Ok. Now I'm pissed off!

[Jenny_Jackson]

I filled my gas tank this morning with regular gas for $3.06/gallon - total was about $50.00. Ifigured I got screwed so I checked the gas prices in the area. That is about the average price.

Next I googled to find out what the hell is going on with gas prices. I find that many refineries are down due to maintenance. Am I supposed to believe that Chevron, Texaco, BP, Exxon and Phillips all decided to shut down capacity at the same time without knowing it would cause a supply crunch?

As I recall, last year, there was a shut down in Prudo Bay to repair the pipeline from the Alaskan oil fields, the refineries lost in Katrina still had not been rebuilt even though the Federal goverment had paid the oil companies to do so, and the world supply was down, causing prices to rise. At the same time Exxon, BP and Phillips showed the highest profits in their history. This happened again at the end of the 1st quarter of 2007.

Does anyone else smell Manipulation? I wonder how long the oil companies are going to get away with this before some government agency steps in an stops it.

 

[mikey2much]

I filled my gas tank this morning with regular gas for $3.06/gallon - total was about $50.00. Ifigured I got screwed so I checked the gas prices in the area. That is about the average price.

Next I googled to find out what the hell is going on with gas prices. I find that many refineries are down due to maintenance. Am I supposed to believe that Chevron, Texaco, BP, Exxon and Phillips all decided to shut down capacity at the same time without knowing it would cause a supply crunch?

As I recall, last year, there was a shut down in Prudo Bay to repair the pipeline from the Alaskan oil fields, the refineries lost in Katrina still had not been rebuilt even though the Federal goverment had paid the oil companies to do so, and the world supply was down, causing prices to rise. At the same time Exxon, BP and Phillips showed the highest profits in their history. This happened again at the end of the 1st quarter of 2007.

Does anyone else smell Manipulation? I wonder how long the oil companies are going to get away with this before some government agency steps in an stops it.

You got the wrong government in place to expect help with this problem. The oil companies always shut down their rigs in the gulf when gas prices go down and open them up again when the prices are at their highest. High prices to us is like manta from heaven for the oil companies.

I am afraid that the big oil companies are going to be taking a cut off the top from all of our wages for the next few years, until we adapt to plug in cars.
mikey

 

[alltherage]

Cafe standards of 35 to 40 mpg solves a world of problems.

 

[CharleyH]

I filled my gas tank this morning with regular gas for $3.06/gallon - total was about $50.00. Ifigured I got screwed so I checked the gas prices in the area. That is about the average price.

Next I googled to find out what the hell is going on with gas prices. I find that many refineries are down due to maintenance. Am I supposed to believe that Chevron, Texaco, BP, Exxon and Phillips all decided to shut down capacity at the same time without knowing it would cause a supply crunch?

As I recall, last year, there was a shut down in Prudo Bay to repair the pipeline from the Alaskan oil fields, the refineries lost in Katrina still had not been rebuilt even though the Federal goverment had paid the oil companies to do so, and the world supply was down, causing prices to rise. At the same time Exxon, BP and Phillips showed the highest profits in their history. This happened again at the end of the 1st quarter of 2007.

Does anyone else smell Manipulation? I wonder how long the oil companies are going to get away with this before some government agency steps in an stops it.

Damn, I thought the thread title had to do with gas outputs by a new lover in a night.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

It seems like another time and dimension, but in fact it was less than seven years ago that this country was at peace, had a balanced budget and gas was around $00.55 cents a gallon. Then...well, I'll let y'all fill in the rest.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[mikey2much]

that's why I consider republican a cuss word

The only difference between then and now is one word. republican. The foulest word in the english langage, it generally means less for the poor . more for the rich. The high gas prices are much easier to live with if you are not having to cut down on what you eat to feed your car so that you can get to work to make some rich guy even richer.
mikey

 

[S-Des]

Cafe standards of 35 to 40 mpg solves a world of problems.

I just bought a new Corolla and was all smiles when I did my first refill and realized I got 100 miles more out of the first tank of gas than usual....and the tank was only 10 1/2 gallons instead of 16 1/2. I filled up for $30 (as opposed to my normal $50). The difference in my gas cost is almost a break-even against my car payment.

That said, I agree Jenny. What they're doing is borderline criminal and they'll continue to get away with it as long as they give millions to politicians to avoid being investigated. I guess this is where the CEOs earn their millions (or is that hundreds of millions? ).

