Gas to hit $4 a gallon in August

So Israel is kicking the shit out of Hezbollah.

Can we expect the oil "futures" to drop tomorrow?

About as much as I can expect my company to hire four workers in each department.

 

No.
I keed, I keed. Well, at least I do. I can't speak for the others.
At some point I'd like to have a civil discussion about why very complex things must be simplified to the point of stupidity.
Economics, climate change, anything. But I know, what I ask for may very well be impossible.

 

I never said their wasn't informed speculation in the futures market, Ragu, just that it is pure speculation. And it is. I can gather up all the information on two NFL teams that I want, but when I conjecture about the score in their game, it's still pure speculation. Informed speculation, but no crystal ball involved.

I've done a poor job putting down my thoughts on this, and maybe I am totally ignorant of the futures market, but the countries producing oil and the oil companies see definite gains every time they can make the traders in the futures markets think the sky is falling. So they do. They say that there's angst in this country, so there might be a disruption. This pipeline might get cut off. Prices go up. But, barring Katrina, there haven't been many if any major disruptions. So, I have to ask, if "when it comes to geopolitical factors, the market is damned good at pricing in the exact perfect amount of risk," how does that explain the market being so antsy about all of these disruptions that haven't come to be? If they're wrong every time, is that still the perfect amount of risk? Or is the nature of politics in the world right now just that nobody knows what the hell is gonna happen anywhere, so everyone's hedging their bets every time something happens? You seem to know a heck of a lot more about futures than most of us, so explain it.

And no one's mortgaging their house because of what's going on with Iran. Bush is just crazy enough to actually go to war and force Iran to pull its oil out of the market, and if not there is still the possibility of UN sanctions (though I doubt that would happen really with China and Russia getting veto power). With that threat looming, it's too dangerous of a bet to make.

 

When I read stuff like the U.S. continues to set records for gas consumption and the average MPG on new cars remains flat, I have absolutely no sympathy for the idiotic American consumer. $4 per gallon? Hell, make it $10.

 

But I MUST have a 300 hp engine so I can go from 0 to 60 in 4.3 seconds (that's soooo important) . . . so I can get to the next stoplight a few seconds sooner . . . and so I can cruise the "fast lane" at 80 mph while cursing out all those assholes only doing 65 ("Get out of my fucking way!!!!!") . . . and I can at least dream of driving 140 mph, even though no American road will permit it.

And then, when my gas gauge is on "E" a few days later, I will blame the government.

 

And I see this little great nugget today for all you "alternative source of fuel" people.

Read on Al's Morning Meeting today over on the Poynter site that drought throughout the Midwest plus demand for corn and wheat is driving grain prices to near record levels.

Why is corn going so nuts? As much as 20 percent of domestic production is being targeted for ethanol fuel this year. Now there's a comforting thought ... availability of gasoline (ethanol) is as volatile as the weather.

Please get those drilling rigs humming boys, Boom's Hummer needs some juice.

And all you guys blaming the oil companies for being gouging fat cats, you too can be a tycoon. It's called the stock market. Most of the big oil companies pay a nice annual dividend per share. Don't know what a dividend really is? You shouldn't post on this thread.

 

That's a fine mindset until your carriers quit en masse because they are losing money delivering the paper.

 

And furthermore, ethanol could only supply 12% of the need for fuel in America, and that would mean using the entire domestic corn corp.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060711/BUSINESS01/607110334/1014/BUSINESS

 

We'll have a lot bigger problems than delivering newspapers if consumers don't wise up.

 

Has anyone else noticed a big jump in prices in the last couple of days? I filled my tank up last week for $2.74 per gallon and today it was up to $2.99 per gallon. That is a pretty big jump in one week.

 

And here's the bitch - the price of oil has dropped two days in a row, yet gas prices went up ($2.89 to $2.95 here).

They sure don't mind raising gas prices when the price of oil goes up. But even a small drop in oil ... nothing at the pump.

By the way, serious question here: Anyone know why the price of a quart of oil is about the same as it's always been? Oil changes? The price of oil changes at the local Midas haven't changed since I've moved here nearly three years ago.