Why Are Gasoline & Home Heating Fuels So Expensive?

These numbers are suspect but they say that China is still growing at an 8% pace.

coalmeister wrote:Yes, if the world economy is not improving. Unless of course if we were to bomb Iran or a terrorist blows up something or some other big and verifiable event.

OK.....We'll revisit this thread..Local Gasoline Price on 11/30 & compare gas prices.

Edit:

I'll even publicly go out on a limb here & predict the following:

(looks deeply into his crystal ball...........)

if Obama wins & the Repubs are thrashed in Congress

1. U.S. gasoline prices will rise by...probably just a few cents by 11/30
2. Will be back up to around $3.00 per gal. by X-mass

If McCain wins (& M'Connell & E. Dole retain their seats in Congress)..

1.....gas prices will be up by 5-8 cents by 11/30

2. Will be up around $4.00 per gal. by X-mass

"1.....gas prices will be up by 5-8 cents by 11/30"

I can foresee maybe 5-8 cents, these days it move that in a single day.
I was on the Mass Pike 2 weeks ago and it was $3.00 even. What is the price for regular unleaded in MA today?

coalmeister wrote:I can foresee maybe 5-8 cents, these days it move that in a single day.
I was on the Mass Pike 2 weeks ago and it was $3.00 even. What is the price for regular unleaded in MA today?

I have no idea but that's why we'll use the "Local Gas Price" thread to see if we can get a national average, or just find a web site that gives the national average. (The oil companys are smart enough to not suddenly announce a major price increase without making it a little less obvious by dragging it out over a few months)
I doubt we will wake up on 12/4/2008 to an announcement from Exxon-Mobil saying: "We are hereby informing the U.S. motoring public that, in keeping with our illegal price fixing scheme , we are advising you that we will be ripping you off even more & expect our gasoline prices to exceed $4.00/ gallon by........."

I doubt we'll see that.....but you never know how arrogant these guys can be!

You are predicting $4 by Christmas (less than 2 months away), so I don't think 5-8 cent at the half way mark, leaving a more than a dollar to climb is the last 25 days, is going to happen. But then I don't have the acute energy/market insights that you do. I just look at the energy supply & demand fundamentals, and throw in a little fudge factor for the supply chain to drag its feet on the way down.

I will go on the record that gas may even be less by Christmas than it is today barring a major world event. If GW could control it, he would have done it earlier to stimulate growth for the election year.

coalmeister wrote:You are predicting $4 by Christmas (less than 2 months away)

I said "around" $4.00 by X-mass. & that may have been a little high, even for the arrogant oil companies to shoot for but that is what I said & agreed to our bet on, so I will stick by it. If Obama wins decisively & if the Repubs are rebuked in Congress as decisively as I expect, it may create fear in oil company board rooms & cause them to show less greed than normal for those predatory animals. If so....I'll lose the bet......BUT our country will win!

Edit:

I missed this last sentence of yours: "If GW could control it, he would have done it earlier to stimulate growth for the election year."....which I disagree with. IMO, GW Bush could care less about John McCain, The Republican Party, The American People or anyone else but his oil company buddies.

Wow, you are an interesting guy! Greg's sneaking suspicion about the conspiracy pills is gaining traction with me...
1)Could you explain to me how "oil companies" actually control the world price of oil? I thought the price was based on demand in the commodity futures pit. Oil companies put there oil out there and traders bid on it. Just like T bills in treasury auctions.
2)Then explain why the price was in the twenties and even the teens per barrel for decades if the oil companies can control it?
Thanks for your help on this-

coalmeister wrote:1)Could you explain to me how "oil companies" actually control the world price of oil? I

I never said they do. I never buy gasoline in Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Japan......or anywhere else but right here in the USA , where they control the refining process, necessary to refine crude oil into gasoline. (my car runs very poorly on crude oil)

All it seems to take is a cloudy day in the Gulf of Mexico b4 we hear horror stories about why our U.S. gasoline prices will be skyrocketing!...that is...when there's no election close by!

coalmeister wrote:2)Then explain why the price was in the twenties and even the teens per barrel for decades if the oil companies can control it?
Thanks for your help on this-

In terms of U.S. gasolinbe prices being low, it was probably because the oil company didn't have "Their Man" in the White House to shield them from the law.

You're welcome!

His Daddy was the prez then. So you think Junior has more clout?

So you think that gas cost more in the U.S. than in other countries? Because of GW Bush??? My oh my, this is getting interesting. Do you have any documentation or proof of this?

coalmeister wrote:His Daddy was the prez then. So you think Junior has more clout?

