They actually just said that on the news. No way in hell. Has gas ever gotten cheaper for summer? If so, I dont remember it.

They said the reason was that supplies would INCREASE for the summer hence lowering prices. It seems to me, if supplies did indeed increase they would simply find another reason like wind, or rain to keep jacking up gas prices. "A windy june has caused a gas shortage in gotham, so we need to raise prices." Seriously, they could say that, and there is STILL nothing we could do about it. sadly

4/29/2007 11:07:04 PM

How many terrorist attacks have occurred on American soil since 9/11 though?

4/29/2007 11:09:46 PM

In 2004 it happened, and its interesting to note, that in 2004, gas prices increased drastically (by a little over 50 cents) from Jan 2004 to May 2004, just like this year (we've gone up about 70 cents)



[Edited on April 29, 2007 at 11:16 PM. Reason : a]

4/29/2007 11:09:54 PM

Gas rarely gets cheaper for the summer. This is because it costs more to produce the EPA mandated summer blends of gasoline.

However, the current spike is not due to the summer blend requirements, it is due to an OPEC induced market shortage. It is estimated that as time passes non-OPEC supplies will stabilize (not likely) and at the next OPEC meeting they will increase production (also not likely). Far more likely, OPEC members that are capable will start exceeding their quota. However it happens, the current spike in oil prices is likely temporary.

As for the gasoline market itself (the price spread) I really don't know what is going on. I know we are having a few refinery and distribution problems, but gasoline supplies are dropping far faster than can be explained with the available data (supplies are down over 17% from February), which is a worsening potential problem since the summer driving season is approaching.

That said, the price spread is almost large enough to attract additional supplies from European and Mexican refiners. If this turns out to be necessary then it would explain why prices are spiking now, just early enough from the time of peak consumption to allow for the long turnaround of the world's tanker fleet.

4/29/2007 11:51:56 PM

Quote :

"This is because it costs more to produce the EPA mandated summer blends of gasoline. "

I thought it was because of the "increase in demand" during the summer. If prices go down at all they'll probably go down all of $0.05 from where they are now right before they jump $0.25/g a few days later. Remember, Greg Fishel hasn't even mentioned the "h" word on the weather forecast yet.

It's easier just being the eternal high gas price cynic.

Then again, they did say "lower gas prices by summer" not "lower gas prices for summer." So I stand by the going down a nickel and going up a quarter the next week theory.



[Edited on April 30, 2007 at 8:16 AM. Reason : -]

4/30/2007 8:09:11 AM

It would take quite a bit to explain, but perhaps an age old example would suffice. The demand for eggnog is seasonal, a lot more is demanded around Christmas than the rest of the year. However, if you try to buy eggnog in July you will usually end up paying more for it than you did in December.

This is because "increased demand" only explains higher prices if the demand was unexpected. But every christmas, manufacturers know the demand is going to go way up so they dramatically increase eggnog production to compensation. As such, no shortage develops and prices do not rise. On the contrary, so many new competitors enter the marketplace around Christmas that they drive the price down just when demand is going up.

As such, the demand for gasoline is expected to increase during the summer, the only way this increase could be blamed for higher prices is if the increase is unusually large or if while boosting production businesses screw up the distribution system.

If companies are able to just jump prices whenever they feel like it, one must wonder why they don't just set the price at $4 a gallon and leave it there forever...

4/30/2007 8:56:17 AM

My guess is the fear of people showing up with pitchforks and torches in front of their mansions.

4/30/2007 8:58:42 AM

Were pitchforks and torches in unusually abundant supply back in 2001 when the average price was $1.25? Perhaps the gates at the mansion were taken down for repair in 1998 when I paid 97 cents a gallon?

4/30/2007 10:49:34 AM

It's $2.95 or so at the pumps around town today.

4/30/2007 1:01:27 PM

By jbtilley's reasoning, they must have put in new electrified fences around their mansions to keep out the mob with pitchforks and torches.

4/30/2007 1:26:24 PM

Dude, you think my comments are of a serious nature?

Can't do anything about the situation (except complain)> Might as well make light of it.

4/30/2007 1:36:15 PM

Don't worry jbtilley, I too recognize your jovial comments. I just really enjoy the pitchforks and torches as a metaphor for historical price trends.

4/30/2007 2:29:25 PM

dude, you can buy eggnog in July?! Where?

4/30/2007 4:31:55 PM

Quote :

"they must have put in new electrified fences around their mansions"

I read somewhere that this is contributing significantly to the rise in energy costs.

Does anyone agree with me that higher gas prices, in the long run, are beneficial. Quite frankly a jump from $1.25 to $3.00, while drastic, isn't as painful as it could be and is prodding us towards more energey efficency?

