I have no idea why people are surprised about gasoline prices.. It happens every year and its not going to get any better.. I for one hate gas prices but just have to deal with it.. Both my cars take supreme ( ARGH!!!! ) I told a buddy of mine in January that gas prices might hit 3.70 for supreme this summer. With Gas prices and Electricity I think I'm going to be spending about 800 dollars a month in the summer on just those two
I hope it's the type where it generates it's own electricity because the one where you have to plug into your home is plain dumb.. Do you know how much Electricity prices are.. It's like gas prices it just keeps going up and up and up..
I personally think gas prices are not high enough. People pay 6 plus dollars per LITER in some countries. Perhaps higher prices will force someone to do something about the awful public transportation system in most U.S. cities. Better yet, we may even be serious about alternative fuels. Brazil comes to mind.
About this time of year, the oil companies have to produce a more expensive, "summer" formula that costs 30 cents or so more than regular gas. I believe it is EPA mandated, but that may no longer be the case. Even back in the low gas price days of around 1997 and 1998, when gas was around $0.95 a gallon, in the summer it still went up to $1.20 or so.
So essentially we're screwed? I mean obviously we cant control gas prices...but from most of your guys posts it sounds like theres no chance gas prices go down, instead they'll keep going up, until someone decides enough is enough and make an alternative fuel source?
I still find it hard to believe that just 5 years ago, I was paying like a $1.30 for 93 octane gas. That seems like a lifetime ago - this is a situation that has gotten way out of hand.
In the early 90's, ethanol fuel prices went so high in Brazil that the public actually started buying gasoline-powered cars again for a while. If we switch to canola-based ethanol here corn prices would spike and the poverty-stricken country's would suffer greatly from food shortages. However, there are other types of ethanol that would be better alternatives and cost less in the long run..but they don't have the backing of the corn-growers and farmers of america groups. Sugar-based ethanol uses too much energy to make sense, but the biomass ethanol made from agricultural waste would be better because it can be made cheaper, with less energy wasted..but there is no big lobby group pushing it.
Oil isn't just used by the US.. Its used by everyone in the world and as long as countries like China and India keeping getting bigger and bigger there will allways be an increase... Frankly I think China is a beast waiting to take down the US economy... Do you know that they use to be the #1 exporter of steal now they can't even produce enough to sustain there own growth... Same with Oil, Clothing, Building Supplies etc.... China is growing at a much faster rate than us just because they are allowing the middle class folks to grow... Add to the fact that the USA is not finding oil fields like they use too..
Ok I see your point...but you're telling me that in 5 years china has grown so much that gas prices skyrocket from 1.00 per gallon to nearly 3.00? Not to mention oil companies are as rich as they have ever been, arent we just dealing with price gauging because of the war?
We used more gas than we made again last week - 5.5 million barrels of gas more. We are really hitting the supplies hard. It's like if we kept spending more money than we made. There's only so much savings before we really have a problem.
I saw a ticker on CNN that said the highest expected average price for regular unleaded gas this summer was going to be $2.87 Needless to say I Laughed!
You guys have it good compared to us in southern California. Gas is 3.30 for regular and up to 3.60 for premium. I paid 44 dollars to gas up with regular, and I have a 14 gallon tank. It's like I'm getting shot in the chest every time I gas up, it hurts so much.
Near where I work (Westheimer): $3.07 for premium Near where I live (NW/1960 area): $2.89 for premium So is gas higher in the Westheimer area because gas station owners can get away with charging that much because it's Westheimer or is my side of town just slow at getting prices up to the "standard pricing"? I think it's the former...which makes me sad.
^ Solution? Invest in refineries. I've made far more the past couple of years (around 6 figures) investing in those stocks (heavy leveraged hence my very close following) than I have lost paying higher prices at the pump. And I'm if I'm going to pay higher prices anyway, why not make some money on the side? When it's all said and done, I hope to put all my kids completely through college debt free.
I don't know, but copper is really bad. I had a co-worker from Venezuela (who has a degree in Petroleum Economics) explain his theory. He has correlated the price of crude and the price of copper to number of times that a futures contract is traded. For both of them, the growth correlated exactly.
