Remember Gas Wars?

[Middleman]

Heck they even used to check your oil and wash your windshield for free while THEY were filling your car.

And check the tire pressure on your car!

 

[Oddball]

You win a free oven mitt!

 

[PlungerPete]

I'm not smart enough to know whether it's true or not(if I was, I'd be a rich man), but I keep hearing that when it jumped up to $5 a gallon a couple years ago, the futures speculators were to blame. Can anyone shed some light on that for me?

 

[Montrovant]

Remember Gas Wars?

They're officially illegal in Wisconsin.

The horribly misguided "protect the mom-n-pop shop" law means that prices are mandated by law to be artificially high, to the point that those very mom-n-pop shops cannot give senior discounts to draw business.

Seems the only externanlities that do-gooder politicians care not about, are those brought about by their myopic policies.

Must be an old law. There is certainly no need for it today. I have a friend that works in a gas station. He says the prices are fixed by the company based on the price paid. It doesn't matter what the other station prices are.

I think it must depend on where you are living, I know in the Tampa area not only are there tons of different gas stations, they definitely use other stations' prices in determining their own.

 

[2Parties]

Remember Robot Wars?

That was a good show.

 

[hortysir]

Remember Robot Wars?

That was a good show.

They were battery-powered though

 

[uscitizen]

The development of Beano in a top secret lab ended the gas wars.

 

[Flopper]

I'm not smart enough to know whether it's true or not(if I was, I'd be a rich man), but I keep hearing that when it jumped up to $5 a gallon a couple years ago, the futures speculators were to blame. Can anyone shed some light on that for me?

Oil speculators do push the price of oil up but they also push it down.

Small producers, take a lot risk in drilling wells and deserve the profits they make. The big boys seek guaranteed profits by controlling prices and buying up their competitors and suppliers.

 

[PlungerPete]

Thanks Flopper, I appreciate the answer, but I still don't get it, probably never will. My understanding was in futures you lock in a set price, then when the time comes if the going price is higher, you make a profit. Lower you lose money. I seriously doubt that is right, but that is always what I thought. I don't understand how futures affects the going price? I know there has to be more to it, but am I on the right track?

 

[Flopper]

Thanks Flopper, I appreciate the answer, but I still don't get it, probably never will. My understanding was in futures you lock in a set price, then when the time comes if the going price is higher, you make a profit. Lower you lose money. I seriously doubt that is right, but that is always what I thought. I don't understand how futures affects the going price? I know there has to be more to it, but am I on the right track?

Buying oil futures is only one way of buying oil. Oil is also bought and sold on the open market at what is called the spot price, or cash price. Futures are traded just like stocks and bonds. The difference being that futures have a limited life span. Someone wanting to buy oil and take possession immediately may opt to buy oil futures that are coming due in a few days. Speculators are not normally a large part of the market, but if some event occurs that is likely to create additional supply or demand, then a lot of people in the oil business may become speculators driving the price temporary up or down.

 

[editec]

Back in the mid 60s minimum wage was $1 per hour and gas was about 35 cents..about 20 minutes work for a minimum wage earner.

Now minimum wage is about $7 an hour and gas?

It's STILL about 20 minutes work for a minimum wage earner.

Now compare those price increases to current minimum wages to say, Health care or the cost of a college education.

Really, at today's prices (hereabouts gas is $2.75 per gallon) the price of fuel is pretty much still in line with the gas prices I was paying 40 years ago.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

When is the last time you saw a sign that said GAS War? Probably not for a long long time. Supplies of oil are not what they use to be, but neither is the makeup of the industry. This year we will loose up to 5000 small gas stations as they are replaced by mega-stations operated by the big oil companies.

When I was a kid, there were 4 gas stations in our neighborhood, Texaco, Gulf, Exxon, and an independent, all located at one busy intersection. Today there is one station, a giant Shell station with 24 pumps. There is only one other station in the area and it’s also a Shell station. The nearest other station is about 8 miles away. Shell can charge just about whatever they want. There is no competition. Remember Mobil Oil, Gulf Oil, and Texaco. Exxon or Standard of California has bought them out as well as hundreds of small independent chains.

From where was this plagiarized....'cause, it could easily (and, probably WAS) originally-written, back in the mid-to-late-'80s, when the smaller/independently-owned service-stations were FIRST gettin' gobbled-up by Big Oil.....during the REAGAN/BUSH years.

​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

You mean when they used to give free glasses and green stamps?

....And, checked your water and oil levels......back, before ANY nut-job was allowed to refuel their own car:

You're UP......BIMBOS!!!!!!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuZxFL9cGkI]YouTube - Gas Station Fire, Static Electricity Starts a Flash Fire.[/ame]
*
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR8dTzroMPg&feature=related]YouTube - Gas Pump Explosion Caused by Static Electricity[/ame]​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

I'm not smart enough to know whether it's true or not(if I was, I'd be a rich man), but I keep hearing that when it jumped up to $5 a gallon a couple years ago, the futures speculators were to blame. Can anyone shed some light on that for me?

Here ya' go......

Petroleum Expert: Speculation Drove Price Bubble

***

California had a variation, of that, back in 2000 (when the NeoCons started pullin'-out-all-the-stops).​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Thanks Flopper, I appreciate the answer, but I still don't get it, probably never will. My understanding was in futures you lock in a set price, then when the time comes if the going price is higher, you make a profit. Lower you lose money. I seriously doubt that is right, but that is always what I thought. I don't understand how futures affects the going price? I know there has to be more to it, but am I on the right track?

Buying oil futures is only one way of buying oil. Oil is also bought and sold on the open market at what is called the spot price, or cash price. Futures are traded just like stocks and bonds. The difference being that futures have a limited life span. Someone wanting to buy oil and take possession immediately may opt to buy oil futures that are coming due in a few days. Speculators are not normally a large part of the market, but if some event occurs that is likely to create additional supply or demand, then a lot of people in the oil business may become speculators driving the price temporary up or down.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.....

Senate Democrats Seek New Bill To Regulate Oil Speculation - 2008
​

 

[Claudette]

I remember the gas wars. Hell. I remember when gas was 19 cents a gallon.

All the gas stations used to have little wars among themselves.

I also remember the big gas shortage that wasn't. Thats when they got gas up to $1.00 a gallon and its gone up ever since.

 

[Mr Natural]

You mean when they used to give free glasses and green stamps?

And would pump your gas and check your oil and clean your windshield and give you a set of steak knives all while wearing a bowtie and a hat.

 

[topspin]

We need some $5 gasoline so conservation can start happening and Obama will be happy.