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#11
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 Democrat
One possibility is this - the production/transport/storage system actually has a very limited holding capacity. It relies on steady movement of product through the system. If current prices drive down demand (less gas/oil/fertilizer gets sold) - inventories will back up very quickly.
If we start hearing stories about barges anchored in the Gulf of Mexico unable to off-load because of full storage tanks - we'll know a price drop is coming. I keep seeing references in the Wall Street Journal pointing at private Hedge Funds as being the speculators monkeying with futures prices. I understand very little about this and would like to know more. Hedge Funds can represent very big money - like Rothschild, Rockefellor, George Soros, etc. I do think the market is being manipulated to some degree. The Hedge Funds are profiteering on the supply squeeze. I have faith in market forces and man's ingenuity. These high prices will spur developments in even higher fuel efficiency, oil alternatives, etc. It's true we don't have all the answers now. They will come though. I put a post up here 1-2 years ago asking when high oil prices would drive down used truck prices. Back then I wanted a bigger tow vehicle. Since then, I've sold my boat and haven't replaced it. I may not replace it. Wouldn't need a bigger tow vehicle then either. |
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#12
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 Democrat
Whoa, I can't speak for ADM but if the farm lobby organizations are lobbying for higher fuel prices I've got a size 13 to plant somewhere.
Ag producers are heading into harvest and fall tillage time. We consume 3 times as much fuel to take the crop out and to do fall tillage as we do to put the crop in, in the spring. Today diesel would cost me somewhere aroud 2.30/ gal ( Diesel for off-highway use is not subject to the gas tax) When you start looking at fuel consumption today's larger diesel tractors and combines consume anywhere from 14 - 25 gallons per hour. Some producers consume more than 500 gallons per day during harvest. We are the last people that want higher fuel prices. Regards, Scott Lee Since there is six times as much water as dry land on earth, any fool can plainly see the good Lord meant for man to fish six times as much as he works. |
#13
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 Democrat
> > You don't mean OPEC wants alternative fuels??? Not a chance. > > That's what I said. OPEC is not responsible for the price increase. It is those who trade in futures. OPEC would prefer oil be profitable, but still affordabe to reduce the push for alternative fuels. |
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#14
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 Democrat
While its true that the supply/demand curve has played a role in the current price, there are many more varibles that have a greater role in this current round of price gouging, and most of it has to do with the manipulation of the oil market. Anyone rember the Hunt family driving up the price of silver in the early 80's from $5 to almost $50 an ounce. How about the "power shortage" in California where the prices skyrocketed a couple of years ago? Financial markets created these "shortages" and the speculators got rich. Same thing happening today.
The supply/demand curve may be the basis for this recent consumer rape situation but you can say the same about the past silver and electricity "shortages" also. More speculators buying than selling causing the price to increase. I personally do not believe that the slight increase in oil consumption from last year to this year is sufficient to explain a doubling in price. The perpetual lack of a sensible energy conservation policy in the US will and may be already haunting us but today China's thirst for oil is having a much larger effect on the price than US consumption. But China may have a reason to worry. Wal Mart said yesterday that their sales were lower than expected and blamed it on the high oil prices. People buying gas instead of their merchandise. Since most of WalMart merchandise comes from China, they, the Chinese, may get concerned that their primary market for their low quality crap is struggling because of their increased consumption levels. If only the Chinese would produce something useful, like oil, maybe the prices would drop to a reasonable level. As closed as the Chinese country has been, who's to say that they don't have a few hundred billion barrels of reserve? |
#15
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 Democrat
all I have to say is that when we have a Texan in the white house oil prices go up...........................
rebs |
#16
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 Democrat
"The perpetual lack of a sensible energy conservation policy in the US will and may be already haunting us but today China's thirst for oil is having a much larger effect on the price than US consumption."
What is a sensible energy policy? Who should be deciding how much gas we can use? How big our motors can be? Are you suggesting these decisions should be regulated by the government? Yuck! |
#17
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 D...
Seems part of the problem is that we have lost perspective on how we are living these days. Is it insanity when in NW. Ontario it is somehow cost effective to ship 5 ton blocks of raw granite to China for processing....is it insanity when I look at the produce section of the Co-op in Vermilion Bay and find packages of sugar snap peas from China...is it insanity when apples from Australia are cheaper than fruit grown in Canada.....and on and on. A couple driving from Chicago to go fishing bring up their Hummer....a 200 HP motor on a boat is common place. After 25 years the mill in Dryden drops a local supplier of wood for pallets in favour of a supplier in Manitoba.. Is it possible that "cheap energy" has allowed us to rationalize these really bizarre decisions? Maybe some high prices will be a benefit to us all in the end.
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#18
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 Democrat
I blame it on boat dealers.
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#19
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 Democrat
There's much more to an energy policy than dictating engine sizes.
If the gov't spent as much money since the original oil "shortage" in 74-75,(or gave tax incentives for private corporations, same thing) for research into conserving energy as they give to finding more oil, we may not be in the situation we're in today. The gov't forced, througe CAFE standards, better mileage and the auto makers provided cars with much better mileage today than 30 years ago. Why not require even higher mileage. Everybody (automakers) screamed the first time around that we'd be driving mini-cars that cost $50K. Didn't happen then. Wouldn't happen this time. The highways are bumper-to-bumper and gridlock is common these days but there's never any real effort or money put into mass transit on a national or regional basis. Simply adding more lanes to highways is a short-term transportation fix that does nothing to satisfy our oil thirst. I voted for Bush both times but his inability to see past the Texas oil fields is troubling. As inept as Jimmy Carter was, I think he was the only president in memory to grasp the scope of the energy problem. Unfortunately, that was just about the only thing he understood. |
#20
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RE: To all gas price conspiracy theorists - and thx 2 Democrat
>all I have to say is that when we have a Texan in the white
>house oil prices go up........................... > >rebs Uh I think you forgot the spike in home heating fuel when billy Jeff Butttafuco was playing hide the cigar in the oval office with portly Interns and dodging ashtrays from the Co-president. Wasn't the first big hit a the pumps the last year of the Clinton Administration when he was selling pardons for Campaign Cash? Oh my, guess what I just found. A little history for those that want to make this a Texas Republican problem. In 1999 Gas was at a record low at .90 cents a gallon, then the very next year boom. 1.58. While Billy Jeff Buttafuco was still in orfice. Opps sorry....office. [url]http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/jan-june00/gas_3-15.html[/url] Yeah the gas prices still suck I don't care who you blame. Me, I blame the speculators and downstream folks from the refineries. I was getting calls from Investment people back in Febuary telling me this was comming. The said 3-3.50 per gallon before it stabilizes back to the mid to high 2 range. I know this for a fact. Some distributors send out emails, notes, phone calls what ever to their outlets " suggesting" today's prices and when they should change. If those retailers don't follow those suggestions the next few deliveries of gas may just not get there on time. |
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