$75.00 to fill up my truck yesterday

[BarryBobPosthole]

Yeah, I know I should be grateful they allow me to buy their gas from them.

But FUCK 'EM. I'll be glad when they rot.

BKB

[DeputyDog]

Must have a small tank. I'm happy when I can fill up my wife' Suburban using the debit card before it gets to the shut-off limit which is anywhere between $75-$90 depending on the station.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I think it was $3.45 a gallon yesterday when I filled up.
BKB

[Arty]

$3.57 here in Southern VA. Was $3.52 in Richmond yesterday.

[Thumper]

This weekend both Lynn's car and my truck was close to empty. I filled them both up. I never thought I'd see the day when I could put $130 of gas into two TOYOTAS! :(

[Buckrub]

The shut off limit is not the gas stations' doing, it's the card.

And I hate it too. But I don't know what to do about it other than keep using it. It sure does let me have a ton of freedom and fun.

3.59 and 3.64 here. 44 miles up the road it's 3.35. No clue why. Guess they found a cheaper supplier.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Could also depend on when they bought their gas and what they paid for it. Its not the cost that pisses me off as much as it is the fluctuations. If groceries went up this much, there'd be a march on Washington. But we're supposed to accept this. Well, screw that. I don't accept this.

BKB

[Buckrub]

Not sure you do much grocery shopping. Some of them do exactly this.

Here is the deal that most folks don't realize, and it makes them mad. If a dealer has a half tank (his big tank) full of gas he paid $3.00 a gallon for, and is selling it for $3.50 (I have no clue, I'm just making up examples), and all of a sudden the retail price jumps to $4.00 and the wholesale price to $3.50, he can't keep selling his gas for the same old $3.50 or he won't have enough money to buy the next tank load when he orders it. Yet when he raises his price on existing inventory, folks go nuts and say he is 'price gouging', when he is not. He's trying to ensure he has enough capital to buy the next product at the new wholesale price.

And most folks forget that a month or two ago, it was $2.90 a gallon and it fluctuated daily then too..........but no one cared about that, that was fine.

There's only one reason that folks get so mad about gasoline prices, and not milk, or sugar, or cokes, or beef, or cheese, or silver, or stocks...............and that's because they love what it does for them and they use it every single day. And almost no one will take the time to actually try and learn how gas prices are calculated and how this market works. They just whine. A simple Google of "How gas is priced" would be an eye opener for most Americans. And Europe is paying about four times what we do.

[BarryBobPosthole]

It 'fluctuated' from 2.90 to 3.50. that's not a fluctuation, thats a gouge. And I honestly don't think its the retailers. Its at the wholesale level that the prices are determined.

BKB

[Buckrub]

It also fluctuated from 3.75 to $2.90.

Where were you then?

[BarryBobPosthole]

I was right here buying gas every month. What is your point?

BKB

[Buckrub]

Just seems that only fluctuations that anyone complains about is the UP ones, never the DOWN ones.

[LJ3]

Speculators! It's the damn speculators! I still don't even know what that means.

I do understand enough to know it's a totally manufactured pricing chain of bullshit from when the crude comes out of the ground and every step along the way.

I'm with posthole.

[Buckrub]

Milk prices are apparently subsidized by our taxes, or they'd double. Is that ok? You want that for gas, maybe?

http://www.pressherald.com/politics/dairy-industry-left-hanging_2012-12-22.html

[Buckrub]

And not one complaint from anyone about this:

http://www.extension.org/pages/11561/milk-price-volatility-today

Why gas?

[BarryBobPosthole]

Well, of course. Why would it logically be any different? There was no real rational explanation for the drop either.

Here's a hint. Look at a histroical chart of unleaded gasoline futures. They are about as high as they've been in a long long time. and the trend upward started in early december and has skyrocketed over the past two months. Holders of those futures profit when gas prices shoot up like they have. And who holds most of those futures? Who invests heavily in them? I ain't gonna tell ya. But its the same folks who determine the wholesale price of gasoline and make record profits.
It ain't some refinery retooling that makes the price go up. Not by this much. It ain't some electrical fire at a refinery either. Its plain and simple manipulation of the commodities and wholesale markets for the pure profits that are gained when those markets fluctuate like they have. And the fluctuations are driven mainly by the commodities and futures markets. Period.

BKB

[Buckrub]

Yeah, we can't have record profits. Bad Juju. Makes my IRA go up, and can't have that. Well, we can, but not in this industry only.

