Sweet!

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Got gas today for $1.80. Where's my SUV?

[k4kyv]

  Where's my SUV?

I'd save the money and use it for the next hamfest or paying the electric bill.  Those tubes aren't going to last for ever.

[WD8BIL]

This too is Bush's fault ..... isn't it??? I'm confused.

[W1RKW]

Prices here are wacked out all over.  In town the local Citgo is priced at $2.41.  The lowest I've seen it is at a station not far from work, $2.15.   The price of a barrel of oil dropped to around $50/barrel and some change.  OPEC isn't cutting back so the price of a barrel may hit the 40's.  Around here the price of gas is not immediately following the decrease in price of a barrel.  If it goes up however, boy they don't wait at all to raise the price.

[WA1GFZ]

Don't all you bush lovers blow your loads. It just turned cold and they are talking $4 a gal soon.

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

It's the fault of a real warm spell, I think, although some parts of the country are really getting iced out right now.  I can't believe it's mid January around Washington DC.  I heard that the cherry blossoms are blooming!  Whether it's Global Warming or just a natural cycle, it's certainly unusual weather we're having.  Hey, let's watch the northern ice melt!  When palm trees start sprouting up on Antarctica, then we're going to know something.

[W1RKW]

I grew 4 maple trees from seeds last year.  I was looking at them the other day and they have buds on them that looked like they were about to pop open.


For a look at the futures markets and contracts on crude oil:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/fc?s=CLG07.NYM

Other energy commodities:
http://finance.yahoo.com/futures?u
Click on Futures Chain

I think the numbers you will see, for example like gasoline, reflect the wholesale price before taxes and other crap.

[Bill, KD0HG]

The cheapest diesel fuel around here is $2.55.

I'd sure like to know why they're charging a half-buck/gallon more than gasoline.

A free market without fake shortages would theoretically dictate that refiners would switch to making the more profitable product, thereby bringing the price more in line with the other stuff that they also refine...

One would think so anyway cuz the attorney general says there's no evidence of any price fixing or gouging going on.. (wink, wink) (nudge, nudge) (wink, wink) (ka-ching!)

[W1RKW]

One would think so anyway cuz the attorney general says there's no evidence of any price fixing or gouging going on.. (wink, wink) (nudge, nudge) (wink, wink) (ka-ching!)

The AG's are futures traders and are all in colusion with the other traders.

[WA1GFZ]

They drill for oil in Alaska it must have been warm there once.

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

I think that there are fossils of tropical vegetation under the ice on Antarctica too.  I chalk it up to plate tectonics and ancient climates.

[WB3JOK]

Well, I can certainly believe that it's mid-January here in Billy Penn's Icebox. As I write this, it's a balmy 25 degrees above zero up here!

I guess that would be "balmy" further up here in Presque Isle, ME...

-17F this morning not counting the windchill which was effectively -35F. Brrrrr...
The high today was -1.

On the other hand at the home QTH in southern Missouri it was only +19. My wife thinks that's cold 

-Charles

[flintstone mop]

Get rid of the hybrid and get back into the 10 MPG SUK!!!!
Fred

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Gas vendors bought their gas weeks ago when the oil prices were higher. They're just trying to recover their cost investment. Not a lot of mystery here.

When oil prices go up, and gas prices start to rise, it makes no sense for local gas vendors not to get on gas increase bandwagon early on, even if they bought their gas at a lower wholesale price.

[Ed KB1HVS]

Got gas today for $1.80. Where's my SUV?

 But beer is still 6 bux a pack

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Prices on citrus will likely soon go up due to the freeze in California. Those evil citrus growers are always gouging us. I want Congress to investigate. THEY say it's true, whoever they is......

[Bill, KD0HG]

C'mon, Steve.
We *know* there's been a freeze in CA. Of course prices for produce are going up!
Point-set-match.

I simply want to know WHY diesel and #2 heating fuel are priced 50 cents a gallon more than gasoline, when it costs the same, or even less to refine..The SAME crude oil is used to source both. The SAME crude that's been dropping to record lows in price. Any rational explanation besides the fact that trucking fuel and home heating in the east aren't exactly something that can be cut back on would be welcome. A semi gets 5-8 MPG on a run no matter what. There's no alternatives. Truckers can't car pool or take the subway.. You can cut the thermostat down to 68 and that's about it.

