That shows how little you know about what it takes to get from dinosaur juice in the ground to fuel for your fleet of muscle cars.

There are several points along the supply chain where a company may take profit: crude oil production, refining and the retailer. This is a simplification as there are middlemen in between them in the form of distributors.

Crude oil is a global commodity. Unless we produced all of the crude oil we used, there is no way for the government to dictate its price. Even if the government could set the price of the crude we buy, Canada, Mexico and the OPEC countries will simply choose to sell their oil to someone else. Where will that leave us?

If the government limited the profit of refineries, some of them will shut down. They will not do it for free or at a loss. Where will that leave us?

If the government limited the final retail price of fuel, retailers will simply shut down their pumps on those days when what they pay to get the gas will not give them a sufficient profit. Where will that leave us?

A more thorough discussion of the above: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-...n/gas-price.htm

Where your gas dollar goes: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/27/ex...rice/index.html


Bill

__________________
It is well past time to Drill, Baby, Drill!

If your June, July, August and September was like this, you might just hate summer too...

Please unload your question before you ask it unless you have a concealed harry permit.

: countdown begin cr dup . 1- ?dup 0= until cr ." Launch!" cr ;

Give a man a rocket and he will fly for a day; teach him to build and he will spend the rest of his days sanding...

Excellent post, Bill. However, there is one thing the government could do to reduce the cost of fuel at the pump: REDUCE TAXES! That isn't ever going to happen because that would force them to reduce spending.

Well, the federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents a gallon. My state gas tax is an additional 23.5 cents a gallon. While I'm in favor of reducing taxes, there is not much relief there.

The tax was the same when gas was $2.50 a gallon as it is when gas is $3.60 a gallon (or more depending on where you live) so the rising cost doesn't seem to be because of taxes.

__________________
Bob Harrington
NAR #62740 L1
AMA #46042
CMASS & RIMRA Member

My state of Michigan has ~43.7 cents per gallon gasoline tax which includes a 6% sales tax.
That on top of the 18.4 cents of federal tax is a total of 62.3 cents a gallon which is ridiculous when Michigan has the worst roads in the country. At $3/gallon that is over a 20% tax rate which is flat out INSANE.
The idiot governor we have here wants to increase the fuel tax another 9 cents per gallon and add $60.00 to every license plate also for supposed "fixing roads" but will not mandatory ear mark any of it to be mandated for road use only. This idiot governor is a stone cold card-carrying lunatic.
The reason why Michigan has horrible roads is the fact that the taxes from plates and fuel go into the general fund which means the idiot politicians can choose to use zero of it for roads when 100% should be used to fix roads PROPERLY.
I will NEVER support any sort of tax increase EVER.
They get WAY more than enough; it is allocated improperly to useless areas.
My idiot state never holds the road-makers accountable for anything and they "fix" roads using methods that last maybe 3 years at best.
Allowing the heaviest payloads in tractor trailers of ANY state does not help matters either.

I would actually favor making some Freeways in Michigan toll roads if and ONLY if they have absolutely NO speed limits and no harrassing traffic patrols for ANYTHING but reckless/drunk drivers. If I have to pay a toll, I want to be able to do 125+mph in the left lane with ZERO threat of being pulled over.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

I am inclined to beleive the economist, Walter E. Williams, who has stated on numerous occasions that "governments have very little power to do good and great power to inflict harm". With that, have a nice weekend everybody. I'm heading for the bunker!

Ummm, they do realize that the money collected to fix the roads, will never really be used to fix the roads!?

J

Faulty. Must sterilize. Sterilize.

__________________
It is well past time to Drill, Baby, Drill!

If your June, July, August and September was like this, you might just hate summer too...

Please unload your question before you ask it unless you have a concealed harry permit.

: countdown begin cr dup . 1- ?dup 0= until cr ." Launch!" cr ;

Give a man a rocket and he will fly for a day; teach him to build and he will spend the rest of his days sanding...

Here are the top gas prices in the nation ... all over $4.00 a gallon:

Oakland, CA 4.006 +0.006
San Jose, CA 4.017 +0.005
San Bernardino, CA 4.018 +0.008
Riverside, CA 4.018 +0.008
San Diego, CA 4.061 +0.015
Ventura, CA 4.061 +0.011
San Francisco, CA 4.062 +0.001
Orange County, CA 4.062 +0.015
Los Angeles, CA 4.070 +0.011
Santa Barbara, CA 4.108 +0.019
Honolulu, HI 4.116 +0.008

From: http://gasbuddy.com/GB_Price_List.aspx

Sucks to be a Hawaiian... OH and without saying a Californian ... nice year round weather but that is where paradise ends.

J

I filled up for $334.9 per gallon of regular unleaded today. How I envy those in the "green" states like Colorado and Wyoming...


Bill

__________________
It is well past time to Drill, Baby, Drill!

If your June, July, August and September was like this, you might just hate summer too...

Please unload your question before you ask it unless you have a concealed harry permit.

: countdown begin cr dup . 1- ?dup 0= until cr ." Launch!" cr ;

Give a man a rocket and he will fly for a day; teach him to build and he will spend the rest of his days sanding...

I filled up yesterday at $3.339 AND this is while all the other stations in my little neck of the woods were at $3.549 for regular

__________________
Jon
SAM #0396
BAR 02/07
NAR 86940
KF4GUL
Aim high, fly straight!