Gas just hit 4.00 a gallon in Orlando..

[RamblingMad]

It wasn't that long ago. I think we had some sub-$1 gas when we drove to Florida in 1999.

I miss the 80s and 90s.

 

[wvjules]

All I know is when I moved away from CA to NC in 2015. Gas was for the most part was under $2 or hovering below $2.50 til about 2020. Our government has some explaining to do because the majority will continue to be deeply affected by these sharp increases & it's going to get worse. The situation is sad in Ukraine & highly complicated, but it shouldn't be our sacrifice & we shouldn't be comparing our struggles with another country.

Oil and gas companies have some explaining to do.

3% is miniscule, but it makes for a good excuse when avoiding responsibility for our continued inflation.

It's not just US inflation. The entire world is experiencing inflation right now.

 

[Redart59]

Just like people have varying medical issues. Some people will be sad about getting a hangnail while others will be sad about getting a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. I just have more sympathy with the later rather than the former.

You are being very narrow minded about this. Doubling or tripling a family‘s gas bill so they can get to a low paying job can make a low income household have trouble putting food on the table of having enough money to heat their home.

 

[LuvOrlando]

So gas, I went to the grocery store yesterday and there were significantly fewer people out and about at 10am so it would seem people are already curtailing behaviors. I'm also wondering if schools will close on colder days to save money, that has happened in my kids district when it dropped really low for PA where they'd use extra snow days, wondering what sorts of shifts in behavior are on the horizon as people adapt? Thank goodness easy weather is a heartbeat away.

The thing about this happening on the heels of 2020/21, if there is such a thing as a help, is many businesses & families adapted to work from home so the people who can opt to work from home probably will in order to reel in their own expenses which should reduce some of the demand pressure easing costs for those who have no choice. The last time there were big surges in fuel prices people fell into ridesharing pretty quickly, at least now there is social media which could help people find each other, back in the early 2000s it was tough to find ride share. It also seems as if most municipalities have all their public transportation back up and running, this could have been much worse if it took place last year while many programs were closed down.

 

[mrodgers]

You're very sweet. She's 2 hours away so travel is all by car. It's not like she won't come home for spring break. It's that she's very stressed these days (junior year of Mechanical Engineering major) and an impromptu extra visit every now and then would be a nice break from the stress.

I want her to come back in April when "Singing in the Rain" comes to the big screen. It's been a real favorite of ours. Seeing it on the big screen would be lovely. Would it be worth an extra $65 tank of gas? I guess we'll see.

What the heck is she driving? My car, that's an increase of about $5 for the one way trip. I'd tell her to come home.

Or, if you're going to go pick her up and take her back, that's around a $20 difference. Of course, if you are driving a gas guzzler, I assume with a child in college you were a part of 2008 and still bought a gas guzzler, I would have no sympathy same with all the 15 mpg pickup truck folks whining and crying.

 

[mrodgers]

People can have varying degrees of sad. And they can be sad about more than one thing at a time.

Not if you just want to virtue signal your sadness. Unless you are locking yourself in your bedroom crying about it or even better, getting off your behind and helping, I don't want to hear how one topic is sadder than another topic.

I feel for others in the world too, but that doesn't mean I need to cancel everything in my life about it.

 

[mom2rtk]

Oil and gas companies have some explaining to do.

Do you think they're holding off drilling until the price gets high?

 

[mom2rtk]

What the heck is she driving? My car, that's an increase of about $5 for the one way trip. I'd tell her to come home.

Or, if you're going to go pick her up and take her back, that's around a $20 difference. Of course, if you are driving a gas guzzler, I assume with a child in college you were a part of 2008 and still bought a gas guzzler, I would have no sympathy same with all the 15 mpg pickup truck folks whining and crying.

For starters, we don't know how much gas will cost by then. Scary to think weeks or months out on any of this given the rapid rate of increase right now.

And I'll pay for her gas, on top of paying for the increase in gas in our other 2 cars. While paying inflated prices for groceries. While paying an inflated heating bill. At some point, you try to control what you can control. And the first item that comes to mind is extra car trips.

And rest easy there. She's not the gas guzzling truck or SUV sort.

 

[wvjules]

Do you think they're holding off drilling until the price gets high?

I honestly don't know what they are waiting for.

 

[mom2rtk]

I honestly don't know what they are waiting for.

Just seems to me that if they could pump out more at these prices they'd be doing it.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I honestly don't know what they are waiting for.

This was a huge thing 2 weeks ago...even though Ukraine was invaded about the same time, the feds did not change their stance...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/climate/carbon-biden-drilling-climate.html
Two weeks ago, the feds froze new drilling permits and stopped leases on federal lands because a court ruled that they couldn’t use an elevated “social cost of carbon” to make it more difficult to drill.

So, to start his admin, Biden tried to increase the costs of drilling on fed lands and then got sued. The court ruled against Biden, so he shut the process down vs going by the old policies.

Although before trying to just increase the cost, he tried to stop that drilling on fed lands entirely, but the courts also threw that out - thus, why there was the "increased social costs of carbon" fees attempt that was implemented right after...

 

[RamblingMad]

Just seems to me that if they could pump out more at these prices they'd be doing it.

We're also moving now to a summer blend, so that complicates this even more.

 

[rangerxenos]

"Can the US wall itself off from volatility in the global oil market? The answer is no."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/poli...olved-by-drilling-more-oil-climate/index.html

 

[MillauFr]

Do you think they're holding off drilling until the price gets high?

I think they are influenced by activist investors like Engine No. 1 who is taking over seats on the Exxon board of directors and pushing the company to develop more green energy sources and away from oil and gas drilling.

 

[mrodgers]

I'm curious why you think people aren't doing that?

I know they aren't doing that because I work every day in a weak powered economy manual transmission car, so I can't Hulk Smash the throttle from stoplights. It's the way everyone around me drives and has always driven while I have always accelerated smoothly and let off the throttle and downshifted to slow down rather than waiting until 6 inches from a panic braking before I get off the throttle.

That's just how 90% of the people drive. It's called observation and you should be able to see it if you aren't part of the 90% who are sitting at the green lights lagging while finishing up your Facebook post before realizing the light turned green 15 seconds ago, waiting for your car to restart, and then smash down on the throttle.

 

[sam_gordon]

Just seems to me that if they could pump out more at these prices they'd be doing it.

Why?
More gas <> more profits.
More gas = more supply.
More supply = LOWER prices.

 

[mom2rtk]

Why?
More gas <> more profits.
More gas = more supply.
More supply = LOWER prices.

So it's better to wait for the price to go down then?

 

[Southernmiss]

Those who run the corporate world control everything.

They're looking out for their best interests (wealth) and not the common folk who are struggling to get by.

 

[sssteele]

I know they aren't doing that because I work every day in a weak powered economy manual transmission car, so I can't Hulk Smash the throttle from stoplights. It's the way everyone around me drives and has always driven while I have always accelerated smoothly and let off the throttle and downshifted to slow down rather than waiting until 6 inches from a panic braking before I get off the throttle.

That's just how 90% of the people drive. It's called observation and you should be able to see it if you aren't part of the 90% who are sitting at the green lights lagging while finishing up your Facebook post before realizing the light turned green 15 seconds ago, waiting for your car to restart, and then smash down on the throttle.

Never use my phone for anything when I'm driving. I must plead innocent.

 

[sam_gordon]

So it's better to wait for the price to go down then?

My opinion (meaning you get what you're paying for it)... the oil companies aren't making their decisions on how much crude to pump/move based on the current cost of gas. They're determining how much SUPPLY they need to keep the demand satisfied enough.