Friday, March 28, 2014

Off Topic

How come gas prices keep going up if everyone keeps buying hybrid and electric cars that are supposed to reduce the demand for gas?

47 comments:

sandybrook said...

Ask Syria Iran and the rest of the oil cartel. We are not business majors here.

aemish said...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

Simon said...

Manipulation

Unknown said...

Speculation

Cleodacat said...

I want to know why it costs me 2k to fly to the east coast.

Unknown said...

When I want Nate Silver I go to Nat silver. When I want a hot mess with implants I come here.

Kristin Wigs said...

Still trying to figure out how Efron ran out of gas, Enty? Move on, BooBoo.

Lady Heisenberg said...

Really, Enty? It's FRIDAY!!! Dick pics and gossip, please!
#valueisasocialconstruction
#gasisstillinhighdemand
#ukrainenewstoday

Seven of Eleven said...

Get your motor running....

hairydawg said...

Increasing demand in China and India as their economies grow. We need to get off oil ASAP and leave the middle east the fuck alone.

Harry Knuckles said...

Cleo, East Coast from where, the moon? LAX to JFK is around $300 to $400.

Kelly said...

Because we use oil for 99% of all our products. Gas is a small thing compared. Getting off oil is not feasible right now. You can't use the renewables for products.

Wen said...

Liberals?

kystranger said...

I've been a reader here since the whole "is Himmmmmm Robert Downey Jr. debate", and this is my first post. Most of it has to do with speculation on the oil market. Remember back around 2006 or so when gas prices started going up? The oil companies told us that if we used less gas there would be a surplus, and the price would go down. Well, Americans started using less gas, but the price remained high. The oil companies figured out that they could sell gasoline overseas, and still make a profit. So they did. In 2011 America became a net exporter of gasoline. The oil companies get to sell their gas overseas and make money from it, while at the same time keeping the price here at home artificially high (less product). Believe it or not we import most of our oil from Canada (roughly 22% of our oil imports come from there), followed closely by Saudi Arabia (20%) and Mexico (19%).

Lady Heisenberg said...

Vroooom vroooooom!!! May the best (wo)man win!!!

Lady Heisenberg said...

Hi kystranger! This post was worth it if it brought a long time lurker out of hiding! Welcome!

Anonymous said...

Because once wall street gets a hold of anything, it will no longer follow the rules of logic, or supply and demand. One simple rule would drop all commodity prices substantially within days...Require physical delivery. Right now, it is little more than an xbox game for these folks, while stealing your money.

Anonymous said...

Actually, the US and Russia are the 2 biggest oil and gas producers in the world, common misconception.

aemish said...

Killer first post @kystranger :D

And I will add a paragraph from Chapter One, Petroleum Man, from Michael Ruppert's, 'Crossing The Rubicon' to what @Reno posted...

"Oil pervades our civilization; it is all around you. The shell for your computer is made from it. Your food comes wrapped in it. You brush your hair and teeth with it. There's probably some in your shampoo, and most certainly in its container. Your children's toys are made from it. You take your trash out in it. It makes your clothes soft in the dryer. As you change the channels with the TV remote you hold it in your hands. Some of your furniture is probably made with it. It is everywhere inside your car. It is used in both the asphalt you drive on and the tires that meet the road. It probably covers the windows in your home. When you have surgery, the anesthesiologist slides it down your esophagus. Your prescription medicine is contained in it. Your bartender sprays the mixer for your drink through it. Oh yes, and the healthy water you carry around with you comes packaged in it.

"Be careful. If you decide that you want to throw this book out, your trashcan is probably made from it. And if you want to call and tell me what a scaremonger I am, you will be holding it in your hands as you dial. And if you wear corrective lenses, you will probably be looking through it as you write down a number with a pen that is made from it. Plastic is a petroleum product, and its price is every bit as sensitive to supply shortages as gasoline. Oil companies do not charge a significantly different price for oil they sell to a plastics company than they charge a gas station owner. If the wellhead price goes up, then every downstream use is affected."

Now look at all the billions of people in China and India that have entered a new working class and can afford modern plastic products, in addition to the cars and gasoline tanks to fill... If you don't like paying $4 a gallon now, just wait until it is $10.. then $20.. then $50... smh

Count Jerkula said...

The emerging economies of India and China. Ship jobs over there, create a middle class there, and the demand for commodities goes up. They are going from mopeds to compact cars. Once they get SUVs, we'll be paying $10/gallon.

