Is there any hope the US trailer makers will make a trailer that can be pulled with a car or small suv?

And is there any hope the US Car Manufacturers will design a truck that can run on hydrogen or one that will get great gas mileage? I would think since they can't sell any trucks or SUVS that they would be working on this quickly.

My summer's really screwed, who can afford to haul anywhere and who's going to be able to even afford a horse?

I just can't understand why we don't cut off all the food supply to the countries with oil until they lower the prices.

7-10 bucks? we'll see about that............

Got this new bill the other day, looks like it might be a fact soon.

Gard

Here’s an article an about this they say it’s sup post to double by 2012

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080424190433.04dy6kj4&show_article=1

First off, don't be simplistic in your views that we can just cut off food to solve the problem. If we stop shipping food, South America, Russia or some other country will ship food. And it might even originate from the US.

We have become a world economy. China, India and other 3rd world countries are coming into the 21st century.  People in china now want cars in place of carrying their family of 4 on a  moped. As they become more a part of the 21st century, they will consume more energy. Their increased consumption will affect the world markets of supply and demand.  Energy will NEVER be cheap again until we have a major technology break through that creates a new energy source or radically changes the efficiency of our current cars/trucks/planes and other energy consuming devices.

We not only produce fuel from Oil, but we produce other products we consider an essential part of our lives. Plastics, Fertilizer etc are produced from crude oil. The consumption of crude oil will never return to what we used to know.

Will it surprise me to see gas at $7 a gallon 4 years from now in 2012. Not really. But I do expect this increase in price to fuel more investments in alternative fuels. Ethanol, bio-diesel, better methods of recovery oil from low production wells that oil companies ignored in the past. New energy technologies like Fuel Cells may become feasible and come online.

When I bought my 2000 Ford Power stroke I was paying 75 cents a gallon for diesel.  8 years later I paid $4.13 for diesel today.  Is that 550% jump in 8 years any different than the jump from $4.13 to $7.00 in 4 years?  I will be more focused on what trips I take.  I don't run to the store for milk, I wait until I can combine several trips together. Same thing with horses. Where I used to always haul my trailer. I may now double up with friends.  Will I cut back to 3 horses in place of 5 when hay hits $200 -$250 a ton this summer. Farmers have to pay more for fertilizer, fuel to run they mowers and balers, and fuel to truck hay to my barn

My income has decreased as the country moves into a recession. My cost to live have increased. Something has to go. Like most of you, I will have to make hard choices about what discretionary income I have left.

couple of thoughts

1- the reliance on ethenol and bio fuels will not solve our energy needs. They are poor fuels, bio-diesel cannot be used in winter and cost more to produce than fossil fuels. We need more oil, its out there( and right here) BUT we have regualted 85% of our coastal waters out of oil production and have a lack of capacity to refine. The EPA mandates refineries produce low sulfur and low emissions fuels which are expensive,hard to distribute and driving up the cost everytime they have to switch over. Its a no win burden for USA consumers.

2- we not in recession. The ecomony has grown and unemployment is down BUT if congress and the liberal start taxing the oil companies ( who are making lots of money and thats ok with me) and raising income taxes on americans- then we will see big problems.

Ethenol and Biofuels currently are not the solution and may never be. But who knows what research may bring. I refer to them "as a path way to" another solution. We have to explore and find alternative energy sources. And they need to a replenshable fuel vs a fossil fuel.

President Clinton when he left office created the Grand Staircase Escalante National Park in Southern Utah. 1.9 million acres of really remote land. It contains more oil shale than any place on earth. Something like 1.2 to 1.8 trillion barrels. But supposedly more oil is contained in that oil shale than the oil reserves of the Middle East. That supposedly enough to provide 25% of the oil needs for the next 400 years.  But at $50-$60 a barrel for Crude oil, it's not practical to go after it. At $100+ per barrel there is financial motivation to recover it, But now it's a national park and we can't touch it.

Dang dude you never type that much....pace yourself....keep that up you want have any feelin in them finger tips this afternoon to feel that cable you throw...

lol...

One finger at a time is what I was thinkin....

