Author Topic: Anyone else think it's WRONG...? (Read 361 times)

Vyris · « **on:** April 16, 2006, 09:01:31 am »

Anyone else think it's wrong that the average national gas price for the USA is now over $2.50 a gallon, yet the major oil companies are posting profits in the 20, 30, 40 and 50's of BILLIONS of dollars, and the CEO's of those same oil companies are getting 50-70 MILLION dollar retirement packages?

WoW!

I don't remember getting kissed, but I sure feel like I've been screwed.

Vyris

EdTheKet · « **Reply #1 on:** April 16, 2006, 09:30:08 am »

Well, over here in Holland we pay 1.39 euro ($1.61) a liter, which is about $6.35 a gallon...

Beeep · « **Reply #2 on:** April 16, 2006, 09:39:32 am »

That's not far off what we have to pay in Denmark, so all things considered - higher incomes and way higher taxes/living costs, I think we just have to get used to it. We europeans may just have had a longer time to get used to the high prices...

darkwulf365 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 16, 2006, 09:52:24 am »

To me, it's not the average price of gas, it's the rate at which the price jumps. Before I moved back here to Ohio, I owned a car that ran on premium only, and was paying close to $3.00 a gallon in Maryland. The expenditure I'm used to, what I dislike, is seeing gas at say 2.39 a gallon on my way to work but it jumping to 2.79 by the time I leave work at 4 o clock.

Weeblie · « **Reply #4 on:** April 16, 2006, 10:02:30 am »

Well...

About 70% of the gas price here in Sweden (and some other countries here around) comes from taxes, so...

NEXUS7 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 16, 2006, 10:28:09 am »

Its going to get a lot lot wose the plain is to go to war with Iran which kicks out 1/4 of the worlds oil
them Texas boys have us all stiched up now the GM boys have sold us all Trucks not cars

This has been in the making for years and you know what the the Nuck boys just can not wait to start up

Milo · « **Reply #6 on:** April 16, 2006, 10:31:12 am »

Europe has a much more developed public transportation system than US...in US we have to basically drive everywhere and almost everyone drives, so I guess the jumping gas prices has much more of an impact.

And yeah, oil companies are raking in profits like crazy. Too bad our president has much interest in the oil business, since he worked for one and has ties to many

dekard · « **Reply #7 on:** April 16, 2006, 11:38:48 am »

here in the us our public transportation is "dangerous" so we stick to driving ourselves. The gas prices raising isnt going to kill anyone, its still pretty cheap compared to the rest of the world. The only problem in it is the huge amounts of profits that are made by the oil companies. People like Dick Cheney are getting more money in an day than maybe everyone here will make in a year. and they spend money like crazy too!!! It shouldnt take $8,000 to go on a golf trip!!! But people spend that kind of money on stuff that only costs $50-$150 because theyre stupid.

I just wish that Halliburton slips up like Enron did.

Nibor21 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 16, 2006, 12:00:03 pm »

Quote

Milo - 4/15/2006 6:31 PM

Europe has a much more developed public transportation system than US...in US we have to basically drive everywhere and almost everyone drives, so I guess the jumping gas prices has much more of an impact.

And yeah, oil companies are raking in profits like crazy. Too bad our president has much interest in the oil business, since he worked for one and has ties to many

In theory yes

, but in the UK, unless you live in a major city it is really a very expensive joke. The village I grew up in had 1 bus a day.

Petrol over here os currently around US$6.30 a gallon

PS - I say this a someone who is a consultant working in the public transport industry

Etinfall · « **Reply #9 on:** April 16, 2006, 12:49:00 pm »

In the USA it is like that to. I lived in San Francisco for a decade and I could go anywhere at any time using public transportation. I moved to Austin, TX and you have to drive everywhere.

One problem here in the USA is that the goverment has stated that you live in "Poverty" if you make less that $18,000 a year. Our national minimum hourly wage is $5.15 an hour. Do the math. Even making $8.00 p/hr you still are in poverty.

Thats why gas is seemingly so expensive. And I am not saying other countries have it better, I just know about it here.

miltonyorkcastle · « **Reply #10 on:** April 16, 2006, 01:08:29 pm »

I grew up in Austin and that town desperately needs some sort of decent public transportation, because traffic is insane there. But yeah, I remember getting gas for $0.80 a gallon when I was in highschool, and now I'm paying $2.80.... It's a good thing the car I have now has way better gas mileage than the tank I drove in highschool.

Ar7 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 16, 2006, 01:18:31 pm »

Quote

dekard - 4/16/2006 11:38 AM

I just wish that Halliburton slips up like Enron did.

That will actually make things worse

As for the minimum wage, I think it's around $250/month here and the gas prices are at Europe level.

xXDenizeNXx · « **Reply #12 on:** April 16, 2006, 07:37:03 pm »

Same in aussie land, fuel rpices are about 1.30 a litre in some places its worse depends where you live, i think that equates to about aprrox 2.40 a litre US$ and i have no clue what that is a gallon.

Vyris · « **Reply #13 on:** April 16, 2006, 10:59:11 pm »

My point was nobody seems to care about this. Today I wrote my senators and congressmen for the first time in my life.

