Reader on NYT makes great point about gas prices

[Hawaii Hiker]

I saw this on NYT, and the reader i 100%...Gas prices are being manipulated, pure and simple....There is simply no reason why gas should be $4/gallon given the current price of a barrel of oil..


"when oil was at $147.00 per barrel gas was selling at $4.00 per gallon. oil is now at $103.00 per barrell and selling for $4.00 per gallon. how is the president responsible for this mr. speaker?

this is price manipulation, nothing else. look at the oil companies latest profits. and ask your congressman to disclose his stock holdings in oil companies and see what answer you get".

[zbdent]

1. and they can't say it's because of any new taxes on gasoline ...

if Obama or the Dems had presented that as an option, acting President Boner would have led one of his daily press conferences with "The X's job-killing gas tax ..."

[Broderick]

13. Taxes did go up on gas

But it was more of an ethanol rebate to suppliers which filtered down to stations. Just on unleaded formulas, and was 4.5 cents here in Virginia. That is inconsequential to the rise in gas prices this year. That rebate of sorts ended at the end of the year.

[KrazeeKrewe]

14. Tax increase at the pump is 100% responsible for the rise in Gas Price.

Every gallon of gas sold at the pump contains 10% ethanol & is called E10. Ethanol had replaced 15% of the gasoline sold in this country. 10% was sold as E10 & 5% was sold as E85. On January 1, 2012 the 45 cent tax cut on ethanol was not renewed because the USG needs more tax money. This increased the tax everyone paid at the pump by 5 cents since all gasoline is E10. For E85 users the tax increased by 38 cents per gallon. E85 users switched to E10 gasoline driving up gasoline demand 5% since then. The sudden price spike on the first day of 2012 is the tax hike & the continuing rise is caused by demand increase until the price rises by 38 to 45 cents so E85 use will compete once again holding gas prices in check. Also North Carolina increased their gas tax by 20 cents on the same date.

[KrazeeKrewe]

15. Tax increase at the pump

is 100% responsible for the rise in Gas Price. Ethanol tax increased by 45 cents nation wide. Taxes went up 20cents North Carolina.

[BootinUp]

2. US refiners are apparently making a nice profit exporting

it raises the final cost here. Thats the story anyway.

[Vincardog]

4. US refiners are making a nice profit exporting it and raising the PRICES here

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Read up on what JFK did when US Steel tried gouging

That's what we need here.

[oldhippydude]

5. speculation..

check the European news... Iran is cutting off supply to France & Britian.. over the Iranian Nuke issue..

worlds supply kinks, will change the supply later this summer.. sort of a replay of the 70's

[stufl]

6. Market pricing theory does not apply here.

In 1973 I sat in lines and was limited to ten gallons. But today there is no shortage of oil. US demand is way down because of the economy and greater efficiency of automobiles. The price of gasoline is inflated by the overabundance of speculative dollars...period! Don't be misdirected by tired old industry excuses.

It's about time that this issue got popular notice.

[oldhippydude]

7. dont i know

while i was in a part of the country where we didnt have lines.. i remember gasoline being 50 cents a gallon!!! by the way im not an industry apologist,i agree lets get the speculation out of the market.. as well as get rid of the oil depletion allowance, that we havent been able to do since the 60's

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. There is something definitely (very) weird going on

when the global price of gas goes down but the pump prices remain the same (or go up)?

BTW how exactly do Republicans (and the media) KNOW what is going to happen with gas prices? Good question to ask.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Here is your answer:

Goldman Sachs Admits Record Speculation To Blame For Skyrocketing Gas Prices

http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/04/13/174989/sachs-speculators-gas-prices/

[KrazeeKrewe]

10. Tax increase at the pump is 100% responsible for the rise in Gas Price.

Every gallon of gas sold at the pump contains 10% ethanol & is called E10. Ethanol had replaced 15% of the gasoline sold in this country. 10% was sold as E10 & 5% was sold as E85. On January 1, 2012 the 45 cent tax cut on ethanol was not renewed because the USG needs more tax money. This increased the tax everyone paid at the pump by 5 cents since all gasoline is E10. For E85 users the tax increased by 38 cents per gallon. E85 users switched to E10 gasoline driving up gasoline demand 5% since then. The sudden price spike on the first day of 2012 is the tax hike & the continuing rise is caused by demand increase until the price rises by 38 to 45 cents so E85 use will compete once again holding gas prices in check. Also North Carolina increased their gas tax by 20 cents on the same date.

[Son of Gob]

11. Did you even bother to read the OP

or are you just spamming every gas thread you find with the same post?

[KrazeeKrewe]

12. I read it!

And I agree that the government is causing the price to rise. Here is another item that will go into effect in July & cause prices to rise even further.

In mid November 2011 Canada's Enbridge Inc announced it's plans to buy the Seaway Crude Pipeline System & reverse the flow of the pipline to move crude from the Midwest to the coast. On that date the announcement sent U.S. crude prices soaring on expectations that the Midwest glut of oil could soon be released and fetch prices closer to more expensive, international benchmarks.

Currently Brent & other international benchmark crude oil prices are $122. WTI is about $105.