How and why gas is priced like it is.

[edo783]

I found this artical that delves into the how and why gas prices are where they are. Pay attention to the refining vs expolration/recover parts. Very interesting. We all like to blame the oil companies, but maybe they aren't causing it as much as we thought.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080524/...in_the_tank_12

[HPF Bob]

The causes:

1) weakened U.S. dollar
2) increased demand, particularly in Asia, raising crude oil price
3) U.S. stupidity toward oil/gas drilling/refining/remixing.

Fix any one of these three problems and the price or oil would plummet.But it seems most politicians would rather demonize "big oil" than do anything to actually fix the problem.

[edo783]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

The causes:

1) weakened U.S. dollar
2) increased demand, particularly in Asia, raising crude oil price
3) U.S. stupidity toward oil/gas drilling/refining/remixing.

Fix any one of these three problems and the price or oil would plummet.But it seems most politicians would rather demonize "big oil" than do anything to actually fix the problem.

I would also add "Rampent speculation" as a cause for the rise along with those you have submitted.

[KJ3]

"Mayra Perez said she works two fast-food jobs to help support her family, and gasoline is becoming harder to afford."

why work 2 fast food jobs when you could just go get 1 good job? why work 1 fast food job when you are older than 18? maybe it's just me but i have NO interest in working fast food jobs. magnify that statement if i had kids to take care of. you need more money so the answer is grab onto that 2nd burger flipper? nope. what is ignorant is that she actually had a fix for the government haha...to "limit the price of gasoline" hahaha....silly. she's got the world's problems down though her own are spotlighted. silly silly silly.

it's scary to think that oil has even the slightest possibility of renaming our country "new rome". but i suppose if i'm worried about economic collapse, or collapse of any sort that there have always been much more prevalent entities to cling to...

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by KJ3

"Mayra Perez said she works two fast-food jobs to help support her family, and gasoline is becoming harder to afford."

why work 2 fast food jobs when you could just go get 1 good job? why work 1 fast food job when you are older than 18? maybe it's just me but i have NO interest in working fast food jobs. magnify that statement if i had kids to take care of. you need more money so the answer is grab onto that 2nd burger flipper? nope. what is ignorant is that she actually had a fix for the government haha...to "limit the price of gasoline" hahaha....silly. she's got the world's problems down though her own are spotlighted. silly silly silly.

it's scary to think that oil has even the slightest possibility of renaming our country "new rome". but i suppose if i'm worried about economic collapse, or collapse of any sort that there have always been much more prevalent entities to cling to...

Hey it's honest work...perhaps there is nothing in her town except the service sector. The ghost of past factory jobs in the NE used to be a staple of the economy...but thousands of jobs have been outsourced since the investor class found out that if you hire pauper wages in other countries you can have fatter returns on your investments.

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by Vinny

Hey it's honest work...perhaps there is nothing in her town except the service sector. The ghost of past factory jobs in the NE used to be a staple of the economy...but thousands of jobs have been outsourced since the investor class found out that if you hire pauper wages in other countries you can have fatter returns on your investments.

there are many things i have to say in response of that but none of them are pleasant so i'll pass and keep my heart rate down hahaha.... i assume you don't really appreciate the jobs being passed over the people that need it here either? (like ms. 2 fastfood jobs)

how 'bout that economy huh?

[edo783]

Seeing as some keep seeing conspricies by our government and such, here is a link to another artical written by the AP (hardly a friend of the gov & oil) from Paris (we know how much they love us). Take a look at what they are paying per gallon in France.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080531/..._at_the_pump_4

[KJ3]

f that. i would strike too that is stupid!! those fishing boats require a lot more gas than a car does too, at 9 bucks a gallon that adds up pretty quick.

even more shocking though was that venezuelan's pay 12 cents for a gallon. 12 CENTS.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by KJ3

even more shocking though was that venezuelan's pay 12 cents for a gallon. 12 CENTS.

Only because it is subsidized by the government thanks to relatively high taxes, but mainly it is paid for with profits from their national oil company.

But Venezuela is paying a price for cheap gasoline. State oil company Petróleos de Venezuela is footing an $11 billion a year bill for underwriting and subsidizing the fuel. That's nearly double its 2007 net income of $6.27 billion. The cost of that subsidy, along with money it pays to underwrite government social programs, has forced Petróleos de Venezuela to borrow billions on international markets to cover investments.

It is a major problem for them not only becuase of the strain it puts on their oil company, but any time they try to raise the prices it causes major riots. Chavez actually got famous during one of the gas increase riots.....and now he's desperately trying to raise gas prices. They also have major inflation problems.

Nothing is free.

[KJ3]

oh....

well....

nothing is free....but why does it have to be so hard?!?!?!

seriously, if anyone found a way to make solar panels cost efficient that person is going to be rich out the wazoo. rich enough to rename a part of the body a wazoo, and then have all of their money fall out of it.

[edo783]

Originally Posted by KJ3

oh....

well....

nothing is free....but why does it have to be so hard?!?!?!

seriously, if anyone found a way to make solar panels cost efficient that person is going to be rich out the wazoo. rich enough to rename a part of the body a wazoo, and then have all of their money fall out of it.

