$4 gasoline

[jw wright]

Well. with the price of gas almost down to where it was before the $4 a gallon high, does anyone see how my original "Let's Suppose" thread worked out.

[GyroRon]

Post a link to that thread, I can't remember that far back....

[Timchick]

I'm just glad President Bush got the price back down to $2.00/gallon.

[M. Pearce]

Timchick,

Yeh it's so low I'm wondering if I should be scared.

At my local corner store half a block from me it just went to $1.95 a gallon.

The owner of the store said the gubment made a fortune on their road taxis.

The guy said that's where bush got his under the table retirement package.

[GyroRon]

I filled up yesterday in Rock Hill SC at 1.83$ per gallon.....

[The Gyro Man]

Regular unleaded just dropped to $2.66 a gallon here in Yreka, CA this morning.

[Harry_S.]

It's UP to 2.019 reg. in Ocala this afternoon. Was 1.939 this past Sat.

Hold on.


Cheers

[NoWingsAttached]

All of the Wall Street brokers were doin crazy $#!*, like investing 30-1 leveraged paper, you all know the story by now. So where do you think that money got invested for short term whopper gains? Fuel futures. When the well went dry, and taxpayers had to bail them out, they quit investing in the futures, cuz all the leveraged paper went up in smoke. Hence the price came back to earth where it was supposed to be all along.

I have been actively involved in lobbying to have the idiot government - Bush, Congress, Dems, Reps, ALL of these true MORONS - take the bankers out of the gasoline price equation once and for all. During the summer, Bush did finally mention it in passing, and it made the news briefly. Then all hell broke loose and the economy fell through the basement.

Perhaps an administration that is less "pro-big business", and less "anti Wall Street regulation" and a little more actively involved in reality politics instead of tromping off to war for Halliburton's sole benefit will right the ship before it completely sinks. Yeah, it is not sinkin as fast today, but we are far from stable, and the disastrous stock market swings are occuring at intervals of alarmingingly decreasing swings of the pendulum. Check it out. Start with the Great Depression of the '20/30's, then: 40 years to great Recession of the '60's, 22 yearsto Black Monday, 12 years to the Tech Bubble, and 8 years to now?????? Man, they're comin hard n faster you know? ...something like that

Oh, well. No one wants to listen to this crazy old coot. I don't blame you.

Good riddence, Mr President, and even a greater good riddance to you, Mr Cheney. It's not all your fault, but A great leadership rises to the call. You, sirs, rose to no occasion whatsoever. if yours was a democratic admin, I know what your party would be shouting from the rooftops today - the same thing I am saying now.

But will nayone have the guts and the gusto to get oil futures off the market once and for all? THink what is going to happen when water and electrical power are traded like petroleum. SUre. Let's deregulate wall st and main street and let the greed of the few destroy the good life for the many. That's what this great country is all about. LESS government where it really counts, and MORE government in our bedrooms, our airwaves, our airports for the little flyers like us,

THey always say less goverment - but what they mean really is less government for just the big boys, them, cuz when it comes to us they always try to impose more of their will upon us, taking away our privacy, our rights, and our freedoms. Good grief, why can't i shut up and stop writing?

Apologies. I just get really PO'd when I think back to all those sick excuses about gas prices reflecting China's growth, shortages, blah blah blah. WHat a load of doggie doodoo.

What I said before has once again been proven by time. You take the bankers out of the equation, problem solved, the prices come back to where they should be.

[Sheldon]

Enjoy it while you can, BHO will never let them drill, and according to the analyst it will be back up by this time next year.

[dragonflyerthom]

Yep

This time I will be ready. In-line Hydrogen Generators. Old/new Technology. He He He.

[Dean_Dolph]

Originally Posted by NoWingsAttached

....... take the bankers out of the gasoline price equation once and for all……

Interesting post and one that would be hard to dispute but could be picked apart or added to very easily. I'm probably an older 'coot' than you and had the experience of listening to my parents/grandparents talk about the great depression. And since then I've had my own experience and I've come to my own conclusions about economics and economists.

First economics isn't a science, it is voodoo! And there are no economists but only those who honestly believe they know economics and convince others that they do. As far as I'm concerned I'm just as much of an economist as John Kenneth Galbraith and Bernard Baruch and have only my life experiences and observations rather than an education to base that on.

