America goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own….She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself, beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assumes the colors and usurp the standard of freedom.
By the way, if you aren’t sure who John Quincy Adam’s is meet him here played by Anthony Hopkins in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad. The speech in this film sums up nicely the foundation principles of the United States. It is only in the United States that such speeches would be made and such thoughts considered. And if America is wiped away by a United Nations that it created, then such speeches will be extinguished for possibly centuries, maybe millenniums until the courage to create a new America can rise again.
America still has freedom, but we must fight to keep it, because the effort to get it back again will look like these battle scenes. This is how badly people are willing to fight for freedom once they’ve lost it.
This is the Europe that has been striving to suppress freedom for ages and freedom has attempted many times to overcome it.
Freedom is an elusive quality that a majority of mankind strives for, but only a few have the courage to protect.
So use your taxes and vote, so actual bloodshed isn’t required later. Use them now while you still can. Cut the funding, kill the threat. Keep funding them, and you will lose your freedom. It’s that simple.
I spent my twenties reading Joseph Campbell who was an intellectual very well-respected among virtually everyone no matter what the political affiliation. And after I read every Campbell book, some of them several times, I read his autobiography by Stephen and Robin Larsen called A Fire in the Mind, The Life of Joseph Campbell and I remembered with some surprise the quote from that book on page 466 paragraph 3, “Campbell believed in a great revolution of the spirit, and deplored the authority figures of the world who sought to keep human-kind in line. While he seemed to be siding with the powers that be, on the other hand he felt that the revolution of the Marxists and the Maoists was no real revolution but only the triumph of a new kind of collectivism, perhaps even worse than the old religious orthodoxies, because it had totally repudiated the spiritual element—and even worse, the celebration of individuality.” That comment came on March 10th in 1969. It made Campbell very upset that many of his students at Sara Lawrence College were missing class to protest the war and that is the context of his comments.
Today is my 23rd wedding anniversary with my wife. She knows what to give me, a guy that reads and writes continuously while watching the news and cutting hours of radio broadcasts into digestible bits so people who miss valuable information can hear them at their convenience. So she made me an American flag blanket which she gave me this morning.
I agree with the Bull Dog from 700 WLW that Donald Trump is the kind of guy that can level out that curve. He may not be the guy everyone loves, but we need a media equivalent to the Marxists, Socialists, Maoists, radical extremists, union interests composed of the same elements, that are embedded in our culture and it will take someone like Trump to do it. If someone comes up with better candidate, fine, but the Bull Dog articulates the problem very well in this bit.
. To repair the nation it will take each and every person that makes up that nation to do their part, be good individuals and work toward the goal of renewal, and we’ll do it one stitch at a time, or one word at a time, but we will get there because I have committed myself to as much in this next phase of my marriage. That’s why my wife gave me that gift, to show her support of my effort.
Below is a great article from the Daily Reckoning about Oil Shale in Colorado. There is only one reason that our country is in a financial mess, and that is because fools are standing in the way. I am thinking of a speech from John Galt uttered in the book Atlas Shrugged. “You propose to establish a social order based on the following tenets: that you’re incompetent to run your own life, but competent to run the lives of others—that you’re unfit to exist in freedom, but fit to become an omnipotent ruler—that you’re unable to earn your living by the use of your own intelligence, but able to judge politicians and to vote them into jobs of total power over arts you have never seen, over sciences you have never studied, over achievements of which you have no knowledge, over the gigantic industries where you, by your own definition of your capacity, would be unable successfully to fill the job of assistant greaser.”
Oil Shale Reserves: Stinky Water, Sweet Oil
A Daily Reckoning White Paper Report By Dan Denning
You won’t think much of Rio Blanco County if you ever drive through it. In fact, unless you take a right turn off Interstate-70 West at Rifle, head north on Railroad Avenue and then west on Government road to Colorado state highway number thirteen, odds are you’ll never even step foot in Rio Blanco County.
But even if you keep heading west toward Grand Junction, through the town of Parachute and the shuttered oil shale refineries from the 1970s, you’ll see the Book Cliffs geologic formation on your right. For miles and miles. It’s a bleak landscape. Almost lunar. At first glance, it’s the kind of land you’d never want to explore, much less settle down in.
Oil Shale Reserves : America’s Strategic Future
In the small world of geologists, though, the region is well-known. In fact, you might even say it’s the single most important patch of undeveloped, unloved, and desolate looking land in America. But you’d never guess this particular corner of the Great American Desert may play an integral role in America’s strategic future just by looking at it. You’d never guess that the whole stretch of brown, red, and orange land contains enough recoverable oil and gas to make you forget about the Middle East for the rest of time.
There are places in Rio Blanco County like Stinking Water Creek, named after the smelly mix of oil and water the first white settlers found there, that tell you oil’s always been around the Rocky Mountains. It’s just not always been easy to find. It’s one thing to find oil that bubbles out of the ground in liquid form. It’s quite another to drill a thousand feet down, and encounter oil locked up tight inside a greasy rock.
The first seeping pools of oil were discovered in Western Colorado as far back as 1876, the year the state entered the Union. But exploration didn’t get serious until drillers settled in the town of Rangely in Rio Blanco County.
By 1903, thirteen different drillers had come and gone in Rangely. According to the local museum, the only six wells that actually struck oil were producing just two to ten barrels of oil a day. Hardly a Spindeltop, the gusher that launched the Texas oil-boom on January 10th, 1901, and immediately began producing 100,000 barrels per day.
The energy reserves of the Piceance Basin, upon which Rio Blanco County sits, contain massive petroleum reserves of a very unusual nature: Oil shale.
Oil Shale Reserves : A Congressional Legacy
Most of the nation’s oil shale reserves rest under the control of the U.S. government – a legacy of a 95-year old Congressional Act. In 1910, Congress passed the Pickett Act, which authorized President Taft to set aside oil- bearing land in California and Wyoming as potential sources of fuel for the U.S. Navy. Taft did so right away. The Navy was in the process of switching from coal-burning ships to oil burning ships. And the U.S. military, conscious of the expanding role of America in the world, needed a dependable supply of fuel in case of a national emergency.
From 1910 to 1925 the Navy developed the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves Program. The program became official in 1927 and President Roosevelt even expanded the scope of the program in 1942 as the U.S. geared up for war with Japan and Germany.
