Oil Price now @ $66.70 -- will the gas stations lower the price by 30% ???

[cthrumatrix]

The price of oil has come down to "before Katrina" levels.

The two national pipelines are up darn near 100%.

So why do the gas stations still have "screw the consumer" prices???

Where the hell is Bush on this?????
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The real looters are the fat oil companies

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In the midst of this charity, big oil looted the nation. The pumps instantly shot past $3 a gallon, with $4 a gallon well in sight.

In a thinly disguised attempt to act as if it cared about the people wading in the water, Chevron has pledged $5 million to relief efforts. ExxonMobil and Shell have pledged $2 million apiece. British Petroleum and Citgo have pledged $1 million each.

This is nothing next to their wealth. Of the world's seven most profitable corporations, four are ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, and Chevron. ExxonMobil is the world's most profitable company, making $25.3 billion last year. It and the other three corporations had combined profits last year of $72.8 billion. ExxonMobil is also the world's most valuable company, with a market value, according to Forbes magazine, of $405 billion. The combined market value of ExxonMobil,

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/oped/ci_3000896

[nickinSTL]

1. why do the gas stations still have "screw the consumer" prices??

price-gouging.

record profits.

[liberal N proud]

2. Yeah Right, sure they will

When cows can fly!

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. The Chevron station closest to me lowered it by 2 cents two days ago.

Of course, in all of the area stations, this station has consistently been the LAST one to match the increases of the surrounding stations.

Average price for Chevron Supreme in a 5 mile radius from me is $3.25 / gallon.

[tyedyeto]

10. The Safeway station (one of 2 stations closest to me)...

raised the price by 10 cents on Sunday. The other station is a dime higher but hasn't had a price increase since last Thursday or so.

[Triana]

4. You don't expect them to ever LOWER them, do you?

FORGET IT. They won't. I'd be surprised if they EVER went back down.

Why still the $3 - $6+ prices? Because THEY ARE SCREWING THE CONSUMER.

bu$hit is an oil tycoon. Don't expect him to make them stop scraping off the backs of consumers to make huge profits using any excuse they can find (or NONE). He won't do it.

[cthrumatrix]

5. I thought bush said "zero tolerance for LOOTING"???

[durablend]

6. No he said FULL tolerance for looting

Your TV must be on the fritz

[tx_dem41]

7. Well...one part of it is that consumers are seemingly still buying

it at the same level at these prices. Why should the prices be lowered then? Hopefully the Labor Day Weekend sales will have gone down, putting pressure on companies to lower the prices.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. How?

Gasoline does not have an elastic demand. The gas is needed every single day, in quantities sufficient to run the economy. And please remember the economy is not just in the abstract. There are people who's livelihood and lifestyles are on the line. It's not an abstraction to them.

The demand is a constant that is inextricably linked to the way people live and work and survive.

I know, i know; there are carpools and mass transit. But, there isn't a busline or train within 15 miles of my house and i work only 11 miles away. I have no choice. Lots of others have equally little choice.

The idea of reducing consumption is fine, but in the short term, much easy to say than do.
The Professor

[tx_dem41]

15. I don't mean to propose that it is a short term solution....

in fact it is definitely a long term solution in effecting major gas price changes. But there is still a great deal of "discretionary driving" that is conducted that is elastic, especially during summer months. A change in this behavior could at least stem future price rises if not bring them down.

[Liberal In Texas]

8. The great dem. leadership needs to look into this too.

The prices go up immediately with a rise in crude. When crude falls, it takes weeks to go back down, and never to the levels they should.

Of course, the high gas prices are finally making some of the sheeple sit up and take notice. Too bad that unless it hits them in the wallet, they don't seem to care.

[SmokingJacket]

9. They'll only go down if people stop buying it.

It's pretty obvious they realized that we're dependent and will simply pay more. We're going along with it!

[tx_dem41]

11. Ahhhh...rationality on a gas price thread....

always nice to have company. :)

[KyndCulture]

12. Ours lowered the price yesterday by 10 cents.

it's still 3.06 but...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

14. Nope. Up another 25 cents to $3.24 for here in Huntsville, AL....

...for regular unleaded.

[newportdadde]

16. Why would they want to lower it? All of us idiots still pay it.

Now of course that means that many other industries suffer, not only through increased production and transportation costs but also through loss of disposable income to purchase products.

However if Joe Public is willing to wheel up that SUV fill it up and the Ski boat and is willing to do without a new TV, or other crap made from China then the price will remain high.

Of course this puts our economy in a death spiral but the oil companies are happy they just got your new TV money and they would rather it be in their pockets then Walmart or Best Buy.