Fuel at $1.50 per gallon

[AnchorageGuy]

No you did not read the subject line wrong. But let me also say
that neither the oil companies nor the government will do anything to
bring the prices down. To make this happen, and I believe it can
happen, it will take a concerted effort by all of us to finally take
charge of some of the circumstances that affect our lives. Here is how
I propose that you bring fuel prices back in line on a permanent basis.
If you target one oil company at a time, let's say we choose Shell Oil
for a starter, and beginning May 1st we stop buying ANY Shell products
until they bring fuel prices down to $1.50 per gallon.I think $1.50 is a fair price for them.Now that should not be hard since all it will mean is that you will need to drive another block or cross the street to buy at another station. You will
also need to get the word out to as many folks as possible as quickly
as possible. Copy and paste this note into your email and send it to
everyone on your contact list. Email it to all of your local newspapers
and TV stations, post it on all of the web sites that you visit, but please just spread the word.
The oil companies really believe we are all stupid and lazy. They
count on us to just watch the prices go up almost daily and believe we
will do nothing and take it. Let's show them that this is not the case.
They count on you believing that the prices are going up because of
hurricanes, unrest in certain countries, and someone in one of the oil
cartels getting a cold. This we are told increases prices immediately.
But when things work in the other direction the prices don't drop for
weeks or months and they count on you just accepting this. Once Shell is in line then it will be time to move on to the next company unless they have already seen the light.
High fuel prices affect what you have left in your paycheck to
buy food for you family, and pay your rent and mortgages. It increases your
grocery bill and makes everything you need and buy more expensive and even
whether you can take your family out to dinner this week. So now you
can take back what the oil companies have been taking from you. But it
means a bit of work and effort. It means that even if the prices are
higher at Chevron and Shell has not come down to $1.50, you will still
not buy from Shell.This will be the difficult but essential part of
this exercise. But if you look at serious boycotts by determined people
in the past it has brought about major changes in our lives. I can
think of no more important changes that are needed at this juncture in
time. Will you do it, and will you stop swallowing the lies and
manipulations of the oil companies? Will you make them give back some
of those billions of dollars they have taken away from you and your
family. I offer a possible solution and only you and I and our friends,
family, business associates and neighbors can make it happen. We need
everyone in on this one and perhaps tomorrow will look a little
better. The oil companies will tell you it won't make a difference and will
create shortages and mayhem in the market place. Have they been truthful
in the past? Let's let them know we are not lazy and stupid. We are determined
to take control of the things that affect our lives and we are ready to start today.
Are you with me? Let's not take it any more!

[cat man do]

A 2005 report on fuel prices, the most recent I have found , sorry

CNN/Money: Global gas prices

Gas prices around the world
Think you pay a lot for gas? Perhaps you'd prefer to live in Venezuela.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Gasoline prices in the United States, which have recently hit record highs, are actually much lower than in many countries. Drivers in some European cities, like Amsterdam and Oslo, are paying nearly 3 times more than those in the U.S.

The main factor in price disparities between countries is government policy, according to AirInc, a company that tracks the cost of living in various places around the world. Many European nations tax gasoline heavily, with taxes making up as much as 75 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, said a spokesperson for AirInc.

In a few Latin America and Middle-East nations, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, oil is produced by a government-owned company and local gasoline prices are kept low as a benefit to the nation's citizens, he said. All prices updated March, 2005.


