Razz1

Woo Hoo! Good bye Hillary!

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

It varies a litttle depending on where you are in the US, but where I am it is $3.20/gal. for Regular and $3.40/gal for Premium.

myfuncar

I have to disagree on this, and point out that it holds for a lot of things - I'm no fan of Bush, but no President gets involved in prices, although they try to talk like they have some power over the free markets, they have little or none. Remember our country was founded because the people over here wanted a free economy and unrestricted trade practices among other things.

But I promise, you're not a victim of the President or his rich friends! The oil companies are in dumb luck that they paid $80 for a barrell of gas last year and the speculators on the CBOE have raised the price to $109 today. They're not complaining but they are subject to the market, and just like us, they are currently paying more for their new oil - unlike us, they have a "pipeline of supply" that they paid less for and that's how they make all the money now.

Rote8

It was not Bush that had the National Energy policy meetings with oil company executives before the tremendous price increases started, it was Dick Cheney, whose wife runs Haliburton oil.

r0tor

iTrader: (1)

The easiest way to knock $40 per barrel off the price of oil is passing legislation that limits the buying and selling of oil to companies that can legitimately consume/use/store the amount of oil they buy.

...of course the Goldman Sachs would be out $5 billion this year, JP Morgan another $4 billion, and yadda yadda yadda that will never happen. Until then, the volume of energy trading and prices will increase daily (as it is) as all investors flock to the markets that are still making money (oil, gold, ect) and disband from the slouching rest of the market.

VikingDJ

It's all a government scam to make them money. Gas prices are manipulated. END OF STORY!!!

Well, you can disagree with me, but I truly believe IT'S THAT SIMPLE!!!!

77mjd

As long as oil people are in the white house, nothing will be done. I think it should be taken off the trading market. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with supply and demand anymore. Supplies are way up and demand is down, yet prices continue to rise .20 per week.

...on a side note, diesel hit $4 here today. Real encouraging.

BillK

I don't see why it's that hard to understand.

Oil is essentially sold in a market not unlike eBay.

Speculators bid the price up because they believe it will be more expensive, for whatever reason next week.

If you absolutely have to have it, you'll pay whatever silly price they're charging because that's what the price is on the current auction.

Even though there's no reduction in quantity or flow, no shortages, and projected political upheaval hasn't happened, the speculators drove up the price and if you want it you have to outbid them.

Someday the speculators are going to get their lunch handed to them because they'll offer too much and it just won't be worth it to buy it, and then the speculators will eat the price difference.

Are the oil companies making money? Big money, but it's not their fault.

Once again it's like if you put something that cost you $20 on eBay and someone bids $100 for it; are you going to refuse their money because it's "too much profit"?

Flashwing

The problem starts and stops with the federal government but not because they "control" prices of oil. The constant regulation, restrictions on drilling, inability to build new refining sources, and rising US demand are what drives the price up.

We have so much demand for gasoline we're importing a sizable percentage of our gas at a very high premium. When it takes 10 to 15 years to build a refinary and tons of cash why bother? It's even more so an issue with the overhanging possibility of the government installing a windfall profits tax which would tax the profits of the oil industry at 50%! Why make any profits if all it's going to do is be taxed?

If the government lifted measures and allowed exploration and drilling these companies would gladly seek out other energy sources. By introducing competition into the market it would force prices down. The problem is that evertime the government sticks it's nose into the free market it monkeys things up.

If the government really wanted to help the public with the energy crunch it would lower or suspend gasonline taxes and utilitze that funding much better than it currently is. Cutting useless social programs or welfare like programs and using that money for transportation needs would help everyone.

Currently only something like 60% of gas tax is actually used on roads, bridges, and highways. The rest is either appropriated other places or placed into a general fund. In THAT respect yes the government does control the price of gas. Look at any yearly statistics for oil company profits and government taxes.

Between 1977 and 2004 the oil companies have made over $640 billion in profits ($640,000,000,000). In that same time the government has collected over $1.3 TRILLION in gasoline taxes ($1,300,000,000,000). Please someone tell me who the bigger theif is.

r0tor

iTrader: (1)

Please tell me what the white house or "oil people" have to do with the two largest players in the oil trading market - namely JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs?

Rote8

The White house has much to do with the entire output of Iraq oil going "missing" since the invasion, thus driving up the market price.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

The output was missing before the war. The output was 20 percent of capacity due to the poor maintenance of the oil facilities by Saddam Husain's people. Since the war, oil production has returned thanks to Haliburton & other companies rebuilding these facilities. Most of the revenue from this production is being used to repay the US & Coalition Forces for the war and other expenses incurred.

Rote8

Check again, this oil is missing NOW; nothing to do with Saddam.
It seems Haliburton does not want to answer any questions about the missing oil either.


ABCNews

NY Times

FauxNews

Reuters

YaXMaNGTO

You guys who believe in a government controlled economy can move to China.

Straight8

Do you even understand what Haliburton does?

Good grief. I suppose all of the new factories and million plus automobiles now on the road in China, India, and the former USSR have nothing to do with the price of oil. Supply and demand junior, not Haliburton. The same thing has / is happening to milk now that there is a market in Asia.

I have a hunch Haliburton will corner the milk market some day much as they have the oil market

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

Anyone heard of the 'peak oil' theory?

All the large oilfields are now found, and there will be no more major finds, oil production will stabilize exactly where it is right now -http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/0...u_n_92748.html - meanwhile, the booming Chinese and Indian economies send demand thru the roof, prices go sky high, and STAY there.

Mass jet air travel becomes a thing of the past, truck fleets and air and cruise lines go broke, cities cancel all their bus routes. All within the next five years.

Just a theory, but we do live in interesting times......


S

Rote8

Begin "Soapbox"

We have more energy in the form of Methane Hydrate in a single deposit off the lower east coast, than all the oil that was ever in the world.
There are even larger Methane Hydrate fields in other places around the world.
This is the energy of the future, we just need to learn to burn it cleaner.


End "Soapbox

globi

Maybe this has something to do with it too:
Euro/Dollar chart:


Also:
In 2000 1 Dollar was worth 1.80 Swiss franc.
In 2008 1 Dollar was worth 1 Swiss franc.

globi

One thing is for sure: Non-renewable fuels won't last forever.


http://www.ren21.net/pdf/RE2007_Glob...tus_Report.pdf
On page 12 of this report:
China has 64.5% of all solar hot water capacity and the
US has only 1.7% of all solar hot water capacity.
Are people in China wealthier than Americans and can therefore afford solar heating or is there no sun in the US?

Maybe it's not wise to burn non-renewable fuels to do simple things such as heating water.

Spin9k

ding..ding..ding...ding!! You're the winner. Oil is sold on dollar value...pegged to the dollar...as the dollar falls in value to what the Italian lire used to be (toilet paper) this is the sad result (of bad monetary policy and simply running the printing presses to produce the oh so much touted "market liquidity" in our troubled economy).

(it's a big world) and to EVERYONE else nearly, the dollar is a foreign currency. If they exchange it and can't get the same VALUE in their own currency any more, such as when dollar value is used to buy oil, well, what does a good business person do...they raise prices. The curve shows why the price of oil (in dollars) goes up and up and up.

Couple that with demand exceeding supply and speculation and falling new discoveries of deposits.....and we are royally and totally screwed.

Enjoy the crushing punishing squeeze ride DOWN the standard of living curve in our country!