Economics of prices {price-gouging oil companies}

JewishWorldReview.com ^ | May 31, 2006 | Walter Williams

[mysterio]

I'm handling it the best I can. But I hope you guys are saving your money. The current situation is not sustainable.

What I want to see is a second system that can compete with fossil fuels. Or a second and a third. If we had other viable coices, there wouldn't ever be a price problem again.

[Smokin' Joe]

The current situation is not sustainable. It never is. I have been in the industry since the '70s, and the collapse in 1982, and further collapse in '86 taught me to pay cash for as much as I can. The price crash of the late '90s was unexpected, but we were ready for it.

But it is the cyclical nature of the industry which makes it really difficult to solve the problem. Who wants to invest millions or billions of dollars in projects or infrastructure which are unlikely to pay out? The money has to be there up front, or it just won't happen. By the time the permits are gathered, the hearings are done, and the go-ahead comes in, the price crashes again. It just keeps the problem the way it is.

I would love to work steadily until retirement--that might make retirement possible, as opposed to using up savings to keep the lights on when the industry goes dead in the water for a year or two.

I get by, and have worked at a lot of interesting sideline jobs, from construction work to calling bingo, to dealing blackjack in a titty bar.

You manage, especially when there are kids to feed, and now we are raising grandchildren...

Yes, it would be in our country's best interest to have the means to be energy self sufficient developed, but frankly, that would not be happening if gas was still only a dollar a gallon.

[mysterio]

Completely true. The best cure for high prices is high prices. It really does take a bite out of you before it levels out, though.

[thackney]

The current situation is not sustainable. It never is.

Amen brother, it is never a question of will it crash again, but only when.

[thackney]

People are furious because they feel trapped into paying whatever price is asked.

May suggest a couple references:

Average hourly and weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls, U.S. Department of Labor

Consumer Price Index, Average Price Data

Choose US City Average, then Gasoline - unleaded regular.

[Sinner6]

If your point is fuel is spuring some inflation causing strife, you have made your point, one which no one dissagrees with.

If your point is that fuel is not governed by the normal rules of capitalism and fuel companies are evil because they make a profit, you are liberal moron.

Either way the conversation has served it purpose.

[mysterio]

When you sell an essential product that everyone needs and has to pay for in some way or another and there is no widely available alternative to your product, you have a pretty sweet deal. No, I don't think oil companies are evil. I do want to see an alternative that competes with oil become widely available, however.

[longtermmemmory]

The left wing mindset does not understand or care to understand.

They want "it" now. They is no future for the left in their mind.

Thus they do not think about inventory replacment. They only see ONE pie. They can't grasp the fact they we can make MORE pies.

[Sinner6]

"I do want to see an alternative that competes with oil become widely available, however."

So do I. Do you know much about biodiesel? That is one that really sounds intresting to me, converting garbage into useful product.

[mysterio]

I played a concert once to raise money for biodiesel research, but the hippies ran the concert off of biodiesel generators and the generators gummed up and shut down. I don't think it was the biodiesel that was the problem, though.

I used to think ethanol and biodiesel were poor replacements for gas. But if they can be produced domestically, that gets us out of a lot of problems worldwide, and if they are renewable, everybody wins. Ethanol from crops, and biodiesel from trash. Sounds like a good idea, at least in theory.

[Cobra64]

Thus they do not think about inventory replacment. They only see ONE pie. They can't grasp the fact they we can make MORE pies.

And there are many around here who are clueless. It's a good thing they've never tried to run their own business.