$4.50 A Gallon!!

[Nbadan]

http://worldwidepablo.blogs.com/worldwide_pablo/files/gas_prices.jpg


With pump prices rising fast, a gas station under the Brooklyn Bridge took a quantum leap into outrageousness - charging a jaw-dropping $4.50 a gallon!

That's what the Gulf Station on Old Fulton St. in Brooklyn Heights was charging credit card customers for a gallon of premium yesterday.

A gallon of regular gas was no bargain, either, at $4.14 for cash or $4.26 on plastic.

NY Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/410113p-346997c.html)


Remember Enron screwing California and what ended it?

The Democracts regaining power in the Senate ended the screwing of California.

[JoeChalupa]

I saw that on the Today show this morning. :wow

I wonder what I'll be paying when vacation time comes in June. :cuss

[ObiwanGinobili]

why the diff between cash & plastic?

[JoeChalupa]

I think it is because the station is charged a fee by the credit card companies so he wants to recoup those?

[Nbadan]

The credit card companies know that as prices go up, so does credit card use at gas stations, so we are all prisoners to whatever fees they say is needed for each transaction, and this is on top of tieing up $50 increments everytime you use your debit card at the automated machines. Credit card companies are as big a scrounge as gas companies, and their profits are just as robust thanks to lax government supervision.

[Nbadan]

Oh, goody!

Oil hits record $74 on Iran, US gasoline stocks
Wed Apr 19, 2006 3:50 PM ET
By Simon Webb


LONDON (Reuters) - Oil hit a record $74 a barrel Wednesday on fears Iran's intensifying dispute with the West may hit oil supplies and after U.S. gasoline stocks dropped.

London's Brent crude settled $1.22 higher at $73.73 a barrel after peaking at a record $74.

U.S. gasoline stocks slumped more than 5 million barrels last week, government data released Wednesday showed. It was a larger fall than analysts polled by Reuters expected, and supplies are now nearly 5 percent below last year's level.

"The EIA (inventory) data are bullish in light of expectations," said Kyle Cooper, analyst at IAF Advisors in Houston. "There is nothing in this report that can put a damper on the current rally."

Reuters (http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-04-19T195141Z_01_SP70089_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-MARKETS-OIL-DC.XML)

[Nbadan]

“The global oil price has not reached its real value yet. The products derived from crude oil are sold at prices dozens of times higher than those charged by oil-producing countries,” the radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

George Orwel, an analyst at the New York-based Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, said he believed Ahmadinejad was not serious but was playing the oil card to resist pressure over his nuclear program.

“They are using the oil as a political football, every time there’s an issue with Iran, the oil market freaks out,” he said in a telephone interview.

MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12390227/)

Does Ahmadinejad work for Exxon?

[boutons_]

"Ahmadinejad work for Exxon"

arm in arm. Whatever pushes up the price of oil is wonderful for both of them.

[mikejones99]

Get the bikes out and lose some weight.

[Borosai]

I personally think the increase is a good thing...it will only accelerate the transition to (and development and implementation of) low-consumption vehicles as well as alternative fuels. In addition, I don't even own a car so I don't really give a shit.

[Nbadan]

I personally think the increase is a good thing...it will only accelerate the transition to (and development and implementation of) low-consumption vehicles as well as alternative fuels. In addition, I don't even own a car so I don't really give a shit.

You don't have to drive a car for higher fuel prices to affect you because it indirectly affects you anyway. It costs more for stores to get that beer and that bag of Fritos to the store. Goods cost more to produce and transport to market, and most of that higher-cost gets passed on to consumers. This is why high-gas prices is so inflationary.

However, you’re probably right in your assumption that this round of price gouging could be the nexus for a real change in American attitudes toward large automobiles, SUVs and trucks and a indirect boon for the environment.

[jochhejaam]

In spite of having a Sister that works for GM and a Brother-In-Law that works for Chrysler I just purchased my 1st foreign car Thursday (Toyota-Scion tc).
They're not gonna be happy but "ya gotta do what ya gotta do".

[RandomGuy]

Based on everything I have read, gasoline will continue to rise until the end of the summer, and then fall a bit, like about 20-30 cents or so as winter sets in.

My personal reading of what the price of oil will do is to increase faster than US inflation, roughly doubling in about 10 years. After this first doubling the next doubling of the price will happen in 9 years or less, and after that it will double again in less than 8. Making my grandchildren very unlikely to be driving a vehicle that uses gasoline that was produced from oil.

This assumes of course that there is no disruption in production caused by political instability.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

http://worldwidepablo.blogs.com/worldwide_pablo/files/gas_prices.jpg



NY Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/410113p-346997c.html)


Remember Enron screwing California and what ended it?

The Democracts regaining power in the Senate ended the screwing of California.


