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Gas prices (caution this is a vent post)

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john in la

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What part of in La do you not understand
Everyday I see a new post on this forum about how high the price of gas and diesel is.
Everyday I see a new story on TV or hear on some talk radio show how gas prices are hitting us where it hurts.

So that leads me to ask.......
Why is everyone so outraged about the price of fuel today.

Is it.........
(A) you are mad because some company is making millions at the cost of our citizens.
OR
(B) you really can not afford the cost and it has changed your life for the worse.

I really want to believe everyone will answer (B) because if your answer is (A) you need to wake up and smell the roses. This country was built on supply and demand. Very few things are ever sold based on cost unless the supply is great and your competition is undercutting your price.
If a oil company can make gas for $1.00 a gallon why would he sell it to you for $1.50 if you are willing to pay $4.00 Because he likes you and wants to be a nice guy????? That just does not make good business sense.

So if your answer is (B) then why is it that I saw so many 4 door pickups with those big 5th wheel campers going down the road this afternoon.
From what I have seen over the past few months everyone is quick to complain about the price of gas but very few are willing to change their lifestyle because of it.

Now to try and explain what made me think about this.....
I had a guy pass me this afternoon. He was in a 4 door 1 ton pulling a 5th wheel camper about 35' long and had a boat hooked on the back of that. (I wonder if he knows how illegal that is) While he was running about the speed limit (70) or a little over it you could tell that 1 ton was giving all it could to pull that load at that speed. This would have gone unnoticed but it just happens this guy stopped at the very station I was delivering to for a fill up. By the time I got there he had fueled up and was inside giving the cashier a hard time complaining about how much it cost to fill up his rig. (Like she had anything to do with the price)
I just felt like slapping this guy upside his head. I mean if the price was hurting him that bad he had to complain to the cashier; why did he even leave his house?????? Or at least slow down and try to conserve fuel consumption.

I know... I know
Some people are just idiots!!!!!!!!
 
If I may ask you a question. You say supply and demand is the cause. Just last week the latest report showed price had doubled in the last 12 months but usage had not doubled and had gone down in the US and only up slightly worldwide. Can you explain that?

The oil producing countries are setting the stage for our election this fall. America votes with it's wallet. OPEC wants to make sure another nnalert does not get elected in my opinion. It just may work for them too. So I guess that's answer C.
 
I just paid $10 a gallon for diesel (I live in Germany) for my tractor, gas that I buy for the saws, BC's and lawnmower costs the same. Gas for the cars I can buy at American prices ($4 here). It sure does suck, but if that's the worst obstacle I have to face in life, bring it on............
I'm alive, all in one piece (little slow to start on cool/damp mornings), I can see, breath, and eat without the help of a dog, hose, or machine, and I can say that I'm a citizen of the Greatest Country in the world. If you think of that everyday when you wake up, it makes pissing and moaning kinda pointless.

Happy Memerial Day weekend.


Dave
 
Right after the big oil companies merged, Exxon/mobil and Chevron/texaco prices jumped up....Right.
Crude has spiked due to a weak dollar and speculators running the price up.
Also India and China want cars putting more demand on crude oil.
All of these factors make crude prices go up. If the US congress had any 8alls they would make the big oil companies break up and create competition which would lower the price somewhat.
Also with prices being so high because demand is very high then one must assume that there would be shortages in the certain areas of the country but....there isnt.

Main problem---gasoline prices wont stablize and the oil companies are making billions off of us---I call that Gouging.
 
You need to look one page back where it says"Ive got a bad feeling about this.Then go to that website grainland.coop and then to newsletters,click and read Micheal W Masters Testifies Before Congress.It explains all about whats going on.If you arent mad when you get done reading it somethings wrong with you.
 

This topic came up in the pulling section!

I live in Michigan and the state charges "road tax" on marine fuel.

The diesel is pink "off road" and is well over $5.00 per gallon, gas $4.80 i believe.

Last i looked they were not panting bridges or filling pot holes in the lakes !