[Edited on May 1, 2007 at 3:54 PM. Reason : .]

5/1/2007 3:52:52 PM

Well, then you need to push for higher gasoline taxes because it all could be over within the decade. China is going to have a recession eventually, and that is going to play haywire with oil markets.

5/1/2007 4:25:09 PM

^^^ http://www.bordeneggnog.com/purchase.asp

5/1/2007 4:29:20 PM

I agree we need to get off the gas, and the higher that goes the bigger rumblings will get.

Any ideas how chavez taking back venezulas oil will affect oil? Even if it actually does increase supply...it will be another excuse to raise it.

5/1/2007 4:29:55 PM

It doesn't seem to matter if gas prices are rising, consumers are buying more anyway--probably because the economy is doing so well.

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/01/100edi_editorial001.cfm

5/1/2007 4:35:11 PM

Quote :

"Well, then you need to push for higher gasoline taxes because it all could be over within the decade."

I'm quite content with the market working as it does right now. I'm just saying, the landing could have been much harder than it is.

China will have a recession, no doubt, but I would think that OPEC would just restrain production.

^We're also a bunch of heedless consumers with a negative savings rate. Consumption has been doing some wierd things lately, so I'm not sure thats an A=B situation.

[Edited on May 1, 2007 at 4:39 PM. Reason : a=/=b]

5/1/2007 4:37:59 PM

Ive got a 35 mile commute, one way. My wife drives over an hour one way. Gas price increases really hurt our budget, but not going to work hurts alot worse. So of course Ill continue to buy it, I would love to buy a car that gets 60mpg or more, and is affordable. The prius is around 25k..for that? Hybrids are nice, but all of my commute is highway driving anyways, so that by passes the benefit of the hybrids.

5/1/2007 4:38:42 PM

^ check out VW TDIs, the Jetta is cheap these days. (and on my wishlist)

5/1/2007 4:39:44 PM

^^work closer to home?

[Edited on May 1, 2007 at 4:40 PM. Reason : .]

5/1/2007 4:40:22 PM

PWNT.

[Edited on May 1, 2007 at 4:42 PM. Reason : ^ or more realistically, live closer to work.]

5/1/2007 4:41:58 PM

or teleport? Thanks very helpful sarijoul. Little difficult to move an estiblished practice of 40 yrs 35 miles away. But thanks for the advice. LOL

The TDIs are at a premium, and I still have the mindset of diesels being dirty. I do love the look of the new jettas, but VWs have really been poor in reliabilty and appearance after a couple of years. We looked into a Yaris, hey 40mpg for 13k isnt bad. But by the time you add the power option and airbags/abs.. its over 17k. The civics might be the best at 40mpg around 20k and nicer and larger than the yaris.

5/1/2007 4:47:51 PM

Ah, you're above buying a used vehicle got it.

5/1/2007 4:49:03 PM

I have a 0.9 mile commute with a civic hatchback.

I win.

5/1/2007 4:59:19 PM

^nice, consider me jealous. I am fortunate that my wife drives a civic hatchback and I drive an accord, both have over 100k miles on them, obviously. I dont see how we cant make a car that gets around 80mpg.

honkey, yes Im so snobbish im looking into such status symbols such as yaris and civic. I just love the attention and the surprise on peoples face when they actually see a civic drive by.

[Edited on May 1, 2007 at 5:11 PM. Reason : .]

5/1/2007 5:07:36 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiler

5/1/2007 5:10:56 PM

^^ You guys commute opposite directions? I hadn't even thought of that... I'm fortunate that i comute ~5 miles, and my wife does about the same to school for now... But there appears to be business related travel in my future, and while that's supposedly deductible and supposedly covered by businesses... It doesn't always seem to work out that way.

[Edited on May 1, 2007 at 5:12 PM. Reason : .]

5/1/2007 5:12:08 PM

Thanks for the link boone. Ive read similar on edmunds.com. Im still a bit leary on a hybrid, esp since all my miles are highway. If i had a city commute, it would be a no brainer, since most hybrids work well under 20-30mph? And the offset of paying 2-5k more for the hybrid vs a 4cyl gas is a concern. Not to mention resale. I think the market for a 5 year, 105k miles hybrid will be tough bc the hybrid system will be out of warranty. Just tryin to think ahead. I do appreciate the adivce.

honkey, yeah we go different ways.. I cant seem to catch a break. Yeah, you will be able to deduct business expenses, and you will probably receive a certain amount of money per month for a car, so you really arent out much. You cant deduct mileage to work, but if I drove to our other practice then this one, I could. I would fudge it a little and say I did, but I have horrible luck with stuff like that and would no doubt be audited. Plus they are too far to actually do it and seem reasonable.

[Edited on May 1, 2007 at 5:19 PM. Reason : .]

