why gas is high

Some of the answers on here, and the other related gas and oil posts, are like grade school economics.

Not buying gas for one day, if you could some how miraculously get all 300,000,000 Americans to do it on the same day, will not have much of an effect. People will still drive their cars. If they put off buying gas for one day, that it just that much more they will have to buy the next day. It will average out and the oil companies will not feel it one bit. If it has any effect, it will be on the gas stations and not the oil companies.

Short term boycotts will not affect the oil companies. It could affect other segments of the economy, like grocery stores, entertainment establishments, even your local gun shop. I am sure that a significant portion of their sales happen on the weekend. I know that I get paid on Fridays, and I shop on Saturdays. By not going anywhere, I am hurting other businesses, but it will not affect the oil companies.

Oil and gas are not luxury items. Like food, they are necessary for the functioning of the economy. Short term boycotts will have little effect because it is not a true measure of the demand of the commodity. Only long term reduction of demand will have any effect on the prices, and even that is not going to do much because the supply is artificially manipulated by OPEC. Sure, there are American companies that supply oil from domestic sources, but

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC said:
OPEC nations still account for two-thirds of the world's oil reserves, and, as of March 2008, 35.6% of the world's oil production, affording them considerable control over the global market.
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If demand goes down, they as the largest supplier of oil, will cut supply to keep prices elevated. We as Americans need to reduce our demand. With less than 5% of the world's population, we use more than 25% of its energy production. Yet we still pay less for gas than many other countries. I have seen posts by members in Europe stating they pay more than twice as much per gallon as we do. Of course, we drive the most fuel inefficient personal vehicles on the planet. Perhaps we should sell our H1s and Excursions (as I saw one member state he owned) and start driving Honda Civics. Hell, I drive one and I am OK with that because I have my Harley when I want to look cool and I still get over 40 MPG when riding it.
 
Why should Unlce Sam tell you what to charge for your doughnuts? The price will be determined by the consumer. That is free enterprise, that is the American way. Having the government mandate your price or the price of any private business transaction is not free enterprise, it is not the American way.
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You don't have to buy doughnuts. You could easily do without. Gasoline, electricity, phone, natural gas to the home, etc however are a different story. Gas itself is the lifeblood of industry just in trucking /flying/shipping stuff all over the place. Preventing a monopoly or price collusion has always been the American Way. Ma Bell and Standard Oil?

I don't see any competition between oil companies. By that I mean, there is no discernible difference between the prices or products or the stations where I purchase gas. They have, however, managed to completely kill all small unaffiliated gas stations in my area.

All that said, not sure any amound of gov't intervention would fix anything with the wild speculation market that currently exists on barrels of oil.
 
wlfman40
Last I checked a profit margin in the form of a percentage point isn't the only measure of a company's success.
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But it is one way to measure profitability. And a profit margin of under 10% is by no means unreasonable.
 
But it is one way to measure profitability. And a profit margin of under 10% is by no means unreasonable.
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Spiderman 1 (a very successful film that broke some records) made zero "profit" and Stan Lee got his cut of zero. Profit margin mean squat.
 
Re:secdef

Most people don't have to buy as much gas as they do. Yes, we all have to go to work. Yes, we sometimes have to go to the store or to the doctor. How many people have to travel on the next three day weekend?

I now live in a small town. From anywhere here it is less then two miles to our "downtown" area. All our businesses are there. I have learned to walk there when I need something. I see other folks around here driving their cars everyday to everywhere.

Now, who should be blamed for high gas prices?
 
SecDef

I don't quite get the concluding paragraph in the OP. Can you explain how NOT electing a liberal Democrat would be any different?
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If we end up with A liberal Democrat as president, a windfall profits tax is almost a certainty. The last one, in the 1980s, depressed the domestic oil production and extraction industry and furthered our dependence on foreign sources of oil. Another similar tax will end up costing all of us more money.
 
Now, who should be blamed for high gas prices?
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A) I totally agree that people are generally wasteful and should take a personal approach to using less.

B) What makes you think that oil/gas is following a supply/demand curve? The evidence doesn't support it. The price of a barrel of oil jumped $10 in a day (largest jump ever) but that certainly wasn't due to a 8% increase in demand or a 12% decrease in supply. . . .
 
If we end up with A liberal Democrat as president, a windfall profits tax is almost a certainty. The last one, in the 1980s, depressed the domestic oil production and extraction industry and furthered our dependence on foreign sources of oil. Another similar tax will end up costing all of us more money.
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We have done nothing in the last 7 years to decrease foreign oil dependence with either a republican or democratic congress. Bush never had a veto with a republican congress.

I'd prefer we spend money on research of alternative energy (man, I am stoked about things like the Tesla Roadster!) and give the collective finger to OPEC.

We're a country in debt. We are going to have to do something about it, but the Right seems unwilling to attempt to do this. I have a lot more confidence in a democratic president presenting balanced budgets and severely lessening *out of budget* war bills.
 
I have a lot more confidence in a democratic president presenting balanced budgets and severely lessening *out of budget* war bills.
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I somehow doubt that replacing war bills with universal healthcare bills will contribute greatly towards balanced budgets.
 
Then you need to review how much the war costs and how little universal health care costs.

