Read the email about gas prices and the gas boycott -- and learn if it's true or an urban legend
A very popular email about gas prices and a gas boycott is making the rounds. Here's one variant of this email on gas prices, gas solutions and terrorism:
--- begin gas prices email hoax
GASOLINE SOLUTION!
We CAN buy gasoline that is not from the Middle East. Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us!
The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor.
An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS. Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis.
Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill us. I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.
Shell............................205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco.........144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil................130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway...117,740,000 barrels
Amoco.........................62,231,000 barrels
If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! I think it is up to $40 /barrel now!!! THINK ABOUT IT!!
Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern
oil:
Citgo....................0 barrels
Sunoco............. .0 barrels
Conoco............. ..0 barrels
Sinclair............... 0 barrels
BP/Phillips.......... 0 barrels
Hess...................0 barrels
All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing. They report on a monthly basis. Keep this list in your car; share it with friends. Stop paying for terrorism.............
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't wimp out at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!
I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300).... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million peoplewill have been contacted.
If it goes one level further, you guessed it.....THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How much would all that take?
If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next eight days!
I would like to add one thing to this.
GODBLESS (sic) AMERICA!
We are paying those terrorist 12 billion a day for gas.. I think the time has come for us to take a stand and do what this article suggests.
--- end gas prices email hoax
Editor's Note: This email is a hoax. There are a lot of problems with this email on gas prices. Here are three of the statistical errors:
- 86% of Middle East oil does not come from Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
- We don't import most of our oil from the Middle East. Only about 31% of our imports come from the Middle East.
- Some of the companies listed actually do import from the Middle East (for example, Citgo, BP and Phillips). And some of the companies that supposedly don't import from the Middle East, in fact, do.
But more important, the suggested strategy isn't particularly practical. Buying from the smaller companies to put the larger companies out of business ignores details like: 1) the smaller companies couldn't supply current needs (and if they could, they'd most likely wind up buying from the larger, 'bad guy' companies); 2) oil companies regularly sell to one another; and 3) many companies sell through a multitude of channels, so it's very difficult to know where the gas you're buying actually comes from.
We highly recommend that you NOT pass along chain letter emails like this one on gas prices. Almost all of them are hoaxes.
