Gas Prices - June 2008

[Jeff_in_Atl]

It’s all being artificially inflated and they get away with it because everyone either blames Bush, The oil companies, OPEC or all of the above.

http://www.statesman.com/business/co...604energy.html

That doesn't pass the smell test with me. Here is how I look at it.
Exxon-Mobil want to make gas. it has to buy crude oil from somebody. Just to make the math easier I am going to use $120 per barrel of crude oil. I know it is selling for a little more but here goes. 1 barrel of crude oil makes about 40 gallons of gas. So it is costing E-M $3 per gallon ($120/40=$3.00) to purchase the material to make gas. now they have to transport it to a refinery, refine it, transport it to a distribution facility, transport it to the store (keep in mind the $4.50 per gallon of diesel fuel), now the store marks it up about $.05 per gallon, oh don't forget the paying off the investors in dividends for their investments in the company, pay the salaries for everybody from the top to the bottom, federal taxes (~$.50 per gal), state taxes (Ga ~$.20 per gal). It looks to me like it is a steal at $4.00 a gallon.

Common folks the money is being made by the people make the crude oil not the gas and who is that. For the most part OPEC. You know OPEC, all the people that hate us. I can not figure that out. They hate us yet we line their pockets with money.

[RAF7789]

Here in Scotts valley (Population: 11,680 as of 2000) we have two Shell Stations, a Chevron, a 76, a Valero, a Quick Stop and a "Scotts Valley Gas".

the lowest of all of them are the quick stop at $4.599 for premium and 4.399 for regular.

i saw diesel in watsonville for 5.699 gallon.

[BrdWAtti2d]

That doesn't pass the smell test with me. Here is how I look at it.

Right, they all lied to the senate subcommitte. Please wake up and smell the coffee. Your own contrymen are selling you up the river. It's not evil OPEC, it's not evil George Bush, it's your next door neighbor's own greed.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Right, they all lied to the senate subcommitte. Please wake up and smell the coffee. Your own contrymen are selling you up the river. It's not evil OPEC, it's not evil George Bush, it's your next door neighbor's own greed.

I don't understand what you are trying to say. Are you saying the stock holders are greedy?

greed - a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed.

My step daughter has a couple of shares of Exxon-Mobil.
My 401k has mutual funds investing in Exxon-Mobil.
So we are greedy?
BTW who is the authority to define "what is needed"?

[Rhode Island Red]

long story short the source of the issue is the rules in the commodities market does not stop exploitation of such.. and as a result everyone and their cat is buying oil futers ala another investment... the side effect is higher gas prices... if we want lower gas prices we have to create some rules that bring back sanity to the commodities markets...

oil should be at 50-60 per parrel not $150

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I don't see why adding regulation to a single market and not all markets are adding regulations because the people buying don't like the selling price is what we should be doing in a free market system. Hey I don't like the price of cars. Maybe we should makes some rules to make them charge less. When you start something like that were do you stop.

Increasing supply would also reduce the demand and drive prices down.

[raroZ28]

jeff is spot on with everything he's said. I don't get too much into this talk because it's simple supply and demand. i dont like paying it, no, but prices are going to go up on everything, it's called inflation.

I just drive less now to try to offset the cost.

[gimp19]

Oil companies are making quite a profit, the problem is nobody needs a brand new $20,000 car, but our country relies on gasoline, we have no choice but to buy it. It's kinda like a monoply

[BrdWAtti2d]

It's called anti-trust. When a group of people conspire to fix prices it's illegal.

[Rhode Island Red]

I don't see why adding regulation to a single market and not all markets are adding regulations because the people buying don't like the selling price is what we should be doing in a free market system. Hey I don't like the price of cars. Maybe we should makes some rules to make them charge less. When you start something like that were do you stop.

Increasing supply would also reduce the demand and drive prices down.