NationCityPrice in USD Regular/Gallon

NetherlandsAmsterdam $6.48
NorwayOslo $6.27
ItalyMilan $5.96
DenmarkCopenhagen $5.93
BelgiumBrussels $5.91
SwedenStockholm $5.80
United KingdomLondon $5.79
GermanyFrankfurt $5.57
FranceParis $5.54
PortugalLisbon $5.35
HungaryBudapest $4.94
Luxembourg $4.82
CroatiaZagreb $4.81
IrelandDublin $4.78
SwitzerlandGeneva $4.74
SpainMadrid $4.55
JapanTokyo $4.24
Czech RepublicPrague $4.19
RomaniaBucharest $4.09
Andorra $4.08
EstoniaTallinn $3.62
BulgariaSofia $3.52
BrazilBrasilia $3.12
CubaHavana $3.03
TaiwanTaipei $2.84
LebanonBeirut $2.63
Johannesburg $2.62
NicaraguaManagua $2.61
PanamaPanama City $2.19
RussiaMoscow $2.10
Puerto RicoSan Juan $1.74
Saudi ArabiaRiyadh $0.91
KuwaitKuwait City $0.78
EgyptCairo $0.65
NigeriaLagos $0.38
VenezuelaCaracas $0.12

Dave

[David M]

There is no conspiracy. The price of a barrel of crude oil is set by market demand and supply. With China and now India becoming more industrialized with great demands for oil, the prices will only go up given there is no real increase in supply to match the increased demand. Get used to it people. Buy a sailboat.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by David M

Get used to it people.

My solution?

Base myself a country where diesel is cheap.

So is everything else.


Bleating about it wont help me,................. but a move will.

Dave

[anglooff]

I live in the country with the cheapest oil per gallon.....But the price of good whisky would make you cry.

Alan

[ssullivan]

I blame hedge funds and commodity speculation. Those jerks inflated the housing market, inflated food and energy and made a killing before everything tanked and the average person was left holding the bag.

Energy prices *may* tank like housing did once they get out of it. Unless of course, global demand keeps it high.

And don't get me started on using food to power cars!! RRR!

[encore]

Chuck,
You are spending too much time listening to bar room or barber shop talk. One of the guys that frequent our local barber shop swears that he knows a guy personally who knows another guy personally that saw major oil companies dumping oil tankers out on the desert just to bring prices up. Lots of loonies out there, I hope you are just drunk and not one of the loonies.

[David M]

Sullivan, the commodities market is a reflection of the true supply and demand for oil. Although the prices can and do fluctuate up and down on a daily basis with respect to the actual current supply and demand, ultimately the commodities market is the best we have for determining current and future prices. This is how wholesale oil is bought and sold...and hedged against in the futures market. There really isn't a conspiracy here.

The housing market fiasco related to the writing of risky adjustable rate mortgage loans to unqualified borrowers which has nothing to do with the price of oil.

[AnchorageGuy]

It is exactly this attitude that the oil companies count on and obviously they are correct.

[David M]

Originally Posted by Chuck Baier

It is exactly this attitude that the oil companies count on and obviously they are correct.

My suggestion is a book on microeconomics and how the world market for commodities works. No offense intended. I don't know how else to explain that when the demand for something rises and the supply remains pretty much the same, that prices will rise. Those who are willing to pay the most for the product will receive delivery of the product over those who are not willing to pay as much. The oil goes to the highest bidder essentially. So if you want oil you had better be prepared to pay what the highest bidders are bidding.

Do you think the world wide demand for oil has not risen? ..or that the world wide supply has not pretty much remained the same?

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by David M

Sullivan, the commodities market is a reflection of the true supply and demand for oil. Although the prices can and do fluctuate up and down on a daily basis with respect to the actual current supply and demand, ultimately the commodities market is the best we have for determining current and future prices. This is how wholesale oil is bought and sold...and hedged against in the futures market. There really isn't a conspiracy here.

The housing market fiasco related to the writing of risky adjustable rate mortgage loans to unqualified borrowers which has nothing to do with the price of oil.

David, I tend to disagree. I saw big investment $$ being thrown at housing while that rode up. Then, I saw big $$ being thrown at commodities while that is on its way up. In both cases, people made (are making) killings and specultating up the prices of things all people in our society need to survive - (food, shelter and energy).

I see the same people profiting from these rises in both cases.

Do you suggest there is no "commodity boom?" I say "commodity boom" in the same way we would say "housing boom."

