It's price gouging, not inflation or supply issues

LV426 said:
Yes.

We are a net exporter of oil, so if we stopped allowing oil companies to export the oil they extract from under our feet, we are no longer buying or selling oil on the global market....everything pumped is for American consumption only.

The reason gas prices fluctuate is because of the global price per barrel...so if we extracted ourselves from the global market, we no longer are victims of the whims of OPEC.

And since the oil industry is nationalized, there's no profit motive, which means the oil is basically free.
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OPEC was begging Trump to stop the drilling because we were owning the market. That's why they don't sell to the US now. Derp!

There's all the oil we need right here in America, just a jackass president that won't let us get it and purposely wants Americans to suffer.

Also every president from Reagan until Trump failed to fix the fuel situation in America, and that's fucked up.

Trump fixed Carter's fuckups, then Biden gets in there and just fucks it all up royally.

Biden did this, not Putin.
 
Nordberg said:
Gas stations have thousands of gallons sitting in tanks. When the price of oil rises due to speculation and demand, the cost of gas in the ground does not go up. That is paid for. They jack prices up and make enormous profits. That is gouging.
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Please excuse my ignorance here as I am not an oil/gas person. How often do gas stations fill up their tanks? And do all stations in an area/City fill up at the same time?

As an uninformed laymen I'm thinking most cars hold between 10 - 20 gallons. So on a daily basis a busy station can sell thousands of gallons. So how long do the thousands of gallons in the ground last then? My math may be way off but seems to me a busy station is filling up its underground tanks on a pretty regular basis in which case it is not immune to the daily movement of oil prices.

And if stations should only charge what they pay for the gas does that also apply when oil prices drop? If oil prices drop in half but the gas station paid for their gas at the oil price peak should stations continue to charge prices at the high price point they paid?
 
LV426 said:
Yesterday, OPEC announced it was increasing production to make up for the Russian gap, and the price per barrel dropped 13.2% immediately afterwards.
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So I must have misunderstood what you said previously. I thought you said to get competitors out of the market. Increasing available oil will drop the price but that's competition. Competition is good for consumers.
 
Nordberg said:
Gas stations have thousands of gallons sitting in tanks. When the price of oil rises due to speculation and demand, the cost of gas in the ground does not go up. That is paid for. They jack prices up and make enormous profits. That is gouging.
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most high volume stations get a truck of fuel every day, shows you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground
 
LV426 said:
Every single oil company recorded record profits for 2021, so it's not inflation that's causing your gas to be $4/gallon, it's capitalism and greed.

Exclusive: oil companies’ profits soared to $174bn this year as US gas prices rose
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/06/oil-companies-profits-exxon-chevron-shell-exclusive
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Soooo...for 40+ years?
Capitalism and greed did not exist?
The big corporations all played nice and happy and kind?
But...all of a sudden, about a year ago, they started to get greedy?

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.
 
Yakuda said:
So I must have misunderstood what you said previously. I thought you said to get competitors out of the market. Increasing available oil will drop the price but that's competition. Competition is good for consumers.
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Increasing production does get competitors out of the market by driving down the price per barrel so low, it makes extracting and refining the oil unprofitable.

That's what happened in 2015-16.
 
McRocket said:
Soooo...for 40+ years?
Capitalism and greed did not exist?
The big corporations all played nice and happy and kind?
But...all of a sudden, about a year ago, they started to get greedy?
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I got news for you, pal...the price of oil and gasoline have always been gouged.
 
LV426 said:
Increasing production does get competitors out of the market by driving down the price per barrel so low, it makes extracting and refining the oil unprofitable.

That's what happened in 2015-16.
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But they can only go so low until there is a monopoly. Monopolies are signs if success but all if them are temporary. Sears and A&P supermarkets are some of the best examples.
 
Yakuda said:
But they can only go so low until there is a monopoly. Monopolies are signs if success but all if them are temporary. Sears and A&P supermarkets are some of the best examples.
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Well in the context of this discussion, OPEC is a cartel so they basically already have a monopoly.
 
LV426 said:
Well in the context of this discussion, OPEC is a cartel so they basically already have a monopoly.
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In would disagree as least to the extent that we don't need them to meet our oil needs so by definition they aren't a monopoly in the strict sense if the word. I do agree they exert a great deal of influence on the market but we can produce enough to meet our own needs.
 
Yakuda said:
In would disagree as least to the extent that we don't need them to meet our oil needs so by definition they aren't a monopoly in the strict sense if the word. I do agree they exert a great deal of influence on the market but we can produce enough to meet our own needs.
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I agree...we don't need OPEC to meet our energy demands...however, all oil is bought and sold on global markets...so unless we nationalize the oil industry, we will continue to be dependent on the global oil market and the whims of the OPEC nations.
 
LV426 said:
I agree...we don't need OPEC to meet our energy demands...however, all oil is bought and sold on global markets...so unless we nationalize the oil industry, we will continue to be dependent on the global oil market and the whims of the OPEC nations.
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I am definitely opposed to nationalizing industry as I don't see the govt as an efficient way of doing business. They can barely take care of their own business let alone the oil industry.
 
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