Several of the oil fields set aside for the nation’s first strategic reserve, particularly Elk Hills in California, would go on to produce oil for the U.S. government. Elk Hills was eventually sold off to Occidental Petroleum for $3.65 billion in 1998 in the largest privatization in U.S. history. The shale reserves, however, still remain, locked 1,000 feet underground in the Colorado desert.
Unlocking The Future
The destruction of Hurricane Katrina shows the importance of a strategic petroleum reserve, or, more accurately, a strategic energy reserve. But the SPR in Louisiana only holds about 800 million barrels of emergency, enough to get the country through about 90 days of regular oil usage. That’s barely a band-aid for a country that faces a potential energy heart attack.
In other words, the future of oil shale may have finally arrived. Extracting oil from shale is no simple task, which is why the reserves remain almost completely undeveloped. But an emerging new technology promises to unlock the awesome potential of the oil shale.
“The technical groundwork may be in place for a fundamental shift in oil shale economics,” the Rand Corporation recently declared. “Advances in thermally conductive in-situ conversion may enable shale-derived oil to be competitive with crude oil at prices below $40 per barrel. If this becomes the case, oil shale development may soon occupy a very prominent position in the national energy agenda.”
Estimated U.S. oil shale reserves total an astonishing 1.5 trillion barrels of oil – or more than five times the stated reserves of Saudi Arabia. This energy bounty is simply too large to ignore any longer, assuming that the reserves are economically viable. And yet, oil shale lies far from the radar screen of most investors.
But we here at The Daily Reckoning are on the case. Just yesterday, I caught a first-hand glimpse of a cutting-edge oil shale project spearheaded by Shell. I trekked out to a barren moonscape in Colorado to tour the facility with Shell geologists. To summarize my findings, oil shale holds tremendous promise, but the technologies that promise to unlock this promise remain somewhat experimental. But sooner or later, the oil trapped in the shale of Colorado will flow to the surface. And when it does, it will enrich investors who arrive early to the scene.
Can Oil Shale Change The World?
America’s oil shale reserves are enormous, totaling at least 1.5 trillion barrels of oil. That’s five times the reserves of Saudi Arabia! And yet, no one is producing commercial quantities of oil from these vast deposits. All that oil is still sitting right where God left it, buried under the vast landscapes of Colorado and Wyoming.
Obviously, there are some very real obstacles to oil production from shale. After all, if it was such a good thing, we’d be doing it already, right? “Oil shale is the fuel of the future, and always will be,” goes a popular saying in Western Colorado.
But what if we could safely and economically get our hands on all that oil? Imagine how the world might change. The U.S. would instantly have the world’s largest oil reserves. Imagine…having so much oil we’d never have to worry about Saudi Arabia again, or Hugo Chavez, or the mullahs in Tehran. And instead of ships lined up in L.A.’s port to unload cheap Chinese goods, we might see oil tankers lined up waiting to export America’s tremendous oil bounty to the rest of the world. The entire geopolitical and economic map of the world would change…and the companies in the vanguard of oil shale development might make hundreds of billions of dollars as they convert America’s untapped shale reserves into a brand new energy revolution.
Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter may have been entertaining similar ambitions in the late 1970s when they encouraged and funded the development of the West’s shale deposits. A shale-boom ensued, although not much oil flowed. The government spent billions and so did Exxon Mobil. New boomtowns sprung up in Rifle, Parachute, Rangely, and Meeker here in Colorado.
And then came Black Monday. May 2, 1982. The day Exxon shut down its $5 billion Colony Oil Shale project. The refineries closed. The jobs left (the American oil industry has lost nearly as many jobs in the last ten years as the automobile and steel industries.) And the energy locked in Colorado’s vast shale deposits sat untouched and unrefined.
Oil Shale Technology – Old & New
Extracting oil from the shale is no simple task. The earliest attempts to extract the oil utilized an environmentally unfriendly process known as “retorting.” Stated simply, retorting required mining the shale, hauling it to a processing facility that crushed the rock into small chunks, then extracted a petroleum substance called kerogen, then upgraded the kerogen through a process of hydrogenation (which requires lots of water) and refined it into gasoline or jet fuel.
But the difficulties of retorting do not end there, as my colleague, Byron King explains:
“After you retort the rock to derive the kerogen (not oil), the heating process has desiccated the shale (OK, that means that it is dried out). Sad to say, the volume of desiccated shale that you have to dispose of is now greater than that of the hole from which you dug and mined it in the first place. Any takers for trainloads of dried, dusty, gunky shale residue, rife with low levels of heavy metal residue and other toxic, but now chemically-activated crap? (Well, it makes for enough crap that when it rains, the toxic stuff will leach out and contaminate all of the water supplies to which gravity can reach, which is essentially all of ‘em. Yeah, right. I sure want that stuff blowin’ in my wind.) Add up all of the capital investment to build the retorting mechanisms, cost of energy required, cost of water, costs of transport, costs of environmental compliance, costs of refining, and you have some relatively costly end-product.”
But a new technology has emerged that may begin to tap the oil shale’s potential. Royal Dutch Shell, in fact, has recently completed a demonstration project (The Mahogany Ridge project) in which it produced 1,400 barrels of oil from shale in the ground, without mining the shale at all.
Instead, Shell utilized a process called “in situ” mining, which heats the shale while it’s still in the ground, to the point where the oil leaches from the rock. Shell’s Terry O’Connor described the breakthrough in testimony before Congress earlier this summer (And Congress may have an acute interest in the topic, since the U.S. government controls 72% of all U.S. oil shale acreage):
“Some 23 years ago, Shell commenced laboratory and field research on a promising in ground conversion and recovery process. This technology is called the In-situ Conversion Process, or ICP. In 1996, Shell successfully carried out its first small field test on its privately owned Mahogany property in Rio Blanco County, Colorado some 200 miles west of Denver. Since then, Shell has carried out four additional related field tests at nearby sites. The most recent test was carried out over the past several months and produced in excess of 1,400 barrels of light oil plus associated gas from a very small test plot using the ICP technology…
“Most of the petroleum products we consume today are derived from conventional oil fields that produce oil and gas that have been naturally matured in the subsurface by being subjected to heat and pressure over very long periods of time. In general terms, the In-situ Conversion Process (ICP) accelerates this natural process of oil and gas maturation by literally tens of millions of years. This is accomplished by slow sub-surface heating of petroleum source rock containing kerogen, the precursor to oil and gas. This acceleration of natural processes is achieved by drilling holes into the resource, inserting electric resistance heaters into those heater holes and heating the subsurface to around 650-700F, over a 3 to 4 year period.