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Well... I agree. Americans will live with the war. Americans will live with a sour employment picture. Americans will live with criminals in congress. But gas prices will difinately signal the end of a Republican generation when Americans go to the polls.

 

[Pen_Dragon]

Well... I agree. Americans will live with the war. Americans will live with a sour employment picture. Americans will live with criminals in congress. But gas prices will difinately signal the end of a Republican generation when Americans go to the polls.

lol.

Nice.

 

[CharleyH]

Well... I agree. Americans will live with the war. Americans will live with a sour employment picture. Americans will live with criminals in congress. But gas prices will difinately signal the end of a Republican generation when Americans go to the polls.

LOL

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Mmmm...$3.06 a gallon? That means the big bad oil companies are getting $.03 per gallon in profit, while the Fed takes $.06 a gallon. The rest is State taxes, distribution fees and transportation costs, none of which the oil companies get.

 

[oggbashan]

Three Dollars?

I filled up my car yesterday. I doesn't have a large tank but the fill cost the equivalent of 80 dollars.

Petrol (Gas in US) is about 8 dollars a US gallon here, most of it in taxes. The government is considering charging per mile for road use, on top of the 400 dollars I pay each year for licensing the car for use on the road.

However, if I want to travel 50 miles, it is cheaper for me to use my car than travel by train, even with pensioner's discount. If my wife travels with me the saving is considerable.

If I go by bus, it's free but the buses don't go where I want to go, or if they do, I have to change buses and stand around. A 14 mile round trip by car takes 20-30 minutes and by bus about 3 hours.

In the 1930s, Winston Churchill was the first Chancellor of the Exchequer to raid the road taxation for general tax expenditure. Now about one-third of taxes raised from road transport go towards roads or public transport. The rest just goes in the general revenue and now our government wants MORE.

Og

 

[rgraham666]

Zeb, do you have a statistical breakdown of your claim?

Og, The reason your taxes are going up is really simple. In the late '50s, early '60s the jointly held stock companies carried thirty to forty percent of the tax burden in the West. A decade ago they carried between ten to fifteen percent. So far as I know corporate taxes have not been raised since.

The government had to make up the shortfall somewhere.

 

[oggbashan]

Zeb, do you have a statistical breakdown of your claim?

Og, The reason your taxes are going up is really simple. In the late '50s, early '60s the jointly held stock companies carried thirty to forty percent of the tax burden in the West. A decade ago they carried between ten to fifteen percent. So far as I know corporate taxes have not been raised since.

The government had to make up the shortfall somewhere.

Corporate taxes AND personal taxes have been raised in the UK.

Property taxes used to have the entry level raised in line with property prices and about 10% of property sales attracted a tax. Now very few properties avoid taxation on transfer.

We have to pay for our troops in Iraq somehow...

Apart from everything else we were already paying for, e.g. education - students used to have free tuition and grants to help maintain themselves when at university. Now there are no grants and tuition fees and living expenses are paid for by loans to the students that must be paid back. The loans aren't enough so parents have to pay and/or students work part-time.

Some students are finishing their degrees with a significant debt and a degree that gives them no advantage in the employment market. They would be far better off working at McD for 3 years - earning money and not building a debt.

As a small business owner, I was paying taxes on everything. I was even paying a greenhouse tax on my energy use.

Og

 

[Emperor_Nero]

Don't blame the oil companies for this mass shutdown for refinery maintainance. The problem is government mandated changes in fuel blends for summer gas and winter gas and, to make the changes, the refineries need to shut down and recalibrate everything. Trust me, they'd rather just keep running and it is possible to refine a gas that meets both standards. But government got involved and it has to be done to code instead of being done right.

As for oil company profits, as someone who owns A share of BP and gets mailed the annual reports -- speaking for BP, they actually lost money in their retail gas division last year. The record profits come largely from production and the rises in the price per barrel for oil and per cubic foot of natural gas. And the prices for crude oil and natural gas are set on international Boards of Trade, the same way corn and soybeans and other commodities are, and are not set by the producers. Speculators on those markets have driven up prices and the producers (large and small) profit.

 

[mikey2much]

Mmmm...$3.06 a gallon? That means the big bad oil companies are getting $.03 per gallon in profit, while the Fed takes $.06 a gallon. The rest is State taxes, distribution fees and transportation costs, none of which the oil companies get.

