Got Gas? U.S. Economy to Worsen as Gas Prices Skyrocket

[desy]

1 right and investers invest in a commodity based on what they think CONSUMERS will pay, if they didn't think consumers would pay for it at that price they wouldn't invest
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/04/28/pm-exxon-mobil-reports-outsize-profits/

2 yes oil is inelastic because there is no substitute, like I said, if we had stayed the course set in the 70's we wouldn't have this problem today. Man is a short term selfish thinker ergo the reason we didn't learn from history and get to feel the pain all over again

 

[umbrella39]

Indeed! How dare they bring oil and gas to the American public? How dare they invest in research? How dare they provide jobs? How dare they pay taxes?

Fuck them. The government ought just nationalize them all. We all know that big government is so much better at providing good produces at reasonable prices for the American public. Well, don't we?

A logical fallacy parody account? Really...

 

[blackangst1]

The issue isn't whether or not they deserve to earn a profit. The issue is whether they deserve the huge returns on investment that they are currently receiving. We could increase their taxes and they would still have a sufficient incentive to bring oil and gasoline to the American public.

Try not to let free market dogmatism fool you into thinking that the only options are laissez-faire or outright communism without thousands of variants between the two.

What is so criminal about a 6-8% profit?

 

[desy]

Whats criminal about 100 to 1000 % markup
Shoes cost China about $4 to make but sell to us for $40 or $100

Electronics , 50 to 100%

 

[Doppel]

What is so criminal about a 6-8% profit?

6-8% is a crap-ton when volume is high.

Anyway, if I had the money to invest in oil I would and I'd enjoy my profit. The post not long ago about not learning lessons from the 70's is spot on. We are a short-sighted greedy and ignorant mass of idiots and we're repeating our mistakes over and over. If any thing means we deserve it it's that. The investors rake us over the coals because we beg them to and keep buying gas guzzling vehicles that we absolutely don't need but have convinced ourselves we do.

I can't break entirely from the rabble of clowns who, while filling their SUV are able to talk out of the side of their mouth about the evil middle east, but I can use less gas. And I do. I've been very happily driving a hybrid since last year. It's like gas is under $2/gallon again for me. At 15k miles/year every dollar gas goes up costs me a mere $25/month. If nothing else that's good use of my entertainment dollars.

Some will be early adopters, others later (like me), and others later still (if you just bought yourself an F150 you're in that crowd), but we'll adapt and we'll live and life will be fine. But in the meantime this oil spike is very possibly going to bring us into recession again. Just like it does virtually every time. Because we don't learn quickly.

 

[dmcowen674]

4-29-2011

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110430...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDb2JhbWFhZG1pbmlz

Obama Responsible for Record Gas Prices

The Obama administration has laid the groundwork for this situation and it is now their responsibility to correct it without getting its hands into private industry.

The problem can be solved with a simple change in the administration's policies.

If the Obama administration allows the oil companies to drill and relieve this pressure, prices will fall almost immediately on a barrel of oil.



The speculators will flee oil in a second once we announce the United States will make it a priority to drill.


The next time you drive by a gas station and see the price of a gallon of unleaded gas more than $4 a gallon, focus on the root cause of the problem. The Obama administration's refusal to allow oil exploration and bring the United States back to fore front as a leading producer of oil.

 

[blackangst1]

6-8% is a crap-ton when volume is high.

Of course. But I just find it idiotic for people to just look at net profit numbers and not what those numbers represent. For most people 6-8% is almost criminally stealing while industries like lumber and cotton pull 100% + profit margins and no one bats an eye.

 

[dmcowen674]

5-2-2011

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Oil-p...3.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

Oil prices rise over $114


Benchmark oil for June delivery rose 24 cents to $114.17 a barrel in Monday morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gas pump prices are still climbing.

Drivers in 13 states and the District of Columbia are paying over $4 a gallon.

 

[dmcowen674]

5-3-2011

http://dailymail.com/News/201105021347?page=2&build=cache

Gas prices are now well above $4 a gallon in West Virginia, as evidenced by this $4.29 a gallon sign at a South Charleston Go-Mart Monday.

Officials have begun rolling out plans to fight the prices, such as funding work on coal liquefaction and tax incentives for the natural gas industry and tapping the strategic oil reserve.

================================================
They are really going to fight the prices?

Yeah right

 

[dmcowen674]

5-3-2011

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...VuZXJneXBy?sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode=

What Suppy Problem? U.S. Exporting more oil than importing



Despite the notion that the U.S. is currently hugely reliant on foreign oil, the country sold 34,000 more barrels of petroleum products a day than it imported in November 2010. And, in both December and February, the U.S. sold 54,000 more barrels a day.

 

[desy]

You not exporting oil your exporting finished or refined product
You still import about 12 MILLION barrels a day of raw product

http://www.marktaw.com/culture_and_media/politics/GlobalOil.html
I can tell you that we consume 19,650,000.00 bbl per day, and produce 8,054,000.00, leaving a discrepancy of 11,596,000.00 bbl per day.

so 54,000 of finished product compared to the 12 Mill imported? You suck at scale
Thats 1/2 of 1 % going back out as finished product

 

[dmcowen674]

Lead story on WBBM CBS Channel 2 Chicago tonight is $5 gas for regular downtown is here.