“During this time, very dense oil and gas is expelled from the kerogen and undergoes a series of changes. These changes include the shearing of lighter components from the dense carbon compounds, concentration of available hydrogen into these lighter compounds, and changing of phase of those lighter, more hydrogen rich compounds from liquid to gas. In gaseous phase, these lighter fractions are now far more mobile and can move in the subsurface through existing or induced fractures to conventional producing wells from which they are brought to the surface. The process results in the production of about 65 to 70% of the original “carbon” in place in the subsurface.
“The ICP process is clearly energy-intensive, as its driving force is the injection of heat into the subsurface. However, for each unit of energy used to generate power to provide heat for the ICP process, when calculated on a life cycle basis, about 3.5 units of energy are produced and treated for sales to the consumer market. This energy efficiency compares favorably with many conventional heavy oil fields that for decades have used steam injection to help coax more oil out of the reservoir. The produced hydrocarbon mix is very different from traditional crude oils. It is much lighter and contains almost no heavy ends.
“However, because the ICP process occurs below ground, special care must be taken to keep the products of the process from escaping into groundwater flows. Shell has adapted a long recognized and established mining and construction ice wall technology to isolate the active ICP area and thus accomplish these objectives and to safe guard the environment. For years, freezing of groundwater to form a subsurface ice barrier has been used to isolate areas being tunneled and to reduce natural water flows into mines. Shell has successfully tested the freezing technology and determined that the development of a freeze wall prevents the loss of contaminants from the heated zone.”
It may seem, as O’Conner said, counter-intuitive to freeze the water around a shale deposit, and then heat up the contents within the deposit. It’s energy-intensive. And it’s a lot of work. What’s more, there’s no proof yet it can work on a commercial-scale.
Yet both technologies, the freeze wall and the heating of shale, have been proven in the field to work. The freeze wall was used most recently in Boston’s Big Dig project. It was also used to prevent ground water from seeping into the salt caverns at the Strategic Petroleum reserve in Weeks Island, LA.
But still, you may be wondering, does it really make sense to heat the ground up a thousand feet down for three or four years and wait? Of course it does. In case you missed O’Conner’s math, Shell could harvest up to a million barrels per acre, or a billion barrels per square mile, on an area covering over a thousand square miles.
It’s still early days in the oil shale fields of Colorado and Wyoming, but it looks to me like someone’s gonna make a lot of money out there. I’m working hard to discover how we outside investors can play along.
Shell’s Mahogany Ridge
Last week, I paid a visit to Royal Dutch Shell’s oil shale project in Colorado. The visit left me with more questions than answers, but I came away from the place with the sense that this opportunity is very real…or, at least, it soon will be.
After driving across a vast expanse of “Nowhere,” Colorado, my brother and I met up with a few geologists from Shell. Of course it’s just those large, unpopulated tracts of high desert that make the area so appealing from a geopolitical point of view. Tapping into the oil shale 2,000 feet underground isn’t going to bother too many people. And there are no spotted owls around either. If the technology to turn shale into oil works, the entire area will become a new American boom patch.
Soon after we arrived, the geologists escorted us around the facility, chatting all the while about the successes and challenges of their venture.
The two trickiest aspects of oil shale development, as the geologists and engineers explained, are heating the shale to extreme temperatures, while simultaneously surrounding the heated area with a subterranean ice wall. Shell doesn’t know, or isn’t saying, which part of the project will be the most challenging. If you were about to change the world by making it economic to tap into as much as 2 trillion barrels of oil under the Colorado plateau, you’d be pretty careful about showing your competitors how you were going to do it.
First, anything that heats up rock around it to around 600 or 700 degrees Fahrenheit has to conduct electrically generated heat well. The most conductive metals on the Periodic Table of Elements are, in order, silver, copper, and gold. Naturally, the number of heaters you put in a place affects the amount of time it takes to turn the shale goo into API 34 crude. The more heaters, the more cost, though.
And given the fact that Shell does not know yet if the heaters will be recoverable, you can see that sticking silver, copper, or gold heaters 2000 meters underground and then leaving them there once the kerogen has been pumped has a serious effect on the economics of your operation.
At the moment, Shell is not sure what the optimal size of production zones ought to be. The big issue here is how big can a freeze-wall be to be effective and freezing the groundwater surrounding a shale deposit? The test projects, as you can see, were quite small. Shell doesn’t know, or isn’t saying, what the optimum size is for a each “pod” or “cell”. That’s what they’ll have to figure out at the next stage…and the picture with the dirt is a football field sized project….where rather than creating the freeze-wall at 50 meters down…they will do it at 1,000 ft. down…. with 2,000 being the desired and necessary depth for commercial viability. I’m not sure anyone has ever created a freeze-wall at that depth….neither is shell. But we’ll find out. The oil itself that comes from the process looks like…oil. No heavy refining needed.
Shell thinks the whole thing is economic at a crude price of $30. So barring a major reversal of geopolitical trends, they’re forging ahead.
Since the Bureau of Land Management owns about 80% of the oil shale acreage in Colorado, there is no investment play on private companies that might own land with rich shale deposits. Although, if Shell and the DOE are right that you can recover a million barrels of oil per acre…it wouldn’t take much land to make a man rich out here.
Oil Shale: Testing Public Lands
The Bureau of Land Management recently received ten applications (by eight companies) for a pilot program to develop Colorado’s shale reserves. The program allows the companies access to public lands for the purpose of testing shale-extraction technologies. You see below an interesting mix of large, publicly traded oil giants and small, privately held innovators.
Natural Soda, Inc. of Rifle, Colorado.
EGL Resources Inc. of Midland, Texas.
Salt Lake City-based Kennecott Exploration Company.
Independent Energy Partners of Denver, Colorado
Denver-based Phoenix Wyoming, Inc.
Chevron Shale Oil Company.
Exxon Mobil Corporation.
