$2.29 a Gallon!!

[johnsonrj74]

Originally Posted by noone986s

How about $7.15 in the UK? Sucks, especially as most of it is Tax

I lived in the US for a while and recall the days of $10 fillups

I'm doing the reverse- now an Brit ex-pat enjoying the much cheaper gas in the US. I went home to England recently and spent almost $100 filling up a cheap rental car that was no fun to drive. It's adding insult to injury knowing you're paying 2.5 times more AND the petrol is not going in a Porsche!

[Perfectlap]

gas should cost $20 for a tank.
SUV drivers should pay $100 a tank.

That's fair.

p.s.
Between the price of a barrel of crude (what happened to $100 a barell?)
and what the Exxons, Shells, BP's end up charging you at the pump there is
allot of price manipulation.
Those Oil companies are raking in money like you can't imagine and their political influence in congressional elections (particularly in Texas) should not be underplayed.
Remember when the Saudis where straight up saying "we'll tinker with the price of our crude to help the American during their elections"?? Straight from the horses mouth. The freehand of capitalism is a frail one when it comes to this particular commodity.

[Brucelee]

From today's newswires!

"A sharp decline by oil prices has also fueled the rally. Lower energy costs should take pressure off of inflation and give consumers strapped by a cooling housing market some added pocket change. Crude was moving lower again Friday, sliding 78 cents to $62.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as momentum-driven speculators continued to jump out of the energy market."

I guess the "conspiracy" to hold those prices above $64 failed?

Perhaps they are just trying to fool us into thinking there is a world spot maket functioning for oil?

[longislander1]

Brucelee, we'll see if it's really fantasy. Watch what happens to prices after the elections.

Fossil fuels have become a national strategic resource, yet our government allows them to be manipulated in return for political bribes. With the industry in private hands, we pay unnecessarily high prices (witness the oil companies' billions in ADDITIONAL profits), face arbitrary limits on supply (the oil companies -- with all their money -- haven't built a new U.S. refinery in 30 years and their maintenance of the existing facilities is highly suspect), and the nation isn't pursuing alternative energy (with so many politicians in oil companies' pockets).

If market forces for crude are driving prices, oil companies' margins would remain the same. Yet profits have skyrocketed.

You need to wake up and see how things really work in this country. I'm not sure I'm the one who's believing in fantasies.

I bought 93 octane yesterday in Champaign, IL for $2.55!

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by longislander1

Brucelee, we'll see if it's really fantasy. Watch what happens to prices after the elections.

Fossil fuels have become a national strategic resource, yet our government allows them to be manipulated in return for political bribes. With the industry in private hands, we pay unnecessarily high prices (witness the oil companies' billions in ADDITIONAL profits), face arbitrary limits on supply (the oil companies -- with all their money -- haven't built a new U.S. refinery in 30 years and their maintenance of the existing facilities is highly suspect), and the nation isn't pursuing alternative energy (with so many politicians in oil companies' pockets).

If market forces for crude are driving prices, oil companies' margins would remain the same. Yet profits have skyrocketed.

You need to wake up and see how things really work in this country. I'm not sure I'm the one who's believing in fantasies.

So, since the average ROI for Oil Companies over the last 20 years is actually lower than the stock market as a whole, you are saying that there is

A- Monopoly for oil companies to price however they want. It is just now that they are doing so.

B-That even though there is this monopoly, the oil companies choose to keep lower ROI numbers.

C-There have been anti-trust investigations conducted by the FTC, the Justice Dept. Congress, and about 35 state AGs. Yet, not one oil company exec or company has been indicted for any crimes of price fixing, etc.

That must mean that .......




It is all a vast right wing conspiracy!

Yet, the price of gas in the US is lower than it is in the rest of the world.

D-The oil companies monopoly power and their consipracy with the US Govt still won't allow them to get through the greenies in order to build new refineries. Check the public record, they have tried and failed any number of times.

Sorry, the price of gas will rise and fall, as supply and demand rise and fall.

That is the way it has always been!

But, don't let history get in the way of a good consipiracy!

PS-Since you believe this whole deal is a vast conspiracy, I will ask you the key question here.

HOW MUCH SHOULD GAS COST and how do you know that?


.

[longislander1]

Originally Posted by Brucelee

PS-Since you believe this whole deal is a vast conspiracy, I will ask you the key question here.

