I suggest this book, it helped me understand how prices work in society.
You can get it at Amazon. Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
Posted on 06/07/2006 10:19:18 AM PDT by rightinthemiddle
Oil Prices Fall More Than $1 As Inventories of Crude and Gasoline Rise
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Oil prices fell by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed rising domestic inventories of crude-oil and gasoline.
"The market looks a bit shaky," said BNP Paribas Commodity Futures broker Tom Bentz, noting that traders had expected crude-oil inventories to drop. Bentz said gasoline imports also looked strong.
ADVERTISEMENT
Earlier in the day, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that while the country has been able to absorb sharp increases in oil prices, the high energy costs are beginning to stunt economic growth. However, the price of oil has not produced any "serious erosion" of world economic activity, he said.
The market was also reacting to reports that gunmen kidnapped five South Koreans in an overnight raid on a southern Nigeria natural-gas plant owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
Light sweet crude for July delivery fell $1.55 to $70.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where gasoline futures slid by more than 4 cents to $2.14 per gallon. July Brent crude futures on London's ICE Futures exchange fell 43 cents to $70.38 a barrel.
In its weekly petroleum report, the Energy Department said U.S. crude-oil stocks grew last week by 1.1 million barrels to 346.6 million barrels, or 4 percent above year ago levels. Gasoline inventories grew by 1 million barrels to 210.3 million barrels, or 2.5 percent below year ago levels. The commercial supply of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, increased by 1.8 million barrels to 120.7 million barrels, or 8.5 percent more than a year ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
tulip bulbs.
Tulipomania:
http://www.litrix.com/madraven/madne004.htm
The gasoline I buy is trucked from Anch to Fairbanks. It is slightly more expensive than local refinery gasoline, but only because it is a full service station rather than a gasoline island at the dept store or 7-Eleven.
"Capitalism rocks."
So does pulling reasons out of one's a$$ to raise prices!! Woohoo!!
The point here is that product that moves by pipe is and will always be X amount cheaper than product that does not or can not. Ethanol falls into the second category; transportation of ethanol AK will be/would be/is just building in another layer of cost to the consumer.
This is readily demonstrated by observation. RBOB ('new' ethanol-blended gasoline) is trading between 12 and 20 cents premium to RFG II ('regular' unleaded) in the same month, basis NY harbor. The differential for, say, Anchorage must be higher still.
You Alaskans are well out of this boondoggle idiocy. I hope it stays that way for you.
Hey, get this: when I sell my house, I am going to get as much for it as I can. Even though I bought it at a lower price, I am going to make sure it is going for more if I can.
How about you? Are you going to keep it at a low price in order to be fair to the buyer? Or will you find any number of reasons to keep the price at a higher level?
Re: Your house example.
Problem with your straw-man is that the buyer doesn't need my specific house. I need gasoline. There's no alternative trans. available and I'm already driving a vehicle that gets great MPG.
Oh well. Other industries will have to deal with not getting my now-non-spent consumer dollar so that big oil can continue to be "good capitalists".
Greenspans presentation before the senate today, on the oil market, was excellent. explained how the financial market, hedge funds et al - have entered into the market in a big way and aren't going anywhere, how state owned oil companies are not investing to develop new supplies, etc.
read/watch (cspan) greenspan's testimony today on the oil market. he was very good for a change, explained what is happening perfectly, what the hedge funds are doing, how the foreign state owned companies are not investing to develop new supplies, and how the US can't do anything about it except develop alternative fuels and energy sources as fast as possible.
and on that, it seems that the inflation numbers havn't seemed to have caught up.
Everyone seems to be cashing in on "fuel surcharges".
I ordered 6 yards of quarry process last fall after Katrina. They charge you 50 bucks for delivery and then had the cahones to tack on a 15 dollar fuel surcharge. They are 4 miles away. so Fuel doubles from a buck fitty. Now yer dump truck burns 2 gallons instead of one? I guess the dump truck gets half a mile per gallon. I should have complained..shrug.
You can: walk, take a bike, take a horse, get a job where you can use public [taxpayer subsidized] transport, work at home.
Amazing, isn't it, how civilization flourished for centuries before the invention of the gasoline engine?
No, you choose to buy gasoline because it is a wonderful tool that makes your life more comfortable, just like electricity and pre-packaged food and cotton clothes. We love these things and use 'em daily, but before they existed, we were able to live.
By the way, the house example ISN'T a straw man--the buyer DOES want to buy a house--any house--and virtually any seller is going to mark the price up as high as he can. It's called a profit deal. And the same goes for the person selling commodities.
Thankfully, other industries aren't the "good capitalists" that Big Oil is, else we'd be paying $10/loaf of bread. A loaf that you don't HAVE to eat (hell, grow your own!).
The house buyer doesn't have to buy MY house. I'm also not in collusion with all other homeowners of homes my size to fix our prices.
I'd love to work at home. Please (seriously) try to convince mine and other companies to get their heads out of the 1950s ethic of "you must be at your desk to be productive". It's illegal for me to own a horse where I live and I've no interest in selling my house at the moment.
Like I said, it doesn't really matter - I'll simply be spending less on other consumer products to make up for the difference in rising energy costs. Those other consumer industries will just have to become the "good capitalists" that Big Oil is, I guess, and start bumping their costs up 30-50%.
So in other words, you admit I'm right. Thanks for acknowledging the fact. :)
No. Your "house" example is still a straw man.
Oil should not be a commodity. More people need oil than they do pork bellies.
:}
I suggest this book, it helped me understand how prices work in society.
You can get it at Amazon. Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
Sorry, but putting lipstick on a straw man still makes it a straw man!
:)
I have a feeling that you are hospitalized on a frequent basis?????
:-D LOL. very funny.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.