2012 Gas Price surge is likely over

seems like prices are still going up around here.

 

Happy patriots day. Why did you provide such hot weather in boston. My friends had slow times in the marathon.

Oil futures nudged up a little today. It all depends on the situation in Iran. Crisis averted will have slowly declining prices. Big problems and we are ripe for another spike.

 

you sure they didn't bring it with them? brutal! be thankful if they made it through okay, the hospitals had their hands full.

 

I'm still thinking that prices will nudge up a bit when the little bast---(*) er, the little darlings are out of school, and folks start tinkering with going to see Mickey. Of course the current high pump prices will probably moderate this somewhat, but IIRC there's always a bit of a price bump after Memorial Day weekend.....

...we'll see.

 

Gas prices normally peak on memorial day weekend with increased demand. This year is not normal, with the posturing in Iran and the situation in North and South Sudan. If Iran backs down, crisis over, oil prices will drop, and gas prices will much more slowly decline. If Iran does something more proactive and there is more chance of a bombing than prices spike up for oil futures.

IMHO they will stay about here, but maybe go up around the 4th of July. Oil futures have already come down from the brink, but the situation is not over.

 

I know when gas prices will peak. It will happen as soon as I'm off on my cross country driving trip this summer to the pacific northwest, and prices will fall drastically as soon as I get back. I haven't even booked the trip dates yet, but it doesn't matter.

 

But you drive a Prius and no matter what the evil oil barons do, they can't touch you.

I find myself cheering on higher gas prices.

 

And I sat a cancer patient in my prius, and he was cured!

 

Yay, trade deficit!

That's pretty sad.

(Prices here have dropped a few cents and gas is back just below $4).

 

Its also yay poverty. I get disgusted easily. People are so selfish, cheering on misery, because they got theirs and its just a prius.

Gas price spikes might keep unemployment high and the recovery slow, but what do you care you drive a prius.

 

Of what?

Higher gas prices drive lower oil consumption, higher sales for fuel efficient cars, less pollution, less driving, more green energy jobs, no oil wars...you know...all good things.

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...es-more-fuel-efficient-vehicles-increase.html

Seems to have a different effect in Europe with $10 gallon gas and much less poverty and hunger. Go figure. Huge elasticity of demand in gasoline/driving use in the US. People can cut back on gas use with little impact on their necessities. You want to help poor people, build great mass transit systems...tax gasoline to do it.

In regard to DavidA's road trip. 5,000 miles in a 50 mpg Prius. Gas goes from $4 to $5 it's going to only set him back $100. Not a show stopper. It's why he bought a Prius.

 

Europe is hurting more than america on this price spike. There are risks of more defaults.

European tax policy on top of the price spike is driving more europeans under the poverty line. Its not good for america or europe. Its only good for petroleum exporting nations. No one is hungry in the US because we don't tax oil enough. Give me a break.

Exporting money for oil does not help build mass transit. The price of gasoline did not rise because the US government taxed it, it rose because the cost of the oil rose. That ships treasure to opec, puts downward pressure on the recovery, and hurts tax revenue.

 

The financial problems US and Europe have are from unregulated financial scams of big banks and wacky Reaganomics, not oil prices. Though in US, due to the cost of imported oil vis a vis military and national security costs, oil's price drag on the economy is greater.

Europe has much greater income equality, less child hunger and homelessness than the US. You had implied that high gasoline prices were the cause of the inequity in the circumstances of the poor in US and Europe and that is not the case.

Higher gas prices lead to less oil use and greater energy efficiency in the US. I'd prefer that we tax the gasoline (all fossils) as Europe does and funnel the money into alternative energy, education, housing, nutrition, health care equity but if Americans have chosen the less efficient "market route" so be it, then it will take high prices by oil market for US to fix its problem.

 

When I bought my 2012 v I was considering $4/gal. gas and an EPA rating of 42mpg. Since buying the v over 4000 miles ago, I am averaging in the mid. 50mpg or over 30% better than the EPA estimate. Gas can go a heck of a lot lower without changing the initial economics.

 

No I said it was sad that you were celebrating something that causes more hardship. IIRC Reagan never was president of greece or spain. I don't think they even liked him. That seems like you are just a political shill for something.

The spike in North Sea Brent and Gulf Oil means that the citizens need to spend more of their money on it. This is removed from the economy and hurts recovery. Unemployment is now at 10.8% in europe. The bad economy is causing lower government revenue causing risk of default which causes higher interest rates which means more government spending. Shipping money to OPEC from spain and france exacerbates the situation doesn't make it any better. Worse yet they have come to rely on the gas taxes and are not cutting them as they have done in the past.

I also don't believe in equality of wealth. If everyone has nothing that is equality. There are many people hurting in Europe. Whether their neighbor is hurting the same amount should not be a point of pride. Romanians have much less wealth than germans, but it seems your solution would be for the germans to get rid of their money.

Over the short term gas use in fairly inelastic, over the long term demand adjusts. Taxing gasoline in a slowly rising fashion is good policy IMHO. Funneling it all into politicians pet projects is trouble, why not use the revenue to reduce the payroll tax or something else in deficit. Why increase the tax burden. Paying OPEC more money for the oil the US and Europe import because Iran may want a nuclear bomb, and hurting our recovery is an entirely different matter.

 

Or not spend money on it all. Car is much less of a necessity in Europe due to excellent mass transit systems.

And in the US, there is a huge amount of unnecessary driving such that people can cut back their driving such that gasoline prices have no financial effect. What economists call elasticity of demand.

Saying gas prices causes poverty is wrong as Europe's higher gas prices ($10 gallon vs US $4) and lower poverty, homelessness and child hunger demonstrate. As elasticity of demand on US demonstrate.

Net result is good for rich and poor alike. Both will use less gasoline, less oil, a very patriotic thing to do.

 

Again I never said gas prices were the sole cause of poverty, I said it worsened the conditions of those looking for work or trying to buy food or cloths. This isn't a tax that gets redistributed, its a transfer payment to foreign countries many of which are our enemies. You seem happily oblivious about it.

Europe has just as much of a homeless problem as America. IT isn't one country, some countries do well some do poorly. When was the last time you were over there. European coutries don't count there homeless well, just like Iran doesn't count gays. That does not mean there are no gays in Iran, it just means governments pretend that they don't exist.

Down And Out In Europe - TIME

Using less is patriotic. Shipping more money to Opec countries is not. Do you get the difference. Chearleading a bad economic event that slows job growth is really vulgar IMHO, no matter what false things it takes you to justify it.

 

But they don't really due to the huge elasticity of demand in the US in regard to gasoline usage.

Actually much of the pump price is a tax that gets redistributed. The Feds and state governments should make the gas taxes a percentage so that when oil companies raise prices the gas tax revenue goes up.

As it is, due to the elasticity of demand for gasoline, people quickly start using less (a good thing) and gas tax revenue goes down (a bad thing).

Actually not, particularly the case for children where 25% of US kids live in poverty. Much more homelessness and hunger in US

And when prices go up, purchase of oil goes down, purchase of Prius and other good energy saving products goes up. Good things happen.

Europe's $10 gallon gasoline prices do much more good for the poor in the form of subsidizing public transportation, social services, education, housing than harm. US low gasoline prices are bad for everyone in the US as it encourages wasteful use.