Gas prices

[Elspode]

I don't have to buy blueberries twice a week to get back and forth to my job. Have I noticed increases in other commodities? Yes. I work in construction. Prices of some raw materials have gone up 40% in eighteen months.

Let's wait and see who gets elected and what new "market forces" will rear their ugly heads thereafter. Should be interesting.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Elspode

I don't have to buy blueberries twice a week to get back and forth to my job. Have I noticed increases in other commodities? Yes. I work in construction. Prices of some raw materials have gone up 40% in eighteen months.

What else has seen a massive price increase? Wood? I thought that price was supposed to have decreased. Where are the big price increases in construction this summer - and how much? (I suspect busterb could cite reasons why roofing material prices are higher.)

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by tw

What else has seen a massive price increase? Wood? I thought that price was supposed to have decreased. Where are the big price increases in construction this summer - and how much? (I suspect busterb could cite reasons why roofing material prices are higher.)

I am in insulation/fireplaces/gutters primarily. I don't know what lumber has done, but steel, insulation, sheet rock and roofing have spiraled upward at a record pace. In fact, metal prices in general have skyrocketed, including the price for scrap.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Elspode

Let's wait and see who gets elected and what new "market forces" will rear their ugly heads thereafter. Should be interesting.

If the repubicans win, prices will go back up. If Democrats win, big oil might be concerned about reprocussions if they continue raping Americans. And if Democrats win, they had better fucking do something about the situation. maybe repeal the energy act of the Cheney administration.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

If the repubicans win, prices will go back up. If Democrats win, big oil might be concerned about reprocussions if they continue raping Americans. And if Democrats win, they had better fucking do something about the situation. maybe repeal the energy act of the Cheney administration.

"Big oil" doesn't care either way. People buy gas, they make money. No matter what.

If your tidy, left wing conspiracy is is true, could you please explain to me when the Middle East producers stopped being the ones to set the price per barrel?

[headsplice]

Originally Posted by wolf

"Big oil" doesn't care either way. People buy gas, they make money. No matter what.

If your tidy, left wing conspiracy is is true, could you please explain to me when the Middle East producers stopped being the ones to set the price per barrel?

They haven't, but the producers don't set the price at the pump and the two are not directly related. Most prices at the pump are set as a result of fluctuations in the oil futures market as well as the ability of the Big Oil companies to refine crude into it's constituent parts for us to use. So, since the futures market has been trending downwards, and the backlog at refineries is decreasing, we have lower at-the-pump prices.
It isn't a conspiracy, it's the Big Oil companies trying to make as much money as they can, which is the purpose of any company. Whether it's ethical or not is another matter.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by wolf

"Big oil" doesn't care either way. People buy gas, they make money. No matter what.

They've made record profits lately. Something tells me it was largely due to the exhorbitant prices at the pumps.

Originally Posted by wolf

If your tidy, left wing conspiracy is is true, could you please explain to me when the Middle East producers stopped being the ones to set the price per barrel?

Labor Day, the end of the vacation travel season.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Another reason for the huge profit numbers is the size of the companies. All the mergers have lessened the competition and with fewer companies come bigger market shares.

[Elspode]

But that's good, right?

Didn't our government go to some rather extraordinary lengths to break up giant monopolies about twenty years ago? What the fuck has changed that it is now a good thing?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Bush.