How the state gets away with this and the people let them is beyond me. Michigan has the largest # of registered boats in the U.S.A and the state Goverment is F---ing the people and were letting them !!!!!!

Damm stupid people........
 
As long as people keep buying fuel the price will keep going up. The only way to stop the increases is to stop buying it. The government has no control over it.
 
I am not a boater but your getting a double wammy. Your boat trailer is intended for one thing, hauling a boat. You can't haul firewood or furniture on it. It is a special piece of equipment. Contractors have air compressors and welders on trailers. granted they are attatched but still a trailer, well drillers have rigs that are slid on and off the trailers. They are not required to have plates because they are special trailers intended for one purpose. I would love to see someone challenge that "tax" someday.
Maybe if that passes, my 5th wheel and semi trailer won't have to have plates because they are special.
Mark
 
What's different from the high cost of deregulated electricity? Fuel should be regulated because it's a commodity that you can't survive without. Did you think it was fair when people were paying $1000 a month for their electricity? The electric company wasn't doing anything but getting a fair price for it's product. A lot of states are broke over that deal and a lot of people went to prison. Why not hang the oil people. We haven't got the total bill on this yet. Some people are already shopping for their winter heating fuel, I've heard some high prices right here on this board. You and BD need to get together. What I heard about camper people is they're staying at camp sites longer insteadof driving up and down the road.
 
i believe the only way to stop spiriling gas and food prices is for our country to go back to a supply and demand economy and not be at the mercy of some "oil traders" on wall street AND get back on the gold standard so our dollar will be worth more and backed by gold AND for our country to bring all of our manufacturing back to the US and leave the foreign countries to their own devises. then and only then will we have a stong economy and not be at the mercy of other countries.
 
G G I thought it was after the VP had his energy meeting with all secret people... Remember a judge ordered him to tell who was there and he refused.. this is the result of the energy meeting.. I remember telling a person on here a couple of years ago(he had a degree) just sit back and the OIL COMPANIES WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO RUN THE WORLD...



MAY GOD BLESS THE USA
 
You are correct about how people foolishly use it in excess like the dude with the boat/camper/1ton. If he can afford all that he shpouldnt complain, or sell on to pay the fuel for the other. What I have some issues with is how a natural resource that pretty much everyone needs with how we live today is being used and abused like it is for greed. If rationing ever come around again, people will be in for a lifestyle wake up call. People dont want to have to wait for anything these days.
 
Main reason is greed and all of govt getting a cut One grouup blames speculators another oil companys etc KEEP THE FINGER POINTING AT SOME ONE ELSE SO NOBODY KNOWS.
 
Ill tell you why.A few years ago my heating oil cost 100.00 per month,next heating season it will be 500.00 per month.My pension is 488.00 per month.There is little business in my repair shop.No tool sharpening coming in,no lumber planing or moulding being made.My mail order book business is dead in the water.I sold 5 picnic tables last May.Ive had a table ready to go since the last week in april.I did sell 2 yesterday but no interest at all previous to that.Not even chislers stopping and trying buy a table for thirty bucks that cost me 4 hours and 80 bucks to build.There is 4.00 worth of gasoline in every table I make if I buy enough lumber for 3 tables.5 tables is about the limit for a 1/2 ton truck.Now heres the last straw, the profit from a table will only buy enough heating oil to heat my house for 1 day.Cant raise the price on my good tables because there are too many flimsy junk tippy tables for sale.Ive been talking with neighbors about 5.00 fuel oil come fall.They could save 50 cents a gallon if they bought now.they are broke from last winters oil.Real estate tax bills come out next month and go on 10% interest. Nov 1 if un paid.Friend was at a general store when a woman showed up with a kerosene can.She looked at the latest price and said she would cover up in a blanket as she walked off.This has been a very cold May here.
 
36 Coupe, I sure hope business picks up for you. Good solid built picnic table are hard to find these day. We have a cheap, wobbly get a splinter in your butt, table from menards. Junk.
 
