What do you pay for gas?

[Mister P-Mosh]

Gas prices are in the upper $3.80's to the lower $4.10's, depending on where you fill up at. However, fortunately for me, I discovered that my employer pays 100% for bus fares, so now I fill up maybe once a month (although I usually top off my gas whenever prices seem relatively cheap.) So I'm saving hundreds of dollars every month in gasoline, maintenance, and tollway fees.

As far as the reasons prices are so high, I see rhino is spouting the typical Republican talking point, but mstar has a point. There's no way that Exxon, Shell, BP, etc. can all be having record profits and be able to say that OPEC is to blame. If all the blame was on OPEC, then you wouldn't see the profit (which is not the same as income) increasing so drastically over the past few years. For those that aren't investors, income is money you take in before expenses (the cost of oil is an expense, as is the cost of refining), while profit is basically income - expenses, so it's what you have left over. The cost of oil should not increase profit for these companies, unless they are price gouging or finding some other "creative" way to screw over the American people.

There are other factors, like the oil companies refusing to build new refineries or upgrade existing ones. Why should they, when it would increase availability of gasoline and lower the price they can charge us? Another factor is commodities markets being open to speculators. What this means is that any idiot out there with a few bucks to rub together can buy oil futures, so when Fox News says that the U.S. is going to bomb Iran, these idiots drive the oil prices up even though there is no logical need for it. You'll remember that when oil first hit $100/barrel, it was because an idiot speculator wanted to be the first to pay that so he would be a part of history. That's how easily manipulated futures are. The same goes for other things like corn, gold, etc.

There are ways to fix this situation, but it requires government involvement, and by that I mean an FDR style plan until we fix this. We need futures markets to be controlled much better to drive out the speculators in similar ways that the government controls the stock market. We need to investigate the oil companies, because they are all pulling an Enron on us and should be punished. Tax their extreme profits and throw all of that money into public transportation. Control the price of gasoline and oil, and if companies try to withhold supplies to make us think that there is a shortage to try to turn the public against this type of idea, investigate them more and jail the jerks. We need the federal government to improve public transportation by funding it, including rebuilding Amtrak and giving money to cities to build a better infrastructure. We need to start redesigning our cities and towns to be like they were decades ago, without suburbs and without urban sprawl. Everyone should be able to walk to the grocery store, which should be selling local produce and food instead of driving to Walmart who is importing beef from Argentina and vegetables from Australia. We need to start adding extra taxes to SUVs and more wasteful vehicles. We need to fund university-lead teams who find other ways to generate electricity and power vehicles, as well as more efficient engines. We need to rebuild our culture, to where we start acting like most of the immigrant communities in this nation and stick together with family and friends, depending on each other and knowing our neighbors. We have to believe in the value of working together, instead of seeing life as a competition of us vs. them, in order to buy the most expensive poorly built plastic crap from China to make our neighbors jealous.

I'm sure what I want is a bit unrealistic, but if we made some steps in those directions, you would see things improve greatly.

[Rocky]

We'll have to see what's going to happen now that Saudi Arabia is going to increase production by 200,000 barrels/day.

[egilkent]

Rented a car to visit my neice for graduation:

Rental fee: $55.00

Gasoline : $70.00

Gift: $150.00

Average price per gallon: $4.29

Seattle WA

Total miles: 250...

[egilkent]

Rented a car to visit my neice for graduation:

Rental fee: $55.00

Gasoline : $70.00

Gift: $150.00

Average price per gallon: $4.29

Seattle WA

Total miles: 250...

[rhino]

As far as the reasons prices are so high, I see rhino is spouting the typical Republican talking point, but mstar has a point. There's no way that Exxon, Shell, BP, etc. can all be having record profits and be able to say that OPEC is to blame. If all the blame was on OPEC, then you wouldn't see the profit (which is not the same as income) increasing so drastically over the past few years. For those that aren't investors, income is money you take in before expenses (the cost of oil is an expense, as is the cost of refining), while profit is basically income - expenses, so it's what you have left over. The cost of oil should not increase profit for these companies, unless they are price gouging or finding some other "creative" way to screw over the American people.

