Okay, so gas spiked up to $3.01 here yesterday.

[Armstead]

The fun begins.

The oil industry fucks up by spilling masses of oil into the ocean and onto our coastline.

And now, they get to use it as an excuse to begin yet another price-gouging spree.


And, of course, they'll get away with it.Grrrrrrr!

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Bend over and take it like a prole. Smirk." - Republicon Oil Cronies

[customerserviceguy]

2. I think this has more to do with the annual spring run-up

in gasoline prices, that often sees them crest on or just after Memorial Day. The amount of production lost due to this one platform is miniscule in the entire oil market.

[Armstead]

3. I;'d thought of that but it's still early May...and the summer spike is an ongoing scam anyway

[customerserviceguy]

4. Yes, but it's the usual scam

so it makes the simplest explanation.

[Armstead]

8. They should just stop the facade and just say "We're screwing you."

Regardless of the specific perpetual excuses anytime they run up the prices, they should just be lopen about it and say that they are profiteering.

That wouldn't be anhy less obvious that the usual pagttern of taking advantage of the season or whatever the current "excuse du jour" is.

And, by all indications, we -- the public and politicians -- would not be any more inclined to actually deal with it if they actually were candid. We'd continue to passively take it.

[customerserviceguy]

10. You ain't seen nothin' yet

If we do return to a full employment economy (I'm pretending that the 2007 figures would constitute that) we will see $5 a gallon, and not just in the high tax states, either.

[Javaman]

11. Yup.

We are entering into, what I like to call, roller coaster economics.

economy improves, the price at the pump goes up.

the price at the pump goes goes up, people get squeezed.

people get squeezed, they spend less.

they spend less, the economy goes down.

the economy goes down, the price at the pump goes down.

the price at the pump goes down, economy improves...etc, etc, etc...rinse and repeat.

that is of course we don't go through another round of lay offs when businesses find their transportations costs increasing with the rise at the pump.

I see the distant clouds of a double dip.

this is the blow back we get when we base our economy on bubbles. Up, down, up, down, up, down...

[Subdivisions]

17. Completely agree and have been saying this myself for months. I call it

"Stair-stepping down into the oil abyss". As the economy improves, constrained oil production will cause another oil price spike due to the fundamentals of supply and demand. This will knock the economy back down. Rinse. Repeat. Until we reach the bottom of the abyss.

And, yes my good Javaman, there will be a double-dip. Then a triple dip. And a quadruple dip. It's all dips from here on out.

[Javaman]

18. From bubble economy to dip economy.

ah the joys of living in interesting times.

sigh.

[Subdivisions]

15. Who is 'they' and how do 'they run up the prices'? n/t

[Subdivisions]

14. Please explain this 'scam' in detail. n/t

[customerserviceguy]

21. I was just trying to humor the person who responded to me

I do believe in market forces, and I was just trying to explain the rise in prices as being something besides what's going on in the Gulf right now.

[KharmaTrain]

5. If Shipping To NOLA Is Closed, Watch Out...

That's the busiest port in the country...lots of fruits and vegetables move through there as well as oil and industrial goods. Coffee is sure to be affected as are sugar and other important commodities. No doubt, a sharp rise in the price of oil will set off yet another ripple throughout the economy that could slow whatever recovery is going on. And the timing couldn't be worse (or better if you're Exxon/Mobil)...right before the peak driving season. Funny how those things always happen.

[City Lights]

6. My usual Citgo station was up to $3.15.

I should have seen this coming and filled up sooner.

[madrchsod]

7. speculation....there`s still a glut of oil.

there`s no where else to make money. if the port of new orleans closes look for commodity prices to go up...

[Subdivisions]

13. Please demonstrate that there is a 'glut of oil'. Where is it? Who has

control of it? How much "extra" oil is there?

[ejpoeta]

9. as long as we are gas junkies, we are gonna get it six ways from sunday

any time they can find a reason to raise the price. until we find alternative sources of energy to power our cars, and these alternatives are accessible to all of us they are like drug dealers and a junkie who needs a fix. i look forward to the day that oil can no longer control us like it does.

