R6Mitsu

10 things not to like about $4 gas

The price
The price
The price
The price
The price
The price
The price
The price
The price
The price

plazma

Most of the state run jobs are cut fridays out rather then a mid day of the week. Utah just a few days ago went to 80% of state employees to be 4 days a week starting in Aug. Some employees you don't have an option of 4 day weeks because they are needed full time or in an emergency. (think jail gaurds and state/county fire fighters)

The gas prices do suck but we are already seeing more oil being pumped here. In North dakota we will produce over 50 million barrels this year which is the highest amount since the early 80's. I think change is coming and hope it hurrys the hell up.

JonLGT

You go to MCC too huh?

Miss_tC

No BCC [brevard community college] its used as an example on #3. I knew that school was good for something.

98_GstEclipse

Man I would love 4 10 hours days. At Coca Cola the customer service reps can have a choice to either work 4 10hour days or 5 8hour days. Im a sales rep so we dont get that option

Trky

There was a cop about 20 feet away from his cruiser standing just chilling under a tree during the food festival about 2 months ago with the car running ac on full blast and the passenger side door open. I wouldn't exactly call that helping with gas prices. I even made a comment about it to him. It really kinda pissed me off.

medicmatt

i like my 12 hour 3 days a week schedule.....4 days off FTMFW!!!!!!!

EliteZ

^hah, Yeah, I bet. I wouldn't mind it either. I know several people at the hospital who make good use of it.

SPOONCIVIC

i guess that is a good way to look at it...some good facts too

TJElite

I really doubt this will bring oil prices down. For one, this oil will trade on the same market that all the other oil does...just because it is pumped here, doesn't mean it won't end up in China. As long as someone will pay $150 a barrel, that's what oil will sell for, regardless of where it comes from.

Second, I think the prices are artificially high for several reasons, like speculation, shady trading, and no faith in the stock market (much of which comes from high oil...bad cycle). I don't think it is pure supply and demand, yet. There are no lines at the gas stations, or rationing like there was in the 70's, when there really was a shortage. Also, refineries are only running at about 85-88% capacity.

And if it is supply and demand, US pumping in the next 10 years is going to be a small drop, in a big bucket. With the world demand standing at like 87,000,000 barrels a day, 50 million a year is about 4 hours worth...not enough to move prices, at all.

The biggest mover on price, in the short term, will be when countries like China and Mexio stop the goverment subsidies on gas, causing a real drop in demand...again though, supply and demand is not the only mover.

Biggest problem I see is that the oil companies kind of have us where they want us. Right now, $3.75 gas would seem like a great deal, and $3.50 would be just outstanding. There is almost no reason to let it go back to $2.xx a gallon, and almost no chance of that happening. In fact, I'll bet we see $5.50 long before we see $3.50, if we ever see $3.50 again.

And before you blame US oil companies, consider this. The 10 biggest US and European oil companies only make up something like 7% of the total oil consumption. Sure, their profits are way up, but so are their sales. The % profit is actually the same or lower, in most instances. If they really were just screwing us, the % profit would be up, as well.

Toby