Get used to these prices, as they will be viewed as the good ole days. China's cars are predicted to increase THIRTY FOLD in the next 10 years, and as their demand for fuel increases our price will increase. The China government subsidizes oil prices and keeps it fixed at 87 dollars per barrel, they can afford this because of selling us all that cheap junk in the Wally World stores, and from interest income on financing our deficit spending. Our fuel prices will likely be at 7 dollars per gallon in way less than 10 years. We have lost our manufacturing base, we are dependent on China products, we burn way more fuel because of letting our rail system crumble, we have deficit spent our childrens future. Oil price is a small item compared to our other problems.
Tom
 
The government (politicians) really don't control oil prices. They like you to think they do when it is favorable for them. We get into trouble when we listen and believe the politicians lying babble.
 
You left out C.
C: Tired of hearing the moaning and groaning over the price of fuel and nobody doing anything about. (Not neccesarily the board mebers here)
 
I was told the other day buy a guy who works for an oil company that gas will be $6/gal by this fall. Something bad is going to happen in this country. Someone is going to snap and start shooting people or something like that. Who knows people might start acting like the people over in the middle east and start shooting each other.
 
Big oil after all the mergers, now have more power then our goverment. Thats why you don't hear much from Washington DC. The E.P.A. does not help the price of fuel with all the regulations they throw out. By them you would think that all the people that work around oil everyday are not very bright. The oil companies are saying to themselves make any regulation you want and (some are really dumb) we will try and comply with them and the cost WILL be passed on to the end user. I am not on big oil's side cause they are getting fat also "(Very fat)". I was a oil marketer for years. Decided to bail out a few year ago.
 
This is a monopolized industry with virtually no competition and the only choice consumers have is to walk or pay the high price and they know it. Reminds me of the steel industry back in the early 1900's. No competition. That's kicking a man when you got him down not good business. Unfortunately that view is prevalent in business today.
 
The common denominator in all this is the Government. I would write more but I have to go over to my neighbors and ask them to grow more vegetables for me. I could grow my own but I would hate to tear up my lawn to plant a garden.
 
Whats not legal about pulling 2 trailers?? In my state its 100% legal and is done all the time. And if the guy if from one of those states hes legal. I carry a class A CDL and have endorsements for both double and triples which means I can drive a rig with 2 or 3 trailers on behind and again its 100% legal. Now as far as the fuel prices yes it hurts a lot of use. When it takes more then 1/8 of my entire monthly income to fill up my truck it hurts me big time and is going to cause me trouble when it comes to baling hay this year
Hobby farm
 
I hear the buses and mass transit in the DSM area is hitting record usage now, and are talking about upping the bus fare because of the cost of diesel.
 
It"s not pulling two trailers that is illegal, some states specify lengths they can be. Like you said the big boys can pull two down the interstates and at that still they are shorter trailers. I would "assume" that some states for recreational trailers, it would be illegal.
 
Its speculators.Its speculators,The website grainland .coop(has to have the period in there)left column down to newsletters,click on that,Micheal W Masters Testifies Before Congress on May 20 2008.Read this after downloading the pdf file.It explains exactly whats going on here and it will make you mad,but something needs to be done today.Its not the oil companies doing this,its Speculators because of a loophole in the comodities trading law that allows them to sell stocks that commodities dont exist for and tie that to real stock prices.Its absurd and these hogs are stealing from all of us and even other countries.I dont even think Bush knows whats going on as he went to Saudi Arabia to beg for more oil.Its not a shortage of oil,these hogs have bought over a years supply on paper claiming its a shortage to jack the price of stocks up.I am cleaning my guns right now,anybody find out where these bastards are at and help me get there,and anybody else that wants to come,and we can fix this problem.
 
when I was referred to this artical, I was also told some of the index speculators had futures held out to 2016. I am glad some one got what I did out of it. People are ,In my mind thinking this will end sometime, are very wrong if the loop holes are not fixed, I am not for big government but they need to step in and save the middle class. All that is being accomplished is moving middle class to poverty and the upperclass higher. Gotta go more later
 
Its Speculators driving the price up by causing a "shortage"that doesnt exist.They have over a years worth of oil thats not pumped yet in stocks already bought up to cause this shortage.Necessities of life should not be on the stock market.The supply and demand is a lie.There is plenty of oil,its a paper shortage.
 