[MellowDem]

23. 3.01 a gallon is nothing...

compared to how you are getting "screwed" by other companies. Take Coca-Cola for example. How much does a gallon of Coca-Cola cost? And how much does it cost to make?

As it is, the oil companies don't control prices of oil. Supply and demand play a part and financial speculators will play a part as well. Whenever demand increases for any product, prices go up.

Indeed, the problem is that gasoline is so cheap as to why alternatives are not sought after more agressively. Alternative sources cost much, much more than gasoline right now.

But you should be willing to pay much more than you are now if you are serious about alternative energy.

[ejpoeta]

26. pop and oil isn't a fair comparison though i understand why you make it.

you can take or leave pop, but you have to be able to get to your job. and even if you buy a case of pop a week, if the cost went up you would just stop buying it or buy a cheaper store brand. but gas is something people need to be able to put in their car to get to their job. i know for me it costs over $50 to fill my car when i do. imagine that three times a week for someone going to work. for someone struggling to pay the bills that's a big chunk of a paycheck.

personally, i can go 2 weeks on a tank of gas most of the time. so it doesn't hurt me as much as others. while it may cause people to demand something else, many who are already struggling would be devastated by higher gas prices. i do want alternatives, but the fact that i don't want gas prices to go up does not mean i am not serious about a desire for alternative energy.

[MellowDem]

27. In many ways the $4.00 gallon summer we had...

did more to push hybrid cars than anything else has. I understand that oil is much more necessary than pop, but food in general is much more profitable, and that is a necessary thing for the American people. It is also more subsidized and has less regulation and taxes, which is probably part of the problem with how we eat in this country.

But as I said elsewhere, oil companies don't set the prices and barely make a profit from selling gasoline at the pumps. They're heavily regulated and taxed at the pump. Really there is no way for the price of oil to go down, now that oil demand will keep going up with other developing areas of the world. And the oil they're getting is harder and more expensive to physically get to, as the oil rig showed, and to refine, since a lot of the oil that we'll be getting from places like Canada is really oil shale.

Oil prices will have to go up before alternatives become viable for the general public unfortunately. Or pushes for more public transportation (trains especially). It's a lot of the reason that Europe so heavily taxes their gasoline, making it much more expensive than here.

[ejpoeta]

28. I do want alternatives. i was glad to see an all electric is out from one company.

And more hybrids. I do agree that the rise in gas prices has pushed people to look for more fuel efficient vehicles and to WANT cars that use something else. I try to explain to my fundie brother that oil is a national security issue. he seems to agree when put in those terms. though i am sure he thinks drilling here would fix that. of course it wouldn't. he listens to rush limbaugh and watches faux news.... so he doesn't listen to much of anything. I am hoping that like the prius we will see people snapping up those electric cars and then more car makers will jump on board. i guess if gas prices went up this summer that might help that along. I am lucky because i don't HAVE to go anywhere besides dropping kids off or picking up from school. and groceries. so i can stretch out my gas to last me if i have to. and my husband drives a company vehicle with a company gas card for his job. so we don't have him having to fill up his car three times a week to get to a job.

[Subdivisions]

12. Please explain in detail how the oil industry controls prices. n/t

[depakid]

16. You ain't seen nothin' yet

[cdsilv]

19. oil speculators drive the price up w/futures contracts as well....n/t

[depakid]

20. Sure they do- but don't mistake that for root cause of the problem(s)

[B Calm]

25. Everyone of those fucking rich predatory bastards should be put in jail!

[MellowDem]

22. It has nothing to do with the rig...

and everything to do with increasing demand due to warm weather, as always happens this time of year, and the growing economy, which will use more oil. Of course, both of these things cause financial speculators to cause prices to raise, not the oil companies themselves.

As an aside, oil companies make very little money or profit from gasoline sells at the pump. In fact, the stuff in the gas store is much more profitable than the gasoline. Almost all of the profit comes from upstream.

And as another aside, gasoline is among the cheapest commodities out there compared to other products. It has resisted inflationary forces much better than most anything else has. Which is good, in the sense that it is integral runs our economy. But it's also bad, in that it gives no real incentive for alternative sources of energy, which currently are much more expensive. Same with coal.

[Chisox08]

24. $3.01! That is cheap compared to Chicago it was $3.09

Before the oil spill