JL Rockies
Binders Fulla Expo
- Location
- Draper
The president defended the rise in gas prices on his watch by saying prices were low because the economy was collapsing. What does this mean if we apply his model?
How awesome are these gas prices!
- Thread starter sixstringsteve
- Start date
RockChucker
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Highland
I'm no economist, but I think the economy collapsed in part due to the outrageous gas prices. And not being able to buy a candy bar for a dollar...I blame that on high gas prices too. I won't be happy until it is less than $2 and probably should be closer to $1.
DaveB
Long Jeep Fan
- Location
- Holladay, Utah
I miss the days when I was a kid and gas was 25 cents a gallon.
jevyguy
Active Member
But... when you were a kid 25 cents a gallon didnt exactly feel like a bargin... did it?
- Location
- Sandy, Ut
I 100% get the want and desire for cheaper gasoline but then I see people comment how much gas 'should' be and how it is 'robbery' to pay what we are paying no? How? Is this not the free market? Owning a car and purchasing gasoline is a privilege not a right? What am I missing here? We are paying $0.43 in tax/gallon (which is up ~50% in the last 20 years), and the US dollar value is down 40% since I started driving (1996) and more like 50-60% since some of you started driving. Do the math and gas prices while up there, have not risen more than anything else on the 'free market', soda, beet, bottled water. Driving a car isn't required to live, the majority of the world is still doing it. 
Start an oil company, I'll buy your $1 gas from you
Start an oil company, I'll buy your $1 gas from you
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Good luck with that. Hence, not a real free market.
I'm just pissed my car doesn't run on bananas peels yet.
- Location
- Sandy, Ut
Ah, so oil companies should put billions on the line just to be told what the 'market' value of their fuel is?
Anything is possible, guys brew and manufacture and sell their own bio-diesel. Price still isn't $1/gallon though. What about spring water, milk, soda, coffee, beer, bread, etc, etc, etc. All have a far easier cost of entry (business wise) yet you don't see comment after comment about how they are over-priced and "big-soda" squashing the little guys? I realize its not a direct comparison but more people survive on bread and water than gasoline... why is it that our society complains about one yet embraces the other?
Cherokeester
Registered User
- Location
- Wellsville Utah
When I say "should be" I mean "I want it to be" Steve is rejoicing on gas that is 2.79 or whatever. That is 10 cents better than 2.89 so I guess that is good. Our economy runs on diesel fuel, trucks, trains and planes. Diesel is artificially inflated (legal I suppose) therefore price of living is high. If I have to drive my truck and trailer to Wyoming to work a wedding I pass on the diesel cost to the client, this sometimes limits my ability to work because they can't pay therefore I don't work. That is just in my small world. If diesel is lower, I work more, simple as that.
- Location
- West Jordan
I'm still waiting for my Mr. Fusion to show up in the mail...
- Location
- West Jordan
I filled up for $2.60/gal. last night...
Maverik on 118th south and 3600 west.
Maverik on 118th south and 3600 west.
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I filled up my truck from empty for about $75 yesterday, I don't think that has ever happened since I switched to diesel motors when I was 19. I remember seeing diesel at .95/.99¢ in the mid/late nineties.
As a real little kid I remember standing at Gary's (now fastgas in Orem) with my grandpa, who passed away a long time ago, and reading that there was a sticker on the pumps that said "gasoline $1.25" but the actual sale price was like $1.35 and I said "look grandpa this says its a dollar-twenty-five and he replied "oh no it's not its a helluva lot more than that!" And it was only like 10¢ different ha
As a real little kid I remember standing at Gary's (now fastgas in Orem) with my grandpa, who passed away a long time ago, and reading that there was a sticker on the pumps that said "gasoline $1.25" but the actual sale price was like $1.35 and I said "look grandpa this says its a dollar-twenty-five and he replied "oh no it's not its a helluva lot more than that!" And it was only like 10¢ different ha
Ah, so oil companies should put billions on the line just to be told what the 'market' value of their fuel is?
