Gas is now at $2.99 9/10ths at the cheaper stations by my house. (And BTW, here's a GREAT BIG fuck YOU for that 9/10ths of a cent bullshit - Can I pay for that with 9/10ths of a penny? fuckers 4321 ). So basically, its $3.00 a gallon by me, higher the closer you get to Chicago.

I don't even want to think about how expensive it'll be by the end of June. Good God. :shake:

Gas went up 9 cents this evening.

And you have nice public transportation you use.

True, but it's not like the let me ride for free. A monthly pass from my stop, 35 miles from downtown Chicago, is nearly $130 a month. And public transportation in the suburbs isn't like the city - I drive everywhere else.

You're linking inflation to DECREASED demand?

Apathy of oil companies greed isn't just part of the problem. It is the problem.

Would people be up in arms if bread had risen to $6.50 a loaf since late 2001? Would people be up in arms is milk was up to $8 a gallon since 2001? Would people be up in arms if a steak from the grocery store cost $15 a pound since the last mad cow scare? WOuld people be up in arms if chicken would have raised to $12 per pound because of the avian virus?

Simply put, oil companies take advantage of us cause they can. I don't care about if their profit margin falls with the % of other services. They make billions in record profits. Yet somehow fail to find a way to pass some savings to the already strained consumer, who BTW puts those billions in record profits in their pockets. I'm more concerned with the single mother or low income family who may have to decide in paying their rent or putting gas in their car to get to work and food on their table for their children. Oil exec's on their apologist's excuses on their blatant price gouging don't cut it with me anymore.

The revenue from the taxes would be made up somewhere. It would make people less alarmed about what they are paying for petrol but they would pay in other ways.

Because those are pretty useful on the highway.............

Heck.... I've already seen it at $4.39 here in the Bay Area. It was just a blip, but I expect to be pay 4 real soon....

You can rest assure that if fuel goes up this much the transportation industry will raise rates causing shipping to go up, consumers will pay the rate increase at the cash register with everything you buy.

No, I'm saying prices will raise across the board for everyone with most things, just not at the pump.

If oil companies controlled the price of crude, then I would agree with you. Since they don't, I don't. You may have emotion on your side, but you certainly don't have the facts.

National retail average for regular unleaded, not spot pricing.

I know that people only care about the prices they see at their corner store, but the national average actually dropped last week.

Futures markets went up about 7 cents/gallon yesterday. Based on the persistent falling trend gasoline inventories, my expectation now is that most of the US and Canada will be seeing record retail prices this summer.


Even optimists have now turned pessimistic:


Quote:
Large Draw in Gasoline Stocks
Boosts Crude Futures Higher
By MASOOD FARIVAR
April 25, 2007 4:33 p.m.

ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva said he was concerned about the refining industry's ability to meet summer gasoline demand.

"We really have to run well," Mr. Mulva said during a first-quarter earnings conference call. "If you look at the supply-demand situation -- and hopefully we don't have weather-related issues -- the concern we have is whether we're going to be able to run and provide the supply we need during the summertime period."

Mr. Flynn of Alaron called the statement "a huge admission by a major refiner."

"This is something an analyst can say but when it comes from the CEO of Conoco, it makes you wonder how desperate the situation is becoming," he said.



WSJ