How about you read up on it (pertinent details start on page 4 with conclusion on page 7 for the purposes of this discussion)
 
How about you read up on it (pertinent details start on page 4 with conclusion on page 7 for the purposes of this discussion)
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Got it. Costs on page 4:

- The additional health care that would be used by the uninsured if they had insurance: $34-$69 billion per year.
- The cost of covering the out-of-pocket costs the uninsured currently pay: $26 billion per year.
- The cost of covering uncompensated care costs provided by hospitals, physicians, and other providers to the uninsured: $34.5 billion per year.
= TOTAL: $94.5-$129.5 billion per year.

And the conclusion on page 7:

If universal health care simply expanded access, the net expenditure would be large. The only way to pay for this expanded access is to institute cost controls such as administrative simplification.
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So the "net expenditure" is not "large" if you assume that "significant systemic changes" will save $179 billion per year.

High gas prices might also be solved by assuming that developing countries will forsake additional oil consumption because it contributes to global warming - but I wouldn't count on it.
 
*sigh*

You just add but don't subtract when necessary? Ok then. How about we just use a nice round number of $100B per year for this conversation.

But let's look up the current costs of healthcare in the U.S. so we have some basis for comparison? I'll do the work for you, here you go.

So, currently we are spending as individuals on the order of 2.3 Trillian (with a T this time) and we are looking to add another 100B to the costs. Or roughly an increase of 4%.

But the benefit is not in just ensuring that every American has some form of health insurance, it is the benefit of getting a single payer system. There are way too many middle men getting a cut between a doctor and a patient. Health care costs are rising over twice as fast as inflation. Looking at current annual increases of 6%, the cost of 4% becomes NOT a large amount if we can cut the rising costs back to normal inflation levels (which is as it should be)

In the end, it is the fat that I want to cut out. Single payer health care speaks to that.
 
Blaming the Dem is about as sad as it gets.
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Taxing oil company profits amid the highest gas prices ever in history is as sad as it gets. We all know who'll end up paying those taxes, and it won't be the oil companies.

Blaming deaths on inanimate objects and trying to ban those objects is as sad as it gets. We all know guns are not capable of killing on their own.

Blaming masses of illegitimate chi'ren on the lack of the use of condoms is as sad as it gets. We all know morality will solve this problem.

Blaming the high cost of health care on it not being government controlled is as sad as it gets. We all know frivolous lawsuits are the real reason for high health care costs.

Blaming our current climate adjustments on a "global warming" problem created only by American industry and lifestyles is as sad as it gets. We all know climate adjustments are a natural cycle the earth has performed since it was CREATED!

Blaming illiterate high school graduates on the failure of the public school system is as sad as it gets. We all know that their academia is prioritized by the federal government which allots them funds and grants for their cooperation.

Blaming the current War on Terror on President Bush is as sad as it gets. We all know we are targeted because we are not muslim.

Shall I continue?

Being a liberal/democrat is as cowardly and lowest form of humanity in existence. We all know blaming something else for our shortcomings does nothing to alleviate our societal problems.

Democrats....as sad as it gets.
 
Blaming the Dem is about as sad as it gets.
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I have to agree whole heartedly w/ this statement. The current administration has had plenty of time to adjust, change and or help the situation w/ no results. That being said, I wonder if anyone, in particular the OP have paid any attention to the news.
A full one third of the price at the pump has been driven by the investment commodities portion of our economy. This is what has driven the price of a barrel of oil to gastronomic numbers, not whole cost of production, not the Dems blocking drilling permits, not extreme profits by big oil. I could go on and I could provide the vaunted proof via links but unfortunately to be so slanted toward blaming one particular group, I can't imagine those people would even bother read up on it if they have'nt allready.
elkman06
 
SecDef

In the end, it is the fat that I want to cut out. Single payer health care speaks to that.
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Please don't tell me that you are going to use Social Security and Medicare as examples of how well the government can provide for us.

People on Medicare have to pay their Medicare premium, and then they have to buy a supplement from a private insurance company in order to have adequate coverage.

Simply look at how well the government has provided medical care for veterans if you want to see a travesty. Are you certain that this is who you want providing your medical care?
 
B) What makes you think that oil/gas is following a supply/demand curve? The evidence doesn't support it. The price of a barrel of oil jumped $10 in a day (largest jump ever) but that certainly wasn't due to a 8% increase in demand or a 12% decrease in supply. . . .
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Actually that jump was in part due an exchange between the leaders of Iran and Israel threatening to blow each other up, Nigeria having some oil field Militant attack and Bush meeting with the Saudis, the the Saudis mentioning that they cannot increase production. Saudi Arabia represent 22% of the world oil production, and they cannot keep up with world demand. Understand the USA has 300 million people and we use about 20 million barrels of oil a day. China is becoming wealthy and their people want to be like us. China has 1.6 BILLION people. Last year they bought more SUV vehicles than Americans did in the last 20 years. The world demand is spiraling out of control.

There is not an infinite amount of oil in the earth, eventually we are going to run out of cheap, easy to refine, easy to get oil. Now we need to refine shale, sand oil, and heavy crude, which is more expensive to refine.

If you want hard numbers here is the government website and it has weekly charts of supply and demand.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/info_glance/petroleum.html
 
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