I see your point, but what it comes down to is that supply and demand ratio for oil is at $50-$60 per barrel right now. The oil futures are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy over the top right now

not my territory (markets and such), but worth a thought

--To restore sanity, we must regulate all commodity exchanges worldwide, and we must increase margin requirements for commodity traders. (That is, we must demand that players put up a lot more money, and take on a lot more risk).
--We need not discuss the weak dollar (which plays a role) or rising demand from China, India, etc. Our immediate priority is to re-regulate the commodities markets NOW, and stop this insane bubble from metastasizing further. We absolutely must get food and oil prices under control.
Otherwise the USA is headed for a depression, and much of the world is headed for famine.
Thanks for reading.

yeah, when it comes to complex markets and such things tend to get confusing and where to put the blame. Try reading this, he might explain things better than I can part 1 part 2

[Jeff_in_Atl]

It's called anti-trust. When a group of people conspire to fix prices it's illegal.

Only if it is a US company. There have been how many hearings now for anti-trust against the US oil makers and they have found n o n e . (you can't type n o n e without spaces and not get the smiley face)

[ryan34]

Also the falling value of the dollar is not helping matters much.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I feel that the current crisis of oil, food, economy, housing market and many others have a root cause based in Washington. It goes to both political parties.

Here goes.

#1 The democrats refusing to drill for oil domestically has caused a supply problem for all of us. Supply goes down and the demand for it drives the price us. Since our economy relies on transportation of good and services just about everything is effected by it. The cost of fuel is passed on for transportation to the end user causing prices to increase for everything like food.

#2 the lack of supply of gas has caused a demand for anything the people can get and use to fill the void like ethanol. The demand for ethanol has caused a supply problem for corn driving the cost of corn up. But that has had a side effect of causing beef (because corn is the main thing feed to cows), nachos (for all the illegal's), corn oil, etc to go up. The cost of operations is again passed on to the end user.

#3 The economy is heavily based on the cost of oil for transporting goods and services so #1 & #2 above are killing it.

#4 The housing market is of particular interest because the problems it has had has been solely caused by Washington. About 10 years ago congress passed a bill requiring lending organizations to lower their standards for giving housing loans. This was all done in the name of the poor and underprivileged people who deserved a nice house but couldn't afford it. Man they just had to see this coming. So the lending companies started making loans to people without having to put anything down. Heck the guy that bought my last house only put $500 down on it. Well if someone can't manage to scrape up the down payment for a house do you really think they are fiscally responsible enough to make the payments on time? Of coarse not. So now many of them are in default. Is this the banks fault? They were forced by the federal government to make these loans in the name of the poor poor pitiful poor. Can you blame the people who took out these loans and not living up to their obligations? You should. But no. now they want the federal government to come bail out the lending companies who are stuck with all of these houses the foreclosed on. Is it the lending companies fault? Not really but they have been left holding the bag. The homeowners who couldn't make their mortgage just walked away. So should the federal government step in and repair the problem they created? You might say yes but where is the government going to get this money. Well of coarse they have to tax the people to get it. Well if you tax the people more there is less money in the hands of the people who create 80% of the jobs in this country. UGH

For all you people out there who would rather work on their cars (I know that is why we are all here), chase women , watch to see who is on dance with the stars tonight rather than learning about what is going on in Washington, your state and local government because it is too boring you get what you vote for. You can't just listen to the rhetoric these politicians spout out. You have to look deeper into cause and effects of actions. You have to look at what they have done in the past and the way they have voted and figure out what has happened as a result of their actions and decide if they are really qualified for the office they are running for. There is going to be change in this country and you are not going to like it. Wait until you have government healthcare. Name 1 thing the US government has ever done well except the armed services. Schools? Social Security? Border security? Ugh.

[FroSSty]

part 1 part 2

Where are the sources behind that? Interesting read but sources are key...

[FroSSty]

You have to look deeper into cause and effects of actions.

Unfortunately you can do the same with the war...Which is a huge funnel of money and resources. Who put the sadam regime in place? We did... Who helped oust the Russians from Afghanistan only to allow the taliban to come to power? We did...So who is cleaning up the mess? We are...You can't tell me the war doesn't put strain on the economy. Don't get me wrong, I know that the changes were needed now but if we would have done the right thing in the first place(after the Russians pulled out, it would have been much easier to move a democracy in then instead of now, afterall we were vital to that conflict), who knows....hindsight.... It is funny how all things are relative.