The gas tax thing was such a joke, you know there are some dumb people in this world that actually believe a politician and what they say.  Yeah if they do pay the gas tax just to make the politician look good and to look good in general where do you think they are going to make up what they lost?  I am self employed and I sometimes have customers want me to eat materials or labor for things, usually I just say "no problem"  in the end they usually pay double just for the aggrivation of having to do so.  That is exactly what the oil company folks would say too.

Hey Tx, fertilizer is same here too.  Rain is non-existant, but I normally dont say anything about the rain since one tropical storm and were caught up for the year.  Talk to friend at a roping sunday he said they had 700 acres that they did not have any fertilizer on yet because of the rain.  Multiply there fertilize bill...ouch.  I thought mine was bad. 

Our families purchased our Fertilizer supplies LAST YEAR...Boy, was my cousin SMART to get everyone to buy BEFORE the price increases...so we are one year out from the big fertilizer price hit...

If oil makes it to $150.00/bbl...everyone is looking at a minimum of $5.00/gal for gasoline...if it goes higher...then the per gal rate will exceed the per barrel increase...

Now the increases in grain prices I'll be getting hit with the rest of you, because the company didn't let us buy in advance...

At least, I make my own hay...

The fuel increases have already affected the dressage show circuit, because shows that used to have waiting lists...now have extended their closing dates trying to get their planned quotas of competitors...

We have seen some slow down in rodeo numbers but not a tremendous amount.  Season is about over though so next year will take the hit I suspect. 

Filled up the pickup today for $4.20 diesel, guy at station told me it was going up tonight to $4.39.  Gas supposed to be $3.85 by next week. 

I need to take the 4400 down to fill it today I guess just to top off the tank.  Dang that would be another $200 and its tick over half full.

Kind of hard to regulate companies that are based in foriegn countries (IE: Venezuala, Saudi Arabia, England, etc). 

Unfortunately our politicians (all parties) have their hands in the cookie jars.  The same with the auto makers.  There is no reason we can't have higher mileage vehicles, they have them in Europe.

I think the Amish are having the last laugh on us now!!!

The only reason we don't have higher mileage cars in the US today is .....

Drum roll....

.

.

.

WE didn't buy them...

We wanted huge vehicles like Hummer and all their SUV wanna-bees.  Ford, GM et al have made small fuel effective vehicles for years in Europe.  WE are the  Problem.

Actually there are Amish Mennonites, in Ohio, who drive black cars...but because of the rise in fuel prices...they are parking their cars and getting their buggies back out...

I was in Southern California this weekend and had to pay $5.15 a gallon for diesel.

Ford Motors announced that they will not show a profit in 2008 and probably not until some time in 2009 due to the current recession, as the cost of fuel has slowed the sale of their high profit trucks.

Well just north of Los Angeles we are at $5.49. The wife and I aren't moving our two trucks unless we have to. Figure it's easier to saddle the horses to run errands

Jeff

I agree a lot of folks drive big gas guzzlers for a status symbol, but consider.....I get offended when people make broad statements about how we choose to drive great big rigs for the fashion statement etc. 

Hello.... the working ranch and farm has to haul heavy loads of produce, equipment, cattle, cow ponies, hay feed fertilizer .... get the picture?  Or.... America is gonna have trouble eating.  All this fuel cost..... it costs the farmer and rancher double.........

As for us, we help feed America... cattle to be precise.  We have equipment, not subsidized, that we pay for, maintain, and fuel at our own expense to try to achieve a profit on the calves we sell.  I don't have a rig here that is not capable of pulling a trailer, cuz every rig here has to work for a living.  I cannot afford to add to my financial load by adding yet again the purchase price, insurance and maintenance of another rig just cuz it is little.  My only saving grace is my job is here at the ranch, and I do not have the need for a small daily driver to go to a modest job.

If the rancher and farmer cannot afford their business, guess everybody will be eating lead saturated food imported from China, and non regulated groceries dripping with contaminants...sound good?  So when you see that guy or gal driving his rig through the parking lot, take a closer look........   there is likely manure on their boots and a farmer tan under that shirt and calluses on their hands.... and thank them for a job done under circumstances that many would not accommodate....

Here is what comes out of one barrel of sweet crude...

