Why is it that gas prices have to keep going up?

[Cantslowdown]

I'd be happy to pay like 2.10 are 1.85..But making 7 buck a hour and high gas prices suck shoot I want to move out but even if I didnt have the stang I couldnt afford to move out..I can just imagine the people that have family and want to do things like trips and all how it could affect them..I know alot of us stangers are hard working people and work hard for there car and I know alot of ya'll have familes too..I dont see a need to change what we do sorry...

 

[Dragstr05]

Enough of the damn complaining already! Everyone and their mother is fussing about gas prices. In all honesty, gas is probably my biggest expense at the moment. I spend an insane amount on gas driving my mustang home every weekend from school (400 miles round trip), and that doesnt include cruising around on the weekends. What really hurts me though more than the price of the gas is my right foot and the fact that I'm driving a thirsty V8.

Since gas has steadily gone up since I started driving (I used to fill up at 1.40/gallon, went up and never went back down). Now say for instance in our mustangs we drop in 14 gallons at fill up. Add in the extra $1 or so a gallon we now pay more than we used to, and we are paying approx $15 more at fill up than we used to maybe 2-3 YEARS ago. Is $15 a week such a hardship to everyone that we must ***** about it so often? Ofcourse everyone drives different and this is where it becomes a serious burden, because when I dont keep my foot out of it and I'm running around all weekend I may go through 2 - 3 tanks of gas, which is a nice chunk of change just to travel. Are the oil companies reaping profits while we suffer? Sure they are, but there is NOTHING we can do about it.

 

[Dusstbuster]

If anything they realize that the elasticity of demand for gas is relativley inelastic over time. Right away a large price jump (katrina) will drop down consumption rates (what was it....3% drop in fuel consumption after katrina and the price hikes to 3ish) but over time people adjust and consumption goes back up and we deal with it. The oil companies know this and are probably just slowly raising the rates permanently because they know we'll whine and cry about it but will deal with it as time goes on.

My Econ/Gov teacher used to be a lobbiest for Amoco and was telling us about how he thinks prices will go down again soon and probably level off in the high 1's to low 2's range. Right now im thinking he may be wrong.

 

[jasonh_86]

I know it would never happen, but I wonder how much it would hurt the oil companies if NOBODY in the U.S., U.K., or canada bought gas for a whole week

 

[Cantslowdown]

Jason I have thought the same thing..Along time ago..

 

[jasonh_86]

Me too .. haha.. I've been thinking that since they started PIITB to us with gas prices ... greedy bastids!

 

[BaXTeR3221]

The only way that works is if you do it for 3 months. Companies need to take a loss for a quarter before anything would change. And even then, they would just raise the prices more because there are people that have to buy gas no matter what the price.

Also, if you really want to lower gas prices, buy a civic. I just bought my mustang and parked my nissan. The mustang prolly gets 19 to the gallon if i'm lucky and takes 93. The nissan gets 30+ to the gallon on 87. I'm willing to pay the extra couple hundred a year to drive a mustang.

 

[merc123]

I know it would never happen, but I wonder how much it would hurt the oil companies if NOBODY in the U.S., U.K., or canada bought gas for a whole week

Nothing, they pad the prices like that so if we tried that

 

[01' Bullitt]

Get used to it, wages don't increase as much and people use alot of gas when the weather is nicer.

Trying to get people to not buy gas is like asking a guy to not have sex with naked Jessica Alba, it aint gonna happen.

Our only hope is the hybrid cars or in twenty years hydrogen powa

 

[jasonh_86]

I know it would never happen, but I always wondered if it would hurt them and how badly it would hurt them... stupid bastids

 

[n8rsk8r]

Okay so why does it keep going up though? If they know there is going to be some kind of shortage, what are they doing to fix that? Is this the ONLY industry in the world that cannot/does not plan for the bad? I know you can say it depends and this and that, and quality and demands and different types of fuel and ethonal shortage. Heard it all, but when does the problem work it's self out?

My son's step dad has a crew that is working to restore the oil lines on a BP oil rig in the gulf coast. He should be back in a month, they have been gone for around two months now. So does that mean gas prices go down? No, it will not sadly cause summer will be here.

I think this is the only industry that will ALWAYS make a profit. Some industries i.e. Ford, Chevy (Automakers for one) have lost billions in a year, I don't think I have heard of a gas company losing out any time, ever! Have any of you? And to have the record profit ever?!? What are they doing with this money? Are they not reinvesting it into their industry? Are they not trying to take care of the problems that are driving individuals/communities into bankruptcy? After all, if they give certain problems as the reason for the price increasing, shouldn't they fix those problems?

