If
>> > consumers
>> >reduce buying eggs then the places that lay the eggs can lay off the egg
>> >layers by serving them for dinner (via the supermarket shelves) and
>> >adjust their supply to fit demand. If the market demands rises again
>> >then
>> >the places that make the eggs can bring on new egg layers.
>>
>> It is also flawed in many other ways. For example, if eggs are too
>> expensive, just start having cereal for breakfast. Some people are trying
>> to convert to bio-diesel and things of this nature, but the effect is so
>> small that even small oil companies will not notice.
>>
>> Also if the thing causing the price of eggs to go up, is that another
>> 10,000 people moved into your area and the egg distributor can't get
>> enough from everyone. So now he has to go to egg farms fruther away and
>> is
>> having to drive his trucks fruther to get the eggs, and his average cost
>> per egg has just gone up because of fuel and other delivery costs. We now
>> have India and China consuming more oil than they did 10 years ago. They
>> are huge markets. The available crude has not increased and who gets it
>> is
>> a competitive bidding market.
>>
>> What if egg farms have been re-zoned and due to environmental regulations
>> they are now all limited to how many chickens they can have, and they
>> can't increase their production. So the demand from distributors goes up
>> a
>> little and now the distributors are comeptiting for the eggs and the
>> farmers are smart enough to sell to whoever is willing to pay the most.
>>
>> Bottom line, when you hear about crude prices at all time record highs
>> (Exxon does not set the price of crude) their cost goes way up. The oil
>> business it far too much of a competitive business for any of them to
>> gouge very much (if any). Lets face it if you think one station is too
>> high, you just drive down the street to another place.
>>
>> Calvin
>> http://hamptonroadsrotaryclub.com/ <<--our local club
>> http://www.racecarstuff.com <<--my blog
>> http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcalvin767 <<--my ebay stuff
>

 

The cool thing with current gas prices is that racing fuel that we use in
the Shelby has not gone up that much.

On Thu, 27 Apr 2006, Ronald. Robertson wrote:

> Thank you all for the underwhelming support. (lol)

I am not against boycotts, but I don't happen to think this one is either
worthwhile or aimed at the right group of people. I don't happen to think
the oil companies are evil, and they are in too much of a competitive
business to be screwing the public.... too much... Yes they are
benefitting from the situation, but not unfairly so. Not nearly as much as
psople selling '67 Shelbys because of the frenzy still being brought on by
the Gone in 60 Seconds movie.

> introduction of even more fuel efficient cars. As for alternative fuels, they
> are a good idea, but unless the big oil giants, and the North American
> automobile manufacturers (read the big 3) are forced by regulation to either
> adopt these alternative fuels, they will be an interesting sideline. Until

I don't happen to think the government is going ot force anything on us,
at least not willingly. If you don't believe me, look at the black market
for large capacity toilets.

Car makers have put plenty of effort into alternative fuel cars. Remeber
the GM Impact electric car. It failed because nobody bought one, not
because GM didn't lose their asses developing it. There is a huge amount
of research being put into battery technology. Every home inventor in the
world has developed some alternative fuel idea. the car manufacturers have
helped many of them that might be promising, even when they turn out to be
dead ends.

Ford, GM, and Chrysler all have alternative fuel vehicles that they so
sell to fleets as experiments. All of the Virginia Natural Gas vehicles
are powered by some sort of natural gas. One of the big problems is
setting up a distribution infrastructure. That is why it is cost effective
for some fleets, like the gas company. But at this point they could
deliver such things but the cost is currently very high. If there is money
to be made and some hurdles can be climbed you will see alternative fuels.
Ethanol enriched gasoline is probably the next step. It will happen, and
the current spikes in gas prices will help it happen sooner, but if the
price of gas goes back to around a buck a gallon, expect to hear about
many investors who invested in alternative fuels to be going bankrupt. It
happened before to people who invested in them in the 70's and 80's.

People have to want alternative fuels. And for them to want it, the price
has to be as good, or better than gasoline. UNtil that happens, you will
just not see much about it.

Calvin
http://svsaac.com/ <<--our local club
http://www.racecarstuff.com <<--my blog
http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcalvin767 <<--my ebay stuff