CIONIDE

iTrader: (1)

In the long run, gov't intervention never works in a free-market society.
It would ultimately screw up the supply and demand economics, employee wages and benefits, job security, and reduce or remove the corporate incentives to spend $$ for more efficient and/or increased production.

BTW, the U.S. gov't is already a big player in the price of gas:

Fuel taxes in the United States vary by state. For the first quarter of 2008, the average state gasoline tax is 28.6 cents per gallon, plus 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax making the total 47 cents per gallon.

D_Unit

HAHA... I actually chuckled a little bit because I never thought about the idea that after all this is said and done, our children's children will probably be complaining about the rise in electricity and/or nuclear power... haha. I guess it's a never ending cycle. But it will be very interesting to see what's going to happen in the next 4 to 8 years. Prices aside, Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth is scaring the BeJesus out of everybody. At least our society looks like it will be moving in a more green direction.
That's interesting CIONIDE. I admit I'm a believer of the price gouging conspiracy theory, but also freely admit I have no clue whatsoever about the topic. I still think gov't intervention could be helpful to investigate any type of foul play, but misuse of government intervention can have some negative affects like the ones you mentioned.

CarbonXe

iTrader: (1)

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/gas-price1.htm

Here is a good write up about where your $3.50 is going.

Also, the whole oil surplus thing doesn't bother me one bit at all. There's a lot more oil on this planet than we think, and someone HAS to create something that creates more energy than it uses within the next 50 years.

Think about this for a minute, a battery that can recharge itself, using its own battery power. THAT's the future.

eph94

I read in AutoWeek that BMW has a hydogren-fueled car that actually CLEANS the air it consumes. Greenhouse gases from the atmosphere go in and water vapor comes out. If we could only find a non-fossil fuel intensive manner of making hydrogren fuel...

xFistsClenchedx

My concern is really that gas prices in the next few years will hit $7 per gallon and I won't be able to drive as much. Also, I don't think it's fair to bash SUV's. There are a lot of families that actually do require a vehicle like that. Especially for family trips that involve towing. Before bashing the state and federal taxes from fuel, we should find out where that money goes first.

danos_XBox

Isn't it ironic! the price of a Hybrids offset any gas savings. Even our little cars max out at 30 MPG or so at best. 50, 60, 70 80, dollars it will take to fill soon. Your pretty much screwed unless you bike, rollerblade, walk etc. to get to work. the car will become a luxury item to low income, and only the rich will be able to drive the roads and will still waste gas in Hummers. big trucks and the like.

xbean

Hmm...maybe a little excessive?

Anyways...gas will go up and becasue of our reliance on it, theres nothing we can do. But it's not really a big deal. Like what they said before, gas for us is cheap. We just have been spoiled for a while.

I'll raise a stink when it hits $7 this time next year.

nameless_ak

almost there here^ well not quite 7 dollars a gallon but its only 2.50 shy of that.

postman

I remember 33 cents a gallon + they cleaned your windows and checked your oil.....and gave you green stamps that you saved and could get free gifts

shuedawg

Those were the good old days. We are to OLD!!!!!

orangedonkey

Dang !!!! I now think back when I was in high scool scrounging around trying to find "regular leaded" gas for my big block Ford. I thought 0.86 cent per gallon was bad. We are lied to every day by our wonderful govt., gas shortages.....BS !!!! I've been working in the pipeline industry for the last 13 years and busines is really, really good right now.

We need a drastic change in the system. Lets start by fixing AMERICA instead of trying to half-**** fix all these third world counties that hate us........

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html

coming soon......... SUN LIGHT tax and the brand new FRESH AIR TAX.

CarbonXe

iTrader: (1)

Gas has never been as cheap here as you guys think is has. The cheapest is has ever been in this country, was back in 99 under Clinton (inflation factored in). Mostly due to how much the dollar was worth back then.



Orange, America is far from being fixed. Economically, we're f*cked. Morally, we're f*cked. Legally, we're f*cked. I'm glad I work for a global company.

D_Unit

Sadly, everyone hates us right now because our foreign policy sucks monkey *****. If anyone is interested in a VERY good movie rental, check out "NO END IN SIGHT" about the Iraq War. I guarantee you will walk away with a different understanding of the war. It seems like the world hates us but they do not understand we were mislead by the Bush administration. There are piles and piles of information how he deliberately lied to us on record. I do agree we need to pull out of Iraq, but am torn how will we ever fix the destruction we did to that country. It's going to be a very complicated issue for our next POTUS.

stinger11723

I don't like paying so much for gas, but the wife and I have a dual income with no kids so it doesn't hurt us much at all. Heck, the wife drives a company car (a Prius) and they pay for the gas so we are only paying for mine. My last fill up was two weeks ago today and I'm sitting at 330 miles driven. The wife drives us around on the weekends at the moment and she just got 58 mpg on her last fill up. I'll be driving more next week when my new XB comes in.

We're going to Florida for vacation in two weeks and I expect to put on 1500 miles with that trip alone. I expect to be spending $250-$300 on gas.

The ones that I'm concerned with are my family that work at the Ford Big Truck plant here in Louisville, KY. They might be dropping a complete shift of workers that will leave my brother, brother-in-law and uncle without a job. Their plant makes the F-250's, F-350's and such.

BozzMan

With the way the prices at the pump fluctuate daily, there is no doubt that the price at the pump IS NOT related to the per barrel price of crude. It's just plain old greed on the part of the oil companies who are gouging the consumer.

CarbonXe

iTrader: (1)

compared to when gas was the cheapest it has even been in this country.


[sarcasm]No, not related at all.[/sarcasm]

D_Unit

The price or value of crude oil DOES affect the price of gas at the pump. When you sent out that link Carbon and the spreadsheets above, that's exactly what it is saying. The only question is, is there any type of price gouging going on. Right now, OPEC oversees this, but I don't think it's too far fetch to wonder why are oil companies making record profits when we are paying more to protect the consumer....

CarbonXe

iTrader: (1)

Sorry, I guess my sarcasm in "No, not related at all." wasn't thick enough, lol.

There, how's that?

D_Unit

Holy crap, you got me. Forgive me, I'm still very much ____ed off after I watched "No End In Sight." My Dad retired from the Navy and my brother is coming home this month from his 3rd tour from Iraq, so I get really ____ed off on certain topics... The sarcasm quotes are hilarious....

CarbonXe

iTrader: (1)

.

I figured it was enough before, since I quoted the guy, then proved him wrong, then said he was right. I guess I forgot that sarcasm doesn't work too well on the internet . I'm gonna add that movie to my blockbuster queue. I should make my friend watch it, because we got into a heated debate (well, he resorted to screaming and yelling to not allow me to get points in) about the war. He's a complete bigot about the topic and thinks we should stay in Iraq, but not to liberate, he thinks this war is good because we're killing 'terrorists'. Dumbass still supports Bush...Lol, he even tried to blame our current recession on Bill Clinton, then contradicted himself by saying the economy lags 4 years behind.