Reason #9... We're stupid enough to pay for it!

[MA-Caver]

Eight Reasons Gas Will Hit $5 This Year
By Paul Ausick and Douglas A. McIntyre | 24/7 Wall St – Tue, Feb 28, 2012 11:58 AM EST
The price of gas is a widely covered news item these days. Oil prices have moved up from $75 a barrel in October of last year to more than $100 a barrel currently. And the trend continues to point toward even higher oil prices. Of course, along with the price of oil, gas prices have also risen, almost in lockstep.
The price of gasoline today is 10% higher than it was just two months ago. The average price for a gallon of regular is almost $3.62. Gas prices in January have been the highest ever recorded price for that month. Many economists and energy analysts believe a rise to $4 a gallon is inevitable. But their estimates could be grossly understated. Gas will reach $5 a gallon before the end of the year.



http://finance.yahoo.com/news/eight-reasons-gas-will-hit--5-this-year.html

Somehow that phrase "Got 'em over a barrel" really really does apply when we think about how the oil companies have their pipelines hooked directly into our wallets, siphoning hundreds and thousands of dollars from each of us every month via personal and business use.
Right now I make minimum wage ($7.35 hour) and if I'm lucky, I'll get about 35 hours a week. At present it costs roughly $58.00 to fill up my tank. I use 1/4 of a tank of gas getting to/from work each time. ... I'm sorry but honestly I don't see how I'm going to be able to do it if the prices keep going like they have been. I don't go anywhere else unnecessarily, bring sack lunches from home... but still... Same goes with my co-workers who have families and mouths to feed and mortages to pay and so on.
Tighten the belt til we all pass out.

We become so damned dependent upon oil for damned near everything and that the technology of non-petroleum based vehicles is probably just a fricken myth since it's been suppressed or "held back" for the in case when the oil runs out. How much is it going to cost to develop it in the future? How MUCH of that technology is going to need oil to be created?
SIGH! Might as well go back to horse-n-buggy.

Thank you Mr. President for the great change ye so promised all those years ago.

 

[granfire]

I think the fluctuating gas prices are the legacy of the previous guy though....

Prior to Hurricane Katrina gas was a buck 50, right after 4 bucks. The price never did come down after it was clear that the refineries didn't get hit....only after the banks collapsed they took the price down some.

 

[Steve]

Well, jesus christ, guys. You know what I'm going to say. We are addicted to oil and that addiction is bipartisan.

 

[crushing]

I think the fluctuating gas prices are the legacy of the previous guy though....

Prior to Hurricane Katrina gas was a buck 50, right after 4 bucks. The price never did come down after it was clear that the refineries didn't get hit....only after the banks collapsed they took the price down some.

Take it back further, to the 1970s. Heck, it was so bad then that Nixon gave price controls a shot.

 

[billc]

Here is the biggest reason gas prices are going up...Obama and his fellow travelers in the administration want them to go up. Here is a video from today that is a montage of the things Obama has said about increasing the cost of energy, on purpose, here in the states. It comes from Breitbart so it isn't for the faint of heart...

http://www.breitbart.tv/obamas-high-gas-price-agenda-exposed/

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[TD="width: 100%"]This video montage of President Obama's soundbites over the years seem to expose a deliberate intention to hike energy rates. The montage includes a clip found by BreitbartTV during the 2008 election season: "under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."[/TD]
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Also, I listened to Dennis Miller on the radio today and he had Senator James Inhofe on. Inhofe had the secretary of energy before his committee yesterday and asked him point blank if the administration was sticking by their desire for gas prices to reach European levels and the secretary said yes, they wanted gas prices at that level.

And this is from my thread on Obama and energy in the 2012 election thread...

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/01/30/...n-oil-and-gas/

• Keystone permit rejection. The Keystone XL pipeline would deliver oil from our Canadian ally, relieve some of the pain of high prices at the gas pump, and create jobs in America. Nevertheless, and despite aState Department environmental review concluding that the project poses no significant environmental risk, the President chose to reject TransCanada’s permit application to build the pipeline.
• Targeted tax hikes. The President continues to threaten the oil industry with targeted tax hikes. Under the rhetoric of eliminating subsidies for the industry, the President’s proposal would eliminate certain tax treatments for oil that are available to many industries, effectively singling out the oil industry for a tax hike.
• Slowdown of production on federal lands. While American oil production has been increasing, the vast majority of that production is taking place on private lands. Production on federal lands is actually 40 percent lower than it was 10 years ago. TheHouse Natural Resources Committee also reports that under the Obama Administration, 2010 had the lowest number of onshore leases issued since 1984.
• Fracking regulation. Hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking&#8221 is a proven oil and gas extraction process that should not be subject to overly burdensome regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency is currently considering federal regulation of the fracking process under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The problem is that the agency is following a procedure that even the Department of Energy criticized for its“selective focus” on “negative outcomes.”

