Gas Prices!!!

I turned on the news this morning and had a rude awakening. Our gas prices here in Alabama are averaging 3.10 and I think nation wide it was like 3.13. The bad part is experts are saying by the end of the summer we should expect to see the prices around 4.23 per gallon. All I can say is everyone better be pitching in on gas this year. I remember reading on here about a guy who had a shirt that said this boat doesn't run on thanks! I got to get one of those.

Only $3.10? Consider yourself lucky. Gas is $3.37 in the south Seattle area. Scared to see what it actually is in Seattle.

all this after hearing that gas was gonna start off .50-.70 cheaper in june. I knew it was too good to be true.

I remember last summer they said gas was gonna be $3.50-4. It never happened, althought it did stay around 3.

Do what I did, get rid of the TV. The news wants your attention, there is nothing good on it anyways. Gas prices are gonna be what they are no matter what any news analyst says, so you might as well just go ride and have fun. If you are having trouble buying gas, find other ways to decrease your expenses. Buy less beer, cigs, etc.

I remember coming home from winter break (went to AZ) last year and flying in MLSP, MN and filling my car up for like $1.85...I was shocked, but 30 miles across the boarder in WI it was still $2.25
Even if they're high unless you live by cables you don''t have much of a choice

Its at 3.09 here in omaha nebraska. last year it stayed below 3.15 here all summer so we got lucky

$3.17 here west of Indy...a couple places nearby at $3.05.

It's funny to find a gas station at $3.05 and right down the road at Kroger it's $3.28

Just filled up with regular gas for $2.85 in Bordentown,NJ.

Its still in the $2.70's over here in AZ.

Central FL = $3.20~

shoot im already paying $3.75 for diesel in nor cal. Im sure it will hit $4 by the 4th of July. Sucks

Oh booho. We are at 5.32 a gallon at the moment. If it gets to $100 a barrel we will be right on $6.00 a gal. Hmmmm should I upgrade to a 23-24ft v-drive? I think NOT.

Its all a f'ing conspiracy!! Ever wonder why it is that the refineries always do "maintenence" in the summer, when gas use is the highest!? Hmmmm. They all have the ability to stockpile gas, but choose not too, that way they keep the "demand" high.

Here in CA late last summer we dropped down to like $2.60/gal. Why did that happen? Every quarter they all continue to make record profits.....because they can. The government should step in to try to regulate, but they don't because the oil companies have them wrapped around thier little pinkies.

By the way, we are at $3.53 here in Central CA.

I always wonder why gas in Washington is more expensive in Bellingham, which is about 20min south of the refineries? It is generally about a .20 difference from there and Seattle.

Bush and Cheney are both oilman. Although it is high, they could be screwing us a lot worse. Since Bush is on his way out, he just might.

There is no conspiracy. The government does keep oil prices high by high taxes, bariers to market entry, absolute control of where oil can be extracted, and more regulation than any other industry other than nuclear energy.

The President has little he can do in the short term. In the long term, only a complete overhaul of the tax and regulatory structure will allow the price of gas and other oil products to drop.

The global market in general follows the laws of supply and demand. OPEC does mess it up a bit. But if you look at the dramatic increase in demand from China and India also has a lot do do with high gas prices.

A lot of people want to take the easy way out and blame a politician, government, conspiracy, or oil companies, but there is not a simple solution to a global situation. The market, if left with minimal interferance, will correct itself over time. At one time, we used dung, then wood, then coal, now oil and nuclear. More is to come.

Dang tree hugger save the planet enviromentalist' are to blame. They keep us from new drilling and building new refineries...

My bad. Government's good, politicians rule, go to college, get good grades, get a good job and the government will take care of you. All in the interest of the people.

(Message edited by dudeman on February 24, 2008)

karl,
you seem like a pretty smart guy, can anybody tell me why gas is still sold and not rounded up to the nearest cent amount? for instance, gas would be 2.99 and 9/10 of a cent. why not just an even $3.00 by that rationale, i should be able to go and buy 1 gallon of gas, give the guy $3 and then ask for my 1/10 of a cent change. where do all of those 1/10 of a cents on every gallon of gas sold go? i tend to not believe in outright conspiracies here, but why all of this confusion?

sparky jay, i agree with you as well. they also keep us from building more nuclear plants.

All I can say is that I'm glad one of the biggest concerns to face me is the price of gasoline. If you stop and take a step back and realize that we are in the 99th+ %ile in terms of wealth when compared to the rest of the world, the reality of our supposed 'crisis' seems alot less important.

justin I got me a wetsuit and I am ready to come riding with you

Move to somewhere like Malaysia if you're worried about it. Probably way less good spots to ride but at least the gas is cheap there. Cheaper than beer litre for litre. We're way over a dollar a litre ($4/G) here as Ralph says...

