Oil price jump wreak havoc?

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Odin

isn't that price gouging?

Yes but most don't get hit by it, many stations around here raise prices 2 or 3 times a day even though it is illegal.

The whole oil pricing structure is about price gouging, only 1 or 2 entities outside the middle east fix the price, a couple of the banks that we bailed out are doing this activity of artificially constricting supply and expanding demand, especially in the east coast fuel oil market. As our demand plummetted drastically the oil prices lept up to over $4 a gallon all because of price fixing.

Its too bad we don't have the type of government officials that were around in the 40's to bust some of this garbage up.

Whlie we have more oil in storage than ever before our prices are also higher than ever. Nice

[Odin]

The people in charge now are in the pockets of these company's so nothing will change. I've never seen more than a 10 cent change in one day so 35 cents is awful

[Frank Lee]

As our demand plummetted drastically the oil prices lept up to over $4 a gallon all because of price fixing.

Well... I wouldn't call a 1 or 2% drop "drastic".

[Odin]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Well... I wouldn't call a 1 or 2% drop "drastic".

in the US that is a drop of 413,000 barrels of oil, that is a lot of oil

(that would be a 2% drop in oil consumption per day, I know not all oil goes into fuel but this was the easy number to find)

[Frank Lee]

For '10 and projected... no minus signs for motor vehicle fuel at all...

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Actually the economy was far from BOOMing. Much of our "sales" volume from that year that is supposedly how well we are doing was due to the sales of gasoline not of real goods.

Just like most of the GNP growth of the current "recovery" (the recession supposedly ended in June 2009) is due to inflation rather than growth in actual economic activity, hence the jobless "recovery".

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by basjoos

Just like most of the GNP growth of the current "recovery" (the recession supposedly ended in June 2009) is due to inflation rather than growth in actual economic activity, hence the jobless "recovery".

And this is the 2nd jobless recovery.

[redyaris]

I for one don't believe any of the stories about price gauging on the part of oil companies. I accept that price is set by "what the market will bear". But if I did believe in oil company price gauging I would do what most of us are already doing and reduce my demand for the product in question... fuel...
In Alberta [home of the tar sands...] we are being warned that there will be a price rise from $0.95/L to $1.50/L; a 58% price increase! For me that will amount to a $765/year increase in cost of fuel for driving, if I do nothing to improve fuel economy. However my plan for 2011 is to reduce my fleet fuel consumption by 30%. So If I succeed my cost of fuel for driving will only go up by $405/year. Is this socialist, capitalist or home economics?

[CigaR007]

Originally Posted by redyaris

In Alberta [home of the tar sands...] we are being warned that there will be a price rise from $0.95/L to $1.50/L; a 58% price increase!

The North American market cannot bear a price of 1.50$/L (5.7$/gallon) for fuel. Look no further than 2008 to see what happened.

[redyaris]

Wheather the market can or can not bear a fuel price of $1.50/L, it may still happen. Price in the market place is a signal to all those who want/need a product to adjust however they can. Some can not adjust and will do without. Some like you and I have planed ahead and are in fact insulated from the 58% price rise by the cars we drive.