Why is no one talking about gas prices dropping?
 

Dropped 35 cents a gallon here in the last 3 weeks. People started using less, Bush disscussed more drilling, the speculators got scared, prices dropped. Why is this not news?

Because it's only temporary?

You forgot to mention the B'HO tune up special...that alone saved more gas than we could ever drill for.

Wait until after the election. Then it will spike back to even higher levels.

wb is likely right.

tho' maybe a bit of residual of http://www.alternet.org/blogs/election08/77752/

Regular is down to $3.83 a gallon here in North NJ. Would be nice if it drops to below 3 bucks, and stays there...

-Z-man.

When they go up, it's a conspiracy and price gouging. When they go down, it's a conspiracy and only temporary in order to influence the election. It's the same as global warming. No matter what happens - extreme cold, heat, rain, whatever, it's all global warming. About 15 yrs. ago we played this game with El Nino. What's next?

Maybe it's just me, but oil is under $120. I just paid $4.15, same as when it was $147. Slow gas station attendants or what?

Prices go up like a rocket, come down like a feather.

Still think there's no monkey business with energy prices?

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/2004/PR02581.Bandarsaudi041904.pf.html

I think 30-35 cents in three weeks is pretty fast and that's coming down. It's not monkey business to base prices on what your cost of replacement is. Just because you bought it for $xx doesn't mean your mark-up is based on that. It's based on whatever it will cost you to replace your supply. Works the same way with homeowner's insurance. If they only paid you what it originally cost to buy your house, you'd be screwed. They pay the cost to replace.

And how many gas stations around you have closed in the past month?

I know of 3...THREE...on one stretch of road within 4 miles. The supply...as in, what goes to the people on the street...is dropping, and the rest of the stations that have weathered this storm are keeping their chickens in one basket for a while. I'm surprised there was much of any drop at all.

Gas stations always are slower to come down than the bbl price b/c they are trying to make up what they lost when they held out against rising bbl prices.

And to the thread title - I'm not talking about it because a drop from $4.05 to $3.75 here does not excite me. I want to pay $1.75/gallon or I want to pay $5/gallon. No in-between.

Supply isn't dropping, profit margins are. There was a recent article (posted here) about how gas stations are making less per gallon than ever before. Those that can't make it up on food, beer, cigarettes, etc are slowly going under.

Supply IS dropping...when there are fewer gas stations within 5 miles of me, the supply has dropped. That's why I specifically said the supply to the end user...you and me, standing there at the gas pump.

When you and your neighbor have stores selling the same thing, and you go through a price war, then he closes...do you revert to the old, lower price? Heck no! You've now not only cornered the market, but you've cornered it at a higher profit level, without looking like a jerk who just corned the market!

Mike, your street doesn't equal the rest of the USA. From a national standpoint, there is no shortage of gas. If there were it would look like the '70s gas crisis. As for my street, I can't think of a single closed gas station in my area.

Will you ever have a point? We're talking about the price of gas. You want to talk about how many stations have closed. If they all close but 1, and it's close to me, and I can buy gas cheaply there, that's fine. If you have an issue start a thread. Hijack this!

"Rocket and Feather" syndrome.

Yes, a LITTLE respite is nice, but I'm not about to let them jack the price up a buck and a half, then give back a quarter and say "oh look - they're doing me a favor" like all the idiot lemmings out there. I'm still just as pissed as the day it peaked out and for one, I won't forget or tone down my rhetoric against short-sighted and stupid consumption habits and energy policy here in the U.S., even if it drops to $3.00 a gallon.

Guarantee it's going to go back up in a big way by the end of the year. They're gonna' look to stick it to all the holiday travelers. You can take that one to the bank.