I'm not talking about a housing fiasco. I could care less about idiots who financed with ARMs. That's just stupidity on the borrower's part, IMO.

I'm talking about the inflation of the price of houses, like the inflation of the price of oil, wheat, corn, fuel, etc...

It's speculation (a lot of it from hedge funds) that drives this.

BTW: I do understand the global demand driver, but it's not the only thing driving it.

[AnchorageGuy]

Originally Posted by David M

My suggestion is a book on basic microeconomics and how the world market for commodities works. No offense intended.

David, I don't need books on economics. Obviously I was seriously mistaken in posting this on this board. Obviously the folks here do not fall into the very large group of people out there that after they pay their rents or mortgages and feed their children don't know when they go to bed tonight whether they will be able to afford gas to get to work for the rest of the week nor do the folks on this board have any sympathy for those folks. I don't need a book on economics to tell me that the profits taken by the oil companies are obscene and are only to enrich those companies at the expense of the public. I don't need a book on economics to tell me the prices are manipulated and are driven by those profits and really little else. So rather than take up any more space on the board I ask that one of the moderators remove it please. By the way David if I run into any of those folks I mentioned I will let them know you suggest they get a book on economics.

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Chuck Baier

David, I don't need books on economics. Obviously I was seriously mistaken in posting this on this board. Obviously the folks here do not fall into the very large group of people out there that after they pay their rents or mortgages and feed their children don't know when they go to bed tonight whether they will be able to afford gas to get to work for the rest of the week nor do the folks on this board have any sympathy for those folks. I don't need a book on economics to tell me that the profits taken by the oil companies are obscene and are only to enrich those companies at the expense of the public. I don't need a book on economics to tell me the prices are manipulated and are driven by those profits and really little else. So rather than take up any more space on the board I ask that one of the moderators remove it please. By the way David if I run into any of those folks I mentioned I will let them know you suggest they get a book on economics.

C'mon, Chuck. Let's keep the thread. It's a good one.

I would be tempted to try and cause a ruckus, but I am not currently buying any fuel from any source other than diesel at marinas.

I agree with your assessment of the average person in the USA right now. Many seem to be struggling to find enough money for food after filling the tank and all the other expenses. Things are a bit out of whack at the moment.

I mean imagine you make $10/hr as an office clerk, WalMart employee or whatever... ok, you keep $7 after taxes if you're in a good state. The, you need to fill up the car to go to work for the week - that's something like 7 hours of work, just to get to work!

The oil companies profits sure are at the obscene range right now - and how about those tax breaks they get?

[44'cruisingcat]

I don't think $1.50 a gallon is achievable. Demand for fuel is rising, supply isn't going to keep up without huge investment from oil companies. The money for that investment has to come from somewhere. We pay near enough to four times that for fuel here in Aus.

The biggest reductions in price would come from governments - if they would stop taxing fuel so much. Targetting individual oil companies won't force them to do that.

In fact it might even be counterproductive - by reducing competition.

[David M]

Originally Posted by Chuck Baier

David, I don't need books on economics. Obviously I was seriously mistaken in posting this on this board. Obviously the folks here do not fall into the very large group of people out there that after they pay their rents or mortgages and feed their children don't know when they go to bed tonight whether they will be able to afford gas to get to work for the rest of the week nor do the folks on this board have any sympathy for those folks. I don't need a book on economics to tell me that the profits taken by the oil companies are obscene and are only to enrich those companies at the expense of the public. I don't need a book on economics to tell me the prices are manipulated and are driven by those profits and really little else. So rather than take up any more space on the board I ask that one of the moderators remove it please. By the way David if I run into any of those folks I mentioned I will let them know you suggest they get a book on economics.

Those will be your words and not mine.

I agree that a cruising forum is probably a bad place to discuss world and national economics as it is not a whole lot different than discussing religion or politics. I am going to stop here and now.