Anyone have an electric or hybrid car? What does your home electric bill jump to?

Count Jerkula said...

@Aemish: Peak oil is the GOPs "global warming". They find new reserves all the time, they have no clue if we will ever run out.

NYer said...

This can't be a serious question. The purported "logic" behind it is infantile. Please.

Snapdragon said...

It's a question, since the US is a net oil exporter (at least as of November '13).

BTW, the Middle East represents a pretty small percentage, source-wise, of the oil the US uses (at least as of 2012).

Oil refinery maintenance also plays a role in rising prices due to the effect on supply.

Me, I want a Leaf or a Tesla (in my dreams).

aemish said...

@Count.. I disagree and base that assessment on the actions of the major oil companies themselves. I loathe the GOP but isn't their whole shpeel we'll never run out anyway? I'm not sure how that would be their climate change, another topic they are in total denial of..

aemish said...

I <3 Tesla <3

Amartel said...

We don't/won't drill for our own resources so we are at the mercy of people who do. Also, electric cars don't really reduce pollution so long as the electricity is generated from polluting sources. But so long as it makes good people feel good the rest of us will have to underwrite the costs (and blithely ignore the foreign pollution generated by manufacturing these vehicles.)

kpist said...

We need the keystone pipeline

kpist said...

Aemish, everyone knows there's a finite amount of oil, I've never heard anyone declare there is an unlimited supply.

TalksTooMuch said...

Should I feel bad for working in the oil sands for so long? Would someone like to yell at me re: reclamation? Maybe you, Mr. Rufflalo, step into the elevator and tell me all aboot your fracking concerns...

Cleodacat said...

Alaska.

Count Jerkula said...

@Aemish: The first I ever heard of "peak oil" was out of Dick Cheney's mouth. I think he got "peak oil" and Ashcroft got "bird flu" to bilk money with.

You hear all the time of new finds in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Huge deposit in/off Brazil that rivals the Saudis. Then we have the trump card. When the rest of the world is bled dry, we unless Alaska's full potential and take all their money.

Gayeld said...

Actually, totally have a business degree here.

Gayeld said...

Bingo.

Robert said...

"Everyone" doesn't "keep buying hybrid and electric cars." Sales of hybrid and electric cars represent only a very small percentage of total US auto sales and even less of global auto sales. Duh.

Anonymous said...

@Snapdragon and @aemish, me too! Whichever one of us can afford to buy a Tesla first gets to be first in the driver's seat on a coast to coast road trip. :-))

SueRH said...

Obviously you don't live in the suburbs, because every house around here is a two-SUV home.

auntliddy said...

Kystranger-which is why oil and gas supply shoukd be federally run. Anoral oil companies dont give a damn about anything but their almighty profit. I freaking hate them, they are so two faced.

auntliddy said...

No everybody doesnt buy hybreds or electric cars because they are crazy exspensive and hard to get(waiting list)! If you see suv's, see how old they are. Mine is 17 years old!!! As long as it works, i see no need to replace. We just go locally anyway.

aemish said...

@Count... ahh, that would make sense given his Haliburton HQ move to tax-free Dubai

@kpist... that's what I thought too until Count presented here

@Cocoa... I would take you up on that offer in a heartbeat! :p

Anonymous said...

This is one of the dangers of social media. Fuck you Zuckerberg. Aside from the normal holiday wknds when oil companies historically raised prices, we now have data miners trolling the web for chatter regarding higher than average plans for car travel. They then raise the prices accordingly. The more this happens the more we become tolerant of those prices, so they stay up. Facebook is Skynet. Take that damn cord out of your ear before you are assimilated.

MadLyb said...

Because not that many people are buying hybrid and electric cars. The truth is, most Americans are still buying gas guzzlers. They still live in the days when Reagan was President and told them that they were Americans, so fuck the planet and the rest of the people in the world. We do what we want.

Leekalicious said...

Mr. Leek bought 10 windmills (sorry, wind generators) a couple of years ago, and they are still in the basement in their boxes.

Leekalicious said...

Hybrid cars are too expensive and too weak for winter driving here. You need a heavy 4-wheel drive. Plus, they are too small. I want some metal between my family and the rest of the world. That being said, they usually look adorable.

Alita said...

^^^^
#FFF

Alita said...

I miss VIP's contributions :(

Leekalicious said...

@Alita Same here. I hope she comes back and posts. Maybe she's just busy.

Jessica Wakefield said...

Two words: Lizard people.

Advertisements

Popular Posts from the last 30 days