And from today...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...ce_113263.html


The Wisdom of Drilling for Oil

By Peter Morici
When Barack Obama assumed the presidency, gas prices were less than $2 a gallon. He proceeded to shut down deep-water drilling in the Gulf, tightened other federal restrictions on petroleum development, and vetoed the Keystone Pipeline. Now, even with Americans driving not a lot more than three years ago and global growth slowing, gas is nearing $4 a gallon.
The liberal theocracy in academia, the media and the Democratic Party leadership relentlessly expounds that drilling for oil in the United States won’t much affect U.S. gas prices, because petroleum prices are set in global markets. And, more domestic oil production or U.S. access to Canadian petroleum won’t much change global supplies, or the pace of economic recovery and unemployment.



Balderdash!
Oil prices paid by U.S. refineries in the Gulf do move with global prices but not in lockstep. Increasing North American production would lower U.S. refinery acquisition costs, because U.S. refineries, like others around the world, are built to handle the special characteristics of oil produced by their primary sources supply. And gasoline produced by individual refineries is not wholly fungible either—differing fuel characteristics are required across the United States and Europe to meet environmental standards
Although tensions with Iran are growing and pushing up oil prices everywhere, prices have diverged between, for example, U.S. and European markets. For years, prices for West Texas Intermediate and North Sea Brent moved closely, but now WTI is selling for $17 less than its North Sea counterpart. This indicates the U.S. market is becoming somewhat separate and less wholly determined by global conditions; hence, more domestic production and increased access to Canadian oil would lower U.S. oil and prices—more drilling in the Gulf and elsewhere in North America, and the Keystone pipeline would significantly affect gas prices and employment.

So, if you want high gas prices and high heating home costs, and a lower standard of living that that will bring, ignore the next election cycle and see what that gets you...

 

[granfire]

Take it back further, to the 1970s. Heck, it was so bad then that Nixon gave price controls a shot.

I am too young to remember that.

 

[granfire]

Here is the biggest reason gas prices are going up...Obama and his fellow travelers in the administration want them to go up. Here is a video from today that is a montage of the things Obama has said about increasing the cost of energy, on purpose, here in the states. It comes from Breitbart so it isn't for the faint of heart...

http://www.breitbart.tv/obamas-high-gas-price-agenda-exposed/

Also, I listened to Dennis Miller on the radio today and he had Senator James Inhofe on. Inhofe had the secretary of energy before his committee yesterday and asked him point blank if the administration was sticking by their desire for gas prices to reach European levels and the secretary said yes, they wanted gas prices at that level.

And this is from my thread on Obama and energy in the 2012 election thread...




So, if you want high gas prices and high heating home costs, and a lower standard of living that that will bring, ignore the next election cycle and see what that gets you...

you are not listening....
The high gas prices go back to when one of your guys was president.

 

[MA-Caver]

Oh ... I take it all back... seems that we've been MYTH-ED!
http://news.yahoo.com/5-myths-gas-prices-big-oil-presidency-183000805.html

 

[billc]

Yeah, but you didn't watch the video or listen to what the president and his minions are saying...they want high prices for energy. It is not what they have to accept because of the way things are, they are actively seeking to increase the cost of energy derived from oil, coal, and natural gas while at the same time doing everything they can to stop nuclear power plants. They want to force people into alternative energy sources...wether they actually work now or not. He said these things before the last election and people in coal country actually voted for the guy. Obama and his energy secretary Chu want gas prices upwards of ten dollars a gallon, that is their stated goal. If you think driving to work at 7.35 an hour is bad now, wait till you are paying 8-10dollars a gallon at the pump. They want to shut down coal powered energy plants...he actually says he wants to tax them into bankruptcy and that energy prices will sky rocket because of this. His plan to replace the lost energy...solar and wind...which aren't even close to working and won't be for a long time. So on 7.35 an hour, paying 8-10 dollars a gallon for gas, try piling on huge increases for home electricity, and add to that brown outs and black outs because of the lack of coal fired energy plants. Yeah, see how much fun that will be at 7.35 an hour.

 

[granfire]

Yeah, but you didn't watch the video or listen to what the president and his minions are saying...they want high prices for energy. It is not what they have to accept because of the way things are, they are actively seeking to increase the cost of energy derived from oil, coal, and natural gas while at the same time doing everything they can to stop nuclear power plants. They want to force people into alternative energy sources...wether they actually work now or not. He said these things before the last election and people in coal country actually voted for the guy. Obama and his energy secretary Chu want gas prices upwards of ten dollars a gallon, that is their stated goal. If you think driving to work at 7.35 an hour is bad now, wait till you are paying 8-10dollars a gallon at the pump. They want to shut down coal powered energy plants...he actually says he wants to tax them into bankruptcy and that energy prices will sky rocket because of this. His plan to replace the lost energy...solar and wind...which aren't even close to working and won't be for a long time. So on 7.35 an hour, paying 8-10 dollars a gallon for gas, try piling on huge increases for home electricity, and add to that brown outs and black outs because of the lack of coal fired energy plants. Yeah, see how much fun that will be at 7.35 an hour.

hmmm

from 1.50$ to 4$, over night....

nope, sorry, your guy still loses.

 

[crushing]

I am too young to remember that.

Me too. Fortunately, research helps me overcome my limited observation window on Earth.