Gas prices surge to over 2.60 a gallon

Discussion in 'Business & Economics' started by cosmictraveler, May 10, 2015.

  1. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    That's up 30 % this year and there is no other item that has climbed that high in the same time period. There's as much gas being sold now as there was back in January.

    SO WHERE ARE THE MEDIA?

    I'd thought they would be jumping up and down as they did when a few oil wells shut down because they weren't MAKING ENOUGH MONEY!

    Now that the public is being SCREWED the media sticks its head in the sand and looks the other way, I wonder why...hmmmmmm......oil company paying them off to keep quiet.

    What a rip off that the oil companies can do to everyone, they have the public by the balls and don't care who pays what.
     
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  3. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    Probably because gasoline prices are down from nearly $4 or more per gallon, depending on where one lives.
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2015
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  5. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    gasoline ain't made from bananas.
    44 plus 30% = 57.2
    so it would seem that gasoline prices are lagging oil.
     
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  7. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    Idiotic conspiracy theory rubbish. Just look at the markets.
     
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  8. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    Unfortunately, a lot of people believe those conspiracies and a lot of other nonsense.
     
  9. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I'm asking only why the media isn't bringing this to the attention of the public like they did when prices went down and the oil companies were crying that they can't remain in business making that little amount.

    This isn't a conspiracy post it is a post about holding the media to do the right thing and find out why prices are going up so fast and HURTING the consumer. The media cries about oil companies not making enough but say nothing when the consumer gets hit. Talk about biased reporting, there you have it.

    Yes look at the markets, the same amount of oil is being put on the market today as was back in December last year. There's no differences with total amounts being produced and total amounts being sold to CONSUMERS.
     
  10. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    You wrote this:" Now that the public is being SCREWED the media sticks its head in the sand and looks the other way, I wonder why...hmmmmmm......oil company paying them off to keep quiet." That is alleging a conspiracy. And an idiotic one, to boot.

    The Koch bros might be able to buy off Murdoch's Fux News (though I don't believe they would waste money that way), but does anyone sane really think all the other media sources in the US can be bought by big business? Absurd to the point of delusion.

    The reason why no one but you is jumping up and down is that there is nothing to jump up and down about. Crude has recovered from about $45 to 65, the "summer driving season" is upon the US, I don't know what refinery turnarounds there may be, etc etc. If you bothered to read the oil market commentaries you would understand what causes these price movements. At the moment you are shouting foul play from a position of abject ignorance and blind prejudice.

    P.S. But rather than just shout at you for being silly, here is a starter for you on the road to understanding what goes into the price of gasoline, in the US: http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/

    Once you've digested that we can proceed to find out more about the dynamics of the market for refined products. It is quite complex, but not very sinister, in view of the large number of players and the transparency of the markets for these widely traded commodities.

    Here, for example is one short term analysis of the factors, trends and forecasts, again from EIA:
    http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2015
  11. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    Reporting on their usual stories - who showed what body part at the Superbowl halftime show, what the actor in the latest hit summer movie said etc.
    Probably because "Prices go from 4.00 a gallon to 2.60 in seven years!" isn't all that big a story.
    Or they just print stories that sell.
    You can pay whatever they charge or you can use alternatives. Your choice. However, if you whine about your own choices, don't expect much sympathy.
     
  12. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I used 2 words to point out something, not to shout.
     
  13. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    You were shouting (block capitals) about where the media were and about the public being "screwed" by this alleged conspiracy.

    More importantly, did you read the links I posted, do you now understand what has happened to the price of crude, do you now know what the "summer driving season" is and do you know what a refinery turnaround is? If you don't, then get back to me when you do and we can take this further.
     
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  14. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    If civic responsibility is the hallmark of sanity, then the media are all quite insane.

    Many years ago, I came into the tv room just in time for the evening news.
    The lead story was "Who killed J.R.?"

    Things ain't improved none since then.
     
  15. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I guess the gestapo runs the media now. We aren't ever going to be given the truth about anything. And so it goes, no one really stands up against the media or they too will perish in the smoke and mirrors the media puts out as "news".
     
