Print out a batch of little stickers that read little factoids like this:
Then, put 'em on the pump. Carry a whole sheet with ya.
Someone's bound to read 'em while their fuel bill is passing fifty bucks per fill up.
Posted on 03/23/2008 6:11:04 PM PDT by Flavius
ARROGANT oil companies realised they'd "gone too far" and allowed petrol prices to fall over the Easter long weekend, says a leading motoring group. The NRMA claims petrol prices rose between 15 and 20 cents a litre on the Thursday before the Easter long weekend, reaching an average of about $1.50 per litre.
Oil to stay below $110 a barrel: OPEC Oil to stay below $110 a barrel: OPEC Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs Minister Chris Bowen dismissed allegations that drivers were being ripped off, saying the price hikes were part of the weekly price cycle.
But motoring group NRMA disagrees, arguing that the cost at the bowser soared above the average weekly price cycle.
"We used to see the normal price cycle as being four to seven cents over the week, lately it's gone up to 10 cents but we've certainly never seen 15 to 20 cents as we saw on Thursday,'' NRMA president Alan Evans told ABC radio.
Mr Evans said the powerful oil companies reacted to the pressure they received over the rising costs and have now brought the prices down.
"I think the oil companies felt the shame and the pressure that they've got from the media for the behaviour on Thursday,'' he said.
"I think they outraged the public by the amount they increased their petrol on Thursday - you know, 15 to 20 cents right in front of people's eyes was just too much to bear.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Welcome to Free Republic
Oil companies do not set the prices for oil any more than farmers set the prices for ag commodities.
It is because of regulation (and taxes) that prices are what they are. If we could build power plants and refineries, and drill for the oil resources we know we have, the market price of oil would be half of what it is today.
As the Saudi Oil Minister explained, and the US MSM ignored and no one understands anyway, about $20 per barrel is due to speculation on the futures market.
How can the US regulate this?
1.) Raise the margin requirement to 100%.
or
2.) Allow only physical delivery contracts.
The RATS won't let us do that. This oil crisis can be laid right at the feet of Democrats and their radical environut friends.
We did not set the price we paid on the open market to buy that crude - we paid market price. The market price was heavily influenced by the traders on Wall Street - who didn't own refineries that had to be kept full of crude.
From the time the tanker of oil left a port in West Africa, ownership could change hands dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Sometimes a single company would own the same crude several times before it ended up in the hands of the refiner.
If you want to look for a villain, look to Wall Street, or to China and India, who's demand for oil has skyrocketed over the past decade.
China is building a pipeline across the who of Kazakhstan in order to get their hands on the oil that is and will be produced from the Caspian Sea.
Simple rule of economics: If you want the price of oil to fall, produce more of it (i.e., make supply greater than demand). If American is serious about the price of oil, they would begin drilling in ANWAR. Why is it okay to drill off the coast of California, but not off the coast of Florida?
9/10ths is a fraction
Federal and state governments should be ashamed that they profit off of every gallon of fuel sold, even though they do nothing to produce and distribute it.
“This oil crisis can be laid right at the feet of Democrats and their radical environut friends.”
I agree. But it is not much of a crisis. People are lining up to buy gasoline. How much of that is pleasure cruising? Plenty. There is no crisis. Prices are a lot higher than they would be if we opened exploration. But when you have to wait to fill up it cannot be much of a crisis.
“Why is it okay to drill off the coast of California, but not off the coast of Florida?”
That’s OK. The Chinese will be drilling off Florida in Cuba’s waters. We’ll be buying it from them.
True, but it's a big fraction: 2/3 as of last week.
It’s perfectly ok to drill off the coast of Florida (if you are far enough out). In fact the Chinese and Cubans are doing it right now.
In fact the Chinese are drilling relatively close. We cannot drill 100 miles out. This time it is “Bushs’ Fault.”
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/southflorida/news/drilling2002.html
Occasionally, it really is.
Ding, ding, ding, ding ... we have a winner. Regulate the speculators by changing these two rules and the "oil futures" market moves off the casino floor back into reality ... and about 20% - 25% of the spot price will disappear in a month.
Yup, you’re correct.
They probably expect us to feel grateful.
You're an idiot, newbs.
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