[MotoSook]

OK. I wrote this on Monday as a joke to my girlfriend after she asked me if the chain letter telling folks to stop buying gasoline from Exxon and Mobil gas stations would work. She figured since I'm an engineer in the oil and gas industry I might know a thing or two (LOL!). Maybe

Anyhow, today, I clink on CNN's web site to get the headlines and look what I find: (I didn't see Exxon or Mobil mentioned in the article...see if you can find the E/M plot. )

http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/18/markets/oil.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

April 18, 2006: 7:37 AM EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil surged to a record high above $72 Tuesday on concerns that Iran's nuclear standoff with the West could cut oil exports from the world's fourth-largest crude exporter.

In London, North Sea Brent crude oil jumped 74 cents to an all-time high of $72.20 a barrel as Iran and the West exchanged increasingly sharp words over the Islamic Republic's determination to push ahead with a nuclear program.

U.S. light sweet crude for May rose 29 cents to $70.69 a barrel in early trade, hovering just below the intraday high of $70.85, set last August after Hurricane Katrina battered oil infrastructure along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Here is the e-mail I sent to my gal:

LOL! Yes, I'm an engineer, but I'm also practical and have enough of an understanding of economics to know that the guy/gal who started this chain letter is a twit!
The letter starter claims to be a mathematician....yep...they know how the oil & gas industry works....and they know how wall street works too...err international commodities.

If that idiot thinks gas can be bought for $1.30 and that price sustained by the chain letter. I have a bunch of other schemes to sell him/her.

Crude is about 70 dollars a barrel, and it's not just Exxon/Mobil crude.....it's the price established on the open market.

And all those Exxon/Mobil refineries and terminals sell gasoline (a product of crude) to off brand vendors/retailers.

So basically, the mathematic genius' scheme will have no effect on E/M. And the only joke is the chain-e-mail. So it is a joke!

How about another oil embargo? WHAT! ARE YOU CRAZY?

Yep...an oil embargo. If gas prices jump to $10.00/gallon suddenly, it would kill us right? Not so I say. It will force all those idiots in their $60,000 bling sleds (AKA SUV's) to park them or sell them off. It will require conservation and the return of the post-embargo mentality of the 70's. That is the car companies that make large vehicles which consumes gasoline at a rate of 15 miles/gallon or less will change the way the do business.

So instead of developing gas guzzlers and large vehicles that take up more space that they need to (to carry mom and child to Star Bucks!), they will develop smart, cool and conservation minded vehicles (not those hybrids). But instead, today we have the "bigger is best" mentality with Hummers and other large vehicles roaming the suburbs waiting for the next attack from the enemy. After all, if you have a Hummer, you must be preparing for war or an attack, right? Isn't that why AM General created the original Hummer? Yep...

But! Instead, General Motors (not so coincidentally linked to AM General and the Hummer brand) is now losing money every quarter...billions! Because people are not buying their cars. The CEO sends the Wall Street Journal a sad letter which was published to complain about unfair competition with the foreign companies, blah blah blah....asking for the public to cry out to our politicians to change the way business is conducted so they can have a level playing field in America.

HA! You idiot! For 10+ years the Big 3 (automakers in Detroit) have been cranking out SUV's. For years they have been marketing big trucks and SUV's that get less mileage per gallon than the muscle cars of the pre-oil embargo period.

Every mom out there has an SUV, mini-Van (what's so mini about them?) or something that is big enough to carry her child in luxury and comfort. (Yeah like the baby will know the difference between a $60,000 SUV gas guzzler and a $20,000 Honda that gets 28 miles to the gallon). General Motor sells more trucks or SUVs than ever! And they are crying about not having a level playing field. Did the Japanese cry "you no fair" when they started to import cars to the US? But we're getting off track...

Back on track, the reason gasoline price is so high is because the gasoline buying public can't get enough of it! They are filling up at 30-80 dollars at a time...every week if not more frequently! And there are more cars on the road than ever!

So if gas was $10/gallon, that $20,000 Honda would take you 28 miles for 10 bucks. Not bad right? Try taking a cab 28 miles....what do you think it will cost? Ten dollars a gallon will also force folks to work closer to home, so traffic on the highway will be less resulting is less emissions since we are not sitting in traffic idling away for hours per day. The government would start to think of more efficient public transportation. There are hundreds of ways the world can benefit from an oil embargo.

So we live with a hard hit...then we learn to live better! Think of it as a automotive cleansing.

Now! Send this e-mail back to the people who you got it from by hitting the "REPLY ALL" button. Then all those people do the same. In no time, the twit who started the chain e-mail will be exposed....and we can all spam him/her daily to remind him/her to stop driving his/her SUV to go get that $4.50 cup of Star Bucks 3 blocks away.