can anyone explain to me how the gas prices work? i get so darned irritated when i hear on the radio the price per barrel is x amount, and if it went up i need to immediately head to the gas station, but if it goes down many times the price does not go down much if it all. i have really cut back on driving, and only go out when necessary, so i am conserving, but it still hurts to fill up.
got gas?
By littlered - Posted on March 9th, 2008
is the lack of refineries and the high demand for gas. It that is true with the high gas prices there should be less gas being pumped and at some point we will have a glut of gasoline. I don't think we will see much of a reduction in price but some. The good news is if the price for gas goes to $4.00 dollars a gallon we might see a change toward alternative fuels and a move away from our dependence on foreign oil producing states.
Wall Street speculators are the ones responsible for the outrageous price of oil, and their unbridled greed is going to destroy the country, although they don't care. Having said that, I agree entirely we need to drill here and open more refineries-but the oil companies don't want that either-it would eat into record profits.
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"Oh, Bother!" Said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.
"Tracking gas prices can feel like a roller coaster
ride. They're down a little one month, up the next, before shooting up
more than 50 percent in a year. Plus, they're different depending on
where you look. Other countries, and even other states and cities, can
have very different gas prices from your local Gas-N-Go. To the average
person, it probably seems as though there's little rhyme or reason to
how gas prices are determined. In this article, we will look at the
forces that impact the price of gas at the pump, and we'll find out
where your gas money actually goes."
http://www.howstuffworks.com/gas-price.htm
so i checked out that link you posted, and it said 14% taxes, 8% distributor and marketing, 28% refining, and 50% oil. how does that break down in ohio since it said the Midwest is higher because ethanol?
my husband heard on npr that investors are buying up all the stock, and at some point there will be a bust, must like the housing market, then the prices will go up. i wish i could find a link to verify that. of course my husband also thinks ALL of our problems in the united states are because of bush. he's kind of bitter about him. :) got to love my liberal. :)
If you think it hurts now, wait until the refineries do their spring blend shift. If you think it hurts now, wait until they start adding more ethanol to the mix (more ethanol, less mileage). If you think it hurts now, wait until a storm goes through the Gulf this summer.
There was a story on the news recently (sorry I don't have a link) that basically said that the supply & demand thing wasn't actually working with gas prices because American's have been doing much to reduce their gas usage due to the costs so demand was actually less but that prices were still going up rather then coming down as you would think.
I'm also under the impression that supply/demand curves aren't going to apply here. An Econ Prof. at school explained it to us in much the same way as you just did, Kat. Because there is an outside factor (we get our oil from countries who don't work on supply and demand all the time), you can't count on the law to apply.
Still, I think we're getting gauged here. What can we do about it? I don't know, but I'm definitely not driving as much because the prices are so high... not to try to bring demand down, just because it's too expensive!