gas out

Tom, I wonder about the economics of a "gas out." The message indicated
that one should buy one's gas prior to Apr 7-10 period and avoid those
days. How would that affect oil prices? If we buy the same overall amount
over the period of a week or month around the three days there should be no
effect. One would have to actually forego _using_ the gas one would
normally use to have an effect.
Actually, I doubt we could get enough participation to make a difference
anyway.

Another question: Why shouldn't OPEC raise the price now and then? If oil
is a finite resource, shouldn't the owners price their product to maximize
the long term profit? After all, it won't last forever, so they need to do
as well as they can while supplies last. I realize the worry is that the
oil companies will be getting a large share of the profit from a price
rise--we should be all over them if so, but we can't really blame OPEC for
getting as high a price as the market will bear. Is there a western
bias behind this argument? Are we begrudging the OPEC countries, which were
formerly poor and victims of Western economic oppression, of getting theirs
now that they hold more cards?

Finally, we might even thank OPEC (and the oil companies) for speeding the
development of solar and other alternative sources of energy by making
these more cost competitive.

Just some thoughts.

Randy Groves