Tom;
You forgot one thing.... Oil and gasoline are
commodities, and just like soy beans, are traded by
speculators. The factors you mentioned are taken into
consideration by traders, but short-term profits are
their sole consideration. Market manipulation is the
tool of the arbitragers. Soooo, if there are any
money-changers to be cast out of the Temple, my vote
would be on the commodities traders. As for the
government, remember when Nixon tried to regulate the
fuel industry? Prices went up, and we got stuck with a
55 MPH speed limit! Let's let the free market work.
Ed
P.S. The price of a barrel of oil is lower today than
it was 4 months ago, but I am paying $1 more per
gallon at the pump than 4 months ago.
--- "Thomas E. Bryant" <saltracer@awwwsome.com> wrote:
> > Kerosene for heating the garage costs more than
> what I used to pay for
> > nitro
>
> This is a topic that gets me going...I don't like
> the higher fuel prices
> any more than the next guy, but we need to get this
> into the proper
> prospective. A lot of oil company bashing has been
> going on, not saying
> that this post is bashing, but it seems that this is
> a hot topic where
> ever I go. Just last evening at a small group bible
> study, the topic came
> up and it was suggested that the oil companies are
> making obscene profits.
>
> We are a spoiled bunch of people in the U.S. We have
> had gasoline for low
> prices so long that we think that it is our right.
> "The government should
> step in and regulate these monsters" seems to be the
> normal reaction.
>
> There are several things driving the fuel prices.
> Supply and demand is
> paramount. Lack of refining facilities is next. (The
> recent natural
> disasters have diminished our refining facilities by
> about 25%) Air
> Pollution control has an effect, also. Remember,
> oil companies are
> publicly held, if you have some oil stock, you may
> want the companies to
> be profitable.
>
> It is so easy to place blame...it is also easy to
> forget how inflation
> affects all of us, even with the lower inflation
> that we have enjoyed for
> several years. The fact is that gasoline prices have
> lagged behind other
> necessities of life until just recently. I would
> encourage each of you to
> take a look at a chart found on this web site. It
> says volumes on this
> issue!
>
http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/pol_sci/fac/sahr/gasol.htm
>
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