Better fill 'er up while the getting is good

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jtbell
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Walking to lunch today, I passed a cluster of three gas stations, all advertising regular unleaded at $1.909 per gallon. :bugeye:

It doesn't seem all that long ago when I would have gone :bugeye: for the opposite reason.
 
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Assuming people can buy new cars these days (-_-)
Anywho, I'm still getting around $2.29/gallon here in CA...
 
cristo said:
It's the equivalent of around $6.80 a gallon here in the UK. (That should stop you guys complaining!)
You know, I've always wondered about that, but was always too lazy to find out why... Geographically speaking you guys are much closer to the source... So I'm guessing OPEC has something to do about that..

[edit: unless one gallon in UK = 3 gallons in US... you and your silly metric system :-p]
 
noumed said:
You know, I've always wondered about that, but was always too lazy to find out why... Geographically speaking you guys are much closer to the source... So I'm guessing OPEC has something to do about that..

We just get taxed to high heaven!

[edit: unless one gallon in UK = 3 gallons in US... you and your silly metric system :-p]

In retrospect it's probably a bit less: we buy petrol in litres, and I converted into an Imperial gallon instead of a U.S gallon (you always have to steal our things and slightly change them, don't you!)
 
cristo said:
In retrospect it's probably a bit less: we buy petrol in litres, and I converted into an Imperial gallon instead of a U.S gallon (you always have to steal our things and slightly change them, don't you!)
We didnt take the word petrol, you guys can have that.. =P

But I hear great things about the public transportation in Europe, so maybe that makes up for it.. It's a pain to live in the US without a car, what with everything so spread out.
 
I'm not happy at all with the low gas prices. Its an early warning sign of a global depression.

I was listening to CSPAN radio. They were broadcasting a congressional hearing. The economists were like...this isn't good. Be worried.
 
Cyrus said:
Be worried.
Don't be such a Debbie Downer...
 
noumed said:
Don't be such a Debbie Downer...

Yeah ok. Enjoy your cheap gas when everyone gets fired from their jobs and you don't have any money to buy the cheap gas.
 
The price of crude has dropped by $84 a barrel - from $140 to $56, the last time I checked.

CNN reports that because of this dramatic drop, even T. Boone Pickens is backing away from his energy plan, which is terrible! At this price, natural gas can't compete with petro.
 
Ivan Seeking said:
The price of crude has dropped by $84 a barrel - from $140 to $56, the last time I checked.
A non-equilibrium low just as $140 was a non-equilibrium high.

CNN reports that because of this dramatic drop, even T. Boone Pickens is backing away from his energy plan, which is terrible! At this price, natural gas can't compete with petro.
Pickens was on the Daily Show, last night. Skip past the first two segments if you want to go directly to the Pickens interview.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=210170
 
I tend to favor the idea of setting a floor for the price of gas. The offset could be used to build the new energy infrastructure. Otherwise we may well wait until we see $200 a barrel, and then panic. Petro alternatives have to be price competitive in order to get off the gound.

This would also help to alleviate concerns that oil suppliers will manipulate market prices to stall progress on alternatives.
 
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When it went below $2, actually, $1.989, I filled up even though I still had half a tank. I wanted to ensure that I bought at least some below that threshhold. I needn't have worried, now it's $1.939. I don't see less traffic though. I suppose the low price is a reflection of the reduced demand for industrial purposes. That's an encouraging sign.
 
I checked the air pressure in the tires of my vehicles and ruined the petroleum industry.:cry:

Is demand really down that much or are there other factors involved? The bad economy is a good launch point for big oil to sucker us out of seeking renewable energy sources.
 
edward said:
Is demand really down that much or are there other factors involved? The bad economy is a good launch point for big oil to sucker us out of seeking renewable energy sources.

I think it was BobG who made an interesting point. The price of fuel had been artificially high because of speculators. Could it be that the credit crunch has caused the the speculators to withdraw due to a lack of cash? Or, perhaps the speculators have withdrawn because they knew a global recession would drive the price of oil down.
 
Ivan Seeking said:
I think it was BobG who made an interesting point. The price of fuel had been artificially high because of speculators. Could it be that the credit crunch has caused the the speculators to withdraw due to a lack of cash? Or, perhaps the speculators have withdrawn because they knew a global recession would drive the price of oil down.
I don't think it was me.

I agree there should be a floor price for gasoline. If we're serious about reducing long term demand, you take advantage of unrealistically low prices with a tax that's invested in energy development and keep the price high enough to discourage a further onslaught of super-sized SUVs.

The price definitely shouldn't be under $2.00 a gallon and should probably be a little higher (just no more $4.00 a gallon prices for a while).