5/1/2007 5:15:26 PM

I'm about to be in eyedrb's position, though.

My fiance's getting a job in Raleigh, and I don't want to leave my job in Fayetteville just yet.

Hour commutes for the both of us

5/1/2007 5:15:49 PM

Quote :

"We're also a bunch of heedless consumers with a negative savings rate. Consumption has been doing some wierd things lately, so I'm not sure thats an A=B situation."

JCASHFAN

A significant amount of that lack of savings can be accounted for when investments are examined (401Ks, IRAs, other retirement and investment plans, home ownership, and so on).

Your lack of sureness does not trouble me. The economy is doing well and the increased demand for gas despite an increase in prices is evidence of it.

5/1/2007 10:42:17 PM

only jews and poor people let gas prices effect there driving. If i feel like going to the beach i am not going to not go b.c i have to spend $24 on gas vs. $16 ((120 miles to wilmington / 30mpg civic)* $3 vs $2)

that $8 is like two drinks at the bar or going to wendy's once instead of the dockside restaurant

5/1/2007 11:34:22 PM

gas prices affect a lot more than driving.

5/1/2007 11:35:52 PM

Not really. The price of oil has gone up 300%; the price of food has gone up 10%, and most of that is blamed on ramping Ethanol production driving up the price of corn, which is used as feed for the production of meet and milk.

It turns out the inflationary pressure caused by oil is minimal. This is because the oil component of most items at the grocery store is a tiny fraction; sometimes less than 1%. Most of the costs are eaten up by labor, profits, and fixed costs. The massive dislocation experienced during the 70s was a result of monetary inflation and government price controls, not high oil prices.

5/2/2007 12:25:41 AM

^^ Yes, costs are often passed along to consumers in many types of businesses. But healthy bottom lines also increase shareholders' value--and these days, many shareholders are collectively represented by retirement funds. And that helps a great many average people--not just stereotypical Monopoly-style fat cats.

Even the chairman of the Federal Reserve has most of his holdings in retirement funds:

Bernanke's bucks
Fed chair nominee lists no individual stock holdings, modest assets outside of retirement account.
October 26, 2005: 2:52 PM EDT
By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money senior writer

In his filing with the Federal Reseve, Fed chairman nominee Ben Bernanke shows that the overwhelming majority of his investment portfolio tied up in his retirement account.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Like many Americans, Ben Bernanke, the man nominated to be the next Federal Reserve Chairman, has a large majority of his financial holdings tied up in his retirement accounts, with relatively modest liquid assets.[/quote]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/26/news/newsmakers/fed_bernanke_portfolio/index.htm

[Edited on May 2, 2007 at 12:52 AM. Reason : .]

5/2/2007 12:33:21 AM

alot of the poor people on the system get gas money, no im not shitting you. Its to help them look for jobs.

5/2/2007 9:22:23 AM

Quote :

"As such, the demand for gasoline is expected to increase during the summer, the only way this increase could be blamed for higher prices is if the increase is unusually large or if while boosting production businesses screw up the distribution system."

Well, I don't think they are just going to flood the market with extra gasoline because the demand is there. And if they can get away with charging more, they will. Very few people are going to say "well I was going to drive to the beach, but now gas is $.50 more per gallon and I don't want to pay an extra $10 in gas." No, they are going to pay it, and then create a thread to bitch about it.

5/2/2007 11:36:11 AM

You have just made a common mistake. Let me correct your quote:
"Well, I'm driving to the beach, and I was going to buy gas at the Exxon, but now that their gas is $.50 more per gallon I am going to drive further down the street to buy it from the Kangaroo station because I don't want to pay an extra $10 in gas."

They do not flood the market with gasoline just because the demand is there; they flood the market because doing so maximizes their profits in the presence of competitors.

5/2/2007 2:21:29 PM

It also depends on what you drive. I've got a 12 year old truck with a V8, so a variation in gas is going to effect my decisions a lot more than if I had a Civic. At the moment I chose to hang onto my truck because I'm waiting for the rumored diesels that are supposed to be coming out in the smaller trucks.

^ I've never seen a $.50 variation between two stations within the same area of a town. Maybe 10c-15c from one side of Raleigh to the other, but not to the extent that I'd drive that far on a regular basis.

5/2/2007 3:46:52 PM

just don't buy gas on May 15th!!1

5/2/2007 4:59:39 PM

Hurricane Olga will cause the prices to spike to $5 a gallon.....we were lucky last season....

[Edited on May 2, 2007 at 7:28 PM. Reason : q]

5/2/2007 7:27:13 PM

So I guess you are heavily leveraged into oil futures, right? If what you say is true then you'd be an idiot not to be.

5/2/2007 7:51:32 PM