If you read my posts .. you could see where most of the price increase is from the price of crude ... the other portions actually decreased.

These guys don't make all their money at the pump ... the are all pumping it out of the ground ... so that is not a COST ... it is income. The oil they pumped out a few years ago got them $10/barrel ... now it gets them $135. So why do you say that should NOT increase their profits?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)

-- Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting the highest quarterly and annual

profits

ever for a U.S. company,

boosted in large part by soaring crude prices.

Oh wait, that must be wrong, our guru p-mosh said crude prices should not help Exxon profits ... :blink:

There are other factors, like the oil companies refusing to build new refineries or upgrade existing ones. Why should they, when it would increase availability of gasoline and lower the price they can charge us? Another factor is commodities markets being open to speculators. What this means is that any idiot out there with a few bucks to rub together can buy oil futures, so when Fox News says that the U.S. is going to bomb Iran, these idiots drive the oil prices up even though there is no logical need for it. You'll remember that when oil first hit $100/barrel, it was because an idiot speculator wanted to be the first to pay that so he would be a part of history. That's how easily manipulated futures are. The same goes for other things like corn, gold, etc.

WOW ... that's quite a list of conspiracy theories ... you think government regulations have nothing to do with the refinery problem?

You think FOX news is driving up the price of oil? If their viewers are as stupid as you usually claim, do they really have any money to throw into commodities?

You think that one guy manipulated the market? He just overpaid ... in the short term he lost money. I could offer $200/barrel and they would gladly take my money.

There may be manipulation ... but as with the stock bubble, people go with the flow ... they started up a bunch of commodity funds and everyone has piled in which has driven up prices, since they are trading on futures. And now with a wet spring and flooding, prices are driven up based on supply. Also huge is that the two plus billion people in China and India are eating higher on the hog and consuming more.

Commodity markets are open to speculators? God forbid ... when has the futures market not been about speculating?

There are ways to fix this situation, but it requires government involvement, and by that I mean an FDR style plan until we fix this. We need futures markets to be controlled much better to drive out the speculators in similar ways that the government controls the stock market. We need to investigate the oil companies, because they are all pulling an Enron on us and should be punished. Tax their extreme profits and throw all of that money into public transportation. Control the price of gasoline and oil, and if companies try to withhold supplies to make us think that there is a shortage to try to turn the public against this type of idea, investigate them more and jail the jerks.

WOW ... you know they are pulling an Enron? They get ten times what they used to for the oil they pull out of the ground ... they should be making a profit or I would say they are doing something wrong. When OPEC drove prices down to $10 and these guys were losing money, did the government offer to help?

Just take over their company and jail them ... because gas prices are higher?

What has been controlled by government is any drilling around many areas in the US. We need less government control ... Exxon and companies would gladly pull a lot of oil from around the US ... Democrats say no. Obama says higher prices are fine.

[oldiesman]

Poughkeepsie New York -- $4.43 (super)

Danbury Connecticut -- $4.58 (super)

( I use super in my motorcycle. I've been driving slower lately and getting better mileage.)

[Rocky]

Poughkeepsie New York -- $4.43 (super)

Danbury Connecticut -- $4.58 (super)

( I use super in my motorcycle. I've been driving slower lately and getting better mileage.)

What's your MPG... and what kind (how many CCs) of cycle?

[oldiesman]

I currently ride a BMW R1200 GS (1200 CC) that gets me around 40-45 mpg depending on how fast I go.

I used to have a BMW F650 CS (650 CC) that got 60 MPG.

[polar bear]

Just a thought.

What if we selected the oil company with the highest profits. Tell everyone, (spread the new) not to buy from them. Shut them down.

I wonder if they would lower their prices.

[Rocky]

Just a thought.

What if we selected the oil company with the highest profits. Tell everyone, (spread the new) not to buy from them. Shut them down.

