Oil Prices: Speculation or supply and demand?

[Jon Miller]

And even a bit of pollution causes asthma and other problems that we might not fully understand, impacting our quality of life.

And it isn't a 'choice'. People have to feed themselves and take care of their families. So they have to go where the jobs are.

And the jobs are in the cities.

JM

[Victor Galis]

Originally posted by rmsharpe

Can you find one person whose cause of death is listed as "air pollution?" I've been in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and I never had a problem breathing, even during rush hour.

But that's because of regulation. If you want to see what unregulated air pollution does consider a visit to China. Or invent a time machine and go to 1800s London.

We're not subsidizing anything, we're voluntarily buying or using a company's services or products.

I think he's referring to the cost everyone pays in terms of loss of common goods such as clean air.

Since the company dumped their waste into a water supply that belonged to somebody else, why shouldn't you be allowed to sue for dumping on someone else's property? I'm against excessive government regulation, not the right to seek redress.

Who owns the rivers and what makes the different from the athmosphere?

Committing economic suicide by trying to mandate alternative energy isn't enough? Cheap energy is the foundation of our economy.

And it's time to change because cheap oil is dead.

[rmsharpe]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
It was a lot worse before controls were enforced.

Okay, so we have controls and they work, right? Then why do we need more of them?

[Kidlicious]

I hope someone already mentioned that the oil companies already have plenty of places to pump oil, but aren't drilling there now.

[rmsharpe]

That's either because there's no oil there or the oil is too costly to get to (yes, even at $150/barrel).

What's the point of being given land to drill on if there's nothing there?

[Vanguard]

Originally posted by Victor Galis


Reality seems to disagree with you. Oil is hardly the only commodity this has been happening two.

Or..... perhaps commodities are doubling in price due to speculation instead of gradual increases in demand.

Overall, there is more speculation now. It is relatively more profitable to speculate than it is to invest, due to large amounts of debt and concentration of wealth.

The phenomenon works like this:

Concentration of wealth means that relatively more of the total amount of wealth in the world is available for investment or speculation.

But it also means that there is relatively less wealth available to buy the goods that investment produces.

Therefore speculation becomes relatively more profitable compared to investment.

[notyoueither]

Two billion people in rapidly developing economies are a more reasonable, and predictable cause for a rapid rise in commodity values.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by rmsharpe
Can you find one person whose cause of death is listed as "air pollution?" I've been in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and I never had a problem breathing, even during rush hour.

You don't think air pollution causes any health effects? You don't think it could cause massive problems with those suffering from asthma or other breathing ailments? If secondhand smoke can kill... smoke from factories can't?

As said... have you seen the air over China?

We're not subsidizing anything, we're voluntarily buying or using a company's services or products.

Of course we are. As Victor alluded to, my argument is that we as a society are paying for the negative externalities instead of having the oil companies pay. For example, why are there so many troops in the ME? Would there be if there was no oil? That's, in effect, a subsidy for cheap oil.

Since the company dumped their waste into a water supply that belonged to somebody else, why shouldn't you be allowed to sue for dumping on someone else's property? I'm against excessive government regulation, not the right to seek redress.

Apparently you are, since your solution to negative externaliities that oil companies put out but don't pay for is, basically, "this is an industrial society.. tough".

You must be under the mistaken impression that I agree with what the Supreme Court does.

As I've told many people in the past, the Supreme Court decides what the Constitution means, so if you want to argue about what the government can or cannot do, you have to refer to it.

An argument about what the Constitution really means is irrelevant to this debate about what the government has the power to actually do in the real world and should be relegated to another thread.

Committing economic suicide by trying to mandate alternative energy isn't enough? Cheap energy is the foundation of our economy.

You have entirely too little faith in the strength of the American economy. If cheap energy is the foundation of the US economy, then we're ****ed until someone finds out how to make fusion power.

Alternative energy research is the best way to lower energy costs at the moment.

I'm not at all in denial about there being a cartel, I'm saying that the protectionist measures attempted by some in Congress are at the very least laughable, if not scary.

Which protectionist measures referring specifically to oil have succeeded or have a chance of succeeding?

I agree, if it can be made cost-effective enough for it to be built on a massive scale.

With government subsidy for the start up costs, it can be. Why shouldn't the government subsidize nuclear power, when it already does so with other energy (as I've pointed out above).

I'm sorry, but I don't know enough about energy policy in Canada or Australia to tell you that they've got some sort of punishing tax rate on cheap energy. Do you have that information?

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

Fuel taxes in Canada can vary greatly between locales. On average, about one-third of the total price of gas at the pump is tax.

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

The Goods and Services Tax of 10% is charged and included in the price of all fuel purchases in Australia.

The excise tax on commonly used fuels in Australia as of June 2006 are as follows:[citation needed]

* A$0.38143 per litre on Unleaded Petrol fuel (Includes standard, blended (E10) and premium grades)
* A$0.38143/0.40143 per litre on Diesel fuel (Ultra-low sulphur/Conventional)
* A$0.00 (Excise-Free) per litre on Liquified petroleum gas used as fuel (Autogas or LPG as it is commonly known in Australia)
* A$0.38143 per litre on Ethanol fuel (Can be reduced/removed via Grants)
* A$0.38143 per litre on Biodiesel (Can be reduced/removed via Grants)

As stated though, fuel tax credits are available to certain businesses with large fuel costs, but not as a result of vehicles.

[notyoueither]

You don't pay sales tax on gas?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by notyoueither
You don't pay sales tax on gas?

Your sales tax is higher than ours (depending on the state).

But you just reminded me that I forgot to put the excise tax for Australia.

[notyoueither]

I just looked at fuel prices in CA.

The price in Bakersfield was ~$0.50 less per gallon than I paid today.

[Imran Siddiqui]

California is known for having the highest gas taxes in the country . In Georgia (where I am) it is about 20 cents per gallon less tax on gasoline.

[notyoueither]

What are sales taxes in CA, NY, and TX?

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
California is known for having the highest gas taxes in the country . In Georgia (where I am) it is about 20 cents per gallon less tax on gasoline.

Gas costs less in Toronto than it does here in Edmonton.

Go figure.

[Victor Galis]

Originally posted by Vanguard


Or..... perhaps commodities are doubling in price due to speculation instead of gradual increases in demand.

Even the ones that there's no speculation in?