ROFL

that's hilarious yet sad
that deserves a FUCK ZAX

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

The Democracts regaining power in the Senate ended the screwing of California.

Right, because it's not like the oil companies are putting money in the pocket of democrats...

[RandomGuy]

Corso says NBAdan is exactly right, Corso!



The price of gas directly affects the price of all goods, Corso!

The energy companies are raking in extra profits at the expense of the entire world economy, Corso!

The funny thing about profit motive: it exists.

The more units you sell, the more money you make. If you have a product that is in high demand relative to supply, is there less or more motive to plow profits back into producing more units?

The answer is: more motive to produce more. If you can ramp up your production before the other guy, you can make even more profits.

Simple market-based production pressures will cause more production, up to a point in the case of a limited resource.

I don't begrudge the higher profits of oil companies, because I know that all that money will simply make it easier for them to improve production capacity. I also know who really owns the big bad oil companies, and it ain't who ya think. :stirpot:

[weebo]

Lazy Americans--TIME TO PEDDLE YOUR LAZY FAT ASSES TO WORK.

[A-Train]

Obviously the evil E&P and refinery firms are behind this because they want to make it easier for consumers to switch to alternative forms of energy. It must be tough living in an altered state of reality created by stupidity.

[baseline bum]

Ive seen self-serve for $5.00 in Beverly Hills the last couple of days.

[xrayzebra]

Did anyone see the local rags editorial cartoon this morning. I thought, yep
kinda mirrors the US thought process now days. Don't worry about four dollar
a gallon gas, bird flu will kill you before it gets there.

Wonder if we will ever get any good news in the paper anymore?

[Nbadan]

Bush Says Little Can Be Done About High Gas Prices


(AP) SAN JOSE As oil prices hit a record, drivers worried about $3-a-gallon gas and politicians feared the impact on elections, President Bush on Friday acknowledged the pain but seemed resigned to being able to do little about it.

"I know the folks here are suffering at the gas pump," the president said while promoting his competitiveness initiative at the Silicon Valley headquarters of Internet networking company Cisco Systems Inc. "Rising gasoline prices is like taking a _ is like a tax, particularly on the working people and the small-business people."

But to address the immediate problem, Bush offered only a pledge that "if we find any price gouging it will be dealt with firmly."

Bush said that lowering America's dependance on foreign oil imports will help reduce the country's vulnerability to global oil price fluctuations. On Saturday, the president was pushing his proposals to boost spending to develop alternative energy sources, particularly hydrogen-fueled cars.

CBS (http://cbs5.com/business/local_story_111202519.html)

Flashback to Janury 2000 (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0001/26/se.02.html):


BUSH: No, I don't. I think I agree with the energy secretary that the strategic petroleum reserve is meant for a national wartime emergency.

What I think the president ought to do is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots. One reason why the price is so high is because the price of crude oil has been driven up. OPEC has gotten its supply act together, and it's driving the price, like it did in the past. And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price.

And if in fact there is collusion amongst big oil, he ought to intercede there as well.

I used to be in the oil business. I was little oil -- really little oil. And so I understand the -- I understand what can happen in the marketplace.

I think it's very important for us, though, to recognize that our country better become less dependent on foreign crude. That's why I am for the exploration of ANWR. That's why I'm for the exploration of natural gas, which is hemispheric. It's not subject to price.

In the meantime, I support the congressional delegation here in New England attempt to fund LIHEAP, which is that low-income heating assistance program.

BROWN: Let me follow up by asking what pressures -- specifically what pressures should be brought on OPEC nations to lift those production curbs?

BUSH: Well, we've got good relations with a lot of members of OPEC. If the president does his job, the president will earn capital in the Middle East, and the president should have good standing with those nations. It's important for the president to explain, in clear terms, what high energy prices will not only do to our economy, but what high energy prices will do to the world economy.

It is in the Saudis' best interest for the price of oil to mellow out. It's not only in our country's best interests. It needs to be explained to them, it's in their best interests.

[Nbadan]

Good Times! If your a Texas Oil man...


http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/PageMill_Images/Bush_et_al_in_jail.jpg


The latest evidence that good times are rolling again in the nation's oil capital: Several hundred people attended a weekend bash celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Petroleum Club of Houston.

The black-tie event called attention to change – not only the new vigor in the industry, but the changing role of downtown eating clubs.

There have been years – notably 1986, the year oil fell below $10 a barrel – when the meeting place atop the 44-story ExxonMobil tower wasn't a happy place. But $70 oil fills enough wallets to underwrite a $100,000 party.

To broaden, the club has reached outside the industry and started a young professionals group, prorating the $3,500 initiation fee over early years of membership and even adding a billiard table. Some new members are not even in the oil business. The club took in a group of physicians.

Dallas News (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-houjournal_24tex.ART.State.Edition1.a3b824.html)