Gas

[Hoosier Daddy]

Left to private sector ingenuity, watch and see if someone don't at least come close to this.

Agreed.

As for the 2020 CAFE standards, notice that it's only the American car companies complaining about this. I haven't heard anything from the Asian auto makers.

Yup.

[Bob Campbell]

Wow, the Democrats caused the run up in oil because Schumer protected jobs in the state that elected him to protect jobs. No wait, it must have been Bill Clinton's fault because he put gas in his car. That's it.

btw, oil took another major plunge today as the dollar strengthened again.

[Arp2]

Wow, the Democrats caused the run up in oil because Schumer protected jobs in the state that elected him to protect jobs.

First, politicians can't "protect" jobs. And, philosophically speaking, that's not their jobs.

No....in case it wasn't obvious, I was all but saying "quid pro quo." With Iraq going as well as it was, Democrats needed to create an issue for the '08 campaign; and, between their threatened massive tax increases and the inflation coming from their obsession with burning our food and feedstock, they've been working on killing "the economy" for right around a year.

Interestingly, I heard a liberal economist today almost lament that we will not have a recession this year....although only in the .2-.6% range, the first and second quarters are likely to continue to see growth, and more companies plan to continue to hire than to fire!

No wait, it must have been Bill Clinton's fault because he put gas in his car. That's it.

No, but it's interesting you bring him up. Clinton manipulated the oil market in an attempt to push down the price of gas as an election approached by letting oil out of the strategic petroleum reserve. That's clearly not the purpose of the SPR, and, to this day, we are still having to buy oil on the open market -- yes, at these prices -- to get it filled back up.

btw, oil took another major plunge today as the dollar strengthened again.

...before closing almost the same place it opened. Can't go by midday news....especially when delivered by a voice or face that really doesn't have a clue.

[Arp2]

I don't NEED expensive clothes.

Yes, you do.....you just don't realize it!

In a pinch, I can buy the cheap stuff where the profit margin is less.

Profit margins on cheaper stuff are often significantly higher!

I NEED gas, fuel oil, etc. to work, have an income, pay bills, and stay warm.

Nope......walking, bicycling, and something to put in a stove will get all those things done.

When I was young, there was ONE family car. Today, there are 2, 3, 4.

Is this for convienence or necessity? In our house, two vehicles is not a luxury.

Yes, it is....you could go with zero. But, like all liberals believe, the "rules" or "goals" are for "the (other) people," not for you.

RECORD profits....Remember, right now, there are RECORD profits.

Please post scans of all your statements. After all, if you really believe that, you already have every penny you have in oil and oil services, right?

And almost none of it being invested in doing things that would bring the cost down.

You...just...couldn't...be...more...wrong. Seriously. That's 100% false. You really have to stop believing anything you're reading on those waste-of-time kook websites you peruse. Seriously, ignorance is better than "knowing" what lunatic kooks say....everything you believe is false! Why does that not make you angry at the people intentionally lying to you and bring an instant halt to consuming what they spew??

And why should they?

Because investment in production capability is the only way to ensure existence and profitability down the road. That's a really dumb question. I mean, haven't you bemoaned satellite delivery of formats and voicetracking in radio at least in part because it's destroying the training ground of future talent? Do you not realize the monstrous inconsistencies in your "positions?"

A corporation in an unregulated environment exists to do one thing: make money for its investors, and everyone else be damned.

You're a sole-proprieter, right? Doesn't your business exist to make money for its owner? If not, you'll be first on my list to do work for me.

I'm with Lester. Petroleum should be regulated.

Everything that sees regulation sees less of it produced. If you're for lower prices, you do NOT want regulation!

And PLEASE -- DO NOT deregulate electricity because our electric bills will spiral out of control just like gas prices have done.

That's just false. You're in Ohio, right? Electricity in Ohio is already deregulated!

Thanks the environmentalists for causing food to rise in price (corn to gas is without a doubt one of the DUMBEST things I've heard of) and not being allowed to drill our own oil... or build a new refinery in 30 years.

BUILD THEM ... and quit using the "wacko-environmentalists" as your excuse for inaction.

One or two are on the way, but what we really need now is continental shelf retrieval, more gulf retrieval, and ANWR ASAP!

[Dr. Whiplash]

And PLEASE -- DO NOT deregulate electricity because our electric bills will spiral out of control just like gas prices have done.

That's just false. You're in Ohio, right? Electricity in Ohio is already deregulated!

No it isn't. Not yet. Gov. Strickland (D), senate president Harris (R) and house speaker Husted (R) are working together to find a way out of the economically disasterous consequences of an industrial state going from below-average to above-average electricity rates. On the plus side, I understand OPEC is looking for good lawyers to advocate unrestricted free markets.

[Arp2]

We also know what "made" the oil we now pump and use.

I'm not sure we do. We've had our guesses and assumptions, but they don't explain why there's so much of it and its locations so far down and in such diverse spots on the globe.

More wells only delays the inevitable.

...but maintains freedom, cost, and growth in the meantime.

It is a finite resource, and it is running out.

That's called "peak oil theory," and, just this morning, I heard it said that the "theory" is built on a hypothesis that is built on now-known-false assumptions. I don't know what all of those are, but one that was mentioned was that oil will go as the Saudi Arabia oil fields go...given that more oil is discovered pretty much weekly in places far from and nothing like Saudi Arabia, that's obviously false.

[CoolBreeze]

RECORD profits. Remember, right now, there are RECORD profits.

Let's say I sell gas. Let's say I've never sold more than 10 gallons in a week.