Alright,how did ENRON rip off the people of California?That is the EXACT same thing the speculators are doing,just hiding behind crooked politicians this time.How is the price of the dollar affecting the price of oil,we(The United States Of America)demand that oil be traded in dollars,the "Federal Reserve"which is owned by the Bank of Emgland and the Rockefeller family among other crooks,keep lowering interest rates causing Gold to increase and the dollar to decrease in value.This makes our dollar less than half of a British Pound.Even nearly half of a Euro.We are being ripped off every way the crooks can think of.Now you have been told the truth.
 
john in la

It's refreshing and comforting to see that you and some folk here have a handle on reality.
Some other people here are letting their emotions rather than logic make their decisions.
We can't and shouldn't have everything we want quick, cheap and easy. Anybody know why?
 
I wish I could complain about the price of a fill up...but the pump shuts off before i can fill the tank! ($80.00 credit limit at $4.99 gallon won't fill me up! Yeah, I know, use cash- but I limit my carry around to $20 to keep me from doing something stupid- I'm one of those rare guys that's tighter w/ credit than I am w/ cash)
 
Old;
I can see where these prices are hurting people like you and others that are on what we call a fixed income.
The ones I have a problem with are the guys buying trucks they do not need; and only get them so they can keep up with the neighbor across the street all the while complaining about how much fuel cost.
I believe everyone needs a form of recreation (and a RV may be your form) but if you can no longer afford this form because of fuel prices you may need to find another.
I mean I would love to fly to Alaska every year and go hunting; but I can not afford it so I pass.

Now to explain how this rig is illegal........
Federal law says you can pull 3 trailers on any federal highway. Most states limit it to 2 trailes because they can make it less than federal law they can not make it bigger.
Federal law also states that if more than 1 trailer is pulled at a time each trailer must be 28' or less.
Pulling a RV exempts you from needing a CDL to do this but it does NOT exempt you from the saftey side of the law.
While I did not measure it the 5th wheel RV looked to be about 35' long. Well over the 28' length law allowed with 2 trailers.
 
I agree with you on the gas price thing and how people own/drive things they do not need and waste so much fuel that its not funny. And yes trailers need to be X long to be able to pull more then one at a time. Sort of like that one ad on T.V. with a guy talking about how he can afford to drive a big car, (Caddy) in this ad. Any how if every body thinks that way gas will just keep on going up. Me if I could afford to buy one would be riding a motorcycle when I needed some small stuff from town. As it is I only drive to town when I need to not just when ever I want. Sure wish I still had some of the cars I did years ago becuase some got 50 plus MPG
 
I also have several vents. First one, I am a Rural mail carrier, our EMA, meaning equipment maintance allowance, comes NO where close to even paying for gasoline and tires, forget about trying to replace a vehicle with license and insurance on anything even less than ten years old. Do the math, gasoline at around a dollar a gallon, we were getting 39.5 cents per mile. After a NEW and IMPROVED contract we are at 57 cents per mile, our EMA is based on the Private tranportation cost index, which takes in to account everything from the price of air fare to the price of new cars. How many of us rural carriers are going to benefit from low air fares or are going to buy new cars every year? The FORMULA has our EMA stable or lower every time it adjusts. Just like the gov't tells us there is no inflation. DOUG
 
Speculators have stopped us from drilling for our own domestic supply that is estimated at 150 years worth of oil?

Speculators have kept us from building new refineries? (Non in 32 years).

Speculators impose injunctions against drilling on behalf of evironmentalists groups like the Sieera Club and Greenpeace?

Speculators made Clinton veto drilling in Anwar 10 years ago, oil that would be coming into the market today?

I agree it's part of the problem and should be addressed, but that's part of the free market system, so don't get sucked into a class warfare argument. The weak dollar is a bigger problem than that, adding 20% to the price of a barrel.

