Oil execs: Record prices not our fault

[Jim Schue]

You made my point for me... You are right and do people "need" a 7 passenger vehicle to transport 1, 110 pound person from A to B???

 

People drive the price/cost of goods and services.

 

There are alternatives out there if you really believe that gas is too costly for you to purchase, you will not buy it, or buy much less of it. Take action.

 

You must've missed my outcry a few months back to make a law requiring auto makers to call all SUVs "station wagons," and to require all SUVs to have wood paneling on the side.

[Gunner11]

Sorry, but a depression is right around the corner at this rate. Prices have already gone up exponentially on most products at the grocery store, while wages have remained pretty stagnant w/relation to cost of living, and that's usually a pretty good indicator.

 

Yup, my South Africa metaphor works pretty well. I encourage everyone to divest from oil holdings ASAP; stop supporting oppressive companies.

 

How about not buying the product they are selling instead.

[Jim Schue]

IMO we are heading toward neither. I highly doubt we will have negative GDP.

 

I don't know how you can say that with any confidence. Inflation's already starting.

[Jim Schue]

How about not buying the product they are selling instead.

 

Trust me, I try to buy as little gas as possible. And my car gets excellent mpg. I'm looking out for my fellow Americans as well as myself.

[Gunner11]

You must've missed my outcry a few months back to make a law requiring auto makers to call all SUVs "station wagons," and to require all SUVs to have wood paneling on the side.

 

I hear you. I just think you are upset at the wrong people. You should be upset that people are not changing their behavior and facilitating the price continuing to go up.

 

I'll use a food example. If you love tuna fish, and it goes from $2.00 per can to $5.00 a can, would you continue to buy it or would you look for an alternative?

 

There are alternatives to buying gas, just not enough people yet are willing to make those changes because price is not enough of a deterrent.

[Gunner11]

I don't know how you can say that with any confidence. Inflation's already starting.

 

CPI in April was up .2%. While the price of some goods are increasing others are decreasing. Interests rates are very low, employment is very high, 3% inflation is still very low, productivity gains are still very high (that makes up for some of the slower wage growth). I agree it is not boom times, but we are far from depression, and I honestly think that we will not get negative GDP growth.

[John Anthony]

IMO we are heading toward neither. I highly doubt we will have negative GDP.

 

I think we are headed for a recession the fed said today things are not looking good at all specifically 2nd half of the year as they anticipated. And during the meeting with the oil tycoons today, they specifically said we are headed toward a recession and oil is contributing to it.

[Jim Schue]

CPI in April was up .2%. While the price of some goods are increasing others are decreasing. Interests rates are very low, employment is very high, 3% inflation is still very low, productivity gains are still very high (that makes up for some of the slower wage growth). I agree it is not boom times, but we are far from depression, and I honestly think that we will not get negative GDP growth.

 

That's operating on the assumption the current trends will level off. I'm not that optimistic.

[Gunner11]

I think we are headed for a recession the fed said today things are not looking good at all specifically 2nd half of the year as they anticipated. And during the meeting with the oil tycoons today, they specifically said we are headed toward a recession and oil is contributing to it.

 

Time will tell. The price of energy is one factor among many. And even if we do get 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP, just like any other recession in the past, we will emerge from it. There is a reason that the USA in under 300 years has gotten to where we are today.

[John Anthony]

Time will tell. The price of energy is one factor among many. And even if we do get 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP, just like any other recession in the past, we will emerge from it. There is a reason that the USA in under 300 years has gotten to where we are today.

 

That is true recessions are cycles. We need the oil bubble to burst like no other.

[AcesFull]

Sorry, but a depression is right around the corner at this rate. Prices have already gone up exponentially on most products at the grocery store, while wages have remained pretty stagnant w/relation to cost of living, and that's usually a pretty good indicator.

 

Yup, my South Africa metaphor works pretty well. I encourage everyone to divest from oil holdings ASAP; stop supporting oppressive companies.

Explain the math of how imposing a windfall tax on oil companies and denying them the right to open new fields or build new refineries is going to result in lower gas prices. The government lied about there being an oil shortage in the 70's and now they have created a real shortage by cutting domestic production and refining capacity.

 

Liberals are in denial because they do not want to take responsibility for the results of supporting the policies that have culminated in $4/gallon gas prices.

[Gunner11]

That is true recessions are cycles. We need the oil bubble to burst like no other.

 

The only way that happens is if people change their behavior and habits.

 

It is exactly why you are going to start seeing more diesel cars in the US in the near future. They have been available in Europe for decades and they tried to bring them over here in the late 70's early 80's. But Americans wanted big honking V8's with tons of horsepower and crap fuel economy because fuel was less expensive. We are seeing a small change in that philosophy as we speak. The trend is now toward MPG instead of horsepower.

[Jim Schue]

Time will tell. The price of energy is one factor among many. And even if we do get 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP, just like any other recession in the past, we will emerge from it. There is a reason that the USA in under 300 years has gotten to where we are today.

 

I would agree, but most of the other factors are joined at the hip to the price of energy.

 

Here's what I (almost) hope: The price of oil/gas gets so high that we completely change our country's transportation and energy philosophy, and all those clowns who are cleaning up on the short term end up starving in the gutter 10 years from now because of their greed and lack of foresight. It'll be tough on everybody, but, hopefully, those who deserve to get hurt the most, do. If dozens of Fortune 500 companies go out of business, so be it.

 

Divest now, people. I will have no pity for you when your oil stock bottoms out.

[AcesFull]

That's operating on the assumption the current trends will level off. I'm not that optimistic.

I believe that we are headed for a depression myself. I hope that people are smart enough to blame our government if it happens, but I am not optimistic.

[Gunner11]

Explain the math of how imposing a windfall tax on oil companies and denying them the right to open new fields or build new refineries is going to result in lower gas prices. The government lied about there being an oil shortage in the 70's and now they have created a real shortage by cutting domestic production and refining capacity.

 

Liberals are in denial because they do not want to take responsibility for the results of supporting the policies that have culminated in $4/gallon gas prices.

 

While I am no fan of liberals, they are not the only ones to blame. Congress (democrat and republican) has done very little to address this issue since the early 70's. Yes I agree that building new refineries and drilling for more oil where we have the ability to would help, but it is only a band-aid on a festering wound. The oil companies were not going to do a lot of drilling in the 80's and 90's anyway because the price per barrel was in the low 20's and teens.