Here we go again...
1) Refining capacity has been a PROVEN bottleneck; we have more oil in the chain than we have GAS being produced. Basic supply/demand here.
2) Gas formulation laws have also taken their toll on prices; we've just gone through a recent switchover that has been a more costly one for refiners. Costs like this have to be passed on to the consumer, unless you can get Congress to open their purses and pay for the changeover...
3) Iran is the 4th largest oil-producing country in the world and like Venezuela (another oil behemoth), their ties to the West have "soured" as of late. There is a risk component to the price of crude oil and political instability with one of the world's largest consumers of oil and a couple of the world's largest producers of it tends to SPIKE this component.
4) Speculation is what the price of oil is pretty much hinged upon. Speculators adjust the price that they are willing to pay for oil due to current factors vs. what they feel future factors will be like. Given all of today's factors (summer demand, forumlation changes, political instability, oil supply concerns, etc., etc., etc.), the price has gone UP.
5) The price of oil and gas per gallon is less than many other liquids that you purchase on a daily basis. If we priced Budwiser out per gallon, you'd be paying around $8/gallon for it. Where is the outrage there?
6) Microsoft makes over 60-70% margin on the software products that consumers typically buy. Exxon and other oil companies on a GOOD day with a commodity such as oil or gas usually make single-digit margins (8% at last look). I don't see people in the streets protesting the margins that biotech firms make or the margins that many SW companies make...
7) The US has consistently paid some of the cheapest overall prices for gasoline since automobiles came into existance. There is a tax component that is associated with gas that many other countries inflate beyond belief, but that does NOT change the fact that gas has been a VERY cheap commodity for the US over the years.
There is a reason Bill Gates is the richest guy on the planet and a reason that you be hard-pressed to find any "Big Oil" executive on the "most wealthy" list; there's also a reason you will find MANY oil sheiks from the Middle-East on that list, too.
In short, quit swallowing the fetid BS that the media tosses out to further sensationalize a hot-button issue. There's reason for concern about the price of oil and gas, but I'm tired of this lemming-mentality that states oil companies are "fixing" prices and "screwing" the consumer here.
THINK, PEOPLE!!!
