I Want to Understand Why Gas Prices are So Damned High

SloMotion · 03-10-2012, 08:08 AM

Upon further review, I see it's already been addressed in a previous thread, http://blackandgold.com/ee/41978-i-w...mned-high.html.

dam1953 · 03-10-2012, 09:09 AM

In my opinion Wall Street (actually the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, etc) is broken. Once upon a time (a phrase used to begin many a fairy tale) Wall Street was created as a place for businesses to raise capital. If you had a new idea for a business or needed to expand your business you sold a piece of the company as stock to private investors. Investors bought and sold stock in companies based upon their long-term perfornace, market trends, etc.

For nearly 200 years this worked really well.

Today, the whole system looks more like Vegas-east where money is bet not invested. Day traders buy and sell, flipping stocks so fast that the actual performance of a company is often not the issue at all. You make short term bets on stock, commonidites, etc and if you're a big enough player your bet moves the market. In short the game is fixed.

So, when traders, hedge fund managers, etc take positions on oil they have no intent on ever taking delivery. They are only betting the price will go up or down. This creates a false "demand" driving the price up or down and the traders win. Unfortunatley, for every winner there is also a looser and in this case it is us, the consumers.

Will the problem get fixed, highly unlikely. Wall Street money actually fixes two games. First, the trading process itself, as described above. Second, a chunk of the "profits" from the trades flow back to Washington in the form of campaign contributions, in short, protection money.

If you have a problem with low blood pressure I suggest reading Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer.

saintfan · 03-10-2012, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by skymike

The administration openly admitted this week that they are not seeking
to lower gas prices. High gas prices, they hope, will encourage
Americans to use alternative fuels. They're not even attempting to
hide this agenda. This doesnt come from anyone's editorial, this is
hard news this week.

They pay well over 6 bucks a gallon in Europe. The 'lucky' folks in some places in Europe are paying just under 6 bucks a gallon.

SmashMouth · 03-10-2012, 02:11 PM

The Rent Is Too Damn High Party's Jimmy McMillan at the NY Governor Debate - YouTube

CharityMike · 03-10-2012, 06:35 PM

It's $3.59 here in Nawlins. I did a little math. I basically work 2 full days for free every month. Between driving 73 miles a day, 5 sometimes 6 days a week, and $2.00 toll for the same said days. What you gonna do, there are bills to pay.

SloMotion · 03-11-2012, 06:39 AM

Originally Posted by saintfan

They pay well over 6 bucks a gallon in Europe. The 'lucky' folks in some places in Europe are paying just under 6 bucks a gallon.

Across the river, Canadians are paying approx. $1.30CAN per litre, they also use an Imperial Gallon which is 4.5 litres/gallon as opposed to the US Gallon which is 3.78 litres/gallon. That translates into about $5.85 gallon. They've always had pretty high gas prices compared to us, but they get more gas per their gallon.

The reason gas prices have spiked so sharply is because of an implosion in the refinery capacity in the U.S., said Roger McKnight, a senior petroleum adviser with En-Pro International in Oshawa. Four refineries shut down in Philadelphia and a company that shipped a million barrels of oil a day to the U.S. from Europe filed for bankruptcy, McKnight said.

Read more: Windsor area gas prices predicted to hit $1.47

SmashMouth · 03-11-2012, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by SloMotion

Across the river, Canadians are paying approx. $1.30CAN per litre, they also use an Imperial Gallon which is 4.5 litres/gallon as opposed to the US Gallon which is 3.78 litres/gallon. That translates into about $5.85 gallon. They've always had pretty high gas prices compared to us, but they get more gas per their gallon.

Read more: Windsor area gas prices predicted to hit $1.47

yeah ... for sure... although there have been a couple of new refineries come online recently, there are too many older ones that need updating.. and we need some new ones too just to keep up with demand.

Crusader · 03-12-2012, 02:13 AM

We pay about $8 per gallon in Sweden right now. Our taxes on gas are really high. But I went trough college for free and don't pay much for healthcare so I'm pretty happy about it.

saintfan · 03-12-2012, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Crusader

We pay about $8 per gallon in Sweden right now. Our taxes on gas are really high. But I went trough college for free and don't pay much for healthcare so I'm pretty happy about it.

Taxes will be that high here eventually.

SapperSaint · 03-12-2012, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by saintfan

Taxes will be that high here eventually.

As high as a female giraffes' female part!

It would sound better if I could type it the way you say it.

03-10-2012, 12:26 PM	#13
saintfan Donated Plasma Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 18,556 Blog Entries: 5	Originally Posted by skymike The administration openly admitted this week that they are not seeking to lower gas prices. High gas prices, they hope, will encourage Americans to use alternative fuels. They're not even attempting to hide this agenda. This doesnt come from anyone's editorial, this is hard news this week. They pay well over 6 bucks a gallon in Europe. The 'lucky' folks in some places in Europe are paying just under 6 bucks a gallon.

