christoner's Blog

You need to understand that the price per barrel of oil is the COST. What is added is refining, state & fed taxes, advertising, and storage placed on each gallon of fuel. The cost of the oil set by the demand vs. the supply. OPEC sells it for so much, then they decide if they will up production or not and if they wont up the production, then buyers bid and is sold to the highest bidder. The biggest problem is the useage. There are so many people that refuse to let go of the gas guzzlers or at least reduce it to the point where the cost to run the vehicles is manageable, meaning...there must be an alternative to the fuel useage wether its making use of only one car for a multicar family or only driving the vehicle to work some days during the week rather than every day. We have all become spoiled with our wants and now we have to pay more for them and in order for things to get better, we have to control our own situations to manage the costs.

I think what is really going on is that most of the OPEC countries are now attempting to be part of the nucelar club and that cost money.

Venezuela wants to be the first latin america country in this club and do you think the other countries in the middle east are going to be without when Iran is up and going with their nucelar weapons?.

yea normal, whadda we gonna do when oil producing countries are attacked for their oil reserves or When Iran has a nuke and holds it to the head of OPEC? Then maybe we'll retaliate by nukin' them And then Pakistan whips up their nukes then India does the same, next thing you know Israel is smacked with a nuke. All this brought on by our gluttony for foreign oil. when all this happens Venezuela may just be the only country left standing with oil then they'd be the next Dubai. Yea your right we have more probs, but maybe none bigger. This scenario was brought to you by your Citgo Gas Stations nationwide.....trippy

Well, what you have to understand about the rising cost of gas, is that it is mostly due to the ongoing situation in Iraq and Afganistan. Because seriously, your driving habits and/or any other habits that you are accustomed to, concerning the usage of gas, have not changed that much.

Upon average, Americans travel the same distance to and from work, daily. Therefore, there's really no huge demand for more gas.

Secondly, Americans don't really travel that often, unless it's a holiday peak season or for vacation and such. Even then, the demand for more gas is not warranted.

And lastly, the average American are not buring more fuel today than they did eight years ago. So again, there's no huge demand for more gas.

However, since the start of this war with Iraq, gas prices has dramatically soared. And it's costing those same average Americans more money to do the same things that have always done periodically. There really isn't a huge demand for more oil or gas. At least, not from an American economic stand point.

Yet, people always give into fears. And fear is a disability. So, since we spending billions of dollars to fight a unproductive war, it's costing you more money to drive to the gas station to buy gas, just to do the same little things that you love so much.

sorry(Korean war).

Like I said we have been fighting wars since WWII. have we finished paying for the viet-nam war yet?
what this country needs is another political party,the democrats and republicans have really messed this country up in the last 50 years.

Normal, just a note of truth, the U.S. has been fighting wars, since its occupation, or should I say "take over", from the Native Americans.

However, the war in Iraq, unlike the other wars, is an unproductive campaign; which has proven to not only bankrupt the U.S. economy, but has also lead a windfall of wealth for those who have actually profited from this war. None of them, mind you, are not your average american citizens. But let's really focus on the this so-called huge "demand" for oil.

Once again, where is it coming from? The demand, that is. Because if you can focus on the demand, then maybe you can get the sense of how to curb the demand, to ease the pain at the pump.

So once again, where is this huge demand for oil coming from? Better yet, allow me to ask it like this.

Who is using up all of the gas?

Consider youself. Do you drive more than you use to? Do you heat up your home more than you use to? Is weather a factor? Do you travel across the country more than you're accustomed?

The demand, I ask you. Point blank, plain and simple. Upon average, are americans doing more to drive up the cost of gas and oil, than they are accustom to doing in previous years?

If not, then what possibly could it be that is a major deciding factor in the rising price of oil, which leads to higher prices in gas?

If you're not driving up the cost of gas and I'm not driving up the cost, then who is or what is? The boogey man? Let's put this into perspective, shall we?

