Not this again.

[Javaman]

So as we enter the spring then summer months, does the price of gas matter to you like it did last summer?

We are living in a depressed economy and as a result, people drive less, so the demand for gas is down.

But haven't you noticed that recently, the price of gas is creeping up? Why is that?

There is actually a small glut right now. Nations are buying up the "cheap" oil and storing it for the future. I find that really funny but more on that later.

The oil producers, the ones that actually pump it from the ground, are feeling the pinch. Saudi Arabia, for the first time in it's oil based economic history is running a deficit. Boo hoo for them, right?

The oil corporations, even though they still make sick amounts of money each quarter, are too feeling the pinch. They painted themselves into a shareholders corner. They want to continue to rake in the record earnings but how do they do that when people are just not buying? The cut refinery output, that's how. And the result is, the price at the pump goes up.

Currently, there is a huge futures market at play in the shadows. Nations are buying up as much oil as they can. Filling up there strategic stock piles, filling up tankers and letting them sit off shore for hopes of monetary glory, and still more nations are continuing to buy up various drilling, pipeline and deep-sea contracts hoping, no, depending on that oil sky rockets once again. (on a side note, this kind of stock piling is amusing, it's not like saving seeds. once the oil is gone, it's gone, all it does is delay the inevitable)

We will see, $150+ barrels of oil once again, but I don't think it will be this summer. But I do believe that those who stand to make a fortune on top dollar oil are also hedging their bets. OPEC is trying all they can to cut output but it at odds with nations that depend on that oil revenue to balance their budgets. So they try and raise the price, but since the demand is low, raising the price will only lower demand. So what to do?

Threaten the world with a new currency? will that do it? It was mostly laughed off by the rest of the world. The main reason for the new currency proposed by Russia and China (the new co-dependant relationship coming to a theater near you), because neither the ruble or the yuan have the economic strength to support such an idea. How about the Euro? They are a power house, but right now, even as bad as the economy is in Europe, the last thing the EU wants is to be tied to a dwindling resource. So the idea is floated and it sank. This will come up yet again, but not this year.

So with all these very weird, unknown bizarre chess pieces in place, what will it take for the oil producing nations to get oil to sky rocket again and for the long term?

do I need to fill in the blanks?

The world as we know it, is so interconnected that even the smallest of incidences would cause oil to jump in price.

I personally fear that as nations try to move to alternative forms of energy, the likely hood of "an incident" goes up. The nations that have enjoyed oil based economy are nothing more than over blown crack dealers. And when a crack dealers territory is threatened, very ugly things begin to happen.

So I ask again, does the price of gas matter to you like it did last summer?

[liberal N proud]

1. The excuse dejour is:

Pick one:

- Change in formulation for the warmer season
- Supply is down
- Supply is up
- Demand is up
- Demand is down
- Cost of Crude is up
- Profits are down
- Profits are up

They must have a wheel of fortune they use to generate these excuses.

[BonnieJW]

9. You forgot the refineries.

There aren't enough of them. The ones we have are too old. They can't keep up with the demand (what demand?).

[MonteLukast]

2. It's starting to get irritating.

It's not a great hardship yet, just an irritant.

I was actually afraid last summer that cheaper gas meant we'd throw our renewable energy goals out the window.

Maybe 1.79-2.00 is precisely that happy medium? Low enough to not be a great drain on you (economy aside), yet high enough to needle you and get you thinking about getting a hybrid or electric next time?

[BrklynLiberal]

4. I think your fears are justified. I heard a report that said with the "lower" fuel prices

the public is out there buying SUVs again...and the small, economic cars are sitting in the lot.

How stupid can people be?????!!!!

[MonteLukast]

7. Gullible in the face of marketing...

... that makes them think, "Do I love my kids? Do I care about my kids?! Then I'd BETTER GET A @&^$&^@in' SUV!"

:eyes:

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Pathetic...and scary. Isn't it?

[phantom power]

3. Actually our prices dropped a bit recently.

I'd have to say that the price of gas is less relevant this spring, since it's a YOY difference between over $4.00 and less than $2.00 per gallon.

Deflation is great, if you happen to have a job. Otherwise, not so much.

[BeFree]

5. Yeah, because it's cheaper!!!

The reason the dollar stays up is the fact that oil is sold in dollars, so your point about a new currency is important, folks need to remember that.

I see gas going up to 2.25 and holding, absent an event. A new US war is unlikely and no one else's skirmishes are tied to oil. Hurricanes? Up.

With Bushco, the rip-off was allowed to proceed. As long as Dems have a say, don't see that sort of rip-off happening again.

Now, if the dollar dives, oil will rise, but China does not want the dollar to dive.

Ahhh, we do live in interesting times.

[Ron Green]

6. $5.00 a gallon ought to be the lowest price.

Anything lower than that is not going to force the changes that have to come. I'd like to see the difference between the market price and $5.00 pay taxes for infrastructure for sustainable transportation.

[liberal N proud]

10. And who get hurt the worst in that situation?

The lower income people get hurt the worst.

They drive older inefficient vehicles because. They are working lower income jobs so more of their precious income is buying fuel to get to and from work.

And unlike the wealthier among us, they can't afford to replace their vehicles with efficient ones once they are produced.

And you can't use the public transportation because a majority of this nation has no access to public transportation.

So you are just making the poor, poorer and forcing more middle class into that poor bracket.

Meanwhile everyone else is raising their prices on every consumable and durable good to offset the higher cost of transportation.

[Ron Green]

11. I reject that as short-term thinking.

The simple fact is that we cannot continue on this road, not with private, fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. It's a dead end. Peak Oil has happened.

Lower income people are always hurt the worst, by almost anything that happens. The entire system of private conveyances hurts poor people, and that's one reason it must be ended.

I ride my bike to work most days.

[liberal N proud]

14. So it's fuck the little guy again

Please use the KY this time!

[Ghost in the Machine]

13. It must be nice to be rich, huh?

Do you also propose raising the minimum wage to $12 - $15 per hour so people working in fast food and convenience stores can still afford to go to work? The wealthy sure as hell aren't going to do those jobs...


Do you even understand the implications of your suggestion for a minimum $5/gal gas? Do you understand the affects it would have on food prices, shipping prices and everything else? This has to be one of the most idiotic ideas I've ever read here....

[zipplewrath]

12. Speculation

The price of oil was too high by any rational calculation last year. Speculators, as they are want to do, drove it up for a short period of time. Once it stayed to high for too long, the markets finally reacted, and it sucked the air right out of the speculators and the price crashed. It actually went "too far" in the sense that there is "roughly" the same demand (in the long term) that there always was. However, again, the short term speculative concern is that because the global economic drop off, that demand will stay low. I'm dubious but speculators can occasionally be pretty dumb. Partly because although it was too high at $150, $75 was seen by many as "about the right price historically". The truth is that we have "enjoyed" historically low oil prices for the last 15 years or so.

I, for one, didn't really "mind" the higher oil prices. Prices were artificially low for a wide variety of reasons and since I had always driven more efficienct vehicles, reduced energy use at home, etc. I was already "living well within my means" so spikes in these costs didn't particularly burden me. The flip side is that I was sensitive to those who were already struggling, despite their best efforts. These are the folks that have the least effect on decisions about public transport and what kind of cars get made.

And in there is my conflict. Oil is too cheap, in the sense that oil isn't charging the total cost of the addiction we have for it. It should be much more expensive, and therefor we would be using much less of it. But much like economic sanctions, or "collateral damage" it has the greatest negative impact on those who can least contol the problem.