Political Choreography

[Paingod]

2. He DID lie about the intel.

so did everyone else then numbnuts

[Ask The Geezer]

so did everyone else then numbnuts

Only a numbnuts would think that's OK for the leader of their country.

Me, I demand more.

[Paingod]

hahahahahha

[TallGuyLittleCar]

Is the air cleaner? Or is the price of oil higher, thus gas, natural gas, et al higher?

Sorry. I just see the latter.

The latter has increased faster the price of the earlier. I read an article comparing, with handy dandy graphs, the price of gasolene, diesel and oil. the conclusion was basically "WTF?"

[Ask The Geezer]

Compare the cost of getting it to the pump per gallon with the cost they charge. It's gougeing, plain and simple, and the government is protecting them.

[indivision]

are oil prices really the meter of how things are going? honestly, i haven't paid much attention to gas prices at any point. but, maybe that's just me. anyone have anything that shows a correlation between production, GDP or anything and gas prices?

anyway, the best explanation i heard for the prices is simply that supply here is low because excess is sold overseas.

[TallGuyLittleCar]

what do you think a fair price for a gallon of gasolene would be?

// edit. the price of oil is highly inflated by speculation.. much like the current housing market and tech stocks 5 or 6 years ago.

[Ask The Geezer]

So the supply is low? What correlation does that have with charging 3 times as much for it? This is a total scam by the oil companies, their paid lobbyists and bought and paid for polititions.

Oil is in the ground. It's free. In the US if you own the mineral rights under your land, you own the oil. The price comes from drilling, putting in the equipment to get it out, transporting the crude, refineing it and distribution to the pump. If you want undeniable proof that you are bing gouged, look at the bottom line in the oil companies quarterly profit margin. Right now, it's at an all time record high.

And the oil is still free in the ground.

[indivision]

the oil in the ground is free for the people that own it. just like programs that i write are free for me. i dont see what you're saying about that.

as far as the correlation between the cost of oil and the supply, that's the simplest concept in economics. supply and demand. if you could find gold in your back yard, it wouldnt be worth anything. the implication i was describing is that oil companies are purposely making supply low by not pushing to build new refineries and by selling excess supply abroad. from a business perspective, why would they do otherwise?

profit margins dont prove that we are being gouged. as i understand the term, it has usually been used in reference to gas stations raising the price. not the oil companies.

anyway, the point i was trying to make is that, the amount the price of gas has gone up probably amounts to what, $10 max more per fill up? if you had to fill up 4 times in a month, which would be way more than i do, that would be $40 per month. this amount hardly seems to warrant such outrage by people. i mean, new cable tv services have cost me more per month than that over the last few years. highspeed internet access and cell phone costs are additional monthly tags as well. im not saying there isnt a good reason to focus on oil prices. im just asking if anyone knows a little more specifically why that is such a focus. maybe im just missing something but it seems like a bit of hysteria to me.

[Ask The Geezer]

i dont see what you're saying about that.

What I'm saying is they don't have to make the stuff. It's just lying there.

Where have you been? I'm not complaining and no one else is complaining about the price going up. It's the price going up 300% in just a year or less.

There is no shortage of oil, no more so than last year. So what you see is a run away industry gougeing the public. If it was all that legal, then why is the industry under congressional scrutiny? And how long do you think the price of oil would be as high as it is if there were an alternative?