How much oil and gas does the U.S. require to fly its bombers, tanks, med

I am a old man and I have been paying taxes since the Korean war.
this country will spend a billion dollars a week regardless.


you sound like a frustrated democrat,take heart and cheer up eith Obama or Hillary will get their chance and you will see.

the only real president we ever had was JFK.

taking this to the airline market's "suffering" into the spotlight: can someone explain why delta is gouging prices to "offset" fuel costs? sure they use tons and tons of fuel a day but i fly all the time (with their monopoly they have successfully shut out any low price airline except air tran from the airport) and in the past few months alone all they do is make hundreds more per passenger. in the past year alone they've significantly increased change fees, unaccompanied minor fees, even the price to watch a movie! they're slowing down their planes, and mysteriously every time i select a fare on their flexible fare finder online i get a "sorry, this fare sold out" message. very frustrating! i understand we're all suffering but it seems with all these price gouging techniques they'll actually MAKE MONEY! after all, their pilots signed an agreement last week to give themselves a raise. guess that's what my next flight is going to pay for. for some reason the media in ATL refuses to challenge Delta. i know they're based here and employ thousands of our community; but it's hard to continue supporting them when they're expecting us to take the entire brunt of the recession.

goneforgood,I have to chime in here and ask a question.

If the profit margin for the oil companies is that low then how is it that independent gas stations vary in their price?

just go to http://gasbuddy.com then type in your zip code.


You don't think that maybe some price fixing is going on.

Hi normal;
In regard to your pricefixing question;
Yes, I do think there is a certain amount of 'pricefixing' going on. My father used to work in the industry and I remember easdropping on phone conversations. Sometimes the price at certain gas stations was modified to respond to competitor's prices in specific locations. If the competitors were trying to attract customers from across the street they would lower the price and then the other company would respond in like kind. This would set off a "price war". The lower the price went, the more customers would be attracted and
so-to a certain extent- the stations could make up in increased volume what they lost in decreased price per gallon profits. Sometimes, if the different stations/companys were particularily beligerent they would actually suffer a loss/per/gal to undercut competion. These losses were absorbed by the corporation- not the individual dealers. Such 'pricewars' were considered benefical for winning new clientele and for word of mouth promotional/advertising.(I remember getting my car filled up for .25 cents a gallon in one war.)
On a world wide scale, I believe that currently, Russia & Iran & Arabia are holding back on production - which is a form of price fixing - that is, they are not trying to pump oil as fast as the demand is increasing.

In rgard to oil independance; (assuming that's possible;technically&politically) the time estimates I've read(T.Boone Pickens & other experts)indicate a transitional period of 30-50years....If we begin NOW ! (We were stupid not to start in the 70's). We will r

P.S. normal;
{In regard to price flucuations by locals};
Other factors in the differences of gas prices according to local USA areas are;
1) the distance of certain areas from distribution points plus accessability.
(I live in rural N.Ga and the price I pay is higher than places only 30 miles away, where larger towns are closer to distribution hubs.
2) Certain locales/states have different regulations on the specification qualifications of gasoline for that region.
( fuel formulas can vary within different cities of the same state or from state to state.
3) I think there are also differences in added taxes according to states or cities.(not sure on that, but I think NY & CA have higher tax rates on gas prices).

incidently normal & others;
Although I did'nt mention it, individual(private)dealers(gas station operators) are free to r a i s e the price of their gasoline
(as well as lower it). Other operators may, or may not, follow suit. It's whatever they think their market will bear -and in the case of Atlanta - they have a host of customers.
In short, there are many reasons for rising gas prices world wide & local price variations. The declining value of the US Dollar & commodity speculators...and let's not overlook the 15% tax tribute per gal. we pay our government to .... do whatever they do !

I know why oil prices have increased.The printing of currency and lower interest rates have devalued our currency.The Fed has done this to stave off a recession but all they have done is create an inflationary enviroment.They need to address the inverted index they have created,raise longterm interest rates,turn off the printing press! The Fed printed money to stimulate the economy and all they did was devalue the dollar and cause the commodities markets to be overvalued.If the allow the inverted index to remain unaddressed what will happen is countries who have a large dollar reserve will sell off the dollar and that will further devalue our currency and then we will go from inflation to deflation.Then most americans will be financially crippled.This enviroment only benefits 4 groups.The Banks,The Oil companies,Wall Street and the Mercintile Exchanges in New York and Chicago.The very groups who benifit from the middle class being stripped of there resources.