What Does One Barrel Of Crude Oil Make?
QUICK STATS - One barrel of crude oil contains 42 gallons - About 46% of each barrel of crude oil is refined into automobile gasoline - In the US and Canada an average of 3 gallons of crude oil are consumed per person each day - The US imports about 50% of its required crude oil and about 50% of that amount comes from OPEC countries
Product	Refined Gallons/Barrel
Gasoline	19.3
Distillate Fuel Oil (Inc. Home Heating and Diesel Fuel)	9.83
Kerosene Type Jet Fuel	4.24
Residual Fuel Oil	2.10
Petroleum Coke	2.10
Liquified Refinery Gases	1.89
Still Gas	1.81
Asphalt and Road Oil	1.13
Petrochemical Feed Supplies	0.97
Lubricants	0.46
Kerosene	0.21
Waxes	0.04
Aviation Fuel	0.04
Other Products	0.34
Processing Gain	2.47
Source: EIA March 2004 Data You want to know why oil prices keep going up...Here is part of the answer...  Oil rose above $133 a barrel Monday on persistent worries about global petroleum supplies and the outlook for the U.S. economy and the dollar. Reports of an attack by militants on an oil pipeline in Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest oil exporters, also helped boost prices. Light, sweet crude for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 88 cents at $133.07 a barrel in electronic trading by late afternoon in Europe. The contract rose $1.38 to settle at $132.19 a barrel on Friday. Nymex floor trading was closed Monday for Memorial Day and it also was a holiday in Britain, resulting in lower trading volume than usual. The dollar has weakened over the last week after a modest recovery, and investors will be watching economic data out of the United States to be released over the next few days for further clues about the health of the world’s biggest economy. “The dollar’s been swinging down again,” said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist at Australia & New Zealand Bank in Melbourne, and that’s “going to sway sentiment.” Oil and other hard commodities are seen as hedges against a weakening dollar and inflation. Also, a weak dollar, the currency of international oil trade, makes petroleum products less expensive to Asian and European buyers. This week, investors will be watching for what implications U.S. consumer confidence, new home sales, gross domestic product and other economic data might have for the dollar and oil prices, he said. “It’s a pretty price sensitive week for economic data,” Pervan said. “The data we’re seeing out of the U.S. at the moment looks pretty weak. You’d expect that trend to continue, pushing further down on the dollar.” The dollar, one of the factors that has fed oil’s rally from about $65 a year ago, was lower against the yen, but up a bit against the euro in currency trading during the afternoon in Europe after losing ground Friday in New York. The euro slipped to $1.5764 compared with $1.5775 on Friday, while the dollar fell to 103.41 Japanese yen from 104.17 yen Friday. Prices also were supported when militants in Nigeria, a major supplier to the U.S. market, claimed they destroyed an oil pipeline and killed 11 soldiers in a gunbattle. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says it attacked the pipeline operated by a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture early Monday. Shell officials were not immediately available for comment, and a military spokesman had no immediate confirmation of any overnight incidents. Last week, a series of supply warnings shook markets, and Thursday, a report that the International Energy Agency — the energy watchdog for the most industrialized nations — is in the process of lowering its forecast for long-term global oil supply, sent crude futures rocketing to an all-time high of $135.09 a barrel. Investors are also worried about a growing squeeze on global diesel supplies as demand in China surges has sparked a massive run up in heating oil prices. Over the weekend, China’s top economic planning agency again urged oil and power companies to make sure there are enough supplies for earthquake-hit areas and for the Beijing Olympic Games in August.

The link that "GONE" is speaking of.... 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3870461488930715065

All of the shows I have attended this year (NRHA & AQHA) are bigger than ever. It doesn't look to me like people are staying home yet, in fact, it is the novice & rookie classes that are bigger than ever.

I paid $4.71 for diesel in NE Ohio on Sunday morning heading to a QH show. There were 47 aged geldings in the halter! And the show went to well after 1 AM every night.

There was an NRHA event in Williamston, NC this past weekend as well. It went to 5:30 AM on Sunday morning. Doesn't look like entries are down anywhere I've been.

alot of people are going in groups rather solo.  I know I'm not going anywhere out of town unless there's someone else to share in the expenses with and I trail ride (don't show).

the turnout at our local saddle club is also dwindling - Diesel is over 5.00/gal here by Chicago with no end in sight to it increasing.  this is my daily driver vehicle so this is not good.