[indivision]

A lot of things are runaways. Telemarketing, spamming, crappy cell phone service, brussel sprouts, etc are runaways imo. heck, i think the government should step in and do something about USC football as well! why is oil the barometer? why not gold?

i know where ive been but im not sure where you have been when you say that nobody is complaining about the price of gas going up. its practically on local news stations every night. and i am talking about the amount it has gone up (of course).

the oil industry operates with more government regulations than most other industries. that could be a reason why they are keeping supply low, in order to legally justify the costs within the current regulations. maybe its not accurate but i heard an hour-long program that investigated the problem and what they were saying made a lot of sense to me. the oil industries are just working around the regulations they have (legally) to get the most profit. you can hardly call a private business trying to make the most profits criminal (unless you're a bolshevik). perhaps new regulations need to be made to prevent this situation.

i agree with you that there is no shortage of oil in the world (as some environmentalist claim). but, they (oil companies) have created a shortage of supply HERE. apparently on purpose. oil is not free for the public. they own it. they have to sell it for a certain price depending on supply. so they just lowered the supply in order to raise the price.

whats interesting to me is why, when there are several oil companies that compete, doesn't one company just sell at a lower price.

[Ask The Geezer]

Artificially inflating the price of anything is illegal.

[indivision]

Thats not true. If I built a photo gallery application and tried to sell it for 200k, it wouldn't be illegal. Of course, I wouldn't sell any (I might not at $2 either! ). The price of oil is federally regulated. So, it is possible to have illegal oil prices. But, they watch that stuff like a hawk. I could be wrong but I think they've just found a way around the current system.

[Loyal Rogue]

anyway, the point i was trying to make is that, the amount the price of gas has gone up probably amounts to what, $10 max more per fill up? if you had to fill up 4 times in a month, which would be way more than i do, that would be $40 per month. this amount hardly seems to warrant such outrage by people.

You only have a 10 gallon gas tank???
From the beginning of the year till now my gas costs have gone up by approx $125 per month.
Back in Jan it cost me $44 to fill my tank and today it costs $75.
I go thru about a tank a week.

Luckily I can afford it with no problem but I have several friends who are struggling bigtime with the added expense.
One friend of ours who's on a very fixed income has over an hour commute to her job everyday and just from the added gas costs has had to skip filling some prescriptions for her husband who has aids and can't work.
Their situation is not that uncommon among a lot of people at our church.

When you're making over $100k that gas increase of $1500-2500 a year isn't so bad but when you're trying to live off of $20-30k that's a big bite out of your budget.
Contrast that with the fact that the oil companies are taking the opportunity to raise prices above their costs to the point that they are making record breaking profits for the second year in a row and you just might be able to understand some peoples' outrage.

You said that the oil companies can't "price gouge"???
How much higher do they have to raise prices before you change that opinion?
My guess is once they raised it enough to hurt YOUR budget you would change your tune.
If the oil companies raise the price of oil to the point where a gallon of gas costs $20 then would you say they are "gouging"?

[Loyal Rogue]

The price of oil is federally regulated. So, it is possible to have illegal oil prices. But, they watch that stuff like a hawk. I could be wrong but I think they've just found a way around the current system.

Yeah, they found a way around the system alright... look at who's running the government that is "watching them like a hawk"... this is the most oil-corporation-friendly administration that we've ever had.
And that's putting it mildly...

[indivision]

like i said, maybe its just me. of course, i work from home so dont have a commute and the tank on my truck is only 14.something gallons. maybe gas is a primary expense for a lot of people like the ones you mentioned. it never has been for me.

the oil companies cant charge anything they want for oil. it has to be within a range based on a formula (if the program i heard is accurate). the only times before that i have heard people use the word 'gouging' in regard to gas, it was about individual gas stations raising the prices of gas at that one location, more than they were supposed to and hiding behind the fact that prices really were being raised all around. thats all i was saying about gouging. how much do they have to raise it to change my opinion? im not sure. ive never paid close attention to it yet, personally. a more interesting question to me is, how high will one company raise their prices before another one lowers prices and outsells them?

im not talking about administrative 'watchers'. i wouldnt contest, with what i know, that there may be something the feds should do to further regulate the industry. as a conservative, i am not a fan of the government unnecessarily meddling with private business. but, it is absolutely necessary in some cases. anyway, when i said watch it like a hawk, i was referring to whatever government agency it is that monitors oil import and export (i forget which agency it is but it might be this one: http://www.fe.doe.gov/programs/gasregulation/index.html ).