Right??

[BarryBobPosthole]

It ain't about profits earned. Its about ill gotten gains.
Carry on. We've had this argument before. You love the oil and gas companies and they can do no wrong. and it ain't like they've ever done anything bad in the past is it?

BKB

[Buckrub]

I don't like 'em one bit, and you have never understood my position. But you are against Capitalism ONLY when it's your private ox getting gored. Other times, you're for it wholeheartedly. You are inconsistent. If a company you don't like makes a profit, it's "Ill gotten gains" and if one you like (or work for) makes record profits, that's "Good capitalism".

Just don't get it, that's all. I pine for the days of .25 gasoline! But it ain't real, and our income is not the same as then, either. And there are reasons for it, and along the way there are bad happenings that should be corrected, yes. But to broad-brush paint all of one industry as this evil, is nuts.

You want to hammer someone, hammer the hospitals. You should see what I've seen the last few days. I am spitting mad. But nothing I can do other than find another (which in this town, is a monopoly). These guys are so clearly "ill gotten gains" that it isn't funny, but we let it happen. And we need them WAY more than gas companies. But we like to hammer at "Big Oil" and always will, so fine.

I'm going to see Mother and go to my high-priced, rich, Cardiologist for my annual appointment. Carry on and argue amongst yourselves.

[Buckrub]

And "speculators" are investors trying to make some "record profits". You do the same when you buy stock at a price you think is low. But if they do it, you hate them. Again, another inconsistency.

Maybe if Uncle Sugar just regulated every single teensy tiny part of our lives, including this, we'd all be tiptoeing through the tulips, be happy, healthy, and wise. You reckon that'd fix things for you?

[BarryBobPosthole]

This isn't capitalism. Not when a big part of my paycheck goes for warships and soldiers to protect their friggin interests. It isn't capitalism when they control the free market rates. That's anti trust stuff and some day we'll see it brought out in the open.
And for the last time, I don't want 25 cent gas prices. All I want is stability in the price.

They're shittin in their nest is what they're doing. And they have plenty of conservative apologists like you to scream 'socialism' any time somebody complains about them.

BKB

[jb]

We are at $3.89 here, not that long ago it was $3.09. May jump 20 cents over night then drops down about a penny a day for 10 days before it jumps again.
During the winter I can get by on about a half a tank a week, summer it jumps to about 1 1/2 tanks a week.
Just received my end of the year printout from Cabela's as to all my charges. I only buy gas with their card and they tell me I spent $5,789 last years on gas.

[Buckrub]

You're deranged.

[BarryBobPosthole]

that I certainly am!

BKB

[LJ3]

hehehe. I love they way you weaved "conservative apologist" in there :)

[BarryBobPosthole]

We'll have to see if Quinn the Eskimo (aka Herbn) shows up to give us an answer.

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

I say we all jump for joy when he gets here.

[BarryBobPosthole]

and don't forget the pigeons!

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

They're all gonna run to him.

[Buckrub]

Derangement is contagious.

[LJ3]

derange (dɪˈreɪndʒ)

— vb
1. to disturb the order or arrangement of; throw into disorder; disarrange
2. to disturb the action or operation of
3. to make insane; drive mad

[C18: from Old French desrengier, from des- dis- 1 + reng row, order]

[Buckrub]

3.

[LJ3]

Same... in triplets :)

[Thumper]

I have no clue who CNS News is (too lazy to look them up), but I'm sure they lean quite a bit to the right ... so take this for what it's worth.

(CNSNews.com) – The average price of a gallon of gas has increased 96 percent since President Barack Obama first took office in 2009, according to figures from the Energy Information Agency (EIA).

According to EIA data, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States was $1.838 on Jan. 19, 2009--the day before Obama took office. As of Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, the per-gallon price had risen to an average of $3.611--an increase of 96 percent.

The $3.677 is not the highest gas prices have been under President Obama. That record was reached the week of May 9, 2011 when they averaged $3.965 per gallon.

Gas prices took a sharp dive during the recession but have climbed back to near their pre-recession peak under Obama, despite the President’s push for greater fuel-efficient cars and trucks and pursuit of expanded clean energy. (The recession officially occurred from December 2007 to June 2009.)

Gas prices have never been this high in early February in American history, according to EIA, even in 2008 when gas prices reached all-time highs.

[Buckrub]

Can't be his fault in any way.

If W. were Pres, it would have been, but not O.