Gas prices: Who or what is to blame?

[Angyles Cerddoriaeth]

there is really no real reason for the gas prices. here in cali they are roughly $2.09 a gallon for 87 gas. there is no reason and i know the gas companies are saying it is because they need to out the gas through more "refining" for the summer, so the smog is not as bad here in so cal. it is just a reason for them to get more money. the reserves are not that low. we do have the resources.

last time they pulled this triple A indicated they were going to do an investigation on the price hike and suddenly they dropped...no real reason. triple A needs to step in and announce an investigation again.

too many officals are gettign kick backs from the oil compaines, why else would they not step in and complain?

[Dingo Jellybean]

Well, the only true and powerful, yet inexpensive and vast source of energy is nuclear power. Though the downside to this is that nuclear waste is hard to clean up, and many people wouldn't feel right driving a nuclear powered engine that probably costs about as much as a regular fill up to power the car for over a couple of weeks or even months.

[Doomgaze]

[DocFrance]

Yay! Mr. Fusion!

[Flying Mullet]

Ya know, it's 2004 and I still don't see anything that shows promise for putting hover-cars on our roads and in our skies by 2015. If I don't get my hover car there'll be hell to pay.

Talking about gas prices, my parents live about an hours drive aaway from some pretty big refineries that supply their town with all of their gas, but gas prices are rediculously high in town, even though the distributor claims "transportation costs". Yeah right, they just want to gouge people.

[Cid]

I'm paying 2.23 in CA for 89 octane

[Yamaneko]

That's how much I'm paying. Good thing my car is pretty economic.

It's the oil companies fault. There's no shortage of oil, just a high demand. They periodically raise prices, lower them again, and raise them again higher than they were before. People are just too dumb to notice. I remember when gas was $0.99 less than eight years ago. Look at it now.

[Flying Mullet]

Plus it makes it sad that because of gas prices people get more excited about a 5 cent drop in gas prices here in the US than they do over Christmas morning or other such happy times.

[Reason]

How many litres is a gallon?

Originally posted by Big D
96 Octane fuel costs about 70 American cents per litre (roughly 2.2 pints) in my country

=O!

Norwegians pay 1,4 USD per litre, I think.
But everything is way overprized here... =(

[Dingo Jellybean]

Originally posted by Yamaneko
That's how much I'm paying. Good thing my car is pretty economic.

It's the oil companies fault. There's no shortage of oil, just a high demand. They periodically raise prices, lower them again, and raise them again higher than they were before. People are just too dumb to notice. I remember when gas was $0.99 less than eight years ago. Look at it now.

Everyone seems to be discrediting oil companies, but they do exactly what a fundamental economist would do.

If a company cannot meet with high demand, they raise the prices...if they can meet with demand efficiently, they lower the prices. Though some people might look at this as fraud and such, it's actually a smart and very fundamental business sense and anyone who owns a large company knows that it's no one's fault but the consumer's.

[eestlinc]

well, here in Atlanta we have low gas prices, about $1.50 for 89 octane, and Atlanta has horrible traffic and huge numbers of gas-guzzling SUVs. Maybe if gas were more expensive here, less people would drive these wasteful vehicles. Maybe if gas prices were higher less people would drive. They would buy more economical vehicles, be more choosy about when and where they drive, etc.

[Dingo Jellybean]

Originally posted by eestlinc
well, here in Atlanta we have low gas prices, about $1.50 for 89 octane, and Atlanta has horrible traffic and huge numbers of gas-guzzling SUVs. Maybe if gas were more expensive here, less people would drive these wasteful vehicles. Maybe if gas prices were higher less people would drive. They would buy more economical vehicles, be more choosy about when and where they drive, etc.

Yeah, in some ways I like gas price hikes. Those people who drive SUVs drive them in ways that consumes gas almost 1.5x more than normal cars. SUV drivers accelerate too fast to be economical, I welcome the gas hikes...sometimes. But i don't mind it, people need to quit braking so hard, accelerating so fast, and driving so fast.

[mong00se]

Originally posted by Zefiroth
Too bad water is not a fuel for automobiles, or else we'll have an (nearly) unlimited supply. But wether or not prices of gasoline should in fact be cheaper, not everyone will afford it if it is sold for more than it is. Here where I live gasoline is like $2.50, which sucks badly.

invest in fuel cells and hydrogen car models

kthx

[Shadowdust]

Originally posted by Garland
Most people won't be too quick to pull out the bicycle, walk, carpool or take public transportation. Hey, maybe that's not such a bad idea. Raise gas prices so high that it encourages people to find alternate means of transportation, and thus cut down on pollution and traffic in one move. Some people might even get more exercise. Who's for a price hike?

That's all fine and dandy if you work locally but a lot of people have to commute over long distances because of a lack of jobs in their area.

I believe right now over here it's 2.15 for 87, 2.25 for 89, and 2.35 for 91. Then again, I haven't seen the gas prices since Thursday.

[gokufusionss1]

they've allready invented a car that runs on water but it's still in the devlopment all the major car producers are involved. (p.s it's treated water so it would still cost)

But oil is used massively in creating plastics and synthetic fibers. this is what we will miss.