You sound like you might not be aware of the oil companies record breaking profits.

 

[Emperor_Nero]

You sound like you might not be aware of the oil companies record breaking profits.

You sound like you might not have all the facts either

 

[shykitten78]

Sorry, but try living in the UK, I drive a 2498cc v6 engine car and just cost me £50 (or converted to USD = $100.027 ) to fill my car up. Most of that again is in taxes and people here are not happy. Cant use public transport as would cost more than to run my car. Its a nightmare

 

[starrkers]

I pay $1.34 Australian a litre. On conversion that comes out to about $4.20 US a gallon. I drive a 6 cylinder family car - I have three kids, they don't fit in anything smaller - we drive a lot. There is no public transport where I live. There is a train line, but it hasn't seen a train in 8 years.

 

[TE999]

I don't know about the rest of you folks, but I'm thinking of buying stock in companies that manufacture bicycles, golf carts and motor scooters.

There won't be as much traveling this summer either and attendance is already down at a lot of tourist attractions and theme parks.

My guess is back-yard vacations are gonna be more popular this summer.

Now let's see...who manufactures barbeque grills and inflatable pools...?

 

[Emperor_Nero]

Mmmm...$3.06 a gallon? That means the big bad oil companies are getting $.03 per gallon in profit, while the Fed takes $.06 a gallon. The rest is State taxes, distribution fees and transportation costs, none of which the oil companies get.

Just to back up Zeb a little bit (and actually, he underestimated).
The U.S. Federal Gas Tax is 18.4 cents per gallon.
State taxes range from a low of 7.5 cents per gallon in Georgia, to a high of 33.55 cents per gallon in New York.
Many states then allow counties and home rule city governments to add their own taxes on top of all that. An example near me is Chicago -- which has a 5 cents per gallon City of Chicago Tax, a 6 cent per gallon Cook County Tax, then a 19 cent per gallon Illinois State Tax on top of the Federal 18.4 cents per gallon. So that means you're paying 48.4 cents per gallon in just taxes. If you assume equal city and county rates for New York City that number would be 62.95 cents per gallon in taxes.
The other point that is often forgotten is that, in other than about 10 percent of the gas stations out there, the oil companies don't own them and don't set the prices. That is a local owner, who decides all on his own how much of a cut he deserves per gallon. In some places, that number is very small due to competition (1-2 cents per gallon) and in other places it can be much more.
To look at your state rate check here

As for some of the other nations that have been heard from, their tax rates are:
Great Britain -- 47.1 pence per litre for ultra-low sulphur unleaded petrol/diesel; 50.9 pence per litre for conventional unleaded petrol; 53.27 pence per litre for conventional diesel; and 27.1 pence per litre for biodiesel and bioethanol (to encourage conversion)

Austrailia -- 38.143 cents per liter

Canada -- 10 cents per liter federal, but provincial taxes ranging from a low of 6.2 cents per liter in the Yukon to 20.9 cents per liter on Prince Edward Island (Ontario is 14.7 cents per liter)

So when you complain about the prices, don't forget how big a chunk goes to government and not the oil companies.

 

[starrkers]

*snip*
Austrailia -- 38.143 cents per liter

We also have a 10% GST on top of that.

 

[Liar]

You sound like you might not be aware of the oil companies record breaking profits.

Is there a reason why $.03/gallon can't provide them with that? There are pretty many gallons sold after all.

 

[The_Fool]

Is there a reason why $.03/gallon can't provide them with that? There are pretty many gallons sold after all.

Profit is typically looked at as a percentage of the product sold. 1% of $1 is $.01. 1% of $3 is $.03. Triple profits.

 

[Emperor_Nero]

Profit is typically looked at as a percentage of the product sold. 1% of $1 is $.01. 1% of $3 is $.03. Triple profits.

In gas, it's not. It's based on cents per gallon, so the higher the prices, the lower the profit percentage. 1 cent of $1 is 1%, 1 cent of $2 is 0.5% and 1 cent of $3 is 0.33%.

(Edit to add) -- The profits in running a gas station doesn't really come from the gas, it comes from the coffee, soda, snacks, other car needs (oil, break fluid, etc) they sell. Those high prices ($1 for a 36 oz soda that costs about 3 cents, including the cup).are where the real profit comes from.