From $2.00 gas to $5.00 gas in 4 years

Oil companies are owned by shareholders - folks that have invested their money to make a profit ... shareholders include retired folks, widows and orphans, trust funds, mutual funds, ME, maybe you, etc. Take away the profit potential or be really stupid and nationalize the oil industry and that will be just the beginning of sorrows ... ever heard of Pemex? ...or the USPS?

And the speculators .... they balance the market. Do you think they all come to work someday and decide to start speculating? They do it every day. The only time you hear about it is when the price gets too high (subjective). The price is high for some pretty obvious reasons - turmoil in the middle east, Obama attacking the oil companies, threats to raise taxes, restricted drilling permits, etc. So, the more uncertainty you remove from the market, the less volatile will be the pricing. None of this is New information ... and the dilemma isn't going to change until USA comes up with a decent energy policy that isn't tied to politics and we get rid of the phony guy on TV everyday telling us how much he cares.

Let the speculators speculate on the price of corn. Let the stock holders put their investments into Apple or Facebook. I repeat, No private company should be allowed to hold any nation hostage on anything that is necessary to sustain the life of its citizens nor the security of the nation. Not oil; Not air; and Not water. It's a matter of national security, and not just for the U.S. It affects China and Russia, and every other nation of the world. It's not our president nor Putin nor any political party (although there are culprits in the oil company pockets on all sides in every country). It's the oil interests against the world. It's not a sustainable situation nor one that will get better on its own. It's inevitible, and the longer we wait for the fight the more painful it will be. The U.S., Russia and China are big enough to change the course and the outcome. If they lead the world will follow.

This thread replaced another on fuel prices and the headline is "From $2.00 gas to $5.00 gas in four years". This was four years ago and obviously the gas has not become more expensive despite the more than 500 posts of which NYCAP has contributed with 120 posts saying we are ripped off. So perhaps it is time to stop here and start a new thread when the fuel price in the US have doubled again like it already have in many other parts of the world..?

From $5 gas to $10 gas in how many years?

You're right. I don't know why I complain. Since Europe has it much worse than the U.S. yet is doing fine and worker salaries have kept pace with the price of fuel there's really no problem....Oh wait.... They're not, and Greece, Italia, Spain and a few others don't seem to be doing so well and the rest are throwing good money after bad trying to save the EU. Maybe this is the right time to compalain. Maybe when it doubles again it will be long since too late.

they pay that now in Europe and other parts of the world - in the early 70's I was paying $2.50 gallon in UK. Now it's much more and folks adapt. It's illogical for one to say something is too expensive when the real problem is that you just can't afford it. Same principal applies to boats, yachts, cars, whiskey, cigars etc. It's all relative.

Am I saying I'm happy with what I pay for fuel? No. But fundamentally I believe in capitalism and the more government gets involves the more mucked up it becomes. Folks are always going to be complaining about the price of something - if its not fuel it'll be something else and that's not going to change. I learned long ago to "control the controllable s" - My financial concerns are not improved by complaining about that which I have no control - rather, I focus on making more money, the preservation of it, putting wealth to work, discriminate spending and investing, so money becomes less a part of the equation relative to my families quality of life. But that's me.

This is all off topic I know - sorry. But it is another perspective of present day reasonable and logical problem solving. Thanks for listening. Now, even though it's Sunday - I'm going to go sell something - and the commission will go towards a bigger boat.

I have to agree with Lars; when threads get too long, most people won't wade through all the commentary. As Lars said, this thread was a continuation from the original subject titled "$2.00 gas?" when those of us in the U.S. were in disbelief that gas was about to double-buck in 2004.

It doesn't look like we'll ever return to prices that fueled an economy, so maybe it's best to put the past behind and face the future with the new thread Lars has suggested...?

Here are the guys who are going to double your fuel price; Rio+20 - United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development

EDIT, I just realized this is like putting fuel on the fire, so we better just close the thread and move on under new headlines...

There's no need for anybody to read every post as it's ongoing and current. But this thread is a history of a continuing problem. Changing the title only serves the oil interests in an attempt to minimize the damage they've done. The only thing that has kept us from now talking about $10 a gallon gas in the U.S today is the spotlight that has been shined on them, and I'm proud to help keep that lamp lit. They would love to give the perception that it's only a matter of them raising their prices $0.20 a gallon. But that's not the reality.