Just like the title says. Why are gas prices so high? I don't care about other countries gas prices. I don't live there so I don't care how much they pay.
2007-04-24 05:49:00 · 19 answers · asked by KEVIN 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Libs will not allow the construction of new refineries
Libs will not allow us to drill for more oil within our own borders
Libs will not allow us to lower the 30 cents plus taxes per gallon of gas
thats why
2007-04-24 05:54:01 · answer #1 · answered by jonepemberton 3 · 6⤊ 1⤋
There is more than one answer. First remember that gas station owners are franchise owners, just like Wendy's, Mc Donalds, etc. They have to buy the gas they sell. Now, on a long holiday weekend they know that they will not get a delivery should they run short. If you were a station owner would you shut down for a day while the guy across the street was still doing business? Probably not. Add to that the fact that we now have to buy "boutique gas" that is, for the warm weather months, gasoline has to be re-formulated for sale to different parts of the country. That is, the gas you buy in say NYC, will be different than the gas you buy in say Kansas City, and so on. Courtesy of the EPA. Add to this the fact that we have not been able to increase our refining capacity for the last thirty years, thanks to the tree-huggers that always threaten a lawsuit should that idea come up anywhere, and you can see that the "evil" oil companies are put in a real squeeze to keep up with supply and demand. As for those "obsene" profits, realize that the oil companies only get to keep about eight cents of every dollar they bring in. This is because they have to spend the rest on exploration and development in other parts of the world because they can't do it here. AND a lot of those "obsene" profits are made in other parts of the world. Do you think that the U.S. is the only country that uses oil?
I think it's interesting that you don't care about the ultra-high prices that some other countries charge for gas. A lot of that price is because of exorbitant taxes that are charged to fuel.
Think about that the next time some liberal idiot starts spouting off about free health care. Yeah Right. Connect the dots.
2007-04-24 06:27:37 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the oil companies are screwing people left and right but no one seems to care. They think it's the president doing it but that's just a lie. I don't know if you're old enough to remember the regular gas and how it cost a lot less than the unleaded but they did away with the leaded gas. Here's the rub, oil comes from the ground unleaded. The lead was an additive but yet they charged more for the unleaded. It's all the goddamn oil companies who are making your gas prices so high.
2007-04-24 07:02:55 · answer #3 · answered by Kevin A 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Economics 101: Supply and Demand
On average Americans use 382 million gallons of gas every day. Gas price is affected by crude oil price (set by OPEC) which is set by demand for the fuel and the supply of barrels of oil.
Gas prices are indirectly set by OPEC, when they raise the price per barrel and cut back supply then gasoline companies are forced to raise gas prices. OPEC has been responsible for all of this since the 1970's.
2007-04-24 06:02:15 · answer #4 · answered by Mr. Pibb 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The main reason is the futures market. Remember how Hillary made $100,000 in cattle futures? Well, there are fuel contracts in the futures market as well. When the market gets concerned about the supply of fuel from Iran and Venezuela, the future traders start bidding more and more for the fuel. That drives the price up.
2007-04-24 05:59:10 · answer #5 · answered by plezurgui 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's not just other countries, the weather has a lot to do with the price of gasoline as well. Remember when we had the two hurricanes in the gulf, Katrina and Rita? Do you remember how many of the oil refineries were taken out of commission?
One of the reasons the gas prices are inflated right now is because the weather is predicted to have a very active hurricane season this year with at least 6 major hurricanes compared to two major hurricanes in normal years.
And we are still waiting for some oil refineries to come back on line still.
2007-04-24 05:56:17 · answer #6 · answered by johnedd 1 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Why does bottled water cost more than gas? Why does Starbucks charge $4.00 for a cup of Joe? Gas is cheap in comparison. That is a silly Question, the price is far less in this country due to all the things that our government does to keep it that way, the things that you can't stomach when you hear. So enjoy your cheap gas and keep quiet unless you want to pay more!!!
2007-04-24 06:08:50 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Several reasons. 1) taxes on gas have gone up in some states. 2) artificial limits on oil production in the US because of environmentalists bent on slowing the US economy. 3) Speculation on the world oil market by traders concerned with geo-political upheavals(Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria) 4) The US governments insane policy of boutique fuels(different blends for different parts of the country, causing temporary shortages as production changes take place. 5) the lack of refinery capacity(no new refineries built in at least the last 25 years. 6) increased demand, every year more and more vehicles are added to the US fleet. That just about covers it.
2007-04-24 05:59:54 · answer #8 · answered by espreses@sbcglobal.net 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Greed.
The tax load on a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. is only $0.465
roughly 16%. The fueling station gets about $0.12/gallon gross sales, roughly 4.2% which leaves the remaining 79.8% to split between the oil recovery people and the wholesalers.
BP at least has reported quarterly profits (that's NOT gross sales, folks) of over 2Billion U.S. dollars, which should lead you right back to the first word in this post.
2007-04-24 05:59:48 · answer #9 · answered by credo quia est absurdum 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is the free market at work, no matter how much we choose to deny that. If you are at all interested in developing alternative fuel sources, it is the best way to go about it.
2007-04-24 06:06:16 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