Shell Frontier Oil and Gas Inc
There is dispute within the industry over how long, if ever, demonstration extraction technologies can become commercially viable. I’ve spoken with some of the smaller companies that have applied for leases from the BLM. Some of them will have to raise money to conduct the project. And some of them have been less than forthcoming about how exactly their extraction technology is different or better than previous methods.
How will it all unfold? Well, for starters, it could all utterly fail. To me, Shell’s in-situ process looks the most promising. It also makes the most sense economically. There may be a better, less energy-intensive way to heat up the ground than what Shell has come up with. But Shell, Chevron, and Exxon Mobil clearly have the resources to scoop up any private or small firm that makes a breakthrough.
And there are a host of smaller firms involved with the refining and drilling process that figure to play a key role in the development of the industry, should that development pick up pace.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005, otherwise known as a listless piece of legislation without any strategic vision, does, at least, make provision for encouraging research into the development of shale. But government works slow, when it works at all. It’s going to take an external shock to the economy to really ratchet up interest and development of the nation’s energy reserves…say…something like a nuclear Iran.
Al Gore and his friends of communism advocates want to stop the American economy and they are what is driving up our fuel costs by standing in the way of technological development. Our country is being run by fools and idiots by our default, because while the rest of us work at real jobs, those thieves of our tax dollars are using our own resources to destroy us. Those of us that think will never get along with communists. I’m going to call them that for now on, because that’s what they are. I don’t want the world they are advocating. I want oil, fast cars and government off my back.
But in essence, it’s no different from what Lenin did. But the idea is to create an army from within our own nation. Guns and frontal attacks are such a messy business. People don’t engage in war like that anymore, especially against a technologically superior opponent. You have to bring them down from the inside out, and the first step is to undermine the economy so the superior enemy can’t produce those powerful weapons. That’s what’s happening to us whether the weak-kneed want to believe it or not.
And we all know that it is a majority of the people described above that are drawn to politics. So it is simply a math problem to deduce that communist leaning politicians have infested our political system like termites since the middle of the 19th century. And they have done their damage.
Don’t believe me. Ok, you want proof. Fine.
Here are the 10 Planks of Communism as listed in The Communist Manifesto. Does any of this sound like the kind of activity you’re pouring your hard-earned tax money in to?
The 10 PLANKS stated in the Communist Manifesto and some of their American counterparts are… 1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes. Americans do these with actions such as the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management (Zoning laws are the first step to government property ownership)
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. Americans know this as misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State “income” taxes. We call it “paying your fair share”.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. Americans call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. Americans call it government seizures, tax liens, Public “law” 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of “terrorists” and those who speak out or write against the “government” (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process. Asset forfeiture laws are used by DEA, IRS, ATF etc…).
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. Americans call it the Federal Reserve which is a privately owned credit/debt system allowed by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) another privately owned corporation. The Federal Reserve Banks issue Fiat Paper Money and practice economically destructive fractional reserve banking.
6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State. Americans call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver’s licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. Americans call it corporate capacity, The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture… Thus read “controlled or subsidized” rather than “owned”… This is easily seen in these as well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. Americans call it Minimum Wage and slave labor like dealing with our Most Favored Nation trade partner; i.e. Communist China. We see it in practice via the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor. The National debt and inflation caused by the communal bank has caused the need for a two “income” family. Woman in the workplace since the 1920’s, the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, assorted Socialist Unions, affirmative action, the Federal Public Works Program and of course Executive order 11000.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country. Americans call it the Planning Reorganization act of 1949 , zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public “law” 89-136. These provide for forced relocations and forced sterilization programs, like in China.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. Americans are being taxed to support what we call ‘public’ schools, but are actually “government force-tax-funded schools ” Even private schools are government regulated. The purpose is to train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based “Education” . These are used so that all children can be indoctrinated and inculcated with the government propaganda, like “majority rules”, and “pay your fair share”. WHERE are the words “fair share” in the Constitution, Bill of Rights or the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)?? NO WHERE is “fair share” even suggested !! The philosophical concept of “fair share” comes from the Communist maxim, “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need! This concept is pure socialism. … America was made the greatest society by its private initiative WORK ETHIC … Teaching ourselves and others how to “fish” to be self-sufficient and produce plenty of EXTRA commodities to if so desired could be shared with others who might be “needy”… Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet.
The poor and sick need help you say………then let me give them a job. Get out of my way and I’ll put them to work. Don’t waste my time in court over your silly laws and I might eliminate the poor class altogether. What about the sick and handicapped, or the elderly? Get the hell out of my way and I’ll solve that problem for you too. Why do people need to get sick and die? And why do people have to be handicapped? Genetic engineering and regenerative medicine eliminates those archaic forms of medicine completely. But that’s not the real motive here.The real motive is the same as the superintendents of these school systems. Government has token positions that are all about power. Nobody actually wants to solve a problem. They want a needy public addicted to their services. That’s all communism understands. On a daily basis, how much tax is stolen from us to be spent on anti-American activities?
Item Rate Notes
Federal personal income tax 17%
(2011 est. – 18.2%) Top 25% rate. It ranges from a credit up to well over 40%. Source
State & local income taxes 10.1%
(2009 – 10.6%) State taxes range from under 6% to over 12%. Local taxes run from zero to 2.75%. Source, source, source, 2009 source
Sales tax 9.7%
(2009 – 10.3%) Figure is the average rate. State sales taxes range up to 8% and local taxes run from zero to over 5%. Source, source, source, 2008 source, 2009 source
Social security & Medicaid 7.65% Total rate is actually 15.3% since half is paid by the employer, but we’re ignoring that to be kind. Source, box 1
Federal corporate income tax share 3% Based on corporate taxes being approximately 1/6 of personal taxes, and that they are paid by individuals in the final analysis. Source
Property tax 2.5%
(2007 – 2.7%) Yearly average actual costs range from under $200 in Alaska to almost $1900 in New Jersey. Source
Fuel/gasoline tax .5%
(2009 est. – .6%) Approximately 23% of the 2005 gasoline price is for federal & state taxes. The federal excise tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. Per the CPI, about 6% of the average budget is for transportation. Estimated. 2010 estimate, $.45 per gallon average. Source
Other 5%
(2009 est. – 7%) Includes estate tax, fees, licenses, inflation losses, inheritance, deficit allowance, gift, and others too numerous to mention. Estimated.