We-are-getting-screwed by the oil companies with the complicity of government; don't try to gloss it over
This country runs on # 1 and #2 diesel fuel, be it airlines, truckers or home heating in the east. And none of the above can cut back. We are getting forked, and our so-called law enforcers are blind and stupid all of a sudden. That's why I'm POed.

All I'm asking for is a rational explanation WHY some refinery products are priced WAY more than the others.

[W2VW]

All I'm asking for is a rational explanation WHY some refinery products are priced WAY more than the others.

You know the answer Bill. Supply and demand. If people all slowed down and/or used a gas stingy vehicle a few days more a week the price of fuel would drop. We are too much in a hurry to do anything like that. Fuel is worth what the market will support. No  more no less.
   BTW, I just had to fill up my 1980 Fleetwood 2 door. Still had the gas in it from September.

[k4kyv]

I  noticed yesterday that the daffodils have sprouted and are about 3" high.  That usually doesn't happen until February.

The tropical fossils in the polar regions can be explained by plate techtonics, plus the poles themselves are believed to have shifted over time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_shift_theory

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

The cheapest diesel fuel around here is $2.55.

I'd sure like to know why they're charging a half-buck/gallon more than gasoline.

Your questions is a good one, Bill. The answer is simple: taxes. Diesel was always cheaper here when I was growing up. Diesel requires less refining, cheaper to make, should still be cheaper to buy as a result, right? Wrong.

If it's the same there as here and elsewhere, the tax-and-spend folks saw diesel as another way to get more $ from folks. It started up here back in the late 70s/early 80s when folks went to driving VW Rabbit diesels and buying up older Mercedes 240Ds because they used less fuel and diesel was cheaper than gas. Governments made less on gas taxes, and went after diesel. The theory being, 'they can afford it since diesel costs less than gass, we're just leveling the field'. Then the chicken littles of the world got involved with diesel being a 'dirty, nasty-bad-evil fuel' even though the bi-products are less destructive than those from gasoline. More taxes added (to supposedly pay for this damage), and likely to discourage folks from buying diesel vehicles to save money. If you think this is a joke, check out what Oregon wants to do with meters in cars to track miles driven as folks drive more efficient vehicles. God forbid they actually cut back on spending.

http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=32957

Minnesota is looking at the same thing:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/01/02/mileagetax/

(Those are just the first links Google popped up, I'm sure there is more info out there)

As far as gasoline prices go, we have no one to blame but ourselves. I don't see any conspiracy there, just the supply/demand machine in motion. Demand drops, so do prices. Seems pretty simple?

Just remember what some folks squealed when prices dropped last fall: "You'll see, prices will go back up after the election!! This is just a stunt to get votes!!" blah blah, blah blah. Strangely, the economy is still growing too, and federal tax revenues reached an all time high by cutting taxes? Who knew??

Check out your state taxes on diesel, Bill. And then add any federal ones.


"No conspiracies.... just the facts, ma'am..."  - Sgt. Joe Friday in the 2007 world

[WD8BIL]

Why is Greenland called Greenland Ain't much green been there since the li'l ice age.

[k4kyv]

The answer is simple: taxes.

We used to heat with oil.  The heater specified #1 crystal clear kerosene.  A few years before the heater crapped out, they started collecting the federal highway tax on heating fuel because truckers were allegedly using it in their diesel rigs to avoid paying the road tax.  We had to save all our receipts and submit them at income tax time to get our money refunded (without interest).  Otherwise, we would have had to buy untaxed heating oil that had some kind of dye added that made it look like tea, and that made it difficult to judge whether it really was crystal clear #1 grade, or #2 grade, which has an amber hue to it, and wasn't recommended by the manufacturer because it tended to gum up the heater.

The incredible thing about all this was, that #1 grade kerosene, withthout the road tax, was still more expensive than regular diesel with the tax included.  So why would anyone bother to cheat the government by running a truck on untaxed kerosene when the legal, taxed motor fuel was cheaper?

