there's always the option to not buy the product, I don't and haven't since 2001, don't miss it either, I am healthier and wealthier by quite a bit because of that decision too

Congratulations. I am working on reducing my dependence as much as possible, but I have not yet cut the oil based fuel ties. Just curious how you adjusted your life to achieve this.

changed jobs and moved downtown, it wasn't difficult

actually my job is more or less the same, I just don't use a car to do it anymore, now it's a bicycle

I saw how things were headed and how the couriers were gonna get squeezed by gas prices with companies that do not care if you live or die or even make a living at it, so I started my own company and ditched the car. Instead of working thru a middleman and being downtown all the time in a car now I ride a bike and take the calls directly. There are companies here that haven't raised their prices in 10 years !! I've watched two companies that used to be the only players lose 80% of their market share in 5 years and they still just don't get it.

The trucking industry and any shipping industry really will suffer the same fate, the people actually doing the work will get squeezed and put out of business before owners and brokers will suffer one bit.

I am impressed. You are part of a growing movement of people who are taking declining energy supplies seriously and positioning themselves to ride out what will be a rough transition ahead. You probably are already aware of cities and towns around the U.S., Europe, Australia, etc. that have begun to plan for peak oil impacts (Seattle, Portland, etc.). Keep up the good work.

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Did someone not pay attention during chemistry class? Diesel is as much a byproduct of producing gasoline as gasoline is a byproduct of producing Diesel. You could as well say that it costs nothing to produce either gasoline nor diesel, since it all just is a byproduct of producing lubricants

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Kind of semantics at this point but diesel is DEFINATELY refined. You can't pull it out of the ground and put it in your car.

When Clinton was in office fuel prices increase and he outhorized the releasing of some(a small amount) petroleum reserves. I traveled thru Merridiam, Ms. and fuel had increased to $1.78 a gallon. After the release prices dropped to $1.19 a gallon. I could not tell you for a fact that the decrease was because of that. I can tell you:

President Bush stated on national TV that the U.S. would never authorize realease of national petroleum oil reserves, and the price of fuel increased over night. I saw this a , in effect, signing a blank check. The reason is that we also have hugh oil supplies. We tend to buy to use other oil before ours.
My wife inherited(with 3 sisters) 3 oil well in OK. that were already leased to the federal governments oil reserve for 99 years. On a selfish side if oil became scare they could become rich.
I can tell you that the U.S. government is one of the largest consumer of oil. I can tell you that the AP reported that a member of OPEC stated that they would not increse oil production to lower the price of fuel. Over night, again, the price of fuel increased.

I can tell you that in a perfect world oil would be a traded fairly in the open market. I find it hard to believe that supporters in this theory do not believe that by holding production, even in a fair market, the price would be artificially increased. The U.S. does this all the time. Examples: Restricted the influx of goods from China, and many other things. Shrimp was being imported at cheap prices, far below market value, destroying the Louisiana Shrimp economy. The price of shrimp to the consumer was still inflated while the shrimpers were going out of business. There were restrictions put in place.

The government does many things to devalue the dollar so we can export at cheaper prices. A problem is that we then have to pay inflated prices for certain things imported. Many in the U.S. government see the allowed exploration and production from oil in Canada and the North Slope as a cure. What if it is like the oil from Alaska? What if EPA standards rule that it can't be used here. Do we sell it to Japan also? There is also the problem with a lack of petroleum plants in the U.S. and there is no remedy in sight, as far as I know, to rectify this.

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Let those that use the mind, study, ponder.and reflect. Let those that use the heart seek change. Let those that use both seek change with the wisdom they have learned to the better of all involved.
----------- OTR500