The Gas Price Rollercoaster Thread

[wiegeabo]

Originally Posted by SuBe

What was funny, yesterday Para brought up in the Economy Thread, that China was thinking about Reducing Taxes!

Thats what we need to stimulate the Economy, a cut in Taxes, a cut in Federal, State and Personal Spending.

That's classic 'priming the pump', which I support.

The idea is that, when the economy is low, government should increase spending and reduce taxes. Thereby pumping money into the economy to get it rolling again, even running a deficit if necessary.

Then, when the economy turns around, government decreases spending and increases taxes enough to keep inflation low, and save money, running a surplus that hopefully counters any deficit from when the economy was bad.


And, if you think about it, government does do this automatically in some cases. When the economy turns sour, people and companies drop into lower tax brackets, reducing taxes. And spending for programs like unemployment and welfare goes up. When the economy does good again, the opposite happens.


Actually, I'd prefer if government pretty much stayed out of the economy and let the market take care of itself. But that's the capitalist in me. Government should just do enough to promote fair competition and protect consumers, but that's it.

[IncrediNate]

Originally Posted by wiegeabo

That's classic 'priming the pump', which I support.
Actually, I'd prefer if government pretty much stayed out of the economy and let the market take care of itself. But that's the capitalist in me. Government should just do enough to promote fair competition and protect consumers, but that's it.

yep... that's what capitalism is.

[wiegeabo]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/14/news...ion=2008121409

86 straight days of decline, and gas has finally gone up 2 days in a row (haven't felt the rise around here yet). I'm not sure if it means much yet, even though oil has crept up a bit lately. But if they do start restricting supply because some oil fields are not economical at the current prices, we'll probably feel a sting at the pump as spring and summer demand increases.

[NewYorkSpider]

Gas has finally made it's way to $1.82 where I live. $1.78 up in New York state.

[Marx]

Gas is still hovering around $1.69 a gallon here.

[Pulp]

Arkansas: $1.33 after 10 cents off at Kroger; Shell varying between $1.44 to $1.54. My local Shell posted a 5 cent increase overnight.

Enron and Phillips 66 tend to add 10 cents to whatever Shell are selling gas for.

Valero tends to follow the rest.

Coastal Corp (Dolan Independent) matches Shell usually.

[wiegeabo]

http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...4BF5WK20081216

Good news. Look like US consumers have learned their lesson, or at least aren't willing to soon shoot themselves in the foot again. Despite the drastic drop in gas prices, US consumer demand for gas continues to drop.

[Paradyme]

Gas went up here in Missouri. Was around $1.30 now it's all the way up to $1.59. I don't believe for one minute that OPEC can't produce oil for $40 a barrell.

[Kelly]

Of course they can....but do they want to sell it for under that.....????

that would be a "no"....

[Marx]

Gas just went down to $1.61 a gallon.

[Marx]

'DRILL, BABY DRILL' IS ON
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/...ef=mpstoryview

Remember "drill, baby drill"? In its last weeks in office, the Bush administration is starting to make it happen by quietly starting the process of exploration and drilling off the coast of Virginia.

As the price of gas surged past $4 a gallon this summer, U.S. drilling became a hot political issue.

The move means that President-elect Barack Obama and brand new interior secretary nominee Ken Salazar -- a Democratic senator from Colorado -- will have to jump feet-first into the decades-old debate over offshore oil drilling. It's an issue where the two disagreed at one point.

Wait. Virginia?

The state is ground zero for the drilling debate because of possible reserves off the coast and what energy experts see as a friendlier government than elsewhere.

The U.S. Interior Department has completed the first step, closing a public comment period on the proposal to lease 2.9 million acres of ocean to natural gas and oil companies. The pie-shaped area begins 50 miles off Virginia's coast, straight out from Virginia Beach on the south and across from Virginia's boundary on the Delmarva peninsula to the north.

"The East Coast really has not been looked at for 30 years," said Randall Luthi, who heads up the drilling plan as director of Interior's Minerals Management Service. Luthi spoke from his Washington office to CNN Radio.

"Our best guess is that area could contain about 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas," he said.

:facepalm

[wiegeabo]

Don't expect $4 gas anytime soon


http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes


Just paid $1.83. I had been hearing that we should expect summer prices about what they were last year, but this sure makes me think otherwise. Although I do expect it to go up.

[Kelly]

Gas has gone UP to $1.54 here....

[hippie_hunter]

Originally Posted by wiegeabo

Don't expect $4 gas anytime soon


http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes


Just paid $1.83. I had been hearing that we should expect summer prices about what they were last year, but this sure makes me think otherwise. Although I do expect it to go up.

