Ouchie on gas prices lately

[Lloyd Danforth]

Fuel costs for driving my 3 ton picture window around is 30 cents for each mile!

[mvpel]

Everyone should check out http://www.newhampshiregasprices.com/ - it includes a 30-day average retail price graph:

[Pat McCotter]

Gas price in Concord, NH
Friday - 3.39
Sunday - 3.22

Gas price in Concord, NH
Mpnday - 3.05 (2.99 near mall,Wal-Mart)

[Dreepa]

As I drove across this country I had to pay more and more the closer I got to the northeast.
$3.49 in NY state.

[AlanM]

Almost here?   

[Kat Kanning]

The spy network says he's in Concord 

[Dreepa]

Excellent that the spies are working......
As of 8pm last night I am in the free state...
Walkthrough on the house is tonight and closing is tomorrow morning.

[Kat Kanning]

Welcome home!!

[Michael Fisher]

Welcome to the frying pan. 

[tracysaboe]

Our Gas Prices peeked around $3.20 or so a gallon. They're already starting to stabalize and even come down. It'll be awhile before they get back down to $2.50 or less like they were before the hurricain, and it's possible that with inflation and government meddling they won't come all the way back down.

Part of the problem with all these "anti-gouging" laws, is that businesses are more reluctent to push prices down as fast, because they're afraid if they go up again, they'll get thrown in jail, or fined, or whatever. So they just keep them high to begin with.

Tracy

[Pat K]

Excellent that the spies are working......
As of 8pm last night I am in the free state...
Walkthrough on the house is tonight and closing is tomorrow morning.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Excellent that the spies are working......
As of 8pm last night I am in the free state...
Walkthrough on the house is tonight and closing is tomorrow morning.

When will you need help?  I'm saving my gas so i Can help Porks move into their houses.

[Dreepa]

Excellent that the spies are working......
As of 8pm last night I am in the free state...
Walkthrough on the house is tonight and closing is tomorrow morning.

When will you need help?? I'm saving my gas so i Can help Porks move into their houses.

Dunno... I don't know when the truck will arrive.

I will let everyone know.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Leno did a good skit the other night on saving fuel costs.

The scene opens with a cop gassing up his cruiser.  Leno pulls up on the other side of the pump.  He gets out with a map and engages the cop in a conversation in back of the cruiser.
Leno's trunk opens and a Dwarf jumps out and runs around the far side of the pump, removes the nozzle from the cruiser, runs back the way he came and starts gassing up Leno's car.  They cut to the pump's numbers going up and up.  When it's full, the dwarf returns the nozzle to the cruiser and re-enters the trunk. Leno thanks the cop and drives off.

It was funny enough thru the entire thing.  I didn't notice it was a cop car untill near the end. Then it was even better!

[Kat Kanning]

 Gasoline, Taxes, and Middle East Policy

by Rep. Ron Paul, MD

My constituents in the Texas gulf coast are very concerned about the price of gasoline, especially in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Katrina has left nine gulf coast refineries inoperable, and reduced capacity at four. This will mean the loss of 20 to 40 million barrels of oil in coming months, and prices at the pump well over $3.

Congress can help immediately by suspending federal gas taxes, which alone add 18.4 cents to the cost of every gallon. The state of Texas adds another 20 cents per gallon in taxes. Citizens are always asked to sacrifice during crises; why are governments never expected to do the same? Immediate, short-term relief for every American at the pump could be a reality when Congress returns to Washington this week. Congress should pass, and the president should immediately sign, a bill suspending the federal gas tax. This would create pressure for states to do the same. This is the simplest, fastest, and soundest way to drop gas prices and ease the financial impact of Katrina. Wouldn?t it be better to leave that money in the pockets of the American public at least temporarily, especially as we?re all being asked to provide financial help to hurricane victims?

Many people are upset with oil companies, which is understandable given the frustrations of steadily rising gas prices. But the fundamental problem is not a lack of regulation or price gouging, but rather the lack of price competition between oil companies. The maze of regulatory and environmental rules makes it nearly impossible for would-be competitors to explore new domestic sources of oil or build new refineries. When was the last time you heard of a new start-up oil company? This is because of too much government regulation, not too little. History proves time and time again that the best way to provide any good is too allow markets to operate freely.

The bulk of our refining capacity is concentrated along the gulf coast, leaving the nation?s gas supply vulnerable to annual hurricanes. Without new oil exploration and new refineries, our domestic capacity is fixed. As demand rises with the growth of the U.S. population, we find ourselves increasingly dependent on oil-rich nations ? many of which have questionable governments. With worldwide demand for oil increasing, and our domestic supply fixed, we face a new era. We must increase domestic production, pure and simple. We cannot afford to be held hostage by unrealistic environmental rules that threaten to strangle our economy. Existing refineries cannot carry the nation if we hope to maintain reasonable gas prices.

Turmoil in the Middle East demonstrates that we cannot depend on OPEC nations to make up for our lack of domestic production. As recently as 2002, before we went into Iraq, oil cost less than $20 per barrel. Now it?s nearly $70 per barrel. Before the war, many predicted that a renewed flow of cheap Iraqi oil would benefit American consumers. The opposite has taken place. Iraqi oil production has come to a halt, and OPEC prices have risen steadily over the last few years.

Consider this: Iraqis can buy gas for as little as five cents per gallon, courtesy of American taxpayers! We?re talking about imported refined gas, because Iraqi refineries are not operating. Iraqi officials, using American tax dollars, buy this fuel from the Saudis or other OPEC nations at market rates. This subsidy to Iraq cost us nearly $3 billion in 2004 alone. What kind of foreign policy justifies using your tax dollars to subsidize gas prices in an oil-rich nation, while prices skyrocket in the U.S.? We must change our priorities and focus our resources on the American people. We cannot count on using military or political influence in the Middle East to keep gas prices low.

It is easy to call for drastic government action in the emotional aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but we must not ignore history, logic, and basic economics. The Nixon administration imposed price controls on gasoline, but the result was shortages and long lines at the pump. The price mechanism is necessary to create an incentive for oil companies to increase the amount of refined gasoline available. Price controls also discourage the development of alternative fuels. When President Reagan later lifted price controls, worldwide oil production increased dramatically and gas prices plummeted.

Electric, hybrid, and alternative fuel vehicles may be the future, but for the foreseeable future the American economy will continue to depend on oil. We must face this reality and increase the number of domestic refineries, while considering immediate tax relief at the pump. Long term, we must rethink our foreign policy to focus on the interests of American citizens rather than spending billions on nation-building exercises. We are spending more than one billion dollars every week in Iraq, and thousands of National Guard soldiers are assigned there. Those dollars and that manpower are sorely needed in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

September 7, 2005

Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.