There is no need for 15 years of exploration on solar, DC. The technology exists NOW. Put it on our roofs and let's move on.

We vacation in Florida and it burns me to see the number of Yukon Denalis and Hummers driving around with Florida plates. It's one thing if you live in an area of the country where four wheel drive is necessary, like the Northeast, but in Florida?? Really? Driving through many a blizzard to get to work?

FS hit it on the head. We are so attached to our precious automobiles that we don't want to get out of them. Also, in many suburbs, the train is not an option. We actually only have no one-seat ride into Manhattan and only one express train per day that will take you to NJ for the switch. Why should I sit on the local train and take almost two hours to get to Manhattan when it's a 25-30 mile drive?

We recently added ferry service to Manhattan. It's about a 20-25 minute drive to get to the ferry station. And then I still have to sit on the ferry, and I have to be going downtown, or it doesn't work as an option. It does take me to a train station where I can get a train to midtown, but it would be faster for me to drive across a bridge to the train. So, the options are extremely limited, even if you could separate people from their precious cars.

Never said anything specifically about SOLAR exploration taking 15 years. I am fully aware that the technology exists now





With all due respect, can I ask you if you've done it yet? Why most of the people of this country have not done it yet?




I agree! Even living here in the northeast, I recently turned in my large SUV which was a gas guzzler and switched over to a smaller SUV which gets 8 - 14 miles to the gallon more than the one that we turned in. It also has the option of taking Flex Fuel.



Do you fly? Drive? Or take Amtrak? ( hears SB saying "what a smartass." )




I love you dearly SB, I sincerely do. But right now you baffle me... you confuse me a bit. In one paragraph you post about how it burns you every-time you go down to florida and see floridians driving around in SUVs. It obviously bothers you, as it does me, because of OUR shared concern in what is going on with fuel and gas prices and how it is really hurting our country and our economy. Even though we may have a different idea here or there on what needs to be done to try and correct it, the goal that we both are hoping to achieve is no doubt the same. But then in the next paragraph you state that you don't see why you should have to spend extra time sitting on a ferry or on a local train when you can drive there in less time?

I understand that you are trying to point out that the travel services that you currently have are somewhat ancient and outdated and need to be increased through better infrastructure and faster speeds. Same could be said for where I live. Heck, there's a reason why Staten island has been called the "forgotten borough" for so many years. Our public transportation is extremely limited and needs to be improved.

SO again, I ask you, with the financial situation that we are currently in as a nation, where do we get the funds to make these improvements, to help us become less dependent on foreign oil...on oil in general for that matter? Implementing and developing these things take lots and lots of money. Money that our nation does not have at this time.

Once again, it is my opinion that in order to start researching, developing and implementing these fuel and energy alternatives, one of the best way to raise funds to do that is to create jobs through off-shore drilling right now, which would then help unemployment, help to keep gas and fuel prices down, provide more income through taxes for our government which in my book adds up to an improved economy ALL around.

Oh, the word "ass" ran through my mind, but "smart" wasn't in front of it!

Why haven't we put solar panels on our roof? Because of the all the reasons I gave in my posts above. It was prohibitively expensive and would take decades for us to see a return on our money. That's why it needs to be subsidized for more people to do it. I don't have a spare $20,000 around that I can use to put panels on my roof. And I would daresay that not too many people do. I guess that's because they're trying to simply stay afloat.

You missed the point of my diatribe on public transportation. I personally don't work in NYC, so I wouldn't be taking "advantage" of the few options we have. The reason I mentioned it at all is because if you don't make it as simple as possible for all the people involved, then I'm going to guess that very few are going to bother.

You're right. Our nation doesn't have the money right now. I wonder why that is? We had a budget surplus 10 or 12 years ago. Where did all those trillions that might have been spent on alternative fuels or better infrastructure or improved public transportation, where did all that money go??? Damn! It's almost like some folks took eight years and pissed it all away based on false information or something...

As for the creation of jobs, I'm all for it. I just have different industries in mind.

LOVE YOU DEARLY, TOO!!

