First off, this is not a complaint thread. Gas prices suck - everybody knows it.

At any rate - why are gas prices so high? I remember about 2 years ago when premium was $1.20 and most stations had 87 for $1.

I understand that over time gas prices tend to fluctuate in proportion to the average person's income, but I can't see any reason for jacking up the prices nowadays. Sure, the war might've slowed the supply for a few weeks, but it seems like gas prices just fluctuate with the stock market - we kill the Hussein brothers, gas prices go down. UN building gets bombed, now we're paying $1.65 for 87.

Now, I doubt the existence of a conspiracy among gas station owners to fix prices, so it's safe to assume it must cost them a certain amount to get gas from the suppliers. Which means the pricing is being affected somewhere along the line BEFORE it gets to our stations.

What gives?

XXL

 

The answer is on the home page of my web site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sta...el/default.stm


Look for the Gas Pump.

 

Station owners also add a little to the final price as well.

 

Let's not forget the federal taxes on gas that keep going up. As our infrastructure continues to age, the tax on gasoline will probably continue to climb.

 

I am convinced, that for the most part, it is corperate greed.

 

A good chunk of it is local, state, and federal taxes.
Beyond that it is supply and demand. Since demand is not going to go away, the logical answer is to increase supply.
BUT........
You have all the liberals and Environazis out there running around suing anyone and everyone who wants to:
1: Drill for new sources of oil, thus decreasing our dependence on those who hate us.
2: Build new refineries to increase production and help stabilize and lower prices.
3: Build new pipelines to enable the product to get to it's destination quicker and more cost effectively.
It also needs to be taken into account that gasoline producers have dozens of "custom blends" which must be produced for various state and local markets. Since some of these cost more to produce than the selling price can reasonably recoup, the rest of us subsidize them through higher prices.
Everybody seems to like to run around alleging "price fixing and corporate greed!", but the fact is that the biggest contributor to high prices is onerous regulations coupled with their inability to acquire and refine new sources of oil. And it's not that the oil companies don't want to eplore and refine new oil sources, THEY CAN'T DO IT DUE THE COURTS AND CONGRESS!!

 

Good points - Dennis' web page pretty much spells it out, although it doesn't address the whole greed issue. Interesting read, actually.

XXL