  16. Russ_Watters Not a Trump supporter... Valued Senior Member

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    How is $2.60/gal gas being "screwed"?
    Oil companies? You mean like how the oil companies conspired to drop the price from $4 to $2 last year (those dirty, rotten scoundrels - how dare they!).

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    How did you find out that the average oil price is now $2.60/gal if not from the media?
     
  17. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    2.60 a gallon is almost a dollar more than in December of last year. The oil companies were making a profit back then with it at 1.80 a gallon and I heard from the media that some oil companies weren't and some needed to close their oil wells down because they weren't making enough profits. Well if profits were being made, stocks were up, why then did the oil companies need to raise their products 30%? The same amount of oil was being sold then as is today but there's a 30% price increase for some reason which since nothing else has risen that much then it must be the oil companies screwing the public over and over.
     
  18. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    And 80 cents LESS than it was in December of 2013. You should be thankful.
    Right. Back then oil was ten dollars a barrel cheaper. Now it's more expensive.
    Well, there's your first problem.
    Right. When oil is $47 a barrel and it costs you $60 a barrel to pump it, they have to shut those wells down. You would do the same if you were in charge.
    Because oil went up 30%.
    Do you understand basic economics? Are you going to complain when the price of your house goes up for no good reason?
     
  19. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    The oil companies forced the prices of oil UP. No they did not need to do that as I stated they were making profits with oil at $45 a barrel. They made the prices shoot up because no one else anywhere has a cost increase of 30%, if so show me.

    Oil went up for no other reason than greedy assholes wanting to fuck the public as much as they can get by with.

    Prices of homes did not increase 30% at any time that I'm aware of within 6 months. The more my home costs the more taxes I must pay. So big fucking deal if prices go up on a home, the owner gets screwed again by more taxes being put on their now "improved" home.


    However at the 1.80 level oil companies were still making profits and did not need to increase the prices but the stock market made it rise artificially once again. I will continue to say that the public is being screwed by oil companies and Wall Street as they have been over the years.
     
  20. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    21,635
    Well, no. If people had stopped buying oil it would have gone down. But with the economy recovering people were driving more, shipping more etc. So demand went up. When demand goes up and supply does not follow right away, what happens?
    Prices have jumped 25% in the San Francisco housing market in the past year and a half. Is that because greedy home-owning assholes want to fuck the public as much as they can get by with?

    In Prince William County, the median sale price of a home is climbing 22% a year - over 40% over the past two years. Is that because greedy home-owning assholes want to fuck the public as much as they can get by with?

    Here's another good example of a fast increase in demand with a slow response in supply:
    ========================
    Cost of AR-15 Ammo Doubles in Response to ATF Ban Threat
    by Paul Joseph Watson | March 3, 2015

    The ATF’s threat to ban sales of the cheapest type of AR-15 ammo has caused prices to double as gun owners continue to exhaust supplies of the bullets across the country.

    The federal agency announced its intention to ban sales of M855 “green tip” bullets, typically used by sports shooters, in the name of protecting law enforcement officers from “the threat posed by ammunition capable of penetrating a protective vest.”

    Gun stores quickly reported a run on the ammunition, with suppliers unable to keep up with the demand. The buying frenzy has also sent prices skyrocketing, as Liberty Arms Manager Colton May explained to CBS News. “Ten to 11 bucks, you know, for a box of 20,” May said. “Now I’ve seen it priced for 20 bucks, even higher and that’s just a small batch of ammunition.” May added that the scare had prompted all kinds of semi-auto ammunition to fly off the shelves, noting that he had sold 6,000 to 7,000 rounds of 2.23 mm or 5.56 mm just on Friday alone. Some stores, such as Guns on 41 in Ft. Myers, Florida, are reporting that they are selling around 20 times the normal volume of the bullets.
    =======================
    Do you know what the word "investment" means?
    If you got a $10,000 a year raise, would you refuse it because you would pay $2000 more in taxes?
    You keep posting this stuff that makes me think you have no idea how economics works.
     
  21. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    You have evidently ignored the points I made to you earlier and chosen instead to repeat your silly remarks. This starts to look like the behaviour of a person with learning difficulties - or a fixed agenda.

