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The oil company profits are certainly orchestrated, it appears to me. Look how high gas prices were when the cost of crude oil was so high, back when gas got higher than $2.00/gallon in TX. People at work started to bring their lunches rather than eat out, by observation. As oil traders traded and re-traded the same oil, driving the price up, until their game was revealed. Then came the seasonal shut-downs, with less output, so more demand, less gas to sell, and resultant high prices.
ReplyDeleteThen came the revelation that, as the oil companies claimed, EPA regulations were keeping them from building new refineries, BUT then it was further revealed that the existing facilities had been expanded regularly as a result, rather than building completely new plants. THEN, the existing facilities were only running at 90% capacity, at best. As the storage facilities in Cushing, OK were being expanded all of the time.
Now, the least little bump in the supply chain (which result in higher crude oil prices) spikes the local prices by 30 cents gallon overnight. Then, a few days later, they start easing back down 4 cents a day until that spike is gone and lower prices result, lower than before the spike. Then, cycle repeat after that low spot is reached again.
Back when the major oil companies' profits STARTED rising as gas prices got over $2.00/gallon in TX, I commented that I hoped our 401K people had some of those stocks in our portfolios. IF that had happened, we all would be sitting pretty now!
An unadmitted to issue is just which political party the majority of the corporate decision-makers align with. A sure bet it is not Democrats. One more way "That Party" is ruining the company for their own benefit!
Bad thing is that for younger people, $3.00 gallon gas is their "normal", as those of us older can still remember 17 cent a gallon fuel in the 1960s, and when it spikes to 50 cents a gallon in the middle 1970s. Such memories we have!
Thanks for those posts, Rick!
Cdadbr - Thank you for your comment!
ReplyDeleteI was listening to NPR and Melisa Harris-Perry had this lady on who was talking about egg prices. She said something that I know to be true but didn't put it together like she did. She stated that for example ranchers selling their cattle for beef there is very little shopping around for the best price for the ranchers. She stated there are about 3 big companies that control the market. They set prices. It's not like one can shop around for a better deal. She then extrapolates this logic to egg prices. She went on to state how many eggs the American people consume and how big these big egg-producing farms are. Into the thousands.
ReplyDeleteI am 66 and I have seen a lot of shit in my time. The competition of folks that supply the resources for the American people to get by day-to-day has been paired down to a select few. The rhetorical question is there really competition in America?
This is why the United States can't have nice things and or be better off as compared to other countries because of a select few worshipping the almighty dollar. I do believe in free enterprise but I believe the pendulum has swung too far to the right and needs to be balanced.
@Cdadbr,
ReplyDeleteI' always smiling when you Americans arw whinning over gas price.
Here in Montreal they just up the price of gas to $1,673LITRE...
Which is for you $6,68 per gallon roughly.
AND here, Joe Biden isn't the one to blame .. LOL !
VRCooper - I agree that balance needs to be restored.
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