I spent a little time in the UK about 5 years ago.  At that time, the price of gas was the equivalent of about $5 a gallon, while it was still just a little over a dollar a  gallon here.  The difference in price is due to the high fuel tax they charge all over Europe.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Why is Greenland called Greenland Ain't much green been there since the li'l ice age.

From Wikipedia: "The name "Greenland" comes from Scandinavian settlers. In the Norse sagas, it is said that Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland for murder. He, along with his extended family and thralls, set out in ships to find the land that was rumored to be to the northwest. After settling there, he named the land Grænland ("Greenland"), possibly in order to attract more people to settle there. Greenland was also called Gruntland ("Ground-land") on early maps. Whether Green is an erroneous transcription of Grunt ("Ground"), which refers to shallow bays, or vice versa, is not known. It should also be noted, however, that the southern portion of Greenland (not covered by glacier) is indeed very green in the summer, and was likely even greener in Erik's time because of the Medieval Warm Period."

[W3SLK]

Don said:

We used to heat with oil.  The heater specified #1 crystal clear kerosene.  A few years before the heater crapped out, they started collecting the federal highway tax on heating fuel because truckers were allegedly using it in their diesel rigs to avoid paying the road tax.  We had to save all our receipts and submit them at income tax time to get our money refunded (without interest).  Otherwise, we would have had to buy untaxed heating oil that had some kind of dye added that made it look like tea, and that made it difficult to judge whether it really was crystal clear #1 grade, or #2 grade, which has an amber hue to it, and wasn't recommended by the manufacturer because it tended to gum up the heater.

The incredible thing about all this was, that #1 grade kerosene, withthout the road tax, was still more expensive than regular diesel with the tax included.  So why would anyone bother to cheat the government by running a truck on untaxed kerosene when the legal, taxed motor fuel was cheaper?

I spent a little time in the UK about 5 years ago.  At that time, the price of gas was the equivalent of about $5 a gallon, while it was still just a little over a dollar a  gallon here.  The difference in price is due to the high fuel tax they charge all over Europe.

Don,
    That is why heating oil has red dye in it. DOT officers can put a stick in the fuel tank and determine whether or not you were running fuel oil or heating oil, (no road taxes). Very nasty penalties are handed down here in PA for substituting heating oil for road diesel. The red dye leaves a residue for quite some time and easily shows up on a the stick.

[Bill, KD0HG]

The cheapest diesel fuel around here is $2.55.

I'd sure like to know why they're charging a half-buck/gallon more than gasoline.

Check out your state taxes on diesel, Bill. And then add any federal ones.

I did that, Todd, thanks for the reply, but it doesn't add up. In every state, taxes on diesel are the same, or within a penny or two more, and in some states even less than on gasoline.

http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp

I think it's safe to say that the state taxes on both fuels is not significantly different at the pump.

The federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents, the federal excise tax on diesel is 24.4 cents, a 6-cent difference.

So I go to AAA web site and here's what it shows for average prices:

CHICAGO Gasoline $2.24.9, Diesel $2.77.7
NYC Gasoline $2.50.6, Diesel $2.98.9
DENVER Gasoline $2.10.3, Diesel $2.59.4
FLORIDA Gasoline $2.27.5, Diesel $2.60.2
OHIO Gasoline $2.02.9, Diesel $2.54.4

See the pattern, nationwide?

Truckers are being hosed, no pun intended, and I think the reason might be that demand for diesel fuel is less elastic than demand for gasoline is. It takes so many gallons of fuel to deliver a load of produce from Florida to NYC, regardless of the price. They could charge $5/gallon, and the price just gets passed on to the public. So that's why I'm saying that something seems to be broken with the system when the retail cost of an item bears little resemblance to what it costs to produce and sell it.





On the NY commodity exchange, today's price for gasoline was $1.39 and #2 distillate (heating oil and diesel) closed at $1.49/gallon.

So as of right now, the wholesale price for diesel is .10 more than unleaded gas, plus .06 more in Federal taxes, a .16/gallon handicap for diesel fuel.