Well I'll be Darned!

[Truckguy24]

I have a good chart for this... Let me try to find it... learned about it this semester

 

[Truckguy24]

These may help you see the true price better. Found similar graphics to what my professor used in our Environmental Geography class

 

[NCSU_05_FX4]

Y'all realize that the vast majority of gas stations don't make their money off selling fuel, they make money when you come inside and buy their crap there, ho-hos, beer, redbull, smokes, etc etc.

That said, I do believe that the oil companies are overcharging simply because they can. People keep saying "supply and demand", but that's not as true as fuel as it is for, say, grocery produce. If it's a bad year for strawberries and the price shoots up, you can always just buy bananas instead. With fuel you don't have any other options, so it's much harder to really change the demand. Like we all said, people still need to go to work, goods still need to be delivered. Sure we might not take that Sunday drive anymore, or maybe we'll vacation closer to home, but the overall demand won't change much.

Foreign oil companies have no reason to cut us any breaks, but domestic oil companies could. Can you imagine if a large US drilling an processing company said, "To help our fellow citizens in these tough times, we're going to lower all our gas to $2/gal for the next 2 years." That company would not only help stimulate the economy again, they'd look like national heroes, something money can't buy.

Remember when someone famous once said:
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

 

[Longshot270]

The one thing I have never understood is this, If a gas station would lower the price, wouldn't they in the end, "make more than the other stations?" If I saw a gas station for .20 lower than say one down the road, I would stop at the cheaper one. I would think many others would also.

There is a station here that does that. He will usually be 10 cents cheaper than everyone else. He'll also knock of 2 cents/gal if you pay in cash and his fuel is better than shell and the other expensive brands. That place is packed all the time. He just doesn't use the profits from gas to run his store. His primary sale is in alcohol and tobacco so the more people that come through the more of the profitable items he sells.

 

[Zembonez]

The thing I find funny is this: Gas has gone up over $1.50 a gallon in a pretty short time, but the brilliant US public will be drooling all over themselves when it drops 50 cents like it's suddenly cheap.

Can't anybody see that they are just being programmed to accept gas that is a dollar a gallon higher as normal?

 

[NWSCREW]

It seems that 4.00 a gallon, is the number, you see a lot of bitchen, start up, on this site, and others, when we hit 4.00 a gallon, I had to park my gas guzzling 4X4, cause at 13 mpg, and a 52 mile a day commute, it was really starting to hurt, I bought a 96 Cavalier, I get 31 mpg, I payed 1300.00, for it, and has already paid for it's self in fuel savings, I have owned this car for about 3 years now, the gas guzzler only is driven on the weekends.....that's my take on 4.00 a gallon gas.

 

[OldCracker29]

I just don't think there is any reason for this shit to be more than $2.00 a gallon. It looks like $3.50 is going to be the price for this summer.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42946338/ns/business-oil_and_energy