i like the fact that they blame the fourth of july!!! the majority of people are not going anywhere!!! they cant afford it!! just stay home and have a good bbq and beer!!
Euro gas and diesel prices range from 8.00-13.00 per gallon. 1) UK - $9.00 2) France $11.80 3) Germany $9 4) Norway $13
I agree with this...something is up. It looks like the dotcom/real estate bubble. I wonder how much of this is the hedge funds who lost a boatload on mortgage CDO's trying to regain some profits by manipulating another market. Financial engineering can make some wacky stuff happen to markets...a few firms go long, whips the media frenzy, gets everyone to rush in, sells their long positions and goes short, whips up another media frenzy on how some new oil field was found or demand dropped off (which it is, slightly, at least by american consumers), and makes more money on the short sells. Someone will end up taking a bath on the contracts, while we all take a bath at the pump. I'm an armchair economist and have done little research into this, and I know it sounds a little "conspiracy theorist", but not outside the realm of possibility. feel free to comment.
As rough as that is, the price increase in the last 5 years has been enormous. It is a big problem for the American consumer that was just tossed from their homes and have no affordable healthcare driving to an underpaying job that will be outourced to India in the gas guzzler that was available on the market. People would not have bought SUVs 2 years ago if they knew $5 gas was on the horizon.
The root causes of the current market problems : 1) China's insider trading manipulation, and an SEC's lack of oversight in the market. 2) No energy bill for the past 8 years. 3) No new oil refineries have been built since 1982 in the USA. 4) EPA laws that have strangled the energy industry. 5) Valero and Shell oil practice of buying up oil refiners and shutting off production, thus creating a market controlled situation. Refiners are running at full capacity and maintenance of refinery plants are teetering on the edge of catastrophic failure.
Its actually pretty simple. No drilling in ANWR, No drilling in 85% of the continental shelf, No drilling in the huge new field off the coast of Florida, No new refineries in 30 years, No new nuclear plants in what? 25 years, No mining of oil shale, No, No, No, Everytime somebody tries to open a new source of cheap energy in the US the Dems in Congress shut it down. I dont think the price of gas effects most of us Ferrari owners to much. Its more like a minor anoyance. Maybe when all the poor people are eating beans and rice to survive because they are spending all there pennies on gas they will get the hint. Naw, Come to think of it the Dems will just blame Bush.
Good point, Shale oil production located in the rocky mountain region and Methane caltrate AKA its frozen methane, located on the eastern part of the gulf of Mexico, again EPA, Dept of Int, and Dept of Energy insane enforcement policy have done an excellent job of creating the current market situation, so its up to fellow people to ***** moan and complain to their congressman or woman, dont even think USA has any back up plan should a massive refiner should suffer a shut down, lets see another bs maintenance shut down of of one of the largest oil refiner plants. This is a comment I think you might want to rethink abit, regardless it does not effect you right now in the short term, it will begin to affect you. How? Example A : Big company : consumers spend less to buy x amount of product from you = Big company see's sales drop and less sales = less to pay employees = reduction of bonus, reduction of pay, and layoffs. No more vacations or nice things, wife *****es and moans. Example B : Sole prop and small companies, Less customers , shops need to be closed to cover expenses and employees see less work and layoffs Example C : Individual consumers, screwed and then inflation sets in as prices for every thing go up casuses less money to be spent back into the economic cycle, time to move back in with parents to cover expenses. Cycle of economics......................................
The dems are awesome about being crybabies whenever there is a crisis. It is a lot easier to be a martyr than a hero. Given the lessons we know now, it is a lot easier to cry over the refineries built on mid-twentieth century technology than to try and use modern technology with less environmental impact. I mean if you do that, then the dems can't come up with snappy bumper stickers (which are also petroleum based products). Around the world, many places have more expensive gas, we have horrible commutes, congestion and infrastructure in general falling apart. While gas in the UK may be double, it is unlikely that the average commuter spends up to 3 hours a day commuting 60 or more miles and that pricing did not happen overnight.
EPA regs and a not in my backyard environmentalism ignorance will just cause more refiners to shut down and continue to push prices up. Oil companies profits will continue to rise with this side step monopoly that is being run right under the DOE nose. There are 2 sides to it. The cost of extraction will keep going higher unless there is an energy bill. Oil companies who refine will pay a higher price and see minimal profit running 1980s refiner plant. Time for a change and a new type of refiners need to be built to save the environment and also allow for an environmental change. Dont see it happening. Lots of organizations like the world wild fun and al gores favorite sierra club are pushing to block any building of new type of refiner and alternative energy plants. I dont think theses organizations do not understand that solar and wind power is the only alternative but it will take a blend of Nuclear, Solar, wing, geothermal, Dept of energy research and development for new energy sources such as shale and methane caltrate. It all comes down to consumer education and change. There is no way to compare Europeans when it comes to new technology for energy industry as they are 15 years ahead, only reason Europeans pay more is due to taxes and market regulations. Reason we pay more is due to sloppy regulations in the market.
We are forgetting the benefits of this high gas price. Less people on the roads. I just drove (Sunday 11AM) from LA to home and usually it would be bumper to bumper going up to Santa Barbara on a beautiful sunny CA day. I was able to pretty much cruise at 80MPH the whole way. I think the high prices are keeping lots of people from taking long day drives. It cost me about $100 roundtrip to LA for the night.
I call BullSh!t on this. It takes me 1 hour or more to go 28 miles from Pasadena to West LA during rush hour M-F and it took me the same yesterday (Saturday) to go the same way. While you may have experienced an anomoly your way, most people still have to commute large distances to go to work.
Everyone may have to commute but the weekend free lersure travel is way down. I drove into downtown LA yesterday and back today and the only place where the freeway slowed down was the Western exit on 101 going into downtown. Going North today the only backup I saw was the 405 South exit. Normally I would find more slowed down areas. I wonder if the FCA group that went up to Santa Ynez had any traffic going South out of Santa Barbara today. That has always been bumper to bumper of people going back to LA after the weekend.
By the way, While we sit and do nothing with the huge new oil field off the coast of Florida, Cuba has leased there side of the field to the Chinese who are slant drilling into our fields and stealing our oil.
As a pet sitter in the OC we typically drive 100-200+ miles a day going to client's homes. I figure between our two work cars (one is a hybrid, the other a Focus) we are spending between $1,500- $2k a month just in gas. Factor in a few tanks of premium for the 456 and full tanks for the other cars, it seems like nearly all of our paycheck is spent at the pump. This summer is gonna be a killer for me business wise, more for gas + fewer clients traveling (because of gas prices) = less in my pocket. :-( Guess I could enjoy the boat in my time off- but then again, marine fuel is probably over $6 a gallon!
I was visiting property in the central valley ( Bakersfield ) most stations with freeway access had the lowest octaine at or north of $5.00 Premium was 5.45+
Just do what a lot of businesses are doing. Add a $5 fuel charge to each client or increase your charge by $5 or $10.
Aussie has tax that goes to social programs so this comparison is not correct. Do you change how to where you drive?
So it is still 5.09 for premium (91 octane) outside my office at Olympic/Bundy and has been for almost two weeks. I understand the supply and demand issues of delivering to the desert and far off outposts of civilization, but in the middle of LA?