And to say we pay less than other nations, yeah that is right. Let's talk size of our country, and the amount of resources our country has versus other countries; and that argument is null and void, you cannot compare a grape to a watermelon. Italy pays out the nose cause well, they don't have the resources and ability to produce the gas they consume, WE DO. I don't like paying this high gas price, no one does. So when does t his end guys? What will we have to do to stop this crap? Why isn't it being stopped now? I cannot pay this amount for gas, and walk? Man you are outta your mind, that is the stupidest explanation/come back/brush off to the problem I have heard. No way, there is no way. So what are we going to do?

 

[DTNODYA]

In 20 years our cars will be useless.

 

[BeelzebubSOB]

Probable $3-a-gallon gasoline, possibly going up to $5 a gallon, painted a bleak picture Monday for lovers of the open road.

Bloomberg News says crude oil costs, lack of refineries and an anticipated shortage of ethanol are likely to push gasoline prices to more than $3 a gallon this summer. Analyst Brian Hicks of U.S. Global Investors in San Antonio said $5-a-gallon gasoline is a possibility.

The national average for regular unleaded is now $2.59 a gallon. In Indianapolis, regular unleaded gas is $2.70 a gallon compared to $2.32 a year ago, according to AAA.

http://www.newswatch50.com/business/story.aspx?content_id=B5CD8ADB-077E-4DDE-B84D-0168E6DAE079

 

[GT02MG]

I have a vacation next month that involves a lot of driving....guess im going to get bent over during that one for gas
Earlier this year it went down and was even 1.95 here in some places so why the hell is it back up to 2.50 for 87 here now...the working man like me is getting hit harder every week just to drive to work its crazy

 

[n8rsk8r]

there is only so much money in circulation. If a major portion of the money is going to the Oil Industry, then it is going to take from other areas Movie theaters, candy makers, pop makers, food companies. It is taking money we would spend on other stuff, and seriously taking away from them. Does that mean they will have to drive up the price also to stay in business? Oh man, this doesn't look good.

 

[USMC03GT]

***** them im filling up and leaving! Ive had enough of this bull*****!!!!

Be careful, most states have a law that if you drive away without paying, your license goes bye bye.

 

[DropTopPony]

there is only so much money in circulation. If a major portion of the money is going to the Oil Industry, then it is going to take from other areas Movie theaters, candy makers, pop makers, food companies. It is taking money we would spend on other stuff, and seriously taking away from them. Does that mean they will have to drive up the price also to stay in business? Oh man, this doesn't look good.

Not only does less money get spent on these little companies but the products these little companies buy/sell are now gonna cost more because fuel prices effect everything so they will have to charge more so we get hit with higher prices for everything not just fuel. My grocery bill is up 20% but i'm not buying more! My heating/cooling/electric bills are up 40%,i'm not using more. I'm in the middle of renovating my 125 yr old home and construction supplies have almost tripled sinced i started 4 years ago. All this is in direct effect of fuel prices being raised. I could think of better things to spend my money on them padding the pockets of Exxon/Mobile. Lets see what the next quarters record braking profits rise up to.....

 

[nickthegenius]

Its a good thing its getting warmer out and I can start riding the Triumph again. Prices have shot up $.25/gallon here (to $2.78 or so)and my Fucus has been returning disappointing mileage since I bought it. Its the first car that I've had that I can't even hit the EPA City mileage on a regular basis. Hell, both of my LS1s could do better than this ZX3.

In 20 years our cars will be useless.

Yeah, then we'll all be on Stangnet talking about the hottest electric or hydrogen conversion kits for our vintage 'Stangs, etc.

 

[03ghoststang]

at least some of you guys still have some octane (87, 89) that is under $3 over here in L.A, Cali i have seen quite a few gas stations where for 87,89, and 91 are all over $3 bucks the chaeapest being $3.03 for 87 and $3.17 for 91

 

[CatmanJJ]

And to top it all off ExxonMobil is #1 now in the top fortune 500 companies, surpassing Walmart from a report I read last week or so.

Where I live...

87 - $2.93
89 - 3.01
93 - 3.13 (Mach take premium )

Makes me wonder how high it's gonna get and if the fossil fuels will run out in my life time. I think the U.S. (along with the rest of the industrialized world) is just just workin on bleeding the Middle-east dry before they will drill on the home soil for any remaing oil.