Total tax percentage paid by the above average US citizen, 2005 – 54.4% Total tax percentage paid by the above average US citizen, 2009 est. – 57.7%
It went up 3% points in just 4 years. With that type of trend what will it be like four years from now? How about 10 years from now? What about when your children are raised and trying to start a life for themselves.
My wife and I took my daughter car shopping today and I made sure she didn’t pick some electric car that had trouble running under 100 MPH. My mind was on the recent reports on electric cars while we looked. The day before today’s Earthday show on WLW the Nissan Leaf won the 2011 World Car of the Year award at the New York International Auto Show, beating out the short list of three finalists — the Audi A8 and the BMW 5 Series. The Leaf was the first electric vehicle to win the award.
According to the jurors, Nissan‘s electric car has a lot going for it:
“The Leaf is the gateway to a brave new electric world from Nissan. This 5-seater, 5-door hatchback is the world’s first, purpose-built, mass-produced electric car. Dropped onto a unique platform and body, the Leaf’s lithium-ion battery modules and electric motor generate 108hp and 206 lb ft of torque, propelling the hatch from zero to 60mph in 11.5 seconds and a top speed of 90mph. It has a range of over 100 miles on a full charge (claims Nissan), takes around 8 hours to recharge using 220-240V power supply and produces zero tailpipe emissions. Its low center of gravity produced sharp turn-in with almost no body roll and no understeer. The good news? It feels just like a normal car, only quieter.”
Read the rest of the article here:
Is it any surprise that our government, which is pushing green technology isn’t doing anything about the extortion of fuel prices, so that Americans go out and buy cars like this stupid “Leaf.”
I’ve driven for many years electric-powered forklifts. They work well enough and similar to propane powered lift trucks without the emission. The biggest downfall of electric vehicles is the battery technology. It takes too long to charge them and they run out of power too fast. And they aren’t new. It’s been over a decade with millions and millions of dollars of research done and battery technology still can’t last much longer than 8 hours with constant use on a shipping dock. And a car that only goes 100 miles per 8 hour charge is not a replacement for oil powered vehicles. Not even close!
Then another problem emerges; a 220 outlet is not a typical outlet. That’s what you might run a washer and dryer off of. So to charge up the car, you’ll have to have a special outlet in your garage. A standard outlet is 110 so people won’t be able to do like I suggested at Burger King and sneak the power away secretly from an outside outlet.
All those things are bad, but the worst of all is the name of these stupid electric cars. In America we have names for cars like Mustang, Charger, Firebird, Thunderbird, that’s what American’s like to buy. What did they call this stupid car……………….a Leaf? A LEAF! Who wants to drive around a car named after a plant? Leaves are something that decays and blows away. Whose stupid idea was it to name a car after something fragile like a leaf?
That is a typical government type of name for a product. These are the same type of overly specialized fools that conceived that the solution to the unemployed in Florida was to buy people who didn’t have job capes. What a brilliant marketing idea by clueless, useless people, the same type of people who came up with the name “The Leaf.”
So, what kind of mind created those types of people? What are the students that go to college and learn how to brain-storm and come up with names like “The Leaf” and capes for the unemployed like? Have a look at what students do in their leisure time to understand how they’ll behave in business when they graduate. Here are tomorrow’s keepers of the world taking a little downtime from the hard studies of university. Progressives think all this behavior is good and healthy for young people.
While you watch the gas prices go up, know in your mind the type of fool and thief that is creating policy that is hurting your pocketbook on half-baked, thoughtless endeavors suitable only for a drunk. That is what the Leaf is and the stupid cape ideas are and the nudging of American society into electric cars while we function with our hands tied behind our backs with regulation is an attack on Americanism. Meanwhile, the Obama administration will grant Brazil a deep-sea drilling license to help that country economically and distribute the wealth of our nation and allow our economy to crumble…..on purpose.
Here are those spring break kids all grown up. These are the people who stand in the way of American growth and economic development. They are parasites that loot our taxes and fill their pockets. These are the progressive groups behind the electric car push.
So here’s how it’s going to work, and this is a note to progressives. You better respect the law because once you eliminate it, such as what the union boys of Trumka and his thugs are doing, you create a free-for-all environment where the rules can be broken the other way too.
The rally at Glendale was very metaphoric. As I stood in the square filming and taking pictures there were three trains that passed by the station there, each at least 20 to 30 cars each. That meant there were 60 to 90 train cars going someplace coming from somewhere and that made me feel happy. The reason was that I had butterflies in my stomach over the premier of Atlas Shrugged Part 1 down at Newport on the Levy and I had read a lot of bad reviews from the Hollywood establishment and I loved the book and really wanted the movie to be good. The reviewers criticized the film for not adopting to the modern age by getting rid of the train oriented story line. And here I was watching three trains roar by in a half an hour from the CSX Line. Trains are a sign of an economy where things are happening. So it was my first inclination that the reviewers were missing the point of the film and were wrong about it. I had promised the booking agent for the film that Cincinnati would be a great market and I promised a sellout at the Newport on the Levy location, so all during the rally with the Cincinnati Tea Party I was thinking of our next destination which was the 8:20 PM showing of Atlas.
My wife and I left the rally to arrive at Newport in the drifting rain. The lights were on at Great American Ball Park across the river as the Reds were playing the Pirates. We arrived at around 7:45 and much to my relief, Atlas Shrugged was SOLD OUT! I have never been so glad to not be able to buy a ticket. We picked up tickets to the 10:45 show and headed to the Claddagh Irish Pub which is a favorite of ours when we go to Newport. We had a few beers, and watched the Reds game on the big screen while a major storm rolled in across the river outside. We like Claddagh because it’s a medieval looking place full of cubbyholes for the kind of meetings I attend a lot, where your neighbor can’t listen to what you’re saying. If offers the good kind of privacy for passing time, especially with your wife.
But that only went so far and after an hour or so, we went over to our favorite book store where I finished reading The Coming Insurrection. I became angry at the tone of that book, especially what was on the back cover shown in that picture.
We went to our movie; I was relieved that it was good. I already put up a review, so there isn’t any reason to repeat it here. Needless to say the weekend numbers were reputable. The film made a respectable $1,676,917 gross, averaging $5,608 per theater. The producers are considering expanding to over 1000 screens for the next weekend so that’s great.
