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[110tHunDer]

All the oil companies posted record profits for the first quarter.

Not that I'm supporting them at all, but where did you see that?  BP just reported a decline in profits today and Shell and Exxon don't release results until tomorrow.

[Spiderman]

Water is a regulated Public Utility.
Electricity is a regulated Public Utility
Why ?
Both are vital to National Security
It's long past time Oil became regulated
Nationalize Oil !

B B

[MUFFMAN]

They won't regulate it here in Canada . Converting from litres to gallons today it is $6.14 per gallon. The more it costs, the more tax the government collects. Rat basturds .

[grc]

Not that I'm supporting them at all, but where did you see that?  BP just reported a decline in profits today and Shell and Exxon don't release results until tomorrow.

Yup, thanks to many things, such as trashing the Gulf and being forced to curtail drilling for a short time, BP's profits did not follow the lead of Exxon.  Not that they lost money, they just didn't make as much because they produced less crude oil.  The lower production offset part of the unjustified easy profits they realized on the bogus run-up in oil prices.  The refineries are running at less than 80% of capacity btw, so obviously demand isn't driving prices.

As for the regulated utilities approach mentioned by BB, that only works if we actually control the supply.  Since we import a large amount of our oil, I'm not sure how that would fit with a regulated utility approach.  Would Uncle buy all the oil from all sources and then set prices?  Would it work like most utilities these days, with a big loophole where the utilities get a passthrough for increased costs of the commodity and the only part of the price that's really controlled is the part they get for distribution and profit?  I don't see that helping.

Put the current situation in perspective with your calculator and your own personal numbers.  Over the past year prices at the pump have risen approximately $1.00 so far.  The average American drives about 15,000 miles, and let's say that the average mpg is about 20.  So that average American is paying about $750 more on an annualized basis this year compared to last year (feel free to substitute your own numbers for miles and mpg).  Take all the hysteria generated by all the media hype out of the equation, and I submit that the average American family can find more than $750 in annual savings to offset that increase in fuel costs.  I know some folks who spend that much at Starbucks for pete's sake.  My point being, yes it's inconvenient and unfair, but it's not the end of life as we know it.


Jerry

[Spiderman]

Oil is nationalized in all of the Middle Eastern countries as well as Mexico (PEMEX) and Venezuala etc  - - How do they do it ?


B B

[JCZ]

Not that I'm supporting them at all, but where did you see that?  BP just reported a decline in profits today and Shell and Exxon don't release results until tomorrow.

It was on the network news on Monday.  They also talked about how the top oil companies paid very little taxes last year, Chevron didn't pay any and they're all government subsadized.

Not sure what all that means but record profits doesn't coincide with their justifications for the huge gas price increases that have been happening the past couple of years.

I remember when people were saying "before you know it gas is going to be $1.00 a gallon".   Now they're saying "by the end of the summer gas will be $5.00 a gallon"........of course they're almost there now, here in Calif.

[Cowboy2]

You Guys have it good!

Diesel here is Australia is $1.50 a litre here...  I think that is 3.55 litres to your U.S. Gallon...  And right now the A$ is the same as the U.S. dollar.  So that is $5.33 a gallon now, and since the Aussie is a little higher it is actually more like $5.50...

I am one of those with a diesel F-450 4x4 as well to haul my horsefloat.  It if keeps going up, I am more likely to be riding the Hawg...  When my new CVO Ultra 2011.5 gets here in July, that is probably a for sure thing in riding it all the time.

Seriously, I like the comment that my Bar bill is higher. My CVO Street Glide gets 450 kms a tankfull, that is 20 kms per litre, and according to my calcs that is 40 mpg...  WHO CARES !!!  I will eat and drink more than the Hawg does...   

[Supershooter]

 So that average American is paying about $750 more on an annualized basis this year compared to last year (feel free to substitute your own numbers for miles and mpg).  Take all the hysteria generated by all the media hype out of the equation, and I submit that the average American family can find more than $750 in annual savings to offset that increase in fuel costs.

Unfortunately there are many Americans that are poor money managers or other wise just poor. They live paycheck to paycheck, and don't really have a savings acct to speak of. I understand its only $750 a year. This will change their way of life a lot more significantly than ours. They are going to be forced to make tough decisions we won't grasp.

Fortunately my family has been blessed and we are able to pay our bills, buy a few toys and not worry about where the next tank of fuel will come from or if we can afford the food we want.

We have changed some of our travel plans because, some of our riding group needs to stay closer to home this summer. I'd love to go to ID this summer but, the Black Hills will be fun too.

