Gas Prices

I got this email from a friend, and decided that I may as well pass the message along to you. Here is the meat of it:

I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer. We need to take some intelligent, united action.

Phillip Hollsworth, offered this good 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 whimp (sic) 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 about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! Etc. Etc. You get the idea.

HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS MAY REALLY WORK

The problem that I see with this chain-mail is the effect that Katrina will have on gas prices. I have already seen pictures of gas prices in the $5-6-7 range, and heard stories of gas stations running out. I even spent $2.80 a gallon for gas at Costco, the lowest priced gas station in Seattle, usually by $0.10-0.15. Basically, because the oil rigs were hit so hard in the Gulf Coast, gas prices are jumping like crazy (even in the Pacific Northwest), and I don't think that a concentrated effort to stop buying ExxonMobil gas will have much effect at all, at least for the next 3-6 months.

I also like how the author of the article ends buy saying that "this may really work". No guarantees, no promises, just a "may" work. Talk about covering your own ass.

But, I've done my job. I've spread the word, and if this does work, I helped in some small part. And that is covering my own ass.