I went to bed with hope that a violent future can be averted. If enough people become educated, watch movies that aren’t controlled by radical left-winged filmmakers which is just about everyone, and reading books that pander to a liberal publishing industry, while liberal unions are pushing for even more taxes to pay for their very expensive public wages, if the Tea Party continues to do its work and films like Atlas Shrugged are shown to people who haven’t or won’t read the book, this country has a chance.
If there is anything that one must reflect on tax day it’s, why do we pay so much in taxes, and why are there so many that want us to pay more!
I like the trend and I hope that the pendulum will continue to swing to the right and bring things more to the middle, because the radical talk I’m hearing from the left are fighting words that can only lead to one end, and that’s not what they want, believe me.
The Coming Insurrection might work in Europe where their minds are soft and their hearts are softer, but you can forget about it in the United States. Don’t even try it.
The fight to reduce government spending continues as a bill to end monopoly bargaining rights for public employee moves from the Ohio Senate to the Ohio House of Representatives.
The Bill
You’ve probably read or heard about the public sector labor union protests down at the Statehouse in Columbus over the last two weeks. The union-funded protests have received a lot of media coverage. The labor unions are protesting Senate Bill 5 (SB5), which is a bill that would allow your township/village/city/school district/county/state to control the out-of-control compensation, health care, and gold-plated pension costs of their government employees.
Because many of those local government entities are hitting deficits and compensation package costs are the single largest piece of local government budgets, without more control over spending, they will be forced to raise your already high taxes (Ohio: 7th highest state and local tax burden in US).
The bill will attempt to do things like moving health benefit contributions for public employees more in line with the private sector, taking those public employees from what is sometimes 0%-5% contributions to at least a 15% contribution of their healthcare premiums. You know how out of line that system is since you are used to paying 15%-30% of your own healthcare premiums, or even 100% if you are self-employed.
And, that’s the goal – moving public sector employees in line with economic realities of the 88% of the America’s work force who aren’t in unions. That’s right – the vast majority of Ohioans and all American workers do not enjoy tax payer funded benefit plans, so don’t let them steal the terms of “middle class” and “working class.” I work. You work. We are the silent majority.
The Action Item
To show legislators and Governor John Kasich that there is a silent majority of Ohioans who would prefer government compensation cost cuts over large tax hikes, we are working with multiple groups for a:
“I am the Silent Majority Virtual Rally” on Thursday, March 17 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm.
You may be wondering what a “virtual rally” is. Well, because I know you are too busy working, taking care of your kids, and trying to get ahead, you don’t have time to drive to Columbus for a big rally. So, to make participating in this important event as easy and quick as possible for you, the “virtual rally” will consist of one roughly thirty second task during lunch.
Simply Send an E-mail, steps below:
(1) Place these three addresses for House Speaker William Batchelder, Governor Kasich, and the email used to make sure we get an accurate count of how many Ohioans participate (district69@ohr.state.oh.us; John@kasichforohio.com; imthesilentmajority@gmail.com) in the “To:” line,
(2) type “I am the Silent Majority” in the “Subject:” line,
(3) type “I support SB5” in the body of the email, and
(4) send the email anytime between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm on Thursday, March 17.
That is it. Thirty seconds, 8 words, 3 addresses, 1 email, and the inbox ping of thousands of Ohioans making their voices heard. Freedom at its best!
If you really want to make our voices heard, please take a minute or so RIGHT NOW to forward this email to family members, friends, and business colleagues who you think might want to participate in America’s first-of-its-kind virtual rally. If you don’t speak up now, the labor unions and their push to raise taxes will be the only thing our elected officials hear. The time to act is now!
Who is behind the Egyptian uprising? Well, Glenn Beck has done some great reporting about the New Caliphate, which people who understand history, and don’t think everyone in the world “behaves” with a European mindset, can see clearly. And there are forces that want to perpetuate the advancement of rival factions and strengthen their world grip so conflict can occur that will weaken the resolve of those forces true enemies. In this situation with Egypt its capitalism, and Jewish influence that are seen as the enemies. But behind that simple explanation it’s the United States that is the influence that must be overcome.
Watch Glenn’s excellent coverage from Friday here:
Why Obama has to get Egypt right By George Soros Thursday, February 3, 2011
Revolutions usually start with enthusiasm and end in tears. In the case of the Middle East, the tears could be avoided if President Obama stands firmly by the values that got him elected. Although American power and influence in the world have declined, our allies and their armies look to us for direction. These armies are strong enough to maintain law and order as long as they stay out of politics; thus the revolutions can remain peaceful. That is what the United States should insist on while encouraging corrupt and repressive rulers who are no longer tolerated by their people to step aside and allow new leaders to be elected in free and fair elections.
That is the course that the revolution in Tunisia is taking. Tunisia has a relatively well-developed middle class, women there enjoy greater rights and opportunities than in most Muslim countries, and the failed regime was secular in character. The prospects for democratic change are favorable.
Egypt is more complex and, ultimately, more influential, which is why it is so important to get it right. The protesters are very diverse, including highly educated and common people, young and old, well-to-do and desperately poor. While the slogans and crowds in Tahrir Square are not advancing a theocratic agenda at all, the best-organized political opposition that managed to survive in that country’s repressive environment is the Muslim Brotherhood. In free elections, the Brotherhood is bound to emerge as a major political force, though it is far from assured of a majority.
Some have articulated fears of adverse consequences of free elections, suggesting that the Egyptian military may seek to falsify the results; that Israel may be adamantly opposed to a regime change; that the domino effect of extremist politics spreading to other countries must be avoided; and that the supply of oil from the region could be disrupted. These notions constitute the old conventional wisdom about the Middle East – and need to be changed, lest Washington incorrectly put up resistance to or hesitate in supporting transition in Egypt.
That would be regrettable. President Obama personally and the United States as a country have much to gain by moving out in front and siding with the public demand for dignity and democracy. This would help rebuild America’s leadership and remove a lingering structural weakness in our alliances that comes from being associated with unpopular and repressive regimes. Most important, doing so would open the way to peaceful progress in the region. The Muslim Brotherhood’s cooperation with Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate who is seeking to run for president, is a hopeful sign that it intends to play a constructive role in a democratic political system. As regards contagion, it is more likely to endanger the enemies of the United States – Syria and Iran – than our allies, provided that they are willing to move out ahead of the avalanche.