The problem is supply and refinery capacity.
 
I agree with you even though I know this is not a popular view. My wife has a Chevy Equinox. It gets about 20 mpg. Gas costs $3.85/gal. That means I can move 5 people, 500 lbs. of luggage, pull a trailer loaded with 1000 lbs of stuff and I can move all that 20 miles for $3.85. That just don't seam to bad to me.
 
There are no crude oil reserves in the US amounting to 150 years. Not unless you are planning on invaiding the Canadian Oil Sands. And cutting US energy consumption to 1960 levels.
150 years IF coal liquification is incluided.
 
Thought you should hear from an idiot. A few weeks ago, there was a show, on the history channel about the end of the world.This is supposed to happen Dec 23, 2012. Tho this has been said several times in past history. Smart,? intelligent? people have finely figured out a calender that was found many thousands of years before Christ,and they come up with this date.---I think several other smart intelligent people, believe this. They found a way to take all our money,and just in case it don't happen they will probably buy South America, and move there.--It won't be safe anywhere in this country for anyone.--As I said on another post,we will be left for the vultures if we don't turn around and change something. Yes A&B is my answer I'm also on a fixed income.There is no jobs for an old worn out man. As far as vacations, Around here in PA Todays headlines,[Local stores hoping for higher sales due to STAYCATIONS ]--They know they got us older people by the butt.The health care system sucks, Taxes too high,Housing alone this week, our house value dropped 34% I just bought it last year.I could go on for 17 pages but I want to leave room for TT.
 
"Necessities of life should not be on the stock market."


Do you mean things like wheat, corn, vegetable oil?

The futures market serves the sellers and buyers alike.

There is a tight oil market for many reasons, but not enough to explain the current prices. The biggest reason prices are going up is that there are billions of dollars sitting in retirement accounts looking for a place to go. The mortgage backed money market soaked up billions of those dollars until the melt down. The managers are dumping that money in commodities because they think it will bring a better return and be safer than the money markets.

Once the prices start to slip, they will fall quickly as all the money managers race not to be last out of the market. Bubbles pop.
 
I saw a poor table at a new Lowes store.It had every possible defect a table could have.It came in a box.89.00 in the box 99.00 assembled.6 feet long.1/4 inch bolts with threads pointing toward the inside where the over long bolts will get your knees.Very poor quality lumber, lots of splinters and sharp edges.Worst of all the table is a tipper.If two heavy people sit on one side a tipper will rear up and dump them on the ground.Many tables I see are tippers.The few 6 foot tables I build are 105.00.Most are 8 foot at 115.00.I put a 2x6 brace under the seats because you can get 900 pounds on a bench.2x4 seat bars are often broken.I talked with the manager at Lowes about the lousy tables he was handling.He seemed to be more interested in price not quality.I told him I was not interestd in selling tables to Lowes.Buying on price alone seems to be common.I have been selling tables for about 30 years here and worked building tables for 3 summers in the 50s.I know a good table when I see one.
 
"Pulling a RV exempts you from needing a CDL to do this but it does NOT exempt you from the saftey side of the law."

What you say is partially true. You do not need a CDL to pull or drive an RV trailer, and that is an ignorant law, but, when you "add" a second trailer, then you DO need a class A CDL with double/triple endorsement.
 
If that was all that they did with commodities stocks it might not be so bad.However they are trading future stocks that dont exist yet on 25 key commodities.Oil thats not pumped or refined,corn thats not planted.They will either be controlled or people will continue to suffer.The speculators have already bought and sold a years worth or more of these commodities,which makes me think that they think they are going to get away with it?This kind of thing has happened before,like Enron when they artificially jacked up electricity rates in California.Why is it so hard for you to grasp this?Do you think its morally justifiable that these people play paper stocks and starve people to death?Then blame it on farmers for producing ethanol,when all along its been speculators.I have to quit before I get any madder.Not to mention the price of gas/diesel,you better hope theres not a drought or you could starve too.
 
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