Absolutely meaningless chart. One doesnt calulate adjusted prices when you pay out of pocket. Just like you dont adjust for wages. What you pay in dollars and cents is what counts, not some statistical measurement.
It isnt oil companies that determine the price anyway. Its the dirtbag oil traders on the stock market.
As stated in the article, people dont see it but they actually know it when they can budget more for other things, not so much for fuel.
Its perfectly logical. With some qualifications as stated also in article.
So are you saying, it doesn’t matter that the buying power of a dollar has changed significantly over the years?
Not to mention all of the TAXES hidden in there by the States and the Feds.
That would be the commodity exchange and it's been common practice for gas stations managers to raise prices just a little bit more so that it's hidden in natural gas price, so you are half correct. As for commodity traders driving the price up, I don't think so. They are at the mercy of supply and demand. Traders get burned when oil goes up or down, some even when it stays the same. It's difficult to drive the price of oil as a commodity trader but it's very easy as an oil provider by cutting output our illegally price fixing between the oil providers (OPEC). Just my opinion.
One problem with that theory...
Trading gasoline is a “zero sum” game. In other words, the only way one side of a trade can make money is if the opposite side of the trade loses money.
Which brings up an interesting question...
Since virtually all commodity traders are seasoned professionals, which ones “volunteer” to lose money?
That was a rhetorical question, of course, since no one, amateur or professional, volunteers to lose money.
Bottom Line - over any three month period, the price of gasoline is set by supply and demand.
Example: OPEC, which periodically increases or decreases the amount of oil they pump in order to achieve some policy goal, like trying to drive American frackers out of business by flooding the market with cheap Middle East oil, which is what happened in January 2016.
“Its the dirtbag oil traders on the stock market.”
Now, now - that’s not very nice...
I never check gas prices.
If I need gas,I get gas.
If I don’t need it,I don’t get it.
.
You left out some key players, federal, state and local that tax the crap out of gas.