[Vision2020] Gas prices [was: Can we not find...]

[Jay Borden]

Aside from taxes, it doesn't matter what party is in office, they have
very little (if any) control over the cost of gasoline.  (Foreign wars
and unrest in the middle east not withstanding).  The BIG OIL companies
that many on here love to bash so heavily also have very little to do
with the cost of fuel at the pump.  If you take a peek at their model,
it's a pretty straight-forward "cost-of-goods to produce + markup"
business.  Yes, a VERY BIG BUSINESS, but one that makes the profit on
VOLUME, not on price gouging.

 

The two largest driving forces in the cost of oil?  OPEC and taxes.

 

The government makes more in taxes on a single gallon of gasoline than
the BIG OIL company that refined it and delivered it to your local gas
station.  (If I remember reading it correctly, this has been true for
the past 25 years, with only 1 or 2 years being an exception).

 

The other driving force, OPEC, is just unified enough to keep the
supply/demand metric at a price point JUST above the break-even point
for alternative forms of energy to become economically viable... and
they damned well know it.  (They produce something like 45% of the
world's crude oil supply... so they are the 800 pound gorilla in the
market).   If indicators show that suddenly a new form of wind
technology or solar energy design can be made for cheaper, by some
MIRACLE the cost per barrel of oil goes down just a tad.    OPEC is
business collusion in its WORST form.

 

Think about it this way:  a 42-gallon "barrel" of oil sold on the market
today is right around $84 (rounding to make the math easy).

 

That means that the COST of the oil is $2 a gallon before it goes to any
refining process... tack on a refining cost, tack on
transportation/distribution costs and then tack on taxes... and now
you're starting to approach the current cost of a gallon of gasoline.

 

This is why I roll my eyes when morons like Bachman declare "when I'm
president, I'll return to $2.00 a gallon gasoline" [to paraphrase]...
(yah, good luck with that).

 

 

Jay

 

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Ralph Nielsen
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 10:32 AM
To: vision 2020
Subject: [Vision2020] Gas prices [was: Can we not find...]

 

Have a look at the cheapest gas in Canada -- in Edmonton AB, at
$3.94/gal. And below, the cheapest gas in Fort McMurray AB, where the
tar sands are, costs $4.66/gal.

 

For metrically challenged Americans, divide liters and price-per-liter
by 0.264 for per-gallon equivalents. For liter-gallon equivalents
multiply by 0.264.

 

In 2005, when I was in England, petrol was a pound per liter = $2/liter
= $7.58/gal. I'm sure it's higher now. Don't count on the Conservatives
to lower it.

 

http://www.albertagasprices.com/

 

Ralph

 

 

On Thursday, August 18, 2011 10:53:56 AM Steven Basoa wrote:

> Yeah, but the gallons will be smaller...

 

Sure, and the new gallons at $2 each will have a new name -- liters.

 

A $2 bill is what one will pay for a demonstration flask of fuel from
the old-

fashioned pre-electric vehicle days.

 

A $20 bill is what one will pay for just enough fuel for Junior to get
the old 

hot rod from home to the prom and back home again -- and nowhere else.

 

A $200 bill will be necessary to fill up the old hot rod -- and even
then only 

for deductible business uses -- assuming fuel expenses are still
deductible.

 

Yes, indeed, the coming days of fuel at $20 per decaliter (before
inflation) 

will allow an electric vehicle purchase decision to be really easy to
approve.

 

I wonder whose face will be chosen for the two-hundred-dollar bill.
Ideas?

 

 

Ken [Marcy]

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