03-11-2012, 06:39 AM	#16
SloMotion 5000 POSTS! + Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 6,776 Blog Entries: 15	Originally Posted by saintfan They pay well over 6 bucks a gallon in Europe. The 'lucky' folks in some places in Europe are paying just under 6 bucks a gallon. Across the river, Canadians are paying approx. $1.30CAN per litre, they also use an Imperial Gallon which is 4.5 litres/gallon as opposed to the US Gallon which is 3.78 litres/gallon. That translates into about $5.85 gallon. They've always had pretty high gas prices compared to us, but they get more gas per their gallon. The reason gas prices have spiked so sharply is because of an implosion in the refinery capacity in the U.S., said Roger McKnight, a senior petroleum adviser with En-Pro International in Oshawa. Four refineries shut down in Philadelphia and a company that shipped a million barrels of oil a day to the U.S. from Europe filed for bankruptcy, McKnight said. Read more: Windsor area gas prices predicted to hit $1.47

03-11-2012, 10:24 AM	#17
SmashMouth I donated, did you? Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Mandeville, LA Posts: 38,616 Blog Entries: 29	Originally Posted by SloMotion Across the river, Canadians are paying approx. $1.30CAN per litre, they also use an Imperial Gallon which is 4.5 litres/gallon as opposed to the US Gallon which is 3.78 litres/gallon. That translates into about $5.85 gallon. They've always had pretty high gas prices compared to us, but they get more gas per their gallon. Read more: Windsor area gas prices predicted to hit $1.47 yeah ... for sure... although there have been a couple of new refineries come online recently, there are too many older ones that need updating.. and we need some new ones too just to keep up with demand.
	Last edited by SmashMouth; 03-11-2012 at 10:30 AM..

03-12-2012, 11:03 AM	#19
saintfan Donated Plasma Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 18,556 Blog Entries: 5	Originally Posted by Crusader We pay about $8 per gallon in Sweden right now. Our taxes on gas are really high. But I went trough college for free and don't pay much for healthcare so I'm pretty happy about it. Taxes will be that high here eventually. SapperSaint likes this.

03-12-2012, 12:29 PM	#20
SapperSaint Pink Nightmare Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Mississippi Posts: 3,028 Blog Entries: 7	Originally Posted by saintfan Taxes will be that high here eventually. As high as a female giraffes' female part! It would sound better if I could type it the way you say it.

03-10-2012, 08:08 AM	#11
SloMotion 5000 POSTS! + Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 6,776 Blog Entries: 15	Upon further review, I see it's already been addressed in a previous thread, http://blackandgold.com/ee/41978-i-w...mned-high.html.

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03-10-2012, 09:09 AM	#12
dam1953 1000 Posts + Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 4,645	In my opinion Wall Street (actually the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, etc) is broken. Once upon a time (a phrase used to begin many a fairy tale) Wall Street was created as a place for businesses to raise capital. If you had a new idea for a business or needed to expand your business you sold a piece of the company as stock to private investors. Investors bought and sold stock in companies based upon their long-term perfornace, market trends, etc. For nearly 200 years this worked really well. Today, the whole system looks more like Vegas-east where money is bet not invested. Day traders buy and sell, flipping stocks so fast that the actual performance of a company is often not the issue at all. You make short term bets on stock, commonidites, etc and if you're a big enough player your bet moves the market. In short the game is fixed. So, when traders, hedge fund managers, etc take positions on oil they have no intent on ever taking delivery. They are only betting the price will go up or down. This creates a false "demand" driving the price up or down and the traders win. Unfortunatley, for every winner there is also a looser and in this case it is us, the consumers. Will the problem get fixed, highly unlikely. Wall Street money actually fixes two games. First, the trading process itself, as described above. Second, a chunk of the "profits" from the trades flow back to Washington in the form of campaign contributions, in short, protection money. If you have a problem with low blood pressure I suggest reading Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer.

03-10-2012, 06:35 PM	#15
CharityMike Site Donor 2018 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Mid City, New Orleans Posts: 3,556	It's $3.59 here in Nawlins. I did a little math. I basically work 2 full days for free every month. Between driving 73 miles a day, 5 sometimes 6 days a week, and $2.00 toll for the same said days. What you gonna do, there are bills to pay.

03-12-2012, 02:13 AM	#18
Crusader Resident Swede Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Märsta, Sweden Posts: 8,035	We pay about $8 per gallon in Sweden right now. Our taxes on gas are really high. But I went trough college for free and don't pay much for healthcare so I'm pretty happy about it.