Rant today from a local businessman who owns a gas station

[Horse with no Name]

I needed to buy a battery today so I went to a local station. He is an Exxon dealer. It is a little Mom and Pop station that has been here for years where they sell gas, fix cars and also sell some used cars on the side. They have kids in college and help out with their grandchildren. Very working class type people.
First of all his comments were that gas would be well into $4.00 a gallon NEXT month...but he seriously doubted $5.00 a gallon in the near future.
Then the rant started and I found another ally.
His comments basically summarized to the fact that how the hell are working people supposed to make it? There are very few jobs in our town and most people have to drive. By the time you drive and eat a hamburger for lunch, it takes $10-15 a day with these gas prices JUST TO GO TO WORK.
Factoring in that most people don't make over $10/hour in this area.
Kept saying over and over that people were going to hurt and they were going to hurt bad.
He then went on to say that those idiots like Bush and Cheney ought to be fired from their jobs and sent to work for $10/hour so that they can understand the impact on the average person.
I told him he was preaching to the choir and that if he could, would he PLEASE tell every customer that came through the very same thing he just told me?
He said he would and we made a pact that we would do our part to fire these crooks.
:thumbsup:

[MadMaddie]

1. It's been a good Friday!!!!

Thanks for welcoming him into the fold.....We may just get America back!!!

Here's to you my DU friend!!!:toast:

[OhioChick]

2. Good for you and the owner!

Nothing like spreading the word! :thumbsup:

[oscar111]

3. tell him to put his thoughts in a leaflet so customers can read it

again at their leisure. Add the url of democraticunderground and AAR.

[baby_mouse]

4. Just some dirty welfare recipient in waiting. NT

[pacalo]

5. Excellent! Next time you visit him, ask him if he knows about this...

Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits.

Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

(...)

Exxon defends Raymond's compensation, pointing out that during the 12 years he ran the company, Exxon became the largest oil company in the world and that the stock price went up 500 percent.

ABC News

On the positive side, there's this...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid record oil prices and soaring gasoline costs, Exxon Mobil's $400 million retirement package to its former CEO is a "shameful display of greed" that should be reviewed by Congress and investigated by federal regulators, Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan said on Tuesday.

Dorgan said he wants Exxon Mobil officials to appear at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing to explain how the corporation "justifies" giving its former boss, Lee Raymond, such a huge retirement package.

He also said the Securities and Exchange Commission should investigate the deal that "appears to shortchange" shareholders.

Yahoo! News

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

6. A friend of mine encouraged me to call his brother...

...who may or may not be looking for someone in his department as a new hire.

The company's 40 miles away. That means if I drove nowhere other than work, by the time $4/gallon gas hits this area, I'd pay four hundred and twenty five dollars a month for gas.

I'm self-employed, so I wasn't exactly straining at the leash to make that phone call, but what the HELL.

About ten years ago I actually DID drive 45 miles to work, 45 miles home, five days a week, for a year. Doing it once makes you not want to do it twice.

:patriot:

[Jayhawk Lib]

7. I wonder who sets the price

of oil and gasoline. Is there an oil czar out there somewhere that sets the price? If there is, is the czar and American or some other nationality?

Some how, some way, somebody has to set the price. Why do they set the price at $4.00 in California and $2.79 in Wichita Kansas? Why do they ever let the price go down?

Some times it is 10 cents higher on one side of town than the other. Why is that?

A lot of questions and DU has some very smart people who probably know and can enlighten me.

[Horse with no Name]

9. This same businessman told me once that he had no

control over gas prices at his own station. He HAS to charge what Exxon mandates.
In the early 80's, I worked for a company whose wholly owned subsidiary was Fuel Distributors, Inc. I was a secretary. The division that I worked for had many convenience stores. The big cheeses at FDI would gather and set the gas prices and then make the phone calls to all of the secretaries in the division offices.
It was then our job to IMMEDIATELY telephone all of the convenience stores and change the gas prices. The stores immediately had to change their prices.
Part of my duties was to go to the corporate offices and pick up mail. One of my mail stops was the FDI office. The Secretary there would always tell me if gas prices were going to change since she is the one that scheduled the meetings.
So, to answer your question...it is done at the top of the corporate level.
I doubt this has changed much in the last 25 years, but I could be wrong.

[raysr]

8. I spoke to a service

station owner yesterday, that I never would have figured anti-bush, who agreed with me (and the thoughts on this board) about the gas price crisis. I don't know, but I think the pukes are cooked. They sure are gonna leave a hell of mess for the dems to clean up.
I just hope that if we get control again that people won't forget what we get with the pukes in charge.

[Kansas Wyatt]

10. Let's keep attaching Republican to the problem first.

Then, when the Democrats get back in, they should jam it back up their Republican asses and break it off.

The Democrats had damn well better not pull a 'play nice' routine, and forget about millions suffering under the Republican Oppression.