Email Chain Letter

So, I get this email at work today:

Subject: Gasoline Problem/Prices

FYI, the principle behind this sounds logical (even though I think I already saw a email chain like this with no positive outcome).

THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE

CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON.

This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his

engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gas

prices going up AND they will continue to rise this summer, take time to

read this please.

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!

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. 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 $2.00 is super

cheap. Me too! It is currently $3.19 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 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 x10 = 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 $2.00 RANGE

AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

Keep it going!!!

Which made me go, WTF... So I sent it to Josh and got this reply:

Subject: Re: Gasoline Problem/Prices

Written by someone who has never worked in the oil industry.

Exxon/Mobile doesn't dictate the price for gasoline. OPEC does. Exxon/Mobile does drill in many OPEC countries, however, Exxon/Mobile is a minority share holder in such places at Venezuela/Colombia, or just slightly a majority share holder in places like Iran/Iraq/Saudi Arabi. Heres what that means. In each of those places, Exxon/Mobile must give half or more of the money they make to those that actually /own/ the oil. Even here in the United States, a part of what gets drilled for goes to the government, and the US puts a limit on how much can be drilled/pumped up annually. (Collectivly know as the National Oil Reserve)

Heres how the costs break down.

Crude Oil Cost $2.44 (Again, dictated mostly by OPEC, and the free market)

Distrubition/Marketing $.07

Refinery Cost $.31

State Underground Storage Fee $.01

State & Local Sales Tax $.26 (National Average, varies by city and state)

State Excise Tax $.18

Federal Excise Tax $.18

Distrubiter/Retail Mark Up $.10 (National Average, varies by company)

Final Retail Price: $3.56

So, of the $3.46 (National Average) we paid in January and February of this year, $1.11 is completly out of the oil companies hands. $1.01 of the total price is dictated by your local, state, and Federal law makers and Exxon just passes the costs to you. $.10 is controlled by places like Stripes, or El Tigre.

The $2.44, the "cost" that this email is hoping to bring down, is bought and traded on the free market. Trust me. And on the free market, demand dictates the cost, not "The Buyer". The problem with gas prices is not that companies are try to gouge us to make huge profit margins. In fact, Exxon/Mobile is already fronting huge upfront costs in the hopes that they can produce a proft. Despite all the science, drilling for oil is still as much an art form today and it was 50 years ago, and the cost of any individual well can vary dramatically. Not to mention countries like Venezuela who 'nationalize' hundreds of millions of invested dollars, and dramatically cut into Exxon/Mobiles profit margin.

No, the problem with gas prices is demand far exceeds supply. OPEC and the United States (along with Britian, France, and 30+ other countries) all place an artifical cap on how much oil is produced within their own country. Drilling for oil is loud, smelly, ugly, and a constant risk for vast eco contamination. (Think the various oil spills throughout the years, or the burning of the Kuwaitee oil fields, etc) "First" world countries want to buy out cheap third world oil supplies before depleting their own. Third world countries are banding together to not get screwed by the first world. (is there such a thing as a 'Second' world country?)

And even if supplies were dramatically increased, costs would still remain high. The capacity to refine oil would also have to dramatically increase, otherwise your just moving the choke point in the supply chain. Then after refining, distribution would have to dramatically increase, etc etc.

So, in short, if you want the price of gasoline to drop, the demand for it has to drop. If you really want to help lower the price of gasoline on an invidual level, take as many steps as you can to reduce the amount you use. Not only will you help lower gas costs for yourself and your friends, you'll lower green house gases and help the environment.

Blessings,

Josh

Which made me go:

JOSH 4 PRES, 2016!

and then:

Maybe the earth should have a memo thumb-tacked to it:

Your Mother Earth doesn't work here.

Please, clean up your own mess.