Re: Why aren't gas prices dropping?

He, he, he. Actually, it's summer, prices tend to rise with increased consumption.

I didn't really hear the claim that we'd get _lower_ prices. The discussion of Saddaam as a mad man sitting in the middle of the oil region was true. Neither the big oil companies or the big oil states liked it one bit. There's a reason Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAM and others supported us. Invasion was good for the oil companies *and* the oil states. Win-win for them, SSDD for us.

The other reason was that Dick Cheney and the other anti-sanction folks have been wanting to do business in Iraq since the early 90's. The only way to get the sanctions lifted was to get rid of Saddaam.

As always, big business wins. That's been true for 5,000 years.

Yes... calling what they used "intelligence" clearly avoids the definition of the word. It's fun to watch all the finger pointing and dancing though.

Never. Never have, never will. Fast to rise, slow to decrease.

Bob

Actually if you change this to "big government" instead of "big business" I will agree!

Aero, so premium it is) to about US$2

That's because you live in a state where they pump oil. You have to move to a state where they import all their oil (like MA) to get a lower price, $1.63 to $1.79 for premium. Of course, if I want really low prices you can drive 200 miles inland from the port to Vermont, where the gas is about $1.50 for premium. It all makes sense, as long as you look at it in a mirror.

Naw, it started in the biblical times. Take some land, steal some key trade routes, etc. Big business and government were in bed together then, their in bed together now. It's just more formal these days.

True, but (as a US example) why do you think we even had a Revolutionary War ? Take a look at the signers of the of the Declaration of Independence. Businessmen mostly. Or, you can apply the same model to the King of England... you don't take land and property for philosophical reasons, you take it for business reasons. How about all those explorers in the late

1400 & 1500's. All financed as part of a business/government venture. Go back to the Romans, etc.

Yea... I have to laugh when I hear people claim that we *need* to drill for oil in Alaska. They've been seriously brainwashed into thinking that somehow *they* will benefit from the oil companies drilling for oil in Alaska. LOL. You can be for or against the drilling, but please don't think that any oil company will ever sell barrels of oil below market rates just because they pumped it on US soil.

Bob

On 6/28/03 3:37 PM, in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, "'nuther Bob >" > from a prewar price of about US$2.30 per gallon of premium (hey, I drive a

I know a lot of businesses charge different rates for their products depending upon competitive conditions and the general wealth of the area codes or zip codes they market in. IN the SF Bay area, we are used to this and call it is "Bay Area Premium" - since prices for just about everything are at least 10% higher than in the rest of the nation. Gasoline appears to be 15% or higher than even Southern California.

I think that government and religious organizations had most of the money and kept it that way. I suppose if you slightly modify your statements to "the elite" or "those in power" then I would agree wholeheartedly!

Small frys compared to governments and equivalent interests. They were all plantation owners - farmers.

I see your point. I was assuming 'big business' was 'big corporations' - but clearly you didn't mean that at all! Mea Culpa!

Just read an article in "the Economist" magazine [online site] - they talked about the tarry sand in Canada that has reserves in refinable, extractable oils nearly as large as Saudi Arabia - only problem is that the extraction process (I assume it is a cheaper variation of the oil shale stuff in the

1970's) will set their price floor to about $12 per barrel. Saudi base production prices are lower than that, so this would be a good hedge of prices going much above $25 or so per barrel.

I AGREE! See, didn't hurt a bit for either one of us! :-P

I disagree a bit this issue. The oil companies don't have to buy anyone to continue to do "free trade" with oil. I don't like high prices either but it is an unregulated market.

They do buy off some pol's in order to gain tax advantages and that kind of burns me. I always hear that they need "tax incentives" to encourage exploration for more oil. Yeah, right... like they needed an incentive to go find the one raw material that is the source of all their products. They also claim that US oil is cheaper than imported oil and that they should be encouraged to explore for it. Well, if it was cheaper, they wouldn't need any encouragement, now would they ? They'd pump it because they could make more money on it vs. importing oil. It only comes out cheaper because we give them fat tax breaks - in other words, the taxpayers pay up front so that the oil companies can pump oil cheaper and make more profit. Such a deal !

The US President and 90% of his Admin are oil people - taken straight from the oil industry. They don't need to be persuaded to favor oil companies either.

Bob

On 6/29/03 8:59 AM, in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, "'nuther Bob >" The US President and 90% of his Admin are oil people - taken

Of course not, but they do want to get re-elected, and if their major corporate constituents are oil companies, donations to the re-election campaign are in that companies' best interest...

I don't think that the American public is brainwashed - in fact I think that the population is given enough credit to see through the rhetoric and the over-simplifying of the media. In fact, I think there is a great deal of tolerance for the financial mess and cris-crossing of interests.

It has also been shown that in many cases, large coffers do not always assure election (though it always helps an awful lot). It might mean that the candidates have to be acceptable to the wealthy interests (such as corporations) as well as the population at large (the votes themselves) in order to have the best chances at election. Now I do think the system as it has evolved has room for reform, and that a lot of sleaziness goes on due to this high cost of campaigning, but I do not think for one minute that the American public is duped like a bunch of sheep.

Don't like Porsche ? A 914-6 was one heck of a go kart !