OMFG!!! Regular gas $3.07

[Mr. dB]

I love these new gas prices.

(1) People who need to drive -- won't change. They'll just lower expenses in other areas like the weekly beer fund, or the weekly $20/cover charge club nights.

(2) People will drive less. And in LA, that's a BIG advantage where we have 16 hour traffic jams

(3) Government will start focusing more and more on oil alternatives, and internal drilling -- and telling hippies and the spotted owl to go fuck themselves.

(4) Dummies who still think we're in iraq for the oil -- will now, for their own selfish economic reasons -- start supporting the war.

I just filled up. $43. Expensive yes, but doesn't change my life, standard of living or pocketbook even one bit. I'll eat in instead of going out tomorrow -- big deal.

Consumer prices all over will go up, because the majorityof products are delivered to market in TRUCKS.

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

Consumer prices all over will go up, because the majorityof products are delivered to market in TRUCKS.

Don't forget SHIPS and TRAINS.

The rise in prices creates a drop in demand (do you really need the cookies at $5.00 per bag?) which results in prices lowering again, so the impact is not as bad as one might initially think.

It does however mean that people buy less, which is across the board bad

 

[spongebob]

Another factor is the two types of oil. There is what they call "sweet oil" and "sour oil". Most of the refineries are set up for the sweet kind... I just read recently there is a move by some company to purchase and sour refinery and start producing that oil. If you have read in the past month the Saudi's just found another oil field but it was of the sour kind. There isn’t a lack of oil just processing plants.
just my $.02.

mr aandd

the difference between sweet and sour crude is the sulfur content. sour crude being high in sulfur. the higher the sulfur the more complex the process to refine it. you have to de-sulfur it.

there are a lot of refineries out there that have this capability. so i dont see it as a factor in driving gasoline prices. but it is a large factor as to why some companies have posted the 5+ billion dollar revenues.

companies that invested in these processes are now reaping the rewards. sour crude is cheaper than sweet crude, so the profit margin between the two is a lot greater with sour crude. you buy the crude cheaper and in the end the gasoline sells for the same price as the sweet crude gasoline. thereby increasing your profits.

and added benefit to that is that the refineries are able to recover the sulfur and sell it as a product now, whereas before there wasnt a great demand for it. now they cant ship enough of it.

and no, there is no lack of oil, proven reserves are still over a billion bbls probably. but production capability is being pushed to its current limits.

now again, this makes for an unstable market. any disruptions in crude production and gasoline production shakes the markets. this is what drives day traders. they set the price of crude and gasoline futures, they go by these factors, is there enough crude for everyone to refine. they are haggling for the crude. plain and simple.

ill give you an example. where i work there is a day trader on site. his sole job is to buy and sell crude. with the purchasing power he has, often times crude is bought and by the time its ready to ship prices have gone up and so he just sells it to another company. millions are made and he's never even seen the crude.

day traders drive the price off of fear, speculation and ofcourse for profits.

I find it crazy and greedy when the oils companies reported 5+ BILLION dollar revenues for the last quarter. That is insane. When you see average Joe trading in the SUV for the Jetta TDI that gets 50 mpg then you will see the US demand drop. Other than that we just have to hope that bubble will soon bust.

that 5+ billion is just a return on investment. the refineries that are doing that well have invested a lot of money, from production all the way down to refining. like adding sour crude processing capability. that is not cheap. and no one was complaining when they were actually losing money.

 

[gonelifting]

"Not about oil"


lol Oil companies making record profits. Oil companies= friends of the chief. Not saying it's good or bad, just pointing out what's happening. This is a dream come true for them.

 

[spongebob]

(4) Dummies who still think we're in iraq for the oil -- will now, for their own selfish economic reasons -- start supporting the war.

.

i think you can make a very good arguement for either side. your thinking in present time. decisions about iraq and its oil are for the future.

 

[FreakMonster]

Gas prices appear to be at a historical high, and prices of the past appear to be cheap (17 cents per gallon in the 1930s, a quarter in the 1950s and 50 cents in the 1970s). But this is a classic example of "money illusion." In real inflation-adjusted dollars, gas prices are the same or lower today than in most previous decades.

Measured in real dollars, gas prices peaked in March 1981 at more than $3 per gallon. We have not even come close to paying the highest real gas price in history - today's prices are still 30% below the all-time high.

We can compare gas prices over time by calculating the cost of 1,000 gallons of gas purchased at the average price in a given year, as a percentage of per-capita disposable income in that year. For example, in 1935, when gas prices were 17 cents per gallon and annual disposable income was $466, the cost of 1,000 gallons of gas was 36% of average disposable income. Today, it takes less than 7% of our disposable income to buy 1,000 gallons of gas at the current $2.10 a gallon. The "cheap" gas of the '60s and '70s cost about 12% as a share of income.

 

[Mr. dB]

Measured in real dollars, gas prices peaked in March 1981 at more than $3 per gallon.

Where? Certainly not all over the USA, 'cause I never had to even pay $2/gallon before the current price surge.

I don't think I ever saw gasoline prices over $1.399/gallon, locally, even during the Exxon Valdez induced price climb in 1989. Not until winter of 2000, anyway.

 

[Razorguns]

Now would be a good time to ask for a raise.

If you're making $80k, negotiated 2 years ago, disclose how it's more effectively $75k now, and therefore your salary should be "corrected" properly.

 

[Mr. dB]

Now would be a good time to ask for a raise.

If you're making $80k, negotiated 2 years ago, disclose how it's more effectively $75k now, and therefore your salary should be "corrected" properly.

Anyone know of a good online cost of living calculator?

 

[spongebob]

Gas prices appear to be at a historical high, and prices of the past appear to be cheap (17 cents per gallon in the 1930s, a quarter in the 1950s and 50 cents in the 1970s). But this is a classic example of "money illusion." In real inflation-adjusted dollars, gas prices are the same or lower today than in most previous decades.

Measured in real dollars, gas prices peaked in March 1981 at more than $3 per gallon. We have not even come close to paying the highest real gas price in history - today's prices are still 30% below the all-time high.

We can compare gas prices over time by calculating the cost of 1,000 gallons of gas purchased at the average price in a given year, as a percentage of per-capita disposable income in that year. For example, in 1935, when gas prices were 17 cents per gallon and annual disposable income was $466, the cost of 1,000 gallons of gas was 36% of average disposable income. Today, it takes less than 7% of our disposable income to buy 1,000 gallons of gas at the current $2.10 a gallon. The "cheap" gas of the '60s and '70s cost about 12% as a share of income.

true but the main complaint is the steep increase in a matter of months or a year. what is it on average about a 60% increase. that is the complaint.