Gas prices climb over $3 a gallon in Silicon Valley

[Newsjock]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

The recession lingers. Gas supplies are more than adequate. No oil refineries are down. And drivers continue to drive less.

Yet California gas prices have surged to more than $3 a gallon, rising as much as 26 cents in the past two weeks at some South Bay stations. To the befuddlement of many motorists, some energy experts say the price hikes will keep coming.

... "The recent rally is based more on optimism about the future prospects for the economy than on current supply and demand," said Matt Skryja, a spokesman for the state auto club in California. "Oil investors try to anticipate where the economy is going. Typically, as the economy gets better, more oil is used.

"So if investors think the economy is improving they will buy more oil because it's a commodity they think will be in demand. Those factors help spur trading and drive up the price."

... "I honestly don't know," said Chuck Brassfield, owner of a Shell station on Capitol Expressway that has raised its price from $2.99 to $3.19 a gallon within two weeks. "We had no warning at all. My cost has gone up five times in the last 10 days. Either the futures market speculators are driving it up, or the oil companies are gearing up for another quarter of record profits."

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/topstories/ci_13023359

[Kdillard]

1. So basically speculators are driving up the prices because they think the economy is

improving.

[depakid]

2. Yep- and neither the administration nor the Democratic majority appear to have the fortitude

to do anything about it.

[Kdillard]

5. I remember Obama talking about the speculators and wanting something done about it

but I am assuming it got put to the back burner. It has been some time since the issue came up.

[Zhade]

33. I remember Obama making a lot of promises he's since broken.

Reestablishing the rule of law, for one.

[elleng]

14. I think CFTC IS doing something about it now.

[Dr_Willie_Feelgood]

22. Higher Prices = Lower Consumption

Lower Consumption = Fewer Greenhouse Gasses = A Good Thing!
Higher Prices = More Economic Viability for Alternative Energy = A Good Thing!

So why are we bitching here? Raise it to $20 a gallon through taxes, and maybe FINALLY something will get done vis a vis wind, solar, and geothermal.

[kelly1mm]

24. Um .... maybe because the poor who lack public transportation

alternatives (rural/suburban) will be adversely impacted by $20 per gallon gas?

[Dr_Willie_Feelgood]

25. So we keep it artificially low...

...until the greenhouse gases are in runaway mode and we pass peak oil and run out of it before building up an alternative?

There are NO eaay answers. So many people want to wave a Harry Potter magic wand and Poof! everyone has everything they need.

Alas, we live in a world of finite resources. Pittman's Law - "Math is a mother****er, and math always wins".

Ultimately, we are doomed to consume them all. Someday, if the human species is still around, our descendents will, at best, be living in the equivilent of the 19th Century.

The question is, how big of a rush are we to get there?

[WriteDown]

26. I've noticed you are using the internet...

therefore using precious resources and polluting. Please remember to recycle your computer when you dispose of it. :eye:

[Dr_Willie_Feelgood]

27. I care about the people alive today.

I care about the people alive next week, next year, next decade, next century, next millenium.

Unless and until I can find an alternative, this is the best I can do to hopefully add some microscopic bit of good towards the preservation of our planet and our species.

[kelly1mm]

28. And what do you do for the poor person who lives in

a rural area and has to commute say 20 miles to work to make $9.00 per hour. I guess it is OK for them to spend $40 day for gas (20 miles to work and back @ 20 mpg) when they take home $65 per day. No problem paying rent or for food etc. Look on the bright side at least we are cutting back on global warming since they have no money for heat in the winter right?

[Dr_Willie_Feelgood]

29. We need effective alternatives for these people.

And we need them NOW!

Trust me, I take no joy in this idea of raising the price of hydrocarbons to a point that reflects their true, long term costs. There is no chuckling and smiling over ---anyone's--- suffering.

I am just following the truth wherever it leads. Hopefully it leads to a more sustainable point of human existence.

[kelly1mm]

30. OK - fair enough. NT

[Regret My New Name]

31. Well, peoples lifestyles would need to change...

Such as getting rid of the need to commute 20 miles a day... I'm not saying that is easy or even possible in many cases, but that is answer you'll usually get if you run through the debate/discussion.

[dotymed]

4. THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

Why doesn't Obama or Holder stop the speculation? It is what contributed (largely) to our DEPRESSION?

[global1]

3. My Repug Friend Is Blaming The Increase In Price On......

Cash for Clunkers. Says the oil companies have to raise the price to compensate for the oil that won't be sold because of the programs success of getting gas guzzlers off the road.

What will they think of next?

[dotymed]

6. TYPICAL REPUBLICAN

pretzel logic. I'm sure he believes that CEO's deserve to "earn" 4000 times the salary of an average worker too.

[GodlyDemocrat]

7. I blame these price increases on Bernanke

[excess_3]

8. special gas --> special price

they did it to themselves
with special California gasoline.

[PSPS]

11. Sorry, that won't fly. Califormia's gas hasn't changed.

[jwirr]

9. Corporations have a plan. The stimulus is working - kill the stimulus.

[jwirr]

10. Corporation have a plan. Stimulus is working - kill the stimulus.

[Historic NY]

12. WHY? Have we again allowed those speculators to reign again.

There is not a logical reason other than greed.

[Grinchie]

13. More likely, My mortgage payments need paying, but nobody is buying gas.

Frankly, they can raise the price of gas all they want. I'm not buying it anymore, and I can afford 5 gallons of gas every 6 months, which I do only to prevent it from fouling the tank and ruining the engine.

Perhaps they are trying to beati this deadline FTC to watch oil markets

[elleng]

15. Same thing happening here, in DC area;

price up by about 15 cents in the last month.

[hmorehead]

16. because it make mo' money for the oil companies

Someone once said to me when I told him the oil companies were buying up patents for 100MPG carurators: the oil companies don't care how much oil you use, they only care that you use oil. When autos get 100 mpg the price per gallon will go up accpurdingly. Use less oil: the price goes up. Use more, the price goes up. Since then the oil companies have discovered that they do not need to own the oilfields - they only have to meter the oil. They collect points and the owners get to deal with maintenence, labor, politics, and the environment. They also get to sell the technology and get to scram when the scraming gets good and leaves the fallout to those holding the oilfield bags. They've discovered they can meter capitalist, communist, nationalist, democratic, regional, Muslim, OPEC, African, Latin oil - any oil from anywhere - and make a profit and go back in after unrest and shake hands with the victor whoever it is and start pumping and metering the oil all over again. Why do you think hybred autos do not have a plug in option? Because you can have an electric care but you have to burn some oil along with it.

[ProudDad]

17. They're cashing in quick

Now that we're at Peak.

The ubber-capitalists are cashing in to build their hermetically sealed, heavily guarded bubbles in order to survive the coming collapse...

[yorgatron]

18. they raise prices because they CAN.

then they pay somebody to make up reasons and feed them to the general public.

[excess_3]

19. Is there really a futures market for California gasoline?

link, please

[ohio2007]

20. Obama said the worst is behind us

Obama Says `Worst May be Behind Us' on Recession
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4006487

looks like the oil speculators beg to differ

[high density]

23. What? Actually the speculators are speculating that the economy will get better. NM

[FarCenter]

21. Othere countries are recovering faster than the US, so they are bidding up the price of crude

Oil prices are set by the world market, not by the US market.

[KamaAina]

32. Good thing I don't drive, I guess

heading up there in a few weeks.