It's obvious that gas prices will rise again for the summer, but I really doubt that we're going to see $4.00 gas prices for a while on pure common sense. The federal government isn't going to tax gas like Europe does because that would be political suicide. Oil producing nations aren't going to want oil prices to be too high because then it will lead to weakening demand for oil and increased demand for more fuel efficiency and alternative energy. And hopefully, people have learned their lesson.

[wiegeabo]

I wouldn't be surprised to see gas around $2.5-$3.00 during the summer because, no matter how bad the economy is doing, consumption always goes up during summer months.

Probably the only way it can get as bad as it did last year is if they drastically cut production (or another massive hurricane season cuts it for us).

[jaguarr]

So, watching the market today, oil dropped below $38 a barrel and gasoline had it's first drop in price on the national index for the first time in over a week. The reason cited in many articles I perused? Demand. People still aren't buying gas and oil like they used to. Driver's came to the realization that they don't need to drive as much as they thought after being forced to cut back when the prices were around $4/gallon. The economy and unemployment only compound that; why go out when you don't have any money to spend anyway? Investors seem to be the ones buying and stockpiling crude oil at the moment, betting that the price will go back up and they can then turn around and sell it at a higher price later.

The oil industry's prices have been in the toilet for awhile now, and it really makes me wonder if they're now paying the price for gutting the golden goose last year and doing everything they could to jack up the prices of oil and gasoline to reap windfall, record profits at the expense of their customers. Those customers, all of us included, got pushed to the breaking point and just stopped driving and consuming gasoline like we used to. Even with gas prices back down to reasonable levels, people have not gone back to their previous driving habits instead choosing to limit how much they drive. Did the oil industry shoot itself in the foot with the tactics they employed to get oil and gas prices jacked up as high as they were? Have they inadvertently created less demand for their product? Have they increased interest in alternative energy sources and the likelihood that we'll be pursuing those more aggressively?

Discuss.

jag

[SuBe]

Originally Posted by jaguarr

So, watching the market today, oil dropped below $38 a barrel and gasoline had it's first drop in price on the national index for the first time in over a week. The reason cited in many articles I perused? Demand. People still aren't buying gas and oil like they used to. Driver's came to the realization that they don't need to drive as much as they thought after being forced to cut back when the prices were around $4/gallon. The economy and unemployment only compound that; why go out when you don't have any money to spend anyway? Investors seem to be the ones buying and stockpiling crude oil at the moment, betting that the price will go back up and they can then turn around and sell it at a higher price later.

The oil industry's prices have been in the toilet for awhile now, and it really makes me wonder if they're now paying the price for gutting the golden goose last year and doing everything they could to jack up the prices of oil and gasoline to reap windfall, record profits at the expense of their customers. Those customers, all of us included, got pushed to the breaking point and just stopped driving and consuming gasoline like we used to. Even with gas prices back down to reasonable levels, people have not gone back to their previous driving habits instead choosing to limit how much they drive. Did the oil industry shoot itself in the foot with the tactics they employed to get oil and gas prices jacked up as high as they were? Have they inadvertently created less demand for their product? Have they increased interest in alternative energy sources and the likelihood that we'll be pursuing those more aggressively?

Discuss.

jag

So if Demand is low and Prices fall you are 100% happy about it, and if Demand is high and Prices raise naturally with it, you blame "Corporate Greed"? It's just the Market. Why does it have to be "Greed"?

[jaguarr]

Originally Posted by SuBe

So if Demand is low and Prices fall you are 100% happy about it, and if Demand is high and Prices raise naturally with it, you blame "Corporate Greed"? It's just the Market. Why does it have to be "Greed"?

Because the market was artificially inflated to the Nth degree last year and only came back down when people stopped using the product to a huge degree and demand fell through the basement. If the market wasn't manipulated like it is, THEN it would be a natural evolution of the market.

jag

[hippie_hunter]

Originally Posted by SuBe

So if Demand is low and Prices fall you are 100% happy about it, and if Demand is high and Prices raise naturally with it, you blame "Corporate Greed"? It's just the Market. Why does it have to be "Greed"?

I think it wasn't gas going up with demand, it was that gas and oil were going up far beyond what they should have been.

[Kelly]

Speculators screwed this up, big time..............they are now being watched like hawks, and they have chilled.....the dollar is up as well.

I'm sorry, but I think those 2 things have shown more in the gas prices, much more than demand.

[Marx]

...since gas prices are starting to go all over the place again, I thought it was time to resurrect this thread.

I just got gas for $2.45 a gallon.

[simplysuperhero]

Come to NJ: $2.15/gallon.

[Kelly]

$1.99 in Houston, Texas

[Marx]

Originally Posted by simplysuperhero

Come to NJ: $2.15/gallon.

Originally Posted by Kel

$1.99 in Houston, Texas

...

[SuBe]

$2.45 in Naples.