I wonder if they would lower their prices.

In other words, a boycott.

It's possible, and probably more feasible than a boycott on the entire industry (since we DEPEND on their product), but still would take a great deal of coordinated effort to succeed.

To do so would require large sectors of the population to become galvanized (worked up and ready to move in a coordinated effort) and would require a worthy target. Not simply a company with high(est) profits, but a company that can be blamed for something very bad... which would take a great deal of effort.

[Eyesopen]

I saw a sign today for unleaded regular at $4.65 a gallon. Unbelievable! But the station half a block down the road had it for $4.15. Gotta wonder who the boss p!ssed off. He wont be getting too many customers at that rate.

[GeorgeStGeorge]

In other words, a boycott.

It's possible, and probably more feasible than a boycott on the entire industry (since we DEPEND on their product), but still would take a great deal of coordinated effort to succeed.

To do so would require large sectors of the population to become galvanized (worked up and ready to move in a coordinated effort) and would require a worthy target. Not simply a company with high(est) profits, but a company that can be blamed for something very bad... which would take a great deal of effort.

And what happens if the company with the most profit is selling at the lowest prices? (No, that's not a contradiction. If you have lower supply-chain costs, you can still get large margins, even with lower sales prices.) Do we boycott the cheapest gas and pay more somewhere else?

George

[Rocky]

And what happens if the company with the most profit is selling at the lowest prices? (No, that's not a contradiction. If you have lower supply-chain costs, you can still get large margins, even with lower sales prices.) Do we boycott the cheapest gas and pay more somewhere else?

George

You're welcome to do so if you like.

I understand the economics. Overall, I don't see such a boycott happening. As I indicated, nothing happens without something galvanizing our society. And OBVIOUSLY, the company that generally sells for the lowest price would not get targeted.

And frankly, Doctor, ANY of the companies would EASILY counter such a hypothetical boycott by temporarily doing so... but then again, you probably already knew that.

[oldiesman]

[Caveman]

Remember when diesel was CHEAPER than gas?

That was the day before I bought my truck.

[Twinky]

Shell tanker drivers just finished a four day strike. Some fuel stations ran out of fuel - mostly because people filled up in case they couldn't get fuel later during the weekend. One enterprising fuel station started selling petrol at nearly £2/litre which is shockingly excessive. After some public humiliation he reduced the price to £1.50 and still had people lining up. (Basic price at the time was £1.18/litre).

Strike is now over, tanker drivers got a pay increase, petrol has gone up by a penny.

Friend had to fill up on the motorway (freeway) today and paid £1.37/litre.

Price locally is now around £1.19/litre.

[lucyvanpelt]

What do I pay for gas? Too damn much.

Right now it's $4.41.9 a gallon. I put in $20 when it gets to the halfway point. I am glad, I work close to home, that helps. But it isn't fun when I I just moved here from GA not long ago and all the day trips we plan are put on hold. That's not fun.

When I first started driving at was .34 a gallon. That was 30 years ago.

heavy sigh,

me

[waysider]

$50.00 free gas money!!

http://www.yourtopbrands.com/Zbdpr61dd86100?sud=16721

[mstar1]

waysider

[waterbuffalo]

no way, waysider

[TOMMYZ]

I have one question about the price of gas. Isn't one big factor in the price of oil the decline of the dollar due to the whole subprime mess ? I'm not defending the oil companies but if the dollar is down against other currencies isn't the cost of imported oil naturally going to go up ?

[likeaneagle]

I was paying over 500 per month when I commuted by train and 2 buses a day. I opted to move to the next town where they have a Stop & Ride. I started using a Vanpool with 10 other professionals that work across the street from in busy Cambridge,Mass. I pay 160 per month now. I home by 5:15..Hooray! Best move I made.The Van is so smooth and the seats have headrest and armrest...:) I just sit back and rest, read or pop open my laptop..

Edited July 6, 2008 by likeaneagle