Highway Robbery. Oil Cartels, and Ethanol

$3.39 a gallon for regular gas, and the label on the gas pump warns: May contain 10% ethanol.

• The nightly news says that oil refiners are idling their plants, and producing less and less gasoline since the price per barrel of oil is climbing.
• OPEC refuses to up production, saying supply is fine and the world economy shows no signs of slowing.
• Economists say that the US economy is hitting staflation, and we have already entered the beginning of a recession.
• The world economy follows the US economy, a recession here will lead to a worldwide recession and possibly a depression.
• Food shortages are being reported in third world countries since the US is redirecting corn and wheat into the production of ethanol.

Some things to think about.

• Ethanol lowers gas mileage, it's basically filler, like when they used to add alcohol to gasoline to screw customers in the late 70's and early 80's.
• Ethanol damages some kinds of rubber seals, gunks up fuel injectors, and is bad for your engine.
• If you ride a motorcycle, your bike won't like Ethanol, so you better buy premium fuel.

Some thoughts being offered up on forums on the web

• OPEC is saying they won't up production, but the truth is (according to some) that they CAN'T, they've maxed out on their supply. They have hit Hubbert's Peak and are trying to hide the fact that the world is running out of oil.

Some things I've noticed:

• In an experiment last week, I drove 55 mph on the highway (1970's and 80's speeds) to see if it would increase gas mileage. I also drove 5 mph under street speed limits except for ones below 30 mph. I averaged 22 miles per gallon. This is the MAX gas mileage on the window sticker my truck came with back in 2002 (it's a six cylinder Ford Ranger).
• When I drove above the speed limit by 5 miles per hour the week before, my gas mileage averaged 18.75 miles per gallon.
• My gas mileage this week, after hauling around a trailer for several days and splurging by doing the speed limit on Sunday to get somewhere in the afternoon was 20 miles per gallon.

Conclusion:

• It's time to start watching the weather, and riding to work. I need to get back into that habit, 70 miles per gallon on the Buell and 60 miles per gallon on the Vulcan would go a long way towards stretching my paycheck more with the current gas prices.
• The oil companies need to be hauled across hot coals, I am betting they're going to report record profits again.