Supershooter

[Mrs Rooster]

It was on the network news on Monday.  They also talked about how the top oil companies paid very little taxes last year, Chevron didn't pay any and they're all government subsadized.

Not sure what all that means but record profits doesn't coincide with their justifications for the huge gas price increases that have been happening the past couple of years.

I remember when people were saying "before you know it gas is going to be $1.00 a gallon".   Now they're saying "by the end of the summer gas will be $5.00 a gallon"........of course they're almost there now, here in Calif.

 Here are some gas prices from 2008 in  Yosemite CA. I wonder what they are today? 

[Envithyx]

So that average American is paying about $750 more on an annualized basis this year compared to last year (feel free to substitute your own numbers for miles and mpg).  Take all the hysteria generated by all the media hype out of the equation, and I submit that the average American family can find more than $750 in annual savings to offset that increase in fuel costs.

Unfortunately there are many Americans that are poor money managers or other wise just poor. They live paycheck to paycheck, and don't really have a savings acct to speak of. I understand its only $750 a year. This will change their way of life a lot more significantly than ours. They are going to be forced to make tough decisions we won't grasp.

Fortunately my family has been blessed and we are able to pay our bills, buy a few toys and not worry about where the next tank of fuel will come from or if we can afford the food we want.

We have changed some of our travel plans because, some of our riding group needs to stay closer to home this summer. I'd love to go to ID this summer but, the Black Hills will be fun too.

Supershooter

Also add in the fact that the cost of living goes up when fuel prices go up as well.  Shipping costs go up, the basic price of everything goes up.  It affects even the most basic of supplies from the grocery store.  So the avg American feels it in more than one way.  It's not so much a matter of taking cash away from one area to feed another when your whole budget might be strained just to keep up.

[willyB]

ok ok ok   

For Italy the prices are 1.45 Euro per liter so if you do the math that would be 1.45 X 3.79 (liters/GL)= 5.50 EURO/GL

5.50 EURO = $7.95 DOLLARS per GALLON

ouch

I've only been to Italy once but I'd gladly pay $7.95/Gal to ride my scoot around your beautiful country.

[Harley Guy 5]

All I know is the price is not high enough yet, still to many poeple on the Hwy's When i can ride at 70 plus on the hwy at 5:00 PM on a week night
then i think it will be just right.

[Spiderman]

I would ask those in Europe what they pay in property taxes ? What do you pay in income taxes ? What other taxes do you have. We Americans get taxed on every single aspect of our lives. The air we breath, the water we drink, the food we eat - - you name it, we pay taxes on it. As such, our government does not tax any one thing to the extreme I would suspect you are being taxed on gasoline -- - -or petrol as you call it. Further, we subsidize the oil companies in our country as well as give them the rights to drill on public lands for fractional amounts of pennies. Trust me, even at $2/gallon, Americans pay more for their oil than anyone in the world. 

B B

[SBB]

11 billion in the first quarter

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110428/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_exxon


SBB

[grc]

Also add in the fact that the cost of living goes up when fuel prices go up as well.  Shipping costs go up, the basic price of everything goes up.  It affects even the most basic of supplies from the grocery store.  So the avg American feels it in more than one way.  It's not so much a matter of taking cash away from one area to feed another when your whole budget might be strained just to keep up.

Duly noted and agreed.  And I have a great deal of empathy for those on the lower rungs of our socioeconomic ladder for whom this increase in the real cost of living can easily mean the difference between a roof over their heads and food on the table.  But in the context of this site, where the typical member has many tens of thousands of dollars tied up in what is basically a toy, it's hard to get fired up about gas prices causing them to change how much they use those toys.  In a country where even people on public assistance have the $100 cable package and the $99 mobile phone plan, I don't really think the average American has any idea what real hardship is.  I commented before about how much many people spend just on Starbucks each month.  Add in that $150 cable package plus pay-per-view, $100 per family member unlimited mobile plans, baseball camp for junior, etc., and I still would argue there is quite a bit of room in the ol' budget for many people to make adjustments.  I don't exactly consider all that stuff to be necessities, but unfortunately I guess a lot of people do.

Sadly, I don't see anything on the horizon that will rein in the greedy SOB's causing this run-up in prices, and since gas is already at $4.29 here, the talk of $5.00 gas by summer is starting to look overly optimistic.  Now it wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility to see $6.00 gas.  After all, there seems to be no natural upper limit when it comes to greed.  And speaking of greed, I wonder when my favorite company will respond to the "crisis" by bringing out their new all electric model (the Electric Electra-Glide?) at only $60k or so?


Jerry