We're not giving up our vehicles. At best, alternative fuel vehicles might come along that provide the same or better mileage and convenience. Let the market supply the innovation.

Yes, we have seen where that has gotten us. Shitty cars with very large $$$$$ price tags.
Most had to come with large goverment rebates to even be considered by most consumers.

But that seem to be Ok by many peoples thinking. Duh? that is why we are broke. Stop turning to the goverment tit for your help people.

Let's not get into supposed surpluses from 12 - 125years ago. PAPER Surpluses from false DOTCOMS in the 90's that drove the stock market to record highs when in truth those DOT COMS were only paper tigers. Cooked Enron books in the 90's. Paper tigers and cooked books that were finally uncovered and revealed years later. Enron quarter reporting of huge profits throughout the 90's when in fact there were no profits. Please, let's not even re-visit this debate because it is now many years later and we need to address what is going on right now, what our nation is facing right now. We can lay blame and point fingers all we want at the last 3 administrations including the current one, at the Barney Franks of this world, etc. etc. But it's not going to solve ANYTHING that we are facing right now and that our children will be facing down the road.

Blaming and finger pointing is a major contributor towards the growth of our current problems...those in power whos only answer to our current financial crisis is to keep finger pointing and placing blame on others. It's old, it's fruitless, and all it does is contribute to making our problems worse and worse. So let's move ahead and see how we all can learn from the mistakes made in the past by MANY of those in power.





You wouldn't be referring to the someone who addressed the nation, correctly telling us that :

"The hard fact is that so long as Saddam remains in power, he threatens the well being of his people, the peace of his region, the security of the world. The best way to end this threat once and for all is with a new Iraqi government - a government ready to live in peace with its neighbors, a government that respects the right of the people. Heavy as they are, the costs of action must be weighed against the price of inaction. If Saddam defies the world and we fail to respond, we will face a far greater threat in the future. Saddam will strike again at his neighbors. He will make war on his own people. And mark my words, he will develop weapons of mass destruction. He will deploy them, and he will use them."

DC, say what you will. There was money. Now there's not. The former administration admitted that they based their strategy on false intel that Saddam's WMDs already existed and we had to topple him to stop their use. Then the rhetoric changed to, "Well he WILL get them and use them." So, what you consider correct, I consider backpedaling.

And I am certainly not trying to lay blame. The mess exists. The President is doing his best to clean it up. You asked where we could get the money for these projects that I suggested. I simply gave my opinion on why we didn't have any federal money for these suggestions.

Here are the numbers on the national debt from a CBS News report from September, 2008. The bold and italics are mine.

On the day President Bush took office, the national debt stood at $5.727 trillion. The latest number from the Treasury Department shows the national debt now stands at more than $9.849 trillion. That's a 71.9 percent increase on Mr. Bush's watch.

Amid concerns that President Bush's bailout would raise the debt even more:
Buried deep in the hundred pages of bailout legislation is a provision that would raise the statutory ceiling on the national debt to $11.315 trillion. It'll be the 7th time the debt limit has been raised during this administration. In fact it was just two months ago, on July 30, that President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, which contained a provision raising the debt ceiling to $10.615 trillion.

And it's even higher today. It took a long time to create this mess, and it's going to take several years to get back on our feet, far longer than people thought it would take. What upsets me is that I think the economy was getting back on track. I think that the current oil prices will derail some of that. Heating homes (at least it's almost the end of winter) and prices at the pump are going to eat up a lot of disposable income. So much still gets delivered by truck in this country that we're going to see food prices increase, so restaurant prices will increase. Airlines have already announced increases.

All these little things will add up to another dip in consumer confidence. And that's the last thing we needed right now.

Not really interested in whose "fault" it is that gas prices are up. The fact is that they are up and we are lavel to dip back into a recession if they continue to climb. The sooner Kadafi steps down, the sooner oil prices MIGHT stabilize. We are way to dependent on the Middle East. I really hope that there is a breakthrough in the next decade for a new form of clean energy. Our country could bring in major money and we would be sending less money to the Middle East for oil from unstable countries.