The main stumbling block is Israel. In reality, Israel has as much to gain from the spread of democracy in the Middle East as the United States has. But Israel is unlikely to recognize its own best interests because the change is too sudden and carries too many risks. And some U.S. supporters of Israel are more rigid and ideological than Israelis themselves. Fortunately, Obama is not beholden to the religious right, which has carried on a veritable vendetta against him. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is no longer monolithic or the sole representative of the Jewish community. The main danger is that the Obama administration will not adjust its policies quickly enough to the suddenly changed reality.
I am, as a general rule, wary of revolutions. But in the case of Egypt, I see a good chance of success. As a committed advocate of democracy and open society, I cannot help but share in the enthusiasm that is sweeping across the Middle East. I hope President Obama will expeditiously support the people of Egypt. My foundations are prepared to contribute what they can. In practice, that means establishing resource centers for supporting the rule of law, constitutional reform, fighting corruption and strengthening democratic institutions in those countries that request help in establishing them, while staying out of those countries where such efforts are not welcome.
The writer is chairman of the Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Foundations, which support democracy and human rights in more than 70 countries.
So what’s the real problem? If you look at the problem with the benefit of history you can trace back the hostilities in the Middle East to The Treaty of Versailles which concluded World War l and divided up Europe and the Middle East to the victors. One of the territories broken up was the remains of the Ottoman Empire. Watch video of the situation here:
I will put that entire series at the end of this post so you can watch the whole thing. I will say this; Beck is right about the Caliphate idea. Such is the glue that holds together the minds of Muslim radicals. But politically, the moderates in the Middle East desire to undo the damage done to them by the Treaty of Versailles and to return their lands to what it was during the Ottoman Empire.
The situation is actually much more serious than anyone cares to ponder. In that letter from Soros is a gentle warning to President Obama that he was elected president, supported by people like Soros, to achieve things like this Egyptian issue.
You have to read between the lines to see the menace behind the smiling faces and the seemingly patriotic terminology in that letter of “US.” Make no mistake that the coordination which occurred on Facebook and other social networking sites of this massive riot had the seeds planted by the same people who author letters like the one listed above. And the crop they hope to grow is a world with even less United States influence and a return of the land to the people of the Ottoman Empire which will then be a force to unseat the powers that currently reside in Europe.
Many people forget that during the summer of 2008 fuel costs were up over $4 per gallon. What happened was all the money that Americans normally spent on McDonalds, Walmart, and other consumer outlets, suddenly went to the excessive fuel costs and a long way to creating the recession we are currently in. Americans were using their expendable income on fuel costs, not on other items in the economy.
And here we go again. Doc Thompson has on a guest that discusses this very issue.
It is unacceptable to have fuel costs higher than what they are now. If fuel costs go up, it is entirely due to the ineptness of our political structures. Americans should not be “nudged” into other forms of energy while our economic competitors fuel their economic engines with unregulated drilling. In America we have regulated ourselves into a poor strategic position.
It is not my fault that our politicians screwed up and stood with weak backs to environmentalists that are in actuality communists at heart and crave an end to American Imperialism by crushing their great independent “car culture.” I will not spend the extra money on fuel. Instead, I will spend less. I will ride my motorcycle when I’d normally take a car. I’ll ride a bicycle or even walk before I use my extra money on a tank of fuel.
America would be wise to only use the fuel it needs, and respond to these price increases by hurting the revenue of all the government hands that have their hands in the cookie jar that is fuel industry. If you want to punch back the government that screwed all this up to begin with, hurt the money they take in with each gallon of gas that you buy. Below is some information on how much we pay in taxes by state for each gallon of gas.
State
Gasoline
Diesel
Additional Sales Tax
Comment
(¢/g)
(¢/g)
(%)
Alabama
18
19
4
The gasoline gasohol and diesel rates include a 2 cents per gallon inspection fee. Alabama-registered LPG vehicles pay an annual fee based on vehicle type in lieu of the volume tax.
Alaska
8
8
0
Arizona
18
19
5
The fuel tax on diesel remains at 18 cents per gallon for light and exempt vehicles but is set at 27 cents per gallon if used to propel a truck with more than two axles or with a declared gross weight over 26 000 pounds.
Arkansas
21.5
22.5
4.5
The gasoline gasohol and diesel rates include 0.4 cents per gallon Environmental Assurance Fee. Applicants for LPG user permits must pay a fee in lieu of the volume tax.
California
18
18
6
LPG users may pay an annual fee in lieu of the volume tax.
Colorado
22
20.5
3
Owners of LPG vehicles registered in the State must pay an annual fee in lieu of the volume tax.
Connecticut
25
45.1
5
The tax is computed at 5% of the gross earnings from the first sale of a petroleum product in the State.
Delaware
23
22
0
The tax rate varies annually based on the average wholesale price of gasoline for the previous year.
Dist. of Columbia
23.5
20
5.8
Florida
16
16
0
Tax rates are variable, adjusted annually. For gasoline and gasohol, in addition to the rates shown, there is a State-imposed State Comprehensive Enhanced Transportation System (SCETS) tax that varies by the county from 0-5.0 cents per gallon. All counties levy the SCETS tax on gasoline, but a few levy less than the maximum rate. LPG vehicles registered in the State pay an annual fee in lieu of the tax on alternative fuels and the SCETS tax.
Georgia
7.5
7.5
4
Hawaii
17
17
4
Effective 01/01/02, alternative fuels pay an amount proportional to the diesel tax as follows: .29 for ethanol, .5 for bio-diesel, and .33 for LPG. An additional 1 cent is added to these amounts, and then rounded to the nearest 1 cent.
Idaho
25
25
5
LPG users may pay an annual fee based on vehicle weight in lieu of volume tax.
Illinois
19
21.5
Motor carriers pay an additional 6.3 cents per gallon on gasoline, 6.5 cents on diesel, and 5.9 cents on LPG.
Indiana
18
16
5
Motor carriers pay an additional 11 cents per gallon. LPG vehicles pay an annual fee.
Iowa
21
22.5
5
Effective 07/01/02, motor fuel tax rates will be adjusted annually based on the amounts of ethanol blended gasoline being sold and distributed annually.
