Heed your own words.

Not sure what you mean about about "oil (doing) something." Maybe I'M the ignorant one. If you're saying the petroleum companies should lower oil prices, I couldn't agree more.

Other than Merc, who must be fabulously wealthy, everyone here and most everyone in the US has been hard hit by the downturn in the economy and upturn in oil. Some sites I visit are calling the elephant in the national living room, "The Great Recession."

This "swinging chick" can only give you a mouse's eye view of things, but from what I read, there are many of us mice in the same position. Jobs in Cortez have tanked - even with the ever popular tourist season coming up. In addition, state cuts to the food stamp program (SNAP) have made life even harder if you are out of work and have a family - or even if you're just out of work.

Increases in gas costs will cause more people to stay at home and fewer tourist dollars flowing into Cortez. A disaster because this town pretty much lives and dies by the tourist.

Merc can lobby for Exxon et al all he pleases (he's GOT to own petroleum stock!), but the fact remains, higher gas prices are only going to make a bad economy worse. And THEN what will happen to Starbucks, eh? :eyebrow:

Oil is a resource that is getting harder and more expensive to locate, extract and process. Much of the "light, sweet crude" has been used up.

An American geologist, M. King Hubbert, predicted in 1956 that United States oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970 - and he was correct. The same technique has been used to predict that world oil production would peak somewhere around now. The peak doesn't mean that the world is out of oil - just that it becomes harder and harder (and more expensive) to extract the oil that's left in the ground.

Peak oil isn't a new idea. There's even a society dedicated to researching peak oil (see ASPO: a network of scientists and others, having an interest in determining the date and impact of the peak and decline of the world's production of oil and gas, due to resource constraints. http://www.peakoil.net/).

We won't know if we've reached the peak until a few years after we've passed it. It's best to start preparing now.

Somehow the rest of the world survives on much higher oil prices.

Much of the rest of the world has more reasonable public transportation than we do. The rail system in Europe is outstanding.

Latin American countries possess large fleets of funky old buses which usually can get you to your destination unless you have a head-on with a farm cart.

I don't know about you Aussies except that you tend to have vast spaces to cover - just like we do. Can a person get by reasonably without a car in a smaller Australian town? So how DO you guys do it?

Re Peak Oil: I think most folks have at least heard of this concept. I am quite in agreement with you on that subject. We need to be doing more in regard to alternative energy resources. I hope the US wakes up to reality before lack of oil flushes us down the old poop shoot.

Don't cave in to your Subaru's demands, it's a slippery slope. The next thing you know you'll be changing the oil, putting new spark plugs in (probably wires too) and replacing tires when they get smooth.

You need to show that car who's boss.

Disclaimer: I am not an auto mechanic or Motor Vehicle Inspection official.

As Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the Saudi oil minister during the 1970's, said, ''The Stone Age didn't end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil.''

I don't trust anyone who repeatedly posts while ignoring obvious facts.

Buy ten gallons of gas. How many of those ten gallons actually move the car? A little over one. Why burn well over 8 of every ten gallons as waste heat and noise? Because gasoline at $10 per gallon is that cheap. And because those who obstruct innovation do so to maximize personal profits or a political agenda. Do not use intelligence that requires an education and ... "did you see those numbers?" Most do not.

The 70 Hp/liter engine was ready for production in GM in 1975. Why was it not standard even in 2010 GM cars? Because oil has always been that ridiculously cheap even when people were embarrassingly worrying about $2 per gallon gasoline. And because "drill baby drill" (and other soundbytes) is easier for the most naive to understand. After all, Barbie told them, "Math is hard." So eyes glaze over.

The solutions always start by doing more with less. Always. But that is not what extremists want. Extremists would rather invent unjustified wars to get "our" oil rather than be educated. An educated person starts by noting cars that get no better gas mileage than 1960 cars. Even weigh less and still got no better mileage. Because oil has always been so ridiculously cheap.

When will the price of oil rise to reflect its real value? When major shortages finally exist. Grandkids will finally realize how dumb their grandparents were in 2011. How so many could be so manipulated by lies such as "drill baby drill" rather than facts that make productive and healthy societies - innovation. Education that would make Rush Limbaugh a "persona non grata".

Unfortunately too many hype lies and spin about “More Oil!” rather than deal with a reality. Near zero innovation for the past 30 years. GM is a benchmark trophy of that problem that Limbaugh, et al encourage. There is no shortage of oil. There is a shortage of innovation and too much "knowledge" provided by a political agenda.

Need we mention another trophy of that stupidity? Ethanol.

Revenue minus expenditures is profit.

Gas went up 30c here over the weekend, 50c since last Monday. So I'm thinking $6 gas by maybe Friday?

yay! (i hope)

from here

and Sam, what i mean by oil doing something is the price of a barrel must come down. oil drives the economy. the oil companies are getting phat while we, the consumer are starving. i've had to go back to ramen noodles at work. why? because it costs me $20 round trip to drive to work and home. 5 days a week? $100. try that at $10 bucks an hour. it truly sucks. back in the day when i made $40 an hour i wouldn't have let it bother me so much. but when, now, after paying my bills i have no more than $30 to my name on payday......

gas has dropped here 6 cents a gallon over the weekend. do you think the analysts are correct with their prediction of a 50cent drop over the next 30 days??

GAWD i hope so. i can only imagine what it costs your city, or any for that matter, to operate their fleet in a month or let alone a week.

No. I believe they will trot out the usual excuses for not dropping the price after being all too willing to raise it. It's the summer driving season, demand is up, costs are now higher...etc etc etc ad nauseum.

If the price of a barrel of oil foes up so much as a nickel, the price of gas goes up a dime overnight. When the price of that same barrel of oil goes down a nickel, the price of gas either stays the same or only goes down a fraction of how much it went up. Fifty cents a gallon drop? I don't see it happening.

So apparently nowhere has variations like here? We gained over 50c in a week, then dropped 30c in two days......

We're paying $3.73 a gallon in my area