You sure that this is really Patrick? Or did someone else hack into his computer?

Amazing how much you grow up between high school graduation and college graduation. I've learned so much (not to sound cocky).

Remember when I used to tell you.....

Patrick,

It's so nice to see you back again!!! It's been a long time.


TIS

It has been. How you doin girl? Still in California?

I'm doing well my friend and yes I am still in California although it's not been real sunny for a few days.

Stop by every now and then!! Next you know you'll say you're getting married.

TIS

Hahahahahaha!!! I have to find a woman before I can do that! Or she has to find me.

My cousin is actually living out in California right now. She just graduated from UC Davis. I keep telling her I want to visit when I save up some more money.

I'm humored that Libya produces less than 2 percent of the worlds oil, but speculation has put it roughly 30 percent up at the pump in the past couple of weeks. But what do I know

And Exxon reported $9 Billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010. Here we go again. I hope you saved some KY jelly from the last price hike.

£1.26 a litre i paid this morning.......

$3.48/gallon.

Look out New Jersey.... gas on the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway will be going up 17¢ tomorrow morning. By law, the prices at these locations can be changed only once a week, and tomorrow is that time.

It will still be cheaper, though, than what I'm paying here on Long Island.

$3.38.

$3.69 - $3.73 in my area.



TIS

And if you want to leave Long Island to go to the Garden State it will cost you about $25 in tolls.

It's $3.65 at the station closest to me. That's up 32¢ in the past four weeks.

Feb 9th: $3.33
Feb 26th: $3.55
Mar 5th: $3.65

South Jersey is beginning to look better.

SC, I would love to have you for a neighbor, but SNJ is the land of misfits toys. They haven't figured out what a directional signal is used for. A high school diploma is considered advanced education; equivalent to a Master's.

Fill up tonight was $3.59

There was no windshield washer fluid in the bin and no paper towels in the holder and the trash bins was overflowing.

The look on peoples faces told the story.
High prices at the pump and a not so happy public.

Last week, before I left for Florida, gas was still $2.999 here. NJ always had decent gas prices compared to most everywhere else. Three days ago in Florida my dad filled up for $3.489/gallon and I was a bit shocked. It's now about 10¢ higher there, and about $3.259+ here.

My oneway flight cost $149 (+$60 in fees) to fly down, and a week later it was $30 more. Spirit Air adds a "fuel" feel. The current $142.54 ticket adds $43.46 for "Fuel" for a total of $186 (+ridiculous fees to make it $204). That's from West Palm to Atlantic City. AC to PBI is $177 total, which I don't understand -- why's it cheaper to go to Florda than to NJ? lol

To give perspective, flights were $69 two years ago.

I was in AC this weekend. I saw it for $3.30. It is around $3.50 back here in PA.

There was a big CERA meeting in Houston today, and oil supply was a huge topic. One fact former CIA director James Woolsey pointed out is that "Drill Baby Drill" is simply a myth, and he's absolutely right about that.

If we (the U.S.) were to tap out our maximum oil resources in places like the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska we would only produce about 3% of the world's oil; the Middle East produces about 80%. They own and control it and they'll continue to set the price. There's simply nothing we can do about that. There was a time when the state of Texas could provide enough for the nation at a reasonable price, but those days are past. The solution to this crisis is obviously mulifaceted, but one thing just about everyone agrees on is the use of natural gas for big trucks and buses. That'll help tremendously and we are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas; not oil though. Hydrofracturing natural gas wells is not easy however.

Re. the war in Iraq: even Secretary of state Hillary Clinton now says that "Regardless of the validity to the reasons we went there, our presence should be continued because we need democracies in the Middle East." Unless you're just plain opposed to war, despite the utilitarian outcome of said war, everyone on both sides pretty much agrees our being there is a good idea.

And as far as Bush being the great spender: if you listen to Rove and other economic righties, Obama has already spent more than all other presidents combined. Not completely true, but I think it's time to stop burying Bush at every turn.