Wholesale gas down to $1.835/gal. Why is national avg. still $2.75?

[Roland99]

Oil has dropped below $60/bbl, too.


Why is gasoline still so high?

[Dem Agog]

1. And Why So High in Charlotte, NC?

I'm sick of the higher prices here. Damn but it's killing us.

And shortages still, too!

[NCPatriot]

3. In Charlotte...

I Paid 3.39/Gal at the corner of Margaret Wallace and Idlewild yesterday AM... (93 Octane)

It is definitely not following suit..

[merwin]

5. Why do you pay for 93 octane?

I do in my motorcycle because it's absolutely necessary, but for most cars (ie: unless it's a high-torque 300 hp+ sports car) it's not.

To each his own though :-)

[newyawker99]

17. Hi NCPatriot!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[fasttense]

2. Do you pay $2.75? Here in the sticks of East TN we are paying

$2.99. I think the "average" being reported is bogus. Normally we run at the average or lower.

[Roland99]

6. Louisville's been a bit above the nat'l avg. lately but it's about $2.65

at the cheapest places in the lower housing price areas.

It's $2.71-$2.81 around me.

[OneTwentyoNine]

4. Oil at $61.57,lowest since August 25th......

I started keeping track on that date. Its now dropped about $9.00 since the 8/31 high of over $70.00 per barrel yet the price around here hasn't dropped all that much.

Wonder how much ripping off even the idiot Freepers can take before they SCREAM out??

[tandoori]

15. The bottleneck is in refinery capacity, so even if oil drops to $40/barrel

gas could still stay high. The supply is less than demand.
Simple as that. And majority of refinery's are in the gulf
region which was severely affected by the hurricanes.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi tandoori!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[tandoori]

23. Thanks bud, its a great place to be....DU rocks!

[gasperc]

21. yeah, but whoesale prices have fallen

why aren't the savings being passed on? pretty screwed

[tandoori]

22. Businesses are known for taking advantage of supply/demand

imbalances. They will screw the consumer every chance they get.
The best way to remedy that is by increasing supply. The price
controls tried during Nixon & Carter administrations actually
caused more grief than benefit the consumer. I remember vividly
the "out of gas" signs.

Since the major cause of gasoline shortages is limitations in
refining capacity, in my opinion the federal and state governments
need to encourage building of new refineries. I have read news
reports claiming none have been built in 30 years, while gasoline
demand has increased steadily.

[OneTwentyoNine]

26. He's drinking the Oil Barrons Kool-Aid......n/t

[OneTwentyoNine]

25. Really believe all that?

Is demand up so much in only ONE year that prices had to raise from $1.80 to $3.19? Is demand up so much that prices had to go from $1.25 to $3.19 since 1999-2000?

Buy that BS if you want but I'm not. Thats the RW "talking points" to blame price gouging on Liberals because of a refinery shortage. Fact is those bastards have been systematically shutting down refineries on their OWN for a decade instead of upgrading/rebuilding. They didn't want a repeat of late 1998-1999 when gas prices dropped to less than $1.00 per gallon in most of the US.

[tandoori]

30. I won't be surprised if the refinery's have been shut down on purpose

by the oil barrons. My main point is that refinery capacity IS
down in relation to demand. The RWers point to environmentalists
for the refinery shortage, which may or may not be true. I don't
believe it is the sole reason either.

The best way to foil price gouging by businesses is to put in place
conditions which cause oversupply of goods and services. Whenever
there is a shortage of anything, be it gasoline, electricity or
golf clubs, you can bet the price will shoot up.


As for the price jumping from $1.89 to $3.00/gal while demand increased
may be 5% this year, there is a simple explanation. Price in an open
market is determined entirely by supply and demand. When demand is 5%
higher, 5% of car drivers have NO gasoline since the other 95% have
bought out the available supply. Since not many drivers can survive
without a car and the gas to fuel it, a bidding war is created for the
95% supply by the 100% drivers.

Again, the best protection for consumers is that there be a over supply
of commodities, in this case gasoline, because only competition among
the oil businesses can result in justifiable prices.

[Pab Sungenis]

7. Simple supply and demand math.

"When oil futures go up, we know it's going to cost more money to get the oil to make into gasoline three months from now, so we raise the price.

"When oil futures go down, we know that it might just be a temporary adjustment, so we don't lower prices in case it shoots back up."

"So when does the price of gas go down?"

"Go down? Are you NUTS?"

[flannelmouth]

8. Wholesale Price + Taxes + Markup + Transport = Retail N/T

[Roland99]

9. When wholesale first hit $2/gal. Gas wasn't this high.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/gas_prices8.html

"according to analysts' rule of thumb that retail prices are 60 to 65 cents higher than wholesale."

Wholesale gas at $1.835 means gas should be $2.48. We're $0.20-$0.30 above that.

[Awsi Dooger]

24. I think that rule of thumb is now passe

The hurricane/refinery phase gave oil companies perfect opportunity to vault prices and gauge public reaction and tolerance. Since there wasn't widespread meaningful disgust and only a comparitively meager decline in usage, I doubt we'll return to that 60-65 cent guideline. Profit rules.

I wouldn't be surprised if oil execs are upset the hurricanes didn't make a direct hit and destroy some big refineries, whuch would have excused further and more significant price hikes. It's like that Enron tape of the California fires, "Burn baby burn."

[OneTwentyoNine]

29. And retailers claim they only make 2 cents per gallon.

So the trucking companies make 63 cents per gallon for delivery?? Huh..I'd bet a bunch of them would say thats bullshit,they don't make anywhere near that amount.

[tandoori]

31. Please read my post #30....eom

[newyawker99]

19. Hi flannelmouth!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[chappaquadem]

10. New York gas

Gas prices here in Hillary's new hometown run 3.37-3.47 a gallon.

[newyawker99]

20. Hi chappaquadem!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[bluedawg12]

11. Because they are money grubbing petro-ho's n/t

[bluedawg12]

12. North Carolina (red state-kissshrubbutt) $3.08

I hope they rue every single radical right wing vote.

[bluedawg12]

14. Listening to Lord John Brown of BP of Charlie Rose

he says that the petro-barons had a banner year-very good profits.

How wonderful for the average person driving to work and heating their home.

Just heard auto workers are taking another pay cut.

The rich get richer and the poor get prayers.

[Roland99]

16. The poor don't even get those anymore.

[Roland99]

13. UPDATE: OOPS...National Average is $2.92!!!

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=10875

WTF?

[Neil Lisst]

27. Whatever the market will bear ...

Sadly, Bush has returned the country to the condition it was in the 1920s, and the gouge is in effect.

Shame, shame, shame on these bad Americans.

-----
my progressive political cartoon
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neillisst

[ComerPerro]

28. They have conditioned people to pay these prices

Prices steadily rise. Then they start spiking faster and faster. People are starting to get upset.

Suddenly, a disaster comes along, and a few places start charging $5 and $6 a gallon. In most places, the average price goes over $3.

So, it comes back down, and people are happier. Of course, it never gets down to what it was before. And why should it? People are happy now to pay 2.80. At least its not $3, right?

That's how they condition you.