They have figured it out. Checkout a company called Nano Solar I think is the name. Very cheap and very efficient panels. So much so that they are sold out for the next three years and power companies are converting to them. I would be splapping them on my house if I could get a hold of them.

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by edo783

They have figured it out. Checkout a company called Nano Solar I think is the name. Very cheap and very efficient panels. So much so that they are sold out for the next three years and power companies are converting to them. I would be splapping them on my house if I could get a hold of them.

WAZOO!!!

i'd be slapping them on my house if i could get a hold of them and change my deed restrictions.

my girl told me that solar panels also help the power grid by taking excess energy and spreading the wealth...i'm not totally sure if that's true but if it is and if Nano Solar decides it wants more money than it knows what to do with and sells it technology then power plants are soon to be a thing of the past.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by KJ3

WAZOO!!!

i'd be slapping them on my house if i could get a hold of them and change my deed restrictions.

my girl told me that solar panels also help the power grid by taking excess energy and spreading the wealth...i'm not totally sure if that's true but if it is and if Nano Solar decides it wants more money than it knows what to do with and sells it technology then power plants are soon to be a thing of the past.

I've seen that company too, but it was my understanding that they still had some work to do....mainly related to large scale production.

It is possible to "sell" any excess energy your house produces back to the power grid. I guess you would need a two way meter and some extra equipment. I know it can be done but I don't know how it works.

[KJ3]

i'm sure it's totally possible to measure watts going out if we're able to measure watts going in. but i didn't get the feeling it was so much "selling" the power back as it was just spreading it around making the workload on a nuclear-waste-producing or sky-blackening or power plant less. clean!

[edo783]

Originally Posted by papabear

It is possible to "sell" any excess energy your house produces back to the power grid. I guess you would need a two way meter and some extra equipment. I know it can be done but I don't know how it works.

From what I understand about the meter thing is that, if your producing more power than your using, the meter runs backwards for that time period. If by the end of the month you are still in the "Negative" ie sold power back, they send you a check for the value of that power at the rate you are a subsciber at. The question comes to my mind, how do you know they are being square with you and I guess you would have to read the meter at the same time they do. There are people/houses that are total power sellers. That would be a nice thing.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by edo783

The question comes to my mind, how do you know they are being square with you and I guess you would have to read the meter at the same time they do.

How do you know they aren't overcharging you on a normal house? Sure some people complain when they get a high bill....but they could be hitting you for an extra 10% a month. I don't think they generally do that, but if you trust them about how much you use.....why wouldn't you trust them about how much "extra" you produce.

[KJ3]

the question that comes to my mind is that if i don't have to pay a light bill every month i couldn't give a crap about how much money they send me back.

wait....that wasn't a question at all....

all i would care about is less dependance on big bad power plants. seriously if i put out solar panels that energized my townhouse free of cost and semi-supplied a cleaner form of energy to the connecting 15 houses around me i would be more than happy to call it even. i would see it sort of as an employee benefit for me even though i'm not really working for the power plant.

[edo783]

Originally Posted by papabear

if you trust them about how much you use.....why wouldn't you trust them about how much "extra" you produce.

Not saying I do. However, I suspect they would be less likely to be square with things they have to pay out rather than that which they recieve. Not saying, just saying.

[coloradodude]

So you guys really want to know why gas is priced like it is?

In order for an industry to change you can either wait for it to happen OR force it to happen.

When an industry waits for change to happen, it gets caught between the chopping block and the ax. Usually the industry is caught off guard and the extreme takes place forcing many companies to disappear. This is compared to an individual who is healthy one day and has a massive heart attack the next day. This is a catastrophic change that no one wants kind of deal.

The other way you have change is to take the bull by the nose ring and guide him where you want him to go. This is done on your terms.

Without looking up all of my old information, I'll just give you guys the gist of it. In the early 1950's a geologist made the calculated prediction that the earth's capacity to produce oil would peak in 1969 to 1971 (he called an exact year I just can't remember specifically which one). We had the oil embargo in (about) 1973 because this geologist happened to miss the peak production year by about one year. Enter Henry Kissinger who made a deal with Saudi and later OPEC that all oil could only be bought with U.S. dollars.

(Now on a side note, Saddam Hussein was a terrible man but the real reason the US went to war with him was because he felt the OPEC nations were getting screwed and he wanted to let nations use the currency of Saddam's choice...Iran is doing the same thing right now. They want to accept the Euro. Research the Iranian oil bourse to double check my info)

Back on track...Now the US Dept of Energy knows how the world's oil reserves are going and just about every single country's peak production has either occured or will occur by approximately 2012. So they know we need a new form of energy.

Now tie this in with our current Recession.

We can't go to war to stimulate our economy because we are already in one. Interest rates are already low despite being in a housing correction. So what else is there? Raise the gas prices so people will be forced to recognize the need for a new what?

A new fuel efficient vehicle for their family! Remember, interest rates are super low and way too many people drive cars/trucks/suv's that get less than 20 mpg. When an economy has slowed, the first thing economists watch for a recovery is...?

That's right! New car sales.

New car sales lead the recovery and will show the public that "everything is gonna be just fine." But the idiots running the show don't understand what this type of recovery does. It forces the already maxed consumer to take on way more debt which will devastate the US economy on the next correction.

Bottom line? High gas prices are being used to stimulate the economy.