War, boom... gas prices go up.
Hurricane (after hurricane, etc) more price increases.
Cold winter in the NE, more increases.

Now, I've heard on the news statements that this oil rig was damaged by this hurricane, or OPEC set a production limits etc, my point is that theres absolutely NO WAY that gasoline costs $1.10 per gallon more to produce today than it did a year ago. At the pump here theres 56 cents per gallon tax from the federal and state government. I don't know about where you live, but here in Montana all the mony from the gas tax goes into the 'general fund' last year 2.2 million dollars were spent out of the 'general fund' to have a week long innaugriation ball for the govoner. Then 3 months later state employees took a pay cut, and state pension benifits were reduced so the state could balance it's budget.

It just disgusts me that people shovel money at the governments of the world in the form of taxes and nobody seems to care much beyond thier own personal cost what happens to it. Gas prices are just the tip of my angst-berg.

Vyris

OneST8 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 17, 2006, 12:45:13 am »

Welcome to America, have a nice day!

Nyralotep · « **Reply #15 on:** April 17, 2006, 01:52:18 am »

@ Vyris It's because people, when it comes time to vote, are lazy and emotional. I've yet to see a tax proposal that I like enough to trust a politician with the money. As to gas prices, it's a traded commodity and a very complicated problem. One reason prices are high now is because of Iran rattling a very disturbing saber. The traders feel that gas supplies will be impeded causing the price to go up from that fear. And it's not going to get any better anytime soon since India and China both are increasing their consumption.
The problem here in America is not just a problem of enough oil, it's also of refining capacity. Producers have no incentive to buld more refineries because the cost from environmental regulations are more than the potential business benefit. In fact refineries have not been built in over 25 years. Plus some were damaged in Katrina.
There are also way too many blends for each region. Refineries have to produce these certain blends for the local market and it leads to shortages in other blends, because of refinery capacity. It's a very complex situation and there will be no real relief for at least 10 years, about the amount of the time it takes to build a new refinery, IF any new ones are ever built. The solution of course is alternative fuels, problem is that the oil companies and OPEC will do what they can to lower those prices to keep them from being cost effective once they start losing market share to a competitive alternative.
Here's a good link to see the breakdown of the cost. Note the price of refining, 2nd behind the actual oil:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html
Blends by state
As to your feelings about waste in government, I am right there with you.

goldz8 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 17, 2006, 03:43:24 am »

Hopefully the increase in fuel price will get more car manufacturers to make cars that run on sustainable and clean energy. All those greenhouse gases and other pollutants that cars vomit out is doing serious damage to the environment. SV's are the worst with emission double that of other cars.

Hybrid cars are a good start. Don't people use ethanol (biofuel) to fuel their cars in Brazil? In South Africa we're still addicted to coal and oil. We still even have lead in some of the fuel here (shakes his head and is convinced that his bones feel all heavy from the lead accumulated there).

Teleportation devices running on solar power would be such a nice human advancement don't you think?

dekard · « **Reply #17 on:** April 17, 2006, 01:56:26 pm »

Ethanol is going to be tough to get mainstream in america.

All the price jumps are just nonsense. They just look for excuses to raise the price. An example as in diesel fuel (its bad too). Diesel costs more than regular at a pump, but diesel is MUCH cheaper to make. Regular takes all the combining for your regional mix, along with purification (very little). And when its all done, what happens to the left over gunk? its gathered up and called diesel!!!

darkstorme · « **Reply #18 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:09:37 pm »

Diesel costs more at the pump? In Missouri maybe.. here in the Great White North, diesel is cheaper.. but really, since the stuff doesn't burn as clean, it should probably cost more.

Regardless, one major reason that building additional refineries has no appeal to the big oil producers is that oil production will never jump again, barring some sort of synthetic. At current consumption, even the optimists predict that world oil reserves will run dry in the next 50 years. By tapping coal for synthetic oil and extracting from oil shale and oil sands, that might be extended a bit, but it's a limited commodity. Unfortunately, the demand for cheap oil will continue, and the US government will continue to provide. $2.52 a gallon is really quite reasonable by the standards up here. We're not as bad as Europe, yet, but we're paying $1.11/litre at the pumps. So somewhere around $4.25 US/gallon.

scotcar · « **Reply #19 on:** April 17, 2006, 07:25:15 pm »

Even though I work for a company that is researching them, I don't hold much hope for biofuels, then again if oil supply is affected by further conflict...well there may be a market for it. Sweden has a crop they burn as a biofuel, a tall grass I think (forget the name but saw the crop). Not sure that it really adds up in the end.

In Aussie, we have a fuel excise (about 30% supposed to be spent on roads, who knows where it goes..) and pay Goods and Services Tax (GST) on top of that (10%). You have to love that, a tax on a tax.....

Our public transport is also in a shambles, we hardly do any public infrastructure spending, unless it is associated with sports, unless of course it is sport related then we will invest in it. We also spend money on sporting activities too. I think I may call science the sport of the mind....

Did I mention we spend money on sports?

Personally, I'm waiting for my own personal nuke in my car. I would make car crashes much more interesting.....