Well, what we will notice and it is already happening is that diesel prices will drop and gas prices will go up do to refinery outputs (IE they will make more diesel and less gas hence diesel prices dropping and gas prices increasing.) I really think that the high prices caused a lot of people to really conserve gas hence creating demand destruction, and prices fall because supply is more than demand. Will they go back up, most definitely yes. Will we see $1.15 a gallon? I seriously doubt it. Just think, last time gas was this price, oil was $28-$34/barrel. HMMMMMMM here we are @ $60/barrel
no to mention we have found a whole ****LOAD of oil in the gulf and the govt. just leased a ton of land in alaska for exploration, so in i dont think it will rise much if any in the next 6-10 years. ill predict now that we might have another spike on global production in the near future. look out for a serious HP race if that happens. i dont think we will see much lower than 2 bucks a gallon national average much. **** id be happy to pay that these days. in the NE anyways
I don't think supply has necessarily been the biggest factor behind price increases. About 90% of it is just OPEC pulling everyone's chain and being buttholes every time someone does something to offend a major Arab player in the game, and then the refineries (especially here in the States) screaming that there was soooooo much hurricane damage every time they so much as get a mild downpour. The whole Hurricane Katrina thing was about a joke - prices spiked BEFORE the storm ever hit, claiming they expected some major supply crunch, and come to find out there wasn't nearly 1/3 the scale of refinery damage they claimed/expected to justify ripping everyone off. And then, lo and behold, all said companies post record profits for that year. It's just a big game, and realistically there isn't anything a single one of us is ever going to do about it. We can fool ourselves into thinking that our little boycotts of certain gas company chains is going to hurt them, but someone else picks up the slack elsewhere, and any minor losses seen are easily made up for in some other way. We can drive less, buy fuel-efficient cars (which STILL run on gas, not a solution in my eyes), write angry letters/e-mails, etc. etc. etc. ... but the only thing that's going to make it all go away is when: 1. The supply runs out altogether, or becomes so outlandishly expensive that even the oil companies are losing money by making it, 2. Alternative energy vehicles become cheap/commonplace enough to eliminate gas-/diesel-powered vehicles (or at least a retrofit conversion to allow current engines to utilize some alternate fuel becomes practical and affordable), 3. We completely overhaul the entire political system and find some miraculous way to keep greedy scumbag politicians that cater only to rich lobbyists to actually do their job - REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE (like that'll ever happen), or 4. Half the world's population gets wiped out by some apocalyptic disaster - either nuclear or natural, a-la "The Day After Tomorrow" - and the resultant lack of people producing gasoline totally stops, and we're back to horse-drawn carriages n' stuff again. I don't see this as being a negative viewpoint. Rather, it's more of a realistic mental simulation of what's to come, based upon past trends and the current mess. Oh yeah, and until we learn to stop electing and RE-electing oil barons and corporate CEO scumbags into the White House, we really don't have room to gripe about what they do with regard to raping the taxpayers' pocketbooks in one manner or another. But then again, I don't vote, anymore, so what do I know?
Darkwriter your exactly right. And it's not fair to anyone. I also work with my dad at his store/shop and we have gas pumps, and it helps everyone when the price goes down. It pisses me off though that everyone drops to a nickel over what they paid for it, then everyone else has to do it to compete. I'm going to go ahead and share what the other side is like so heres my rant. A lot of you guys may say it's not fair if they don't drop the prices to a nickel over what they paid for it, but put it this way. When the margin is that small, when you stick a credit card in the pump, that business will make very little, if not lose money just to pump your gas. And when the gas skyrockets, that kills profits of gas sales. I hear people **** all the time saying you raise your prices too much, but guess what; if I paid 2.50 a gallon for it to be put into the ground, and I sold it to you for 2.55, and the next load I pay 2.75 for it, I just lost money selling gas. I don't mean to be harsh, but I really like people to understand that the people who change the prices on their signs are affected by prices as much or more than you, the consumer, who burns the gas.
Elections are closing in. Don't be fooled by anything that happens b/w now and January! - This drop in gas price is no accident - Walmart & now Target are offering over 300 genaric medications for only $4 per prescription. "For a limited time/trial period." This is no accident either. **** The greed of big business and political influence will be back in strong order by mid March at the latest!
I don't mean the price gouging is so much a matter of the local gas stations, themselves, but rather the big oil companies from which they obtain their gasoline and diesel supplies - THEY are the ones overcharging, as well as those towel-head punks in OPEC, and so the expense just gets handed down (and consequentally added onto each time it changes hands) to the consumers.
I didn't mean towards you darkwriter, I said you were right on the money with what you said and then I went on about people and general and not you. I apologize for the misunderstanding.
