Gas Prices for Dummies: can someone explain it to me?

[blondeatlast]

Prices began inching up prior to Katrina and were already ridiculously high. Katrina hits, and they've become monstrous.

I'm no tin-foil wearer, but it reeks to me af market manipulation and someone is cashing in on someone else's misery.

Please, someone prove to me that I'm wrong. No one is that evil and greedy, are they?

Can anyone explain it rationally? Know any links that can give us a clue what's going on?

[shoelace414]

1. something about Gas futures

[MADem]

2. There is no santa, they are, indeed, profiteering bastards n/t

[electropop]

3. High gas prices are the purpose of the war.

By grabbing Iraq and preventing its oil from flowing (aided and abetted by the "terrists" we are supposedly fighting) Bush boosts the value of his huge stocks of crude.

Mission Accomplished!

[blondeatlast]

4. If it is market manipulation, as we all seem to agree, it's not legal,

is it?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. simple

It is called supply and demand.

Iraq has almost no exports, because of our failure to plan for post-war problems.
It has the second largest reserves in the mideast.

Almost 24% of our oil comes from huge fields in the Gulf of Mexico. more than 20 facilities were ripped apart in the hurricane. That oil is off line for a long time to come, with the refineries being empty until ships start docking.

Refineries cannot simply shut down. Because of the extremes of pressure and temps that they work at, it takes a lot of time to restart one. (in fact, if they shut down, they usually try to cram in a lot of maintenance and repair work, much like power stations) WIth no supply leading to the southern refineries, no gas.

So we now have serious oil shortages after the stuff in the pipelines and stockpiles flows out. That means gas will be extremely dear and expensive in the future. For the conceivable future. Make sure you tell Steve Forbes about it.

Once it hits the psychological mark of $5/gallon, people will start taking drastic actions to conserve. Hummers will disappear from the streets, lest they get shot at by irate pedestrians. Car-pooling, fewer trips and a more pedestrian way of life will begin to drive prices down - but for the need for heating oil this winter.

[LetsGoMurphys]

6. supposedly

There is a way that you can track the prices from the time the oil is pulled from the ground to the time you put it in your car. You can see who is making their money at what stage of the game, thus supposedly ruling out and manipulation. I tried to find it with a search and had no success. Does anyone know anything about this?

[Coastie for Truth]

7. Economics 101 + Geology 101 + Chemical Engr 101

Economics 101

a) China and India are entering the market - India massively, China super massively.
b) See Geology 101 and Chemical Engineering 101

Geology 101

a) Peak Oil
b) Remaining oil is in "smaller" deposits, deeper, "heavier", "sour"
c) In farther away places with stranger sounding names where they hate us even more.

Chemical Engineering 101

a) Refineries are "optimized" to a particular oil field (molecular weight, vapor pressure, "cyclic" versus "linear", sulfur content).

Another "perfect storm"-- plus we didn't go forward with President Jimmie Carter's "Energy Independence" Program (synthetic fuel, solar, etc.) - Reagan told us it was "Morning In America."

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[Jim__]

9. "The alternative ...is Communism" - oh please!

Either "price gouging in an emergency or communism" hardly presents a valid dilemma. Prohibiting price gouging on critical resources in an emergency does not constitute communism; and is a generally accepted method of weathering temporary emergencies.

[bushisanidiot]

11. So, price gouging is a-ok with you?

a few rich white men own all the oil in the world and they are setting the price unnecessarily high.. which is bringing this country to it's knees..

but hey, it's better than communism which would make sure everything is distributed fairly and evenly among the community..

only in freeptard land!

maybe if George Bush would stop giving blowjobs to jeff gannon for two seconds, he could move forward with the needed price caps.. or he could fine u.s. oil companies for price gouging and give that fine money to the american people.

[uppityperson]

16. Go away.

This is DemocraticUnderground. Perhaps you are confused.

[Jim__]

10. At least one thing is clear

A lot of the gas that is now being sold for $3.00 per gallon was put into the tanks at the gas station before the current emergency occurred. Clearly, that gas is now over-priced - previously, the same gas was being sold for, say, $2.50 per gallon.

[formernaderite]

15. the fuel is always paid in future terms...

the price you pay today is what the gas will cost when they buy the next load. When prices go down they do so at the pump within 24 hours as well, even though the fuel was paid for at a higher amount.

[sendero]

12. I heard a jerk on the tadio ..

.... explain it this way. You are not paying the cost of the gas you are buying, you are paying the cost of replacing it.

That is all well and good, but trust me, when wholesale/futures prices are dropping, you will be paying the price of the actual gas you are pumping, not its replacement cost.

[bushisanidiot]

13. It's no coincidence that the price of gas has tripled since AWOL Bush took

office. he and his entire administration are in the oil business.. they are definitely taking the american people for a ride.

and the idiot freeptards will keep buying bigger and bigger SUV's.. laughing all the way to the poorhouse... they are brainwashed and as a result, will continue to vote against their own best interest.

[SoCalifer]

14. High Gas Prises

Are because the oil companies are acting just like DeBeers does with their product. Its a price manipulation orgy - and its facilitated by the oil POS in the White House.

No tinfoil hat here. All the proof is in the sky rocketing profits oil companies reaping.

Make no mistake, the legacy of this unelected President is: Waging wars of aggression, death and destruction and transference of wealth from the poor to the rich.