Not more clout....Just more dishonesty.

coalmeister wrote:So you think that gas cost more in the U.S. than in other countries? Because of GW Bush??? My oh my, this is getting interesting. Do you have any documentation or proof of this?

Yes I do. Look up Cheney's Energy Task Force of 2000 & tell me what they're hiding.... by going to court for years to keep secret the minutes of these meetings between the Bush Admin. & the oil companies. (Keep secret even from their own Republican Senators)
That will provide your proof....& probably help send some criminals to prison. Do a net search. Cheney Energy Task Force.

coalmeister wrote: I will go on the record that gas may even be less by Christmas than it is today barring a major world event.

It's been reported by investors on tv that if McCain is elected president then you want to be invested in oil stocks just like they said it was the place to be before Bush got elected. All those invested in oil before he took office made millions on him being the president of the United States and you can expect those same people and a lot more who missed the boat the first time to get back into those oil stocks very strong. Oil and gas will go back to were it was becuase it has been proven that the American people will pay those high prices and the American government will give extra fuel assistance to those in need to help support those high prices. We would have never gone this low in prices if it wasn't for the "R" word and a lot of this could have been avoided if we had a president that listened to the specialists who have been telling where we were heading since the second half of last year.

Devil505 wrote:

coalmeister wrote:His Daddy was the prez then. So you think Junior has more clout?

Not more clout....Just more dishonesty.

coalmeister wrote:So you think that gas cost more in the U.S. than in other countries? Because of GW Bush??? My oh my, this is getting interesting. Do you have any documentation or proof of this?

Yes I do. Look up Cheney's Energy Task Force of 2000 & tell me what they're hiding.... by going to court for years to keep secret the minutes of these meetings between the Bush Admin. & the oil companies. (Keep secret even from their own Republican Senators)
That will provide your proof....& probably help send some criminals to prison. Do a net search. Cheney Energy Task Force.

I did take the time to check out the info available on the Cheney Energy Task Force, and it appears it was mostly related to finding new places to drill, (like the ANWAR wastelands) Iraq oil contracts, Caspian Sea development, and how to get our hands on more oil. Unless you ride a bicycle and flap your arms to fly, that was a good thing. BAD Pesident bad, you are looking for more energy for your country? How could you! If they were trying to raise oil prices they would want less oil floating around (sorry, I forgot you don't prescribe to the age old laws of supply & demand)

Last time I checked, government secrets does not just mean they are sticking it to their fellow countrymen . That's right, set the pills down s-l-o-w-l-y. There, there, that's better.

http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1225

coalmeister wrote:Last time I checked, government secrets does not just mean they are sticking it to their fellow countrymen .

Last time I checked a former President, who had much in common with the current one, was forced to resign rather than face guaranteed removal from office for trying to hide his crimes behind the veil of state secrecy. Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace for the same reason that Bush is going to court constantly to keep the minutes of those Cheney Energy Task Force meetings secret....even from his Republican allies. Release of them would divulge criminal activity & a misuse of government agencies to commit federal crimes. Obviously my opinion.....UNTIL the secret transcripts are made available to HONEST federal prosecutors........Then some people will be going to prison!

"Release of them would divulge criminal activity & a misuse of government agencies to commit federal crimes. Obviously my opinion"

There goes that pill popping again. You obviously did not read the info on the link so I will past the gist of it here. And by the way, it is a Bush bashing piece so you will like it. It had nothing to do with raising oil prices but was all about locking up supply for them & us.

"These developments suggest the answers to two long unanswered questions about the energy policy of the George W. Bush administration: Who attended Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force discussions, and what did they talk about? Without too much risk of being wrong, you can now answer both questions. The participants in the group mostly represented the US energy companies that took part in designing the new Iraqi oil law and that are now working on deals in Central Asia. What they discussed was the plan we now see unfolding in Baghdad and in various Caspian and Central Asian capitals."

coalmeister wrote:You obviously did not read the info on the link so I will past the gist of it here. And by the way, it is a Bush bashing piece so you will like it. It had nothing to do with raising oil prices but was all about locking up supply for them & us.

What was said at those meetings is still TOP SECRET

]The Supreme Court's Ruling on Cheney's Energy Task Force:
Still Secret, But More Litigation Will Follow
By JOHN W. DEAN

Full story here: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20040702.html

If you know what was said at those meetings then you obviously work for the White House because they are the only one's who know! ()them & the oil companies) Not Congress...Not the courts...not the taxpayers!

Attached is a little reading for you to do.