If I sell 10 gallons of gas this week and make say... $2 profit,
and then I sell 20 gallons the following week and make $4 profit,

Is that a record profit for me? Yes it is, as my profit has actually doubled.

Same with the oil companies, except we're talking astronomical amounts.

As with any commodity, the more you sell the more money you make. More cars, longer commutes, and real life gas mileage stickers on new cars that are completely false by 10 to almost 20 %.

Not taking up for the oil companies, just looking at possible reasons for "record profits".

As far as "I don't need clothes & jewelry" but need gas: We certainly dont need as much. If we downsized from the SUVs into something more fuel efficient, that would save a bundle in itself. But Americans are too fat and proud to be seen in an economy car. They insist on parking as close to the front door of the Wal-Mart as possible, and will spend $5 worth of gas circling the lot until they find one. I drive one of the smallest cars on the market but that little bastard takes Premium and has a Turbo that I keep my foot in... which means I get about 17 miles to the gallon. That's less than some SUVs. And when the time comes that I'm tired of paying those prices, I'll get a more fuel efficient car. But till then... let the good times roll baby!... at $3.68 a gallon!

[Bob Campbell]

Uh, speaking of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, it was re-filled while Clinton was still President. The amount he released was a tiny fraction of the reserve.

[genlock]

Supply and demand set the price for gasoline.
Any interference from governments will modify
both supply and demand to the point that the
price will go up.

[Bob Campbell]

While supply and demand is the classic paradigm, it is not totally the case in the recent run up of oil prices. The primary cause of the recetn increases has been the flight to commodities in light of the weak dollar. This has resulted in record prices for gold also. This week, the dollar stabilized agains the euro and we saw huge drops in the price of gold and a significant drop in the price of oil. Despite weakening demand in the US, the price of gasoline actually rose yesterday, after seeing a sharp drop earlier in the week.

[Bob Campbell]

From MSNBC.com this morning.

Oil prices fell to hover above $100 a barrel Tuesday as a stronger U.S. dollar made energy futures less attractive to investors.

The greenback’s advance Monday made dollar-denominated oil lose some of its recent appeal to investors.

Many analysts believe the dollar’s recent depreciation was the primary reason oil surged to a record near $112 a barrel last week, since oil and other commodities are seen as a hedge against inflation and a falling dollar. Now that the dollar is rising, the effect is reversing.

[fearpeddler]

i quit trying ot debate with a few of you guys cause no matter how many great point are brought up you think you're still right....

[Dave Loudin]

Thumbnail sketch:

1) Oil is priced in dollars. Part of the cost to us is supply relative to demand and part of the cost is influenced by investors hedging on the dollar's decline.

2) Demand for oil is highly inelastic. That is, there will be only small changes in demand relative to changes in price for oil.

3) Factors 1 and 2 equate to large profits for companies that sell oil. That's just the way it is.

[Hoosier Daddy]

i quit trying ot debate with a few of you guys cause no matter how many great point are brought up you think you're still right....

Yup. Welcome to the board ...

[genlock]

Supply and demand work in Money Markets and Futures Markets also.

[SPIKE NESMITH!]

i quit trying ot debate with a few of you guys cause no matter how many great point are brought up you think you're still right....

The internet. Welcome to it.

[AmpedNow]

If we downsized from the SUVs into something more fuel efficient, that would save a bundle in itself. But Americans are too fat and proud to be seen in an economy car. They insist on parking as close to the front door of the Wal-Mart as possible, and will spend $5 worth of gas circling the lot until they find one.

I'm glad someone brought this up...

This is another huge cultural difference we have with Asia. Here, we still have the "bigger is better" mentality. There, they take pride in cramming as much crap into as little space as possible.

Tie this over with how far Detroit has fallen behind in recent years. The bladeless snow plows aren't selling as well now, and that's all they really know how to make. This a big part of the problem.

I also hate how they try to label small vehicles as "starter cars", as though you haven't arrived until you can afford a Hummer for those Starbucks runs. We need to reverse this mentality, and put even better quality and options into small vehicles.

As crazy as oil prices are, I don't think they have a choice...

[Arp2]

From MSNBC.com this morning.

Oil prices fell to hover above $100 a barrel Tuesday as a stronger U.S. dollar made energy futures less attractive to investors.

That was already dated the moment you posted it.

Oil spent the day up and closed at 101.82. Wholesale gasoline was up .04 to 2.68, suggesting a retail price in a range no lower than 3.10-3.33 very soon. Get gas tonight or in the morning -- you could see one of those .15-.20 jumps tomorrow....or maybe even more. Here's something wacky -- "crack spread" went negative a week ago, meaning that refiners were losing money on each gallon refined. How long do you think that will last??

As crazy as oil prices are, I don't think they have a choice...

Free up the 3/4 of the off-shore land that's "off-limits," stop spending taxpayer money turning known oil fields into national parks, and drill and retrieve more. Guaranteed solution.

[Dr. Whiplash]

Why aren't ALL senators and reps from ALL coal-producing states demanding an Apollo-level effort to develop clean coal technologies? (Because the public isn't demanding it?)

The United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal!

I'm more of an environmentalist than not. But it drives me crazy that so many enviros have closed their minds to finding a responsible means of using our most abundant fuel source.

I got your carbon footprint right here.

[fearpeddler]

i quit trying ot debate with a few of you guys cause no matter how many great point are brought up you think you're still right....

The internet. Welcome to it.

whats it got to do with the internet, people are like that everywhere now..