Anything is possible, guys brew and manufacture and sell their own bio-diesel. Price still isn't $1/gallon though. What about spring water, milk, soda, coffee, beer, bread, etc, etc, etc. All have a far easier cost of entry (business wise) yet you don't see comment after comment about how they are over-priced and "big-soda" squashing the little guys? I realize its not a direct comparison but more people survive on bread and water than gasoline... why is it that our society complains about one yet embraces the other?
It's also more complex than just jumping and starting up an oil business. You have to navigate contracts with oil suppliers and if you can't promise a large supply turnover then you can't get the rate that the bigger names have so you will never really be able to compete. The only real way to get into oil is to be lucky enough to own land with oil under it with the mineral rights to go with it. And even then, they will just directional drill right under you when you don't agree to their contract.
When a company or group of companies are large enough to outright deter potential competition, that market is no longer free and open. This is also creates the "too big to fail" phenomenon that the GOP and Liberals somehow think they need to keep floating. I'm certainly not saying that any company should drop to their knees and allow competition, but the fact is that true competition is what keeps consumers surviving and happy.But from the new alt fuels perspective it is a lot more realistic to be able to start up something and compete. I'd love to see something come from the whole algae fuel stuff.
I'm a firm believer in free markets, I just know that most of what we see today is not actual free market... and yet certain types of people blame free markets for the current market issues.
edit: how many times did I just say "market"? market market market!
jentzschman
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Sandy, Utah
I remember in high school I saw it hit .99/gal! Those were the days.
Haha, that makes me think about my XJ. I was so mad the first time it cost me more than $20 to fill it up! I thought it was ridiculous
ChestonScout
opinions are like Jeeps..
- Location
- Clinton, Ut
yup......mom used to give me a buck a day for gas to drive to work and back. and im not that old.
big oil was still profiting billions every QUARTER. i know taxes have gone up and i understand inflation. but i stand by my statement of anything over 2 a gallon is robbery.
i am not complaining about prices getting closer to what they should be
big oil was still profiting billions every QUARTER. i know taxes have gone up and i understand inflation. but i stand by my statement of anything over 2 a gallon is robbery.
i am not complaining about prices getting closer to what they should be
- Location
- Sandy, Ut
So did nearly every major auto manufacture, every cell phone related company, health-care companies, etc. So what is fair return on investment for a company? Why don't we see people calling Verizon and Ford robbers for doing what they are in business to do, make money?
I'm not advocating the oil companies are do-no-evil, rather that I find it funny we are so willing to 'overpay' on some things but cheap gasoline comes across as a 'right' to some?
ChestonScout
opinions are like Jeeps..
- Location
- Clinton, Ut
everyone deserves to make a profit. i believe most things are overpriced because of overpriced fuel.
automobiles are not a fair comparison. if you dont want to pay for overpriced new cars, buy something used. there are no options for gas.
automobiles are not a fair comparison. if you dont want to pay for overpriced new cars, buy something used. there are no options for gas.
To be fair Verizon falls into the highway robbery area as well, and yeah i'm not super happy about paying as much for a new truck as I did. But it is what it is just like gas.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
My problem/question about gas prices is that they aren't tied to any real world cost. Oil sells for $90 a barrel, gas is $4 a gallon. Oil sells for $135 a barrel, gas is $4 a gallon. The two don't seem to be tied to each other, when in a free market, the cost of a barrel of oil would affect the cost of a gallon of gas directly. There is too much meddling and speculating.
I personally think the ability to finance EVERYTHING is the reason things all cost so much. If you had to actually pay with cash you earned for a college semester or a new diesel pickup do you think they would be $2500 and $50,000? Not a chance. That is how a 900 sq ft house sold for $30K in the 70s, $40K in the early 90s and $100K 5 to 7 years later. Financing changed way more than inflation.
I personally think the ability to finance EVERYTHING is the reason things all cost so much. If you had to actually pay with cash you earned for a college semester or a new diesel pickup do you think they would be $2500 and $50,000? Not a chance. That is how a 900 sq ft house sold for $30K in the 70s, $40K in the early 90s and $100K 5 to 7 years later. Financing changed way more than inflation.
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