Kansas
24
26
4.9
LPG users may pay an annual fee based on mileage and gross vehicle weight in lieu of the volume tax.
Kentucky
24.1
21.1
6
Tax rates are variable, adjusted quarterly. A 2 percent surtax is imposed on gasoline and 4.7 percent on special fuels for any vehicle with 3 or more axles. The gasoline, gasohol, and diesel rates include 1.4 cents per gallon Petroleum Environmental Assurance Fee.
Louisiana
20
20
0
Maine
29.5
30.7
0
Rates are variable, adjusted every February based on past years Consumer Price Index. Rates are effective on the following July 1.
Maryland
23.5
24.25
5
Massachusetts
21
21
5
Michigan
19
15
6
For vehicles defined under the Motor Carrier Fuel Tax Act, diesel fuel is discounted 6 cents per gallon at the pump; and assessed a 12 cents per gallon surcharge on a quarterly return, with a provision for a 6 cent per gallon refund on fuel purchased in Michigan.
Minnesota
27.1
27.1
6
There is a credit to the wholesaler of 15 cents per gallon of alcohol used to make gasohol.
Mississippi
18.4
18.4
The gasoline, gasohol, and diesel rates include 0.4 cents per gallon dedicated to the Groundwater Protection Trust Fund.
Missouri
17
17
0
LPG vehicles 18,000 pounds or less gross vehicle weight registered in the State pay an annual fee in lieu of the volume tax.
Montana
27.75
27.75
0
LPG vehicles registed in the State pay an annual fee based on gross weight in lieu of the volume tax. Out-of-State vehicles purchase trip permits. There is an alcohol distiller credit of 30 cents per gallon of alcohol produced in the State with State agricultural products and used to make gasohol.
Nebraska
26.8
26.8
5
Rates are variable, adjusted quarterly. The gasoline and gasohol include 0.6 cents per gallon and diesel rate includes 0.2 cents per gallon Petroleum Release Remedial Action Fee. Effective 01/01/02, new Nebraska ethanol production facilities may receive an ethanol production credit equal to 18 cents per gallon of ethanol used to fuel motor vehicles.
Nevada
24
27
0
New Hampshire
18
18
0
The gasoline, gasohol, and diesel rates include 1.5 cents per gallon Oil Discharge and Disposal Cleanup Fee. Alternative fuel vehicles pay twice the usual registration fee in lieu of the volume tax.
New Jersey
10.5
13.5
0
In addition to the rates shown, there is a Petroleum Products Gross Receipts Tax. The tax is computed on a cents-per-gallon basis and is applicable to a wide variety of petroleum products.
New Mexico
18.875
22.875
5
The gasoline, gasohol, and diesel rates include the Petroleum Products Loading Fee of $150 per 8,000 gallons (1.875 cents per gallon). Owners of LPG-powered vehicles up to 54,000 pounds gross vehicle weight may pay an annual fee in lieu of the volume tax.
New York
24.35
22.55
4
Rates are variable, adjusted annually. Rates include the Petroleum Business Tax of 14.6 cents per gallon. The gasoline rate includes a 0.5 mill (0.05 cents) per gallon Petroleum Testing Fee.
North Carolina
30.55
30.55
0
Rates are variable, adjusted semiannually.
North Dakota
22
22
5
Rates are variable, adjusted semiannually.
Ohio
28
28
5
Commercial vehicles formerly subject to the highway use tax pay an additional 3 cents per gallon. Dealers are refunded 10 cents per gallon of each qualified fuel (ethanol or methanol) blended with unleaded gasoline.
Oklahoma
17
14
4.5
Rates shown include 1 cent per gallon tax dedicated to the Petroleum Underground Tank Release Environmental Cleanup Indemnity Fund. When the Fund reaches specified balance, future tax revenues will be deposited in a highway fund. The gasoline, gasohol, and LPG rates include 0.08 cents for fuel inspection. LPG users may pay an annual fee in lieu of the volume tax.
Oregon
24
24
0
The diesel and LPG rates shown are paid by users for vehicles not under the jurisdiction of Public Utility Commissioner. Vehicles under the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commissioner and paying motor-carrier fees are exempt from payment of the motor-fuel tax.
Pennsylvania
31.2
38.1
6
The rates include the Oil Franchise Tax for Maintenance and Construction, a variable rate tax adjusted annually. LPG rate is based on the gasolie gallon equivalent.
Rhode Island
33
33
Rates includes 1 cent per gallon tax for the Underground Storage Tank Financial Responsibility Fund.
South Carolina
16
16
5
South Dakota
22
22
4
As of 7/1/2009, South Dakota taxes gasoline at 22 cents and ethyl alcohol at 8 cents.
Tennessee
20
17
6
LPG users without permits must pay in advance at the beginning of the fiscal year, others pay quarterly. Fee is based on vehice weight and fuel efficiency.
Texas
20
20
6.3
Owners of LPG vehicles registered in the State must pay an annual fee in lieu of the volume tax.
Utah
24.5
24.5
4.9
LPG is tax exempt if user purchases annual exemption certificate.
Vermont
20
29
0
Diesel vehicles 10,000 pounds and over pay 26 cents per gallon. LPG vehicles are subject to a registration fee 1.75 times the usual fee. The gasoline, gasohol, and diesel rates include 1 cents per gallon for the Petroleum Cleanup Fund.
Virginia
17.5
17.5
0
Vehicles weighing 26,000 pounds or more having 3 or more axles pay an additional 3.5 cents per gallon.
Washington
37.5
37.5
6.5
Owners of LPG vehicles pay an annual fee.
West Virginia
32.2
32.2
0
Rates are variable, adjusted annually.
Wisconsin
30.9
30.9
5
Rates are variable, adjusted annually.
Wyoming
14
14
4
LPG is subject to sales tax. The gasoline, gasohol, and diesel rates include 1 cent for the Underground Storage Tank Corrective Action Account.
There is no reason for gas to go over $3 a gallon. If you put up with it, it’s your own fault. Our economy has not yet recovered from the last recession. The arrogance of politicians who believe Americans have enough expendable income to ride the fuel price hikes are at best out of touch. And the best way to hurt a politician is to take away the money they rely on. So lower your consumption and therefore the revenue politicians collect at the gas pumps.
The Overmanwarrior 