 

[dmcowen674]

Except for those that have to drive looks like Americans have parked permanently

5-4-2011

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110504/ap_on_re_as/oil_prices

Oil drops below $111 after US crude supply jump



Oil prices fell to below $111 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as a report showed U.S. crude supplies rose more than expected last week, suggesting demand growth could be waning.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories rose 3.2 million barrels last week, more than the increase of 1.7 million barrels predicted by analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Inventories of gasoline rose by 657,000 barrels

 

[Doppel]

Like I said, high prices will sink demand--they already are clearly--and prices will come down; the current trend cannot possibly continue. Every time this happens there is mass hysteria. The prices of used Priuses have literally gone up by 20% easily in the past month alone (I look at their prices frequently and that 20% is no exaggeration--across the board, I've seen $10k cars now going for $13-14k and a used 2010 Prius is often substantially more to buy right now than it was brand new a year ago). These dolts are paying through the nose and prices will drop because the economy cannot possibly withstand it. Airline fuel surcharges on international flights are literally hundreds of dollars (read on cnn money a couple days ago I think it was), people are already cutting back driving, particularly poor (again cnn money or yahoo finance).

 

[mizzou]

This is getting ridiculous. I along with many other drivers changed unnecessary consumption ( consume 50% less gas yearly since 2009 with a 4 cyl car purchase)

Yet even though we change, prices are still unstable. All i want is some freaking stability so i can plan and manage. I dont care if we never see pre 9/11 prices again, i want pre 9/11 stability.
Since wehave no alternatice to gas honestly, this is goi.g to suck for the next 5-10 years until someonecan wise up and invest/build a real alternative.

its hard to boycott something that you can hardly live without completely. i can reduce consumption to 10 gallons a month but what good is that if prices are raised to 10.00 per gallon.

You would think oil refineries would be most pisses about this. Unless the process is so stupid easy they can operate at minimal capacity indefinitly

 

[Capt Caveman]

Lead story on WBBM CBS Channel 2 Chicago tonight is $5 gas for regular downtown is here.

Yet the highest price is $4.89.

http://www.chicagogasprices.com/

Keep on lying dumbass.

You'll be thrilled to hear I picked-up a new SUV yesterday.

 

[dmcowen674]

This is getting ridiculous. I along with many other drivers changed unnecessary consumption ( consume 50% less gas yearly since 2009 with a 4 cyl car purchase)

Yet even though we change, prices are still unstable.

its hard to boycott something that you can hardly live without completely. i can reduce consumption to 10 gallons a month but what good is that if prices are raised to 10.00 per gallon.

You would think oil refineries would be most pisses about this. Unless the process is so stupid easy they can operate at minimal capacity indefinitly

What? You want to be rewarded for being good?

How dare you.

Now bend over, no lube for you

 

[mizzou]

I feel like we are battling the oil barons all over again

 

[dmcowen674]

Gas has already hit $6 in Hawaii

5-4-2011

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0504/Gas-prices-reach-new-record-in-six-states

Gas prices reach new record in six states


Gas prices surge above their 2008 highs in four Midwest states, West Virginia, and Hawaii.


Average gas prices in these states are all above $4 a gallon, with the exception of Minnesota, according to the AAA report. The averages range from Hawaii's $4.56 a gallon, the highest in the nation, and No. 2 Illinois at $4.31, to Minnesota at $3.95 a gallon. In one remote town in the Hawaiian island of Maui, prices now top $6 a gallon.

 

[desy]

Most of the oil is owned by countries not oil companies
It isn't their fault the US consumes more than 2X as much as it can produce on its own

Again read up on the undulating plateau of peak oil, this is exactly what was predicted to happen over 6 years ago

 

[WhipperSnapper]

You'll be thrilled to hear I picked-up a new SUV yesterday.

It must be nice to be rich. Now you can help the oil speculators become even richer.

 

[bfdd]

Oil supply is up, oil production is up, oil demand is down, prices are up? the fuck does that work?


btw, anyone with a brain knows oil supply was never down, same with oil production(at least naturally). the only time those things ever change is due to manipulation by producers.

 

[desy]

$ devaluation, read up on quantative spending

 

[bfdd]

$ devaluation, read up on quantative spending

yes i know what qe is and it to is hurting our wallets when we go to the pump, but it isn't the only thing. producers are fucking us over right now because they have been taking advantage of the idiot speculators who drove the price back up over Libya. Seriously... Libya's oil supply was replaced over night by an increase in production by the Saudis. We're just being swindled right now and none of our leaders really care.

Also, it's not like it cost the Saudi's anything to increase their production either. They've been lowering production slowly over the years to increase price. OPEC nations have been doing this for about a decade now.

 

[desy]

Yep its a bunch of reasons
Buy a smaller car move closer to work, the economics are beyond the control of you, the oil companies, and US govt short term unfortunately.

I'll argue Saudi Arabia CANT produce any more for two reasons A their own domestic consumption is climbing leaving less to export B they have been pumping seawater into those wells for the last decade to keep flows up, I don't think they can produce more