HOW MUCH SHOULD GAS COST and how do you know that?


.

Let me ask you some questions. Should gas cost $2.79 a gallon where I live, less than 50 miles from the nearest refineries, while the national average is $2.50? I'm sure that's just "market demand." Should America give away oil leases for free, resulting in losses of about $10 billion a year to the taxpayers? Do you really believe that oil companies, already awash in government incentives as well as profits, can't get a refinery approved with (no mistake here) Dick Cheney leading our country? Is it an accident that so little money is invested in alternative fuels in the U.S.? Why is the White House afraid to tell us who met with Cheney in formulating government energy policy?

What you'll see is more saber-rattling against Iran right after the November elections. Crude prices will rise sharply and so will prices at the pump. If the Republicans win both houses, they'll blame it on "market demand." If the Democrats win (we can only hope), the Republicans will try to make it their mess. Rove's probably working on it right now.

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by longislander1

... If the Republicans win both houses, they'll blame it on "market demand." If the Democrats win (we can only hope), the Republicans will try to make it their mess...

Hi,

WAKE UP! What we need is an alternative to both of them - 2 sides of the same coin! Reagan once a Democrat, Hillary once a Young Republican, Robert Byrd - former Ku Klux Clan member, Randy Cunningham, former Medal of Honor winner now jailed for corruption. We need Term Limits and a return to the Citizen-Statesman, no more making an entire career feeding at the Public Trough! It's the seasoned professional politicians who got us in this mess! And all but a very few have absolutely no knowledge of what it takes to meet a payroll.

So far as Gasoline prices, blame the commodities market, pure and simple. Gasoline prices are set by the price of Gas futures contracts and these are driven mostly by speculation based on confidence, nothing more. Confidence in the geo-political scene, confidence in future demand and availability. You can seize the Saudi Oil Fields, build 30 new refineries, elect whichever party you choose, and the price will still be set on the commodities exchange. That's how it works...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[deliriousga]

Originally Posted by longislander1

Rove's probably working on it right now.

Is there any other response from the left side of the aisle out there?

There have been no new refineries approved in over 20 years. I know it's convenient to leave out other past administrations to try and create a conspiracy, but the environmental nut cases are the ones who have made it impossible to get a refinery approved and I don't believe they support the current administration. Elementary economics shows any company that makes X cents per unit would want to have more units to sell. If their cost is less and they can sell it for less and make the same profit per unit but sell more units, they will (see WalMart for reference).

The gas prices are below where they should be when accounting for inflation over the last 20 years. They were much lower, until we stopped domestic exploration and China and India started exploding in growth. We have a find in the midwest U.S. that would make us 100% energy independent for the next 100+ years, but that last President's mad dash to try and screw up things for the next guy signed a billion last minute executive orders including one making the find completely off limits. Now there's some brilliance.

10 years ago we had legislation to start extracting from Anwar defeated, but of course the "problems" voiced by the opposition were "It will take 10 years to actually get oil out of the ground so how will that help?" and "It will harm the wildlife in the area." The latter has been proven false by the explosion in wildlife around the Alaskan pipeline (same arguement used against that) and it seems to me that it is now 10 years later and the same people are griping about the price of gas.

We also have great finds off our shores in the Gulf of Mexico that are not allowed to be extracted. Oh yeah, that is exept for by Cuba. They can extract all the oil they want off of OUR coast because they are intelligent enough to know if you need it you go get it.

Btw, your higher than average price "close to the refinery" includes the raping of the citizens of NY through the state and local tax system. One of the reasons they're all moving down here and my price is $2.22/gal with no refineries I know of in the state.

[sandyman65535]

@fig and @johnsonrj74

Don't forget that we do at least get a little more octane for our buck in AUS and the UK. Aus regular is 93 or 95 RON and premium is 98 (IIRC... haven't had any cause to buy regular since having a boxster), and same in the UK (again IIRC).

But I can say for sure that petrol companies here in aus are a pack of thieves.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by sandyman65535

@fig and @johnsonrj74

Don't forget that we do at least get a little more octane for our buck in AUS and the UK. Aus regular is 93 or 95 RON and premium is 98 (IIRC... haven't had any cause to buy regular since having a boxster), and same in the UK (again IIRC).

But I can say for sure that petrol companies here in aus are a pack of thieves.

Sorry the octane is the same over here, we just state it differently. Our 87 is the same as your 92.