I must agree with the gas prices! They are totally killing me! Here in Sioux Center Iowa Its like 3.15. They wonder why the economy is struggling so bad! Do they not realize the more gas cost the less we have left over to spend on all the stuff we don't need that keeps a lot of people employed! But I will agree with Loren to we could have it alot worse! We could be in a country wondering when we will be fed next! I still think there is a lot of GREED going on in the oil production industry though! Maybe we all need to hook up with those guys and just board behind there boats and just give them a THANKS

Exxon Mobil and the rest of the companies are making bank! They are posting their highest profits ever. These companies love the fact everyone is blaming it on OPEC.

Exxon Mobil's Profit Summary
2005 - $25
2006 - $35 (Record)
2007 - $39.5 billion (Record)
-Notice these are profit margins, total revenue is like $300 billion.

You've got that right on the actual profit of Exxon but that is not profit margin. Profit margin is recorded as a percentage as in return on investment. Trailing 12 months profit margin for XOM is 10.89%. Pretty good right? By comparison lets look at the profit margin of another company in a totally different industry: Merck - the pharmaceutical company. Their trailing 12 month profit margin is 13.54% Or how about Coca-Cola with a PM of 20.73%...I guess we are really getting riped off on all those Cokes we drink! How much is a gallon of Coke? And its main ingredient is water! Its a conspiracy!

The profit for Exxon is a record because Exxon is HUGE!

Profit margin is only relative to the quantity and price of the products you make. Profit is profit. I am sure that most people spend way more money each week paying for gas than they do for coke. Also, you can function daily without coke (water, juice, pepsi, etc.). Unless you live in a large city, you can't function without gas.


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(Message edited by hayes on February 24, 2008)

Montreal today : 4.55$ US a gallon so i dont know why a guy paying 3.10$ a gallon is complaining
You guys can still buy TRUCKS !!

glad i have my 2 bike for when the weather gets nice!!!

Yeah, but in canada, your health coverage is paid for

If you saw what we paid in taxes, you would need health coverage immediately. Nothing is free!

NO conspiracy.............yeah right. So why did oil prices spike right away after (1) refinery had an explosion in Texas? I guess they have no extra oil supplied in those tanks, right? No, just like Katrina, that just gives the oil companies an excuse to raise prices.

And no one seems to notice that diesel fuel and home heating oil are more expensive that gasoline? Why is that? It costs less to refine heating oil and diesel than gasoline, but yet I'm paying $.50 higher/gal for diesel over gas. It's like paying more for hamburger than steak! The government should step in and regulate that. But Cheney won't allow that, he might lose money.

Time to make some ethanol from switchgrass, corn is not the answer. Too cost prohibitive, but now that many farmers have switched to growing corn, we have a shortage of wheat, barley and other crops. That's why bread is so expensive now, and flour has gone from $16/bag to $40/bag! Go ask your local pizza shop or bakery about prices, it's really hurting them right now.

More regulation is never a good thing. If there is price fixing going on the market will eventual work it self out. Ethanol is not the answer. If you think you get bad gas mileage now, try E85. Not to mention the effect on food prices as you just mentioned.

The real answer is for the tree huggers to shut up and we need to start building refineries, nuclear plants, open up drilling in Alaska and off the coast, and build coal-to-diesel plants. Coal is one of our largest natural resources and we have hundreds of years of supply. If we did all those things Oil would be under $50 a barrel and we could all afford to hit the lake twice as much!

You guys do know that if let’s say gas is $3.00 a gallon that the taxes on it are over half of total cost per gallon... The Oil Company is more like $1.25 and taxes are $1.75 to make $3.00 per gallon. Why do you think you never see the actual tax amount at the pump or receipt? This is a FACT that taxes are more than half of what you pay per gallon at the pump!!!

Todd, I'm not to sure that is a fact. I've never researched the hidden taxes in gas prices but here in Ohio it says "Price of gas includes $.44 per gallon in fed and state taxes" in large letters right on the pump.

Taxes are not quite that high, but it is true that the profit made by the government(i.e. taxes) is much more that what the oil company makes. The profit on gasoline is somewhere around 10-12 cents per gallon compared to the federal taxes are 18.4 cents with state taxes ranging from 8 cents in Alaska to 32.9 cents in Wisconsin all the while the government just puts its hand out and like magic they make money with no investment. There's your gouging! Look at what must go into getting the gasoline to your local pump. Would you go through all that trouble for just 10 cents a gallon? The real criminals in our country's energy problem are the politicians. Get rid of the current policies and watch prices go down.

Adam, some of what you say is true, but to clarify the oil company makes alot more than 10-12 cents/gal. That's what the gas station owner makes in profit. Don't forget to take out credit card fees he has to pay too.

I heard in Brazil they use mostly ethanol made from switchgrass, making them a very independent country and it has very little effect on other crops.

Prices would not drop a cent if we cut taxes on gas. Big oil would just raise the prices again. It is a total unregulated rip off. There are some creative ways that big oil supporters defend the high prices, but all of them are blowing smoke and everyone knows it.