When are these damn gas prices going to go down? Excuse my language.?

Question

When are these prices going to go down. When the war is over, when Bush is out of office, when the economy gets stronger than it currently is? When? Gas costs so much these days it's almost a liability having a car to get to where you need to go.Why don't everybody invest in the Gas companies and then that way, Hell we'd all get our money back from them greedy *&#)*$$_#(!

Answer 1

Stop whining. How many products out there do you know of whose prices are actually going down? Outside of very new technologies, there aren't any. That's just how inflation works. Gas prices are going up with Bush in office, they were going up with Clinton in office, they went up with Roosevelt in office and they will continue to go up no matter who you elect next. Just stop being a baby about it. It's not that big of a deal,

Answer 2

The price of gas will not go down for a sustained period of time until growth of demand drops below the growth of supply. When will this happen? Hard to tell but if China and India continue to grow as they are it will not happen any time soon. The price of oil will always swing because these growth rates both vary lot. The current high price is partiallly caused by the period in the late ninties until the about 2001 when the price of oil was below $20. Nobody was complaining then but it caused the oil companies to loose money since it costs most of them on average just about $20 to produce a barrel of oil. When the price is low for a period as it was the oil companies stop inventing in new supply since they are not making money on their current investments and new supply would drive the price down further. Then when the price rises new projects can take 5 years or more to begin producing. This is why in the next 3-5 years we will see a big rise in the production of oil. The next factor is the fact that most of the "easy" oil is already being drilled so new projects have a higher average cost per barrel than the current average so there is a higher threashold to begin a project. The third factor is refinery capacity. There has not been a refinery built in the US since the early '70s and there has been a slow drop in the number of refineries. This is mostly due to envirmental issues and the "Not In My Backyard" attitude of most area where refineries have tried to be built. This leaves us more dependant on foreign refineries. This also means that even when oil prices drop, gas prices may not follow as much. This is evidenced by the slow but steady rise in the "Crack Spread" which is the difference in the price of oil and refined product. The most common measure is the 3-2-1 crack spread which measure the difference in price between 3 barrels of oil against 2 barrels of gasoline and 1 barrel of distilate (heating oil & diesel) this measue can be fairly volitile but if you take and average it has risen over the last decade. So until these factors change there will not be an significant and susstained drop in the price of oil.

By the way the US which has 5% of the worlds population uses 25% of the worlds oil production so if we were more conservative with our fuel use, I am not one to lecture since I am by no means going out of my way on this, we as the US could change the price of oil.

As far as releasing oil from the SPR (the national reserve) Clinton drained the SPR to about 1/3 of capacity for purely political gain, before each election while he was in charge. If Katrina would have happened at this time, which was the only time it has been drained since, we would have had severe shortages for sustained periods of time and you might have actually seen $5 gas ($8 in California) or more. This reserve should only be used in times of supply disruption not at the whim of a politition for political gain when there is no emergency in the supply chain.

Answer 3

Gas prices are so high for at least three big reasons that have nothing to do with George Bush. First, Hurricane Katrina wiped out some major refineries and a good portion of our oil reserve and much of our nation's oil is stored in the Gulf. Secondly, China is guzzling gas at an enormous rate. With sales of automobiles booming in China, their crude oil imports increased 30% just in one year -- 2003 -- and they've been climbing ever since. Finally, it's summer. Lots of people go on vacation over the summer. Gas prices always go up right before summer and come back down again after summer.

Answer 4

I agree with the first answer the price goes down in the fall.

The reason we all don't invest in the oil companies is because people that know how to add,multiply and divide can quite easily understand the difference between profits and profit margins. And a profit margin of less than 10% means your not going to make a big return on your money. Record profits don't necessarily translate to high returns.

Buy a calculator.

Answer 5

Approximately 40% of the current price (average $1.05 per litre where I live, as I post) is tax from Federal or Provincial levels. That % stays more or less stable. All told, with costs (to the company) for distribution, etc, depending on the refinery your gas originates at, they are almost loosing money. However, that being said, their actual profits are admittedly obscene, and the prices at the pump artificially inflated. Especially when you consider that between stored oil and stored processed gasoline, the companies have a 6 month supply available at all times.

The problem (partly), along with pure greed, lies in the fact that most refineries are approaching the end of their operational lifespan, and some have surpassed it, meaning that due to maintenance costs, they loose money on every litre they generate. With that...are YOU willing to have a (new) refinery built in your neighbourhood?

Answer 6

In some ways all of the above, but from what I've seen, I belive it wil be after bush is replaced by a democrat, or at least someone who will not be affected by gas prices as Bush is. I remember Clinton opening up the Nations reserves for a while when he was in office, and the prices went down. Unfortuneately our current Commander in Cheif has interest in oil, and likes prices higher.

Answer 7

To be honest with you. It will never go down cuz this is one form of inflation,,,remember when our parents can go to the movies for 5 cents? Bush is just a puppet I don't know why people are so mad at him....he is a PUPPET!!
In other countries like europe they pay way more for gas than us. I think something like 5or 6 dollars a gallon. Let's just get used to it,,,huh?

Answer 8

Yes, Yes and Yes.

We need to make our own type of fuel instead of depending on old fossil fuels from other countries.

You think fuels to power our Hummers in Iraq is free? No way, we fund that every year at average of 200 billion to fund the war.

Think green substitutes that will help our environment and return profits back to our economy.

Answer 9

Is it not greedy to support the greedy? If you want to do your part in helping to alleviate the problem, why do you not invest in a company that provides alternative power sources, such as solar, or wind? The problem lies in the fact that too many people like our president are greedy, as well as foolish.

Answer 10

Like every year, after Labor Day