From $2.00 gas to $5.00 gas in 4 years

I saw on 60 minutes that JP Morgan CHASE has more refined crude in the US then Exxon/MOBILE and they have it in storage facilities in NJ. They supposedly were buying all of the futures to drive the price up. Supposedly they are trying to keep the gas prices up so they can unload it.

A few years ago in the midst of a "gas shortage" with rapidly escalating prices at the pumps, I sat in Port Angeles, Washington on a loaded 125,000 ton crude oil tanker for almost two weeks. We were sharing the anchorage with two other loaded tankers while our refinery destination sat idle.

Nationalize the *******s is my solution.

(Hey, that's cool, automouthwash ... I didn't type any asterisks )

Last night gas prices here jumped about $0.20/L, or about $0.75/Gal. This morning I read THIS.

"Does not compute!"

Why? Because they can.

At the peak of last summer's fuel prices I paid ~$1.50/L when oil was $150 per barrel. Now it's ~$40/barrel, yet I've paid between $0.68/L and 0.97/L during the past 4 weeks.

Fill em UP ! here it comes ! The new UN tax on oil for the Green initiative. ?

Ah, it's an old game but a good one because it works every time.
On the way home tonight the radio announced that some agency or another said they expect the price of gas here to reach at least $4.00 a gallon and that another said they expect it to reach $5.00. This despite the fact that the oil companies are paying nowhere near what they were paying last year and even then made an obscenely huge profit while people all over are losing their jobs and homes.
2 months ago I was paying $1.99 per gallon. (Today it's $2.39). Last summer I paid about $4.19. I was happy to pay the $1.99 after paying the $4.19..... Of course, the previous winter (before it was leaked by some agency or another) it was only $1.73. Listen to that, "ONLY'!
Let me play Karnak the wizard and predict that we'll see $4.29 for regular this summer. And next winter we'll be so happy when the price goes all the way down to $2.29. While the oil companies are paying nowhere.........
I know I'll now hear from those saying 'Hey you should be happy. We pay $_____!!!' That only means that someone in your country is allowing you to be______d even more than me. I'm sending e-mails to my representatives asking them to call for nationalization of the oil companies since they won't control themselves.
With another gouging this summer I might be the one losing my home.

I'm currently paying £4.20 ($8 ish) a UK gallon - 75% of which is Tax. But my mileage is relatively small, about 18,000 miles per year at a cost of about 15p per mile. What sort of miles do members in the U.S cover each year and at what cost per mile or nm?

And there it is. Exactly the conversation the oil companies want you to have. Talk about the tax and mpg instead of the fact that they are ripping you off. Every penny more that the oil companies charge puts people out of jobs and homes. Oil consumption is down. The price of crude is down. The number of people with jobs, homes and money in the bank is down. The only thing up is the obscene profits made by the oil companies. Call on your representatives to protect you.

Hi,

NYCAP- You will find that in the UK the Representatives have been helping themselves for so many years that a recent disclosure of just how much they are skimming off the taxpayer in "expenses" for dog food, duck islands, moat cleaning and mortgage interest on properties where there is no mortgage has caused some sackings, some resignations and some bitter accusations.

One bitter and twisted old MP ( UK term for Representative) with his snout and forequarters in the trough even ranted on that the public were jealous of his position and that the expenses details should have been exempt from release under the Freedom of Information act, he neglected to say that MP's had already had 2 chances to examine what was going to be released and sanitize it but were foiled by the full version going to the press without MP Censorship.

England isn't known as "Ripoff Britain" because of tear tabs on the rose tinted spectacles worn by the Govt in many instances.

I apologise to other forum members in advance if what I have written is too political and Mods please feel free to delete it if you feel it is not appropriate in here.

I do about 25k miles per year.

As of last night gas here jumped about 5 cents per liter (the weekend fleece). I filled up after supper and paid $1.054/L which works out to about US$3.56/gallon. All week gas had been hovering around $0.99-1.00/L. Last week it was $.97-.98.

Slow as molasses would be wonderful since what happens so fast is the spinning of the dollar wheel on the pump. Let them slowly make the decision to raise prices. That would be nice for a change. Government owned oil companies could not be worse. The marginal in our society are already living on the street having lost their homes over the past year. Now it's the lower to mid middle class that are heading for the door. People are committing suicide and taking their entire families with them. K1W1, no need to apologize for getting political on this subject. This forum must be adamant about this subject because it affects us all directly. How many manufacturers have gone out of business or otherwise laid off it's workers this year. How many of you captains, deckhands and staff are now waiting tables if you can find even that. I just came up the ICW to find zero transients at several marinas that are usually packed. This forum reaches a lot of people. It can have an effect.

I just realized that I was mistaken in post 266 when I said the price of regular was $2.39. That was the price I paid 2 weeks ago before I left for Florida. I filled up last night. It was $2.59. I'm also sending snail-mail to my representatives calling for nationalization of the oil companies.

Since when have hogs at the trough done anything slowly?

Raising gas prices in nationalized petroleum companies would happen about as slowly as elected representatives vote themselves pay raises - virtually the only unanimously passed legislation without any debate.

Obviously the current system isn't working. Anyone have another suggestion besides learn to like it.

Pray to God for lower prices.

Yeah, let me know how that works out. Besides, he only helps those who help themselves.

I really don't have any answers for you NYCAP123. Petroleum and it's byproducts are integrated into every aspect of our lives. Check out this article on fertilizer:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article472266.ece

The only real solution I see, and I'm no expert, is to change the way we produce and use energy. I'm not saying that we should all be riding bicycles. I'd be happy for instance with an electric car with a 100 mile range and a top speed of 70mph as a commuter car. I wouldn't mind some PV's on my roof to help out with peak consumption during hot days. Heck, I'd even take a bus if there was a route that would take me to work and back.

Unfortunately, everything you've suggested may possibly have an effect 10 years from now, but this is happening now. If nobody has a realistic or even somewhat plausible solution then please try this: Contact your representatives at every level of your government with e-mails, letters and phone calls and tell everyone you know to do it. Deluge them requesting that they call for the nationalization of the oil companies. At the very least it will send a message to the oil companies that trouble may be on the horizon. It could mean the difference between my paying $4.39 and $2.89 a gallon this summer. It may keep you from losing your job or home. It can't hurt unless you're a major stock holder in the oil companies. PLEASE! I personally know people who have lost their jobs and homes. I know people who are about to be there. You do too. We cannot do nothing.

Actually when you think about it a large percentage of oil pumped out of US soil is from public lands. And we lease said land to the oil companies. Time perhaps for the D.O.E. to step in? Perhaps some stimulus dollars in the direction of public oil infrastructure?

That's productive thinking. Have you suggested it to your representatives?