What Happened to the gas crisis

pennwalk · Sep 16, 2005

Was it 2 weeks ago that gas started jumping up 20 cents a day till it hit $3.50 around here. Now it has dribbled back down to about there it started. What the heck is going. I thought we were having a gas crisis. Not enough gas to go around. Maybe they built a couple more refineries or so many people bought prius or when gas was $3.50 a lot of people put a bullet through the heart of there excursions. And how come now that gas is coming down diesel seems to be heading up. Does any of this gas stuff make sense to you? Can you explain it to me?

Chris

Chuck52 · Sep 16, 2005

Does the term "profiteering" ring a bell?

Chuck

beenthere · Sep 16, 2005

Pennwalk

Does "media hype" ring a bell? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Listening to the National news a couple weeks ago, when a media 'expert' was being interviewed, he said the gas will be going up all week due to blah, blah, blah. He said before you come home from work tomorrow it will be 20 cents higher, so I suggest you fill up in the morning.

Well, hello..... How to make a crisis happen any quicker than to announce this? Remember when the toilet paper scare drifted out to the media, and people were of a sudden buying a years supply of toilet paper? Wonder what caused the price to go up?

Profiteering is my belief too, as the labor day weekend was coming, and the big hook was out to get all that were going to make one last summer trip, no matter the price was high.

Junkman · Sep 16, 2005

Price goes up..... demand goes down.... people stopped driving as much. Supply started to back up in the pipe line and they lower the price. Demand starts to grow, prices go up again. The cycle will continue until they figure out what is the balance point where people will continue to use product and price will be acceptable to the public. In the old days, this was called supply and demand marketing. Today, it is called profiteering. I am just waiting until the congress does to the oil (and drug) companies what they did in the 1970's when the oil companies last played this game. It was known as the excess profits tax. Just wonder if this congress & president have the guts to do this????

DannyD · Sep 16, 2005

Junk, you are kidding right?

Jim57 · Sep 16, 2005

Have you heard of people kicking people while they are down? I think the gas companies could have helped America out in this crisis rather than capitalize on it. I haven't heard of a single gas company making a donation to Katrina Victums... not that they haven't but I would think they would have made it very public if they did. In my opinion.... the gas companies capitalized on America's Tragedy. I think it is a crying shame our congress and president allowed this.

I suggest we all take a few days without buying any fuel and watch the prices plummit when they get a surplus. The way it has happened with fuel prices have upset me and a lot of people that think like I do. But I didn't hear anything from the president in his address to the nation about helping lower fuel prices. Did any of you??

Jim

Junkman · Sep 16, 2005

( Junk, you are kidding right? )

I would have liked to expand on my thoughts, however I have to obey the no politics policy of the site. I will say that the profits that have been recently made by both the drug and oil companies are not in line with the profits of other companies that are in other fields. Usually when there is a economic boom, all companies share in the benefits. In this particular case, many other industries are being harmed by the way the oil companies are acting. The price of the fuel in the tanks at the station doesn't change 50 cents overnight. To me, this is just profiteering at the pump. The pump prices were jumping faster than the price of the barrel of oil at the well head. The last thing that I would want to see is more government intervention and regulation in business, however, there are times that business groups act unilateral to the detriment of society. That is why the anti trust laws were enacted by congress.
Here is some interesting reading in the news.... The 5 most outrageously overpaid CEOs This is just another example of big business out of control.

beenthere · Sep 16, 2005

Jim
Yes, I did hear they addressed it, and decided it was not out of line. Remember at the time Katrina hit, some of the big refineries were in the middle of it.

Gas prices are not high in relation to income, IMO. They are cheaper now in relation to an hourly wage than back in the 50's when gas was around 30 cents a gallon (about 1/4 of an hourly wage). It's about in line with $3 gas for an hourly wage of $12. We've been enjoying cheap gas for so long we are spoilt rotten. (IMO /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

MikePA · Sep 17, 2005

haven't heard of a single gas company making a donation to Katrina Victums... not that they haven't but I would think they would have made it very public if they did. 
Facts from CNN...

Amerada Hess - $1 million to Red Cross plus will match employee gifts
BP - $1 million to Red Cross
Chevron - $3 million to Red Cross, $2 million to local charities
ConocoPhillips - $3 million plus match employee gifts
Exxon Mobil - $2 million to Red Cross, $5 million in grants to local relief agencies.
Shell Oil and Motiva Enterprises - $2 million and match employee donations up to $1 million.