Economists use voodoo, or whatever, to manipulate numbers to tell us what happened and to predict what is going to happen with the economies. Predicting what is going to happen is funny since every stock prospectus I've seen has, in its fine print somewhere, a statement saying in so many words "Past performance isn't any guarantee of future performance". I take that to mean that the stock issuer, or seller, doesn't have a clue as to what direction the stock is going to take. Stocks are sort of a economy barometer with funny numbers and economist’ don’t have a clue either! But, it is an honest profession and keeps them off the streets!

Stock issuers have high hopes that people will buy their stock and in the process make the stock appear to be valuable to own. Stock rarely represents the book value of a company but instead represents what buyers think it (the stock not the company!) is worth. It is speculation of the highest order. And as an economist, I say that speculation was a big player in driving oil prices up. The speculators make up quite a list and include pension funds but I can’t say that banks were speculators. They might be thru other means but not directly as contract purchasers of oil. I personally know of one small time commodity trader that was betting on oil; he probably has taken an economic bath recently!

I’ve heard commentators say that speculators were not a problem. But, it was interesting to see oil prices start to fall less than 10 days after speculators were mentioned as being possibly targeted for congressional investigation. Coincidental? I doubt it! I suspect the price started to drop when the speculators started to sell so as to not suffer large losses if congress decided to act. But they all took losses and that may include the airlines such as Southwest that contracted for future fuel at a price that may be lower now. The one rule of economist' that deals with supply and demand has proven to be true since a portion of the oil price drop was created by less demand for gas and other oil products.

If I had the power I would limit oil contract purchases to those that have a direct involvement in the line of production. The list could get quite large when including peripheral players but would start with the exploration people and move through the production chain to the retailer. Those people have an interest in seeing stable profitable prices. The competition would take the speculation out of it since everyone would want to sell at the lowest price possible and still make the highest profit they could. I see some danger in this but it is not relevant at the moment because it hasn’t, and probably won’t happen.

Originally Posted by NoWingsAttached

....... But will nayone have the guts and the gusto to get oil futures off the market once and for all? THink what is going to happen when water and electrical power are traded like petroleum.

The oil problem, and the world economy, is so large and convoluted that there is no way we, as mere mortals, can grasp the size and complexity. We see and maybe, I say again, maybe, understand parts of it. Trying to understand it is like thinking about the size of the universe. Stay with it long enough and you will be in the funny house! I’ve already stated my answer to managing the oil problem.

I’ve never tried to find out what the difference is between a commodity like oil, and utilities, like water and electricity. But, if I were in the oil business then I would be concerned about being declared a utility! And as far as water is concerned, if I were going to live another 15-20 years, I would bet that it will be far more of a problem than oil has been. You need water to survive but oil is a convenience. Try drinking oil or eating oil products and see where it gets you! Those that own water rights or have the means to supply water are going to be in the money.

Originally Posted by NoWingsAttached

....... SUre. Let's deregulate wall st and main street and let the greed of the few destroy the good life for the many. That's what this great country is all about. LESS government where it really counts, and MORE government in our bedrooms, our airwaves, our airports for the little flyers like us,

I don’t recall the details but Wall St. has been deregulated for several years and some are blaming that deregulation for part of our problems now. I say part because Wall St. is only a player in a larger picture.

[Dale Young]

Got some today for $1.46.

[fiveboy]

I think No Wings has hit a home run with his thinking. I find it alarming when Americans judge how sound the "economy" is or how the president is performing based on the price at the pump. Thats a little like judging a patients health based on pulse rate... there is a bigger picture to consider.

"BHO" says he will take us in a direction away from fossil fuels... to do so we cant drill more. Drilling more is like saying taking more heroin will wean you off of heroin.

In time water will be the new oil no doubt whatsoever.

[M. Pearce]

fiveboy,

As long as they keep making clear plastic sheeting drinking water shouldn't be a problem.

I know of just a few ways to make solor powered water purifiers.

Also know how to get drinking water out of moist dirt with plastic sheeting.

I used to be a survivalist type nutcase back when I was a kid.

Was going to go into the Marines until I had an eye injury that deflated and detatched my retna.

That one blew it all for me.

But you are right, water is getting expensive in the bottle now days.

[fiveboy]

Mark im with you on the plastic. As long as there are ducks on the water fish in the pond and fruit on someones tree some of us will get by (oh and dont forget that Ka-bar and 308)