Discussions
Price of oil/ stock market
Posted by mariamichelle • 6/06/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: Economy, gas, money, oil, stock market
Today the price of a barrel of oil was nearly $140 - up more than $10 to an all-time high. The stock market was down almost 400 points.
Was anybody as concerned as I was? Or do you think this was just a blip. We all know oil is going to get more expensive, but at this rate what will a gallon of gas cost us in a year?
User Comments
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A gallon of gas costs $10 in the UK at the moment. The only way for gas prices is up.-
Yes, I have a feeling we will look back at $4/gallon as cheap SOON. I have always carpooled because I like it - thank goodness.
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But since a U.S. dollar is only worth about 2 pence, gas must be pretty cheap in the UK.
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the rate at which the price of fuel is going up is scary and very concerning.
it is already hard enough to keep up with the constant price increases.
when you think that it cant possibly go up any further that is exactly what it does.
I wonder what it will be in a months time???? -
My parents own a trucking company. They were ready to retire this year. It's a good thing because they were going to be put out of business anyway.
I'll stop, I know this is depressing especially for a Friday night.-
Right. This has got to be especially hard for independent truckers. But aren't they able to pass on the costs? Or is this a matter of fulfilling old contracts? I've also heard that independent truckers operate on razor-thin margins anyway, which wouldn't help.
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The BBC reports that the price-hike is due to US woes ! news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/business/7440536.stm
Isn't that amazing ?!
Why ? Why ? WHY ?-
On the up side, you're not stuck with US dollars, right? You have Canadian money.
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What difference is that going to make ? We'll be paying a $1.50 a liter very soon anyway. !
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this oil situation is really bad. Growing demand in the developing world means the US can't get the price down by reducing demand. We can cut our use, which we should, but the price will stay up, because others in the world will pay to keep it up. All this capital going to other countries, with some of our patriotic neighbors (like Bush) making a cut for facilitating the deals, is going to leave most middle class Americans living in bad conditions.
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Will there still be a middle class?
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You mean there IS a middle class? Wow I thought they were extinct
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My dad works in the oil business in Nigeria and according to him oil will hit 200 dollars soon cos the Chinese are moving into Africa big time.-
I believe it!
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They had contracts and some of their business went out of business or elsewhere. It costs more than $1000 to fill one truck - well that was last week.
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Saddest part of this whole thing is the price of gas could tumble to $3.00 or less tomorrow...IF the U.S. Government would announce with unequivocal resolve that it was going to immediately cut our oil companies loose from their restraints and we were going to go after ALL of our immense reserves. The speculative bubble in oil prices is huge, and this action--just the firm announcement--would quickly let the air out of it, quickly sending prices back down to a more sensible orbit.-
Or, you know, maybe some of the oil giants could make a small sacrifice for their country, and take a billion dollar profit loss on their $40 billion in net profits.
I mean really, what, they can't contribute to help out the economy?
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This situation has been predicted for years. I first heard about the oil peak 40 years ago - back then it was known as "Hubbert's Pimple" after the man who first graphed the trend that comes from extracting a finite resource at an ever-increasing rate. The graph looks like a big pimple, or, what goes up must come down.
@ JackP, it would be really sad if the government did what you said. That would be an absolute, unmitigated disaster.
@ Anok, yes much of the price increase is politically driven. After all, wasn't this the real purpose of the Iraq invasion - to boost the oil company profits (not to mention military contractors) to obscene levels? Bush et al. aren't as dumb as they look - they certainly met their goal. They just didn't tell us what it was.
Silver lining: Sales of Hummers have dropped 30% or more, so GM is trying to get rid of it. Of course, they were stupid enough to take on that monstrosity in the first place. Bye-bye obese cars, you won't be missed.-
*heh* You mean the old, "Whats our oil doing under their sand?" routine?
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Our immense reserves in oil shale and tar sands which cost more to extract. Are you kidding me? So oil shale would provide 110 years of oil supply, but it would double the cost of extraction. It does not cost less money to extract this kind of oil. It costs more. Even with unequaled resolve it would not bring the price down. Our regular supply is some 3-5 years supply with drilling inside the United States.
The price is up for a reason. Oil companies have been planning for years to force a switch to ethanol. Why would things like biorefineries be researched and planned for years while oil refineries stopped being built.
Cargill, Dow, ADM, GM and the huge agricultural companies have been planning for years to force change. www.nrel.gov/biomass/biorefinery.html
Don't think the oil companies are not in on this as well. The new CEO of ADM is from Chevron. It is all closely held together.-
Why would the oil companies force a switch to a product that could put them out of business?
Just sayin'...I don't get it though....
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It's a combination dollar crisis and energy bubble. Prices will begin to come down next year. In 2-3 years, prices will be so low, you'll forget all this and go buy an SUV. -
The sports utility vehicle people are going to be buying in the coming years is the Phoenix Motor Cars version. www.phoenixmotorcars.com/index.php
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The U.S. represents 5% of the world's population, yet uses 25% of the available gasoline. We'll just have to learn to live on less. The U.S. is just not obese in one way, we are obese in all ways. Take a walk instead of going to Europe. We'll be just fine.
But, as I explained in another post, the current oil prices are due to a devaluation of the dollar around the world (oil is priced in U.S. dollars). This is because the Feds are printing more dollars than people want, in order to re-capitalize banks. The money that is being printed is not going into new loans to people in the U.S. (there is no one left who is credit worthy), so instead it is going into buying oil futures.
If you want to blame someone for the current problem, it is the Fed and the Republican government, who allowed banks to loan money with no collateral, no documentation, no income, and now we are all paying for hundreds of billions of dollars worth of homes that the banks own and no one wants.
Rich -
It's $4.30 a gallon here, even though I don't see anyone driving less, the buses sure are clogged here. It's rare that I can get a seat anymore, but I don't mind.
A while back, someone posted that he would stop driving if gas hit 4 dollars a gallon, but I have my doubts..-
I've definitely cut down driving, and expressways here in Chicago definitely feel lighter when I do drive. I know that gas usage has gone down 5% in the U.S. (ear over year), the first time this has ever occurred since it has been measured. I think, as people start rolling over their cars into more fuel efficient varieties, and as airlines cut down their flights, we will gradually see more efficiency and less waste.
But, I would like to underscore that the current crisis has nothing to do with supply. World usage has not doubled in the last year. What is happening is a massive devaluation of the dollar, and a complete loss of confidence, by the world, the the U.S. financial system, due to the enormous number of mortgage and credit defaults in the U.S. People, no longer want dollars, and they are getting rid of them. Thus, the dollar goes down in value, and the price of oil goes up.
Rich -
Gas Guzzlers are a staple of this city. People driving around, bumping their hummers and fords like there's no tommorow. There's no reason for it, it doesn't snow and there's no mountains. It's just wasteful, nothing more.
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Surprisingly, (or maybe not surprisingly so), Al Gore is one of the biggest energy wasters of us all. I love the irony that surrounds us all.
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Here is the dope from Snope comparing Al Gore's house to George Bush's environmentally friendly ranch.
www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp-
Amazing, isn't it? Love irony in life. Not to mention, that Al Gore (who is well over-weight, and doubtlessly guzzles down enormous amount of food to sustain his girth), is always traveling, using up thousands of gallons of fuel to move his over-weight butt. Can't he use YouTube, and do some walking instead?
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