    Nevertheless, let me try again to explain, again, this time without assuming any knowledge or common sense on your part. Crude oil is a traded commodity, like gold, coffee, or indeed US government bonds. The price is not set by "oil companies" [boo, hiss], but by the market, in response to the balance between supply and demand. With markets, something you need to understand is that the seller tries to get the highest price he can and the buyer tries to get the lowest. Any farmer knows this. There is no concept of a "fair" price, or of "screwing" someone. Everyone does their best to get the outcome that suits them and the price ends up at the balance point between these conflicting interests. That is how all markets work and have done since the dawn of civilisation.

    Back to the crude market, crude producers sell in this market and refiners buy in it, to get crude to run their refineries. Producers are exploration and production organisations. These include state organisations, representing countries such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran or Russia and also those oil companies [boo, hiss] that do this. The buyers are refiners, i.e. those who make gasoline and other refined products from crude. Some oil companies [boo, hiss] do both, if they have businesses in both crude exploration and refining, but a lot of the participants in this market only do one or the other, and there are hundreds of them. The result of that is that it is quite hard to manipulate the crude price: the only thing that can do that is to alter the supply/demand balance. Only a ginormous player, like Saudi Arabia can do that by its own efforts in isolation. Generally it takes collective action by OPEC to do it.

    Now, the same happens to apply to widely traded refined products as well, including gasoline. In this case the sellers are the refiners and the buyers are the retailers of gasoline. Once again there is host of both. Some integrated oil companies [boo, hiss] do both and are thus both buyers and sellers, but there are many who do only one or the other. Once again, there are enough of those to make the market price very hard to manipulate. The price of gasoline is thus set also by the balance between supply and demand, not by oil companies [boo, hiss].

    One other thing is very important to appreciate. People buy for future use. The price is determined by the amount of demand that people expect in the coming months, compared to the expected supply. Hence, when the US summer driving season approaches, the price tends to rise, as demand is expected to go up and this encourages refiners to produce more. Also, if the crude price is high, refiners will only be profitable if the gasoline price is also high, so they decline to supply until they can get a high enough price to make a profit. So a high crude price has a reducing effect on supply, which in turn leads to a higher gasoline price until again a balance is reached.

    It is thus only an imbecile who would conclude that, just because the price of gasoline has gone up, oil companies [boo, hiss] must be manipulating it to increase profits.

    In the present case it is clear that the increase in the crude price is largely responsible for the rise in the gasoline price. And why has crude gone up? Because supply has reduced, as a result of shale oil cutting back, in response to the previous price fall. This, most people will recall, though evidently it has somehow passed you by, in whatever hippie commune you live in, was triggered by Saudi Arabia increasing their supply…….. in order to scare off the shale producers. So their plan is working. Of course it has taken time for shale oil producers to decide where and by how much to cut back, so there is a "lag" in response to the market price movement. This is one reason why market prices tend to oscillate around a bit. But the market is finding its balance point. If you are looking for a villain to accuse of manipulating the markets, it is Saudi Arabia you have to blame. But you'd be a fool to do that, since their intervention is what has led to the huge fall we have seen, only a small part of which has now been counteracted by the recent rise. So the Saudis are doing you a favour.
     
  22. Russ_Watters Not a Trump supporter... Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, but that doesn't answer my question. My question was: how does that equal getting screwed?
    You're just repeating the same ignorant crap as before and not showing that you've read any of the responses. Please read the responses and citations you were given and respond to the information you were provided. Right now, you're just standing on a soapbox and yelling, not trying to have a discussion.
     
  23. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I guess you just don't get it and never will.

    I'll try just one more time. When Wall Street artificially boosts the price of oil that's one screw.

    The next is when oil companies themselves boost prices when they really do not need to as in this scenario where prices only for oil have risen while all other products have not, another screw.

    As I explained that 7 months ago the prices were at 1.80 per gal. and everyone in the oil business was happy then the prices jumped up again for no apparent reason other than screw number 3.

    I hope this allows you to understand better as to how the public is being screwed because if you look at other democratic nations like Russia it only charges about 1.75 at this time so how's that going on if they weren't making a profit?
     

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