Gas.........

[Stonewall2002]

OK, here we go again. I was going to keep my mouth shut, but because someone interjected politics into the matter I had to speak up. The high gas prices are not a result of some conspiracy cooked up by the oil companies. And, contrary to the opinion of Mr. "Smuckey", it is not some greedy attempt by the Bush administration to "make all the money he can". THE PRESIDENT, NOR THE CONGRESS, HAS ANY CONTROL OVER THE PRICE OF GAS, THEY DO HOWEVER CONTROL THE RATE AT WHICH IT IS TAXED AND REGULATE WHERE IT CAN BE DRILLED FOR DOMESTICALLY. And what is your beloved Democratic controlled congress doing? Not a darned thing except complain about the president. Why, because neither of them can do a thing.... is called a F-R-E-E M-A-R-K-E-T E-C-O-N-O-M-Y. I don't want them to be able to do anything about it, because if the can control them they can control us all.

While this may be hard for some of you to stomach here it is. The reason for the high price of gas is two fold. First and foremost it is the weakness of the dollar. The lower the value of the dollar the less buys. Secondly it IS a function of supply and demand. If we can drill for our own or convince OPEC (fat chance) to produce more crude oil, the price will drop.

The breakdown:
Barrel of Oil = $120.00 (50 gal)
# of gallons of gas per barrel = approx 35-40 (depending on grade)
$120.00/37.5 = $3.20 = + refining costs and transportation + state tax + .18 federal tax

So you can see that the profit (and heaven forbid the oil companies make a profit) is minimal. The reason for the large quarterly profits posted by the oil companies is the extremely high