John Stossel: Give Me A Break - Oil Prices
Posted by Anthony Martin Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:29:00 GMT
Comments
Trackbacks
Use the following link to trackback from your own site:
http://www.vagabondloafers.com/articles/trackback/57
Pages
Blogs
Podcasts
Links
I love John Stossel but he failed to mention that the main reason people hate oil and gas companies is because the price of gas goes up and down within minutes. There's no way the price of the gas in the station already in the ground can change costs. Gas prices at the pump should only go up and down when new gas is delivered to the station like milk and bread at Walmart. That's real economic supply and demand.
By the way, why would the oil companies want to refine more oil? That would only bring prices and profits down. Gas prices are a combination of poor government and greedy capitalists. If there were as many oil companies as department stores then maybe it really would be a free market but it's not. Do I want the government to step in...NO, they would only make it worse, but let's not sugar coat the oil companies desire to rip people off when they get the chance.
Torri said, "Gas prices at the pump should only go up and down when new gas is delivered to the station like milk and bread at Walmart."
So Torri, let's say over the course of a week, assuming there are no deliveries in that week ... further assume that on Monday the amount n is sold at one price p ... are you suggesting that the price should remain constant even if by Friday, the amount sold jumps to n x 400?
Are you sure that's how it works at Walmart? Are you suggesting they only look at the local supply and delivery rate and they should completely ignore the rate of sale at any given segment of time?
this is stupid. i dont care what the cost of gas is relative to 1981, the cost of a barrel of oil has almost tripled in the last 5 years, and not because of inflation.
i also dont care how much lettuce and apple prices have gone up, because my truck doesnt run on apples and lettuce.
the one bit of relevant info in this vid is the federal government being a big part of the problem.....as usual.
it would also help to mention the actual reason gas cost so much more in a newspiece about why gas cost so much....OPEC.
Adam, the article wasn't suggesting that your truck should run on apples and lettuce, but that the price of apples, lettuce, oil, gold, or anything is only relevant over long spans of time in inflation-adjusted constant-purchasing-power terms.
In today’s dollars, oil is only almost as expensive as it was to Americans in 1980 based on our income levels then. Yet new all-time oil highs will not be achieved until oil barrels prices exceed $90-100's, and these numbers are themselves constantly rising as long as the Fed incessantly runs its printing presses.
no one is suggesting that my truck should run on produce. my point is i am most other americans are not obligated to buy bulk amounts of apples and lettuce to carry out everyday life.
im not arguing about the federal government here. im not giving them a pass. the cartel that controls the oi at least in part, lcontrols the price. (opec) and stoussel didnt even mention them.
OPEC is a foreign cartel, and they are not the only ones at the table. Stossel doesn't have to enumerate each entity in the market to make his point.
Do you suppose that since OPEC is a foreign entity that must deal in US dollars to do business, and since regular market forces are at work here, the reason for the tripling of the price of oil in the last five years is actually due to the decline of the US dollar's value?
You're right. Stossel didn't mention OPEC by name. And he didn't mention the decline of the US dollar's value. Since he failed to do so, I guess his other points are completely invalid.
So Anthony, there's a loaf of bread sitting on the shelf at Walmart for $1. The next day Walmart gets a shipment of new bread but the cost for Walmart has gone up to buy the bread by a $1. I'm pretty sure the bread already on the shelve didn't cost Walmart $2 so why would they raise the price on that bread? They wouldn't until the new bread which cost more was added. By that time, the $1 bread is either sold or about to expire. Now maybe that's the issue, gas doesn't expire like some food products but the principle is the same. You should have to pay for gas that is coming next week. You should pay for gas that you are pumping. Now, whether this is a fact or not doesn't matter. As consumers, we should have more say than we do.
I think what Adam was trying to say is that even if Apples and other items have gone up in price it does not have the same impact on family economics as the price of fuel. One does not consume nearly as many apples as one does gallons of gasoline. Furthermore, canned fruit can be substituted for apples if the price of apples goes too high, or indeed, one might easily choose to do without apples altogether. While gasoline consumption can be lowered, it cannot be so easily substituted or disregarded. In other words Stossel is comparing apples to oranges as it were.