This is BS!!!!

If you research this individual just a little bit...you would have found this site...

http://survivalcenter.com/lw.html

Lindsey Williams 7 DVD's Include*:

1. Energy Non-Crisis -- "No longer available due to threat to author".

Yet you can find the entire text online here...

http://www.reformation.org/energy-non-crisis.html

And as you posted...all of these You-Tube postings...Hmmm...you think the youtube posting would also cause a threat to his life...

1. Torn From the Land ( about the American Family Farm Crisis )
2. Vaccinations - Do they work? Is it worth the risk?
3. Economic Hit Man - Lindsey Williams interviews an Economic Hit man in Prison ( Many of his predictions have already come to pass, are you ready for the rest of the story?)
4. Stem Enhance - Are Adult Stem Cells The Answer to PERFECT HEALTH?
5. Loose Change - 911 and many other subjects. ( Free Bonus not for sale)
6. Lou Dobbs on The North American Union. ( Free Bonus not for sale)
7. Dangers of Evolution ( Free Bonus not for sale)

The rest of these videos are almost laughable...and therefore I will not waste my time or yours analyzing them...

I don't want to be the barron of bad news............... My concern would be if we can purchase fuel (Diesel).

Wall Street has indicated that we will have a massive shortage of Diesel fuel in the next 1 - 3 months????????????????????

China is going to start increasing their Diesel fuel purchases starting in June/08, to run there aging power plants, which won't leave much to go around.

Hopefully there wrong on this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote of the Week

“At some point, global oil output will start to decline, as happened in United States in 1971. If that is the case, before long $100-a-barrel oil will be regarded as ‘the good old days,’ says Robert Hirsch, a senior energy analyst at Management Information Services, Inc., a Washington, D.C., research and consulting firm.”
      — Christian Science Monitor

Here is some Good News...

6 Reasons Why Oil Is Ready to Drop

I think the "oil is in a bubble" meme is gaining strength. Market strategist Ed Yardeni thinks the hysteria may be ready to wane. His reasons:

1) Russia is scrambling to cut taxes on its oil industry to boost investment in new fields and to reverse a looming decline in production.

2) Brazil continues to find more oil offshore in the Santos Basin, a collection of potential oil fields that could be one contiguous megadeposit of crude oil.

3) In the US, Congress may start considering ending longstanding bans on domestic drilling.

4) Asian countries are starting to reduce their domestic fuel subsidies, which could dampen demand.

5) Americans are driving less. The Transportation Department reported Friday that in March, Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles than in March 2007, a decline of 4.3%.

6) American Airlines said it would reduce flights in the face of soaring fuel costs. Air France warned of a profound restructuring of the world airline industry.

It may be time for some of the super-spike and super-super-spike prognosticators to declare victory. In other words, it may be time for an oil change, or a change in their story. The right price range for oil may very well be $100 to $150 a barrel rather than $150 to $200.

Economist Robert Brusca is also a believer in the Bubble (bold is mine):

As oil hit its high price in the OPEC cycle in 1980 it turned to skid lower and was under $12/bbl by 1986. We may not have to wait that much longer for prices to erode this time. Oil prices rose by 500 percent by the seventh year from the start of the spiking process in the OPEC cycle. In this cycle at the seven year mark market prices were up by 362%, a noticeable amount to have spurred some conservation. The latest excessive push in prices is much newer but the forces of conservation are already in train. And have been for three years since that 362% net jump. Price has just made another leap higher as well. If price stays high the forces of conservation should work faster.

This is not to argue that China's or India's demand might not come back to be a force later. Nor is it to deny that a certain psychology is in train that seems to ignore the facts of supply and demand right now. Markets are locked into some odd scenario that features an impending oil shortage. But sooner or later the real supply/demand situation makes itself known. The point is that high prices bring some of their own remedy with them. We should not forget it or sell the effect short even as markets are caught up in bidding oil prices higher as they were in late 1978 through 1980. History may prove to be a better guide to future oil prices than we now imagine. This is why I consider oil prices to be a bubble. Oil has reached a level that it will not be able to sustain—at least not without some significant retrenchment.