Ike and Oil Prices: Suck it up oil dudes!

And I mean at sea.

Read the bit on drowning. read

The price that you see at the pump is not based on current oil prices.

Oil companies estemate the price of oil in the future based on whats happening to day. It may seem like the oil companies are turning a massive profit right now, but they are making up for the changes in supply and demand in the future.

The reason why they do this is to balance a potentialy erratic market. It was put into place in the 70s if I'm not mistaken as a result of the 70s oil/gas crisis.

I'm sure our self apointed scholars of the forum can correct me.

I did not know that. Im not so bothered about the price, just the bloody tax i have to pay on it for my no good lousy government

Crazychica: I've been thru earthquakes, tornados, floods, windstorms, fire, been struck by lightening... but never a hurricane. And I don't mean to minimalize it.

Thank God you are still alive. Drowning is one way I don't think I'd want to go.

However, my point is not "Which is the worst way to go?" -- or "Which is the most dangerous profession?", but rather: Why do the oil companies feel they have the right to raise their prices the first inkling they get that they might lose a dimes profit "tomorrow"?

Firemen stand in harms way all the time. It doesn't raise their wages. It goes with the job.

When Iowa had all the floods this year, it really destroyed a lot of the corn crop. But they didn't raise the corn prices the next day. We may see the effects of this "disaster" in a few months, but it wasn't instantly, like the oil companies do.

The very moment you become a oil company executive I'm sure you will bring these valuable points up in your board meeting.

The point is oil is not a limiless resource like corn or firemen and OPEC knows this. When you see the price change it isn't because they are simply profiting on a disaster, this is a strongly monotered resource. World wide balance of oil reserves is always in the front of thier mind, not profits.

ha ha. I'll bring it up.

You make a good point doubtingthomas. But -- it's like they HAVE to make that huge profit... until the end. It's just wrong.

They will prevent people from coming up with alternative forms of energy until they can prevent it no more. And squeeze every dime out of the little people that they can. They've been doing it for years.

I don't expect to solve the problem with this post, it's just another point to bring up at your next town-council oil-price meeting... haha.

This post is worth 0 points. hahaha.

This will come off as condecending and I'm sorry but I want to simplify it for the other readers.


Lets say you run a Lemonaid stand, I have never had one, so my facts might be fuzzy.

It takes 2 lemons to make a glass of lemonaid.
Each lemon today costs 5 cents each.
You sell each glass of lemonaid for 25 cents each.

Your overal profit not counting man power to create the lemonaid is is 15 cents.

Now... lets say tommorrow you find out lemons will not be on the planet any longer in 1 month. Now this information my be false but its a best guess at the time, so you better prepair for it.

Would the price of lemons tommorrow need to represent the price of lemonaid today in order for you to stay in bisness? I would say yes.

Lets say during that 1 month time you want to find alternative sources for your lemonaid, but it costs money and it might even not pan out at all. It it would cost alot more than your current profits today of 15 cents. The only methoud of income at this moment is 25 cent lemonaid. So you jack up the price on that lemonaid to 75 cents a glass. This is over a 300% increase in your profits today, and your not really sure that this might be the last month your in bissness.

You could see how the price of lemonaid might fluctuate based on potential avalilablity in the future.


This is highly simplified but I hope you get the idea.

lemonade tycoon

Gas went up here yesterday to over $5.00 a gallon because of the threat to the refineries in Texas. I was a bit pissed about it but now it seems to be small potatoes considering I have 17 members of my family who have came here to seek refuge from the storm. We have confirmed for sure that one of my sisters has lost her home. She is here with me and her children are here as well. It's just really humbling at the moment for us. We still have one brother who is doing search and resuce in the storm area now that we have not taked to since 4 pm yesterday.


We are just staying in and not using any gas that we don't have to use.

people should stop panic buying because the more they panic the higher the gas prices will be.

The "lemonade" analogy is a good one, but you see... if lemons will not be available -- it's time to get into a new line of work.

So the oil companies need to quit trying to milk that "drying well" problem, and put their concerns elsewhere, instead of trying to milk the people for everything they have, in their death throes.

As for wildchild: hang in there. It can't be easy. But remember, they milked all 17 of your family members to be able to get to your place of refuge. They knew they had no choice. So they gouged them.

It's called price gouging.

Hang in there kids.

Well, I'm glad to say that the day after this was posted, this very topic appeared in the news.

And so the oil-companies backed off.
Even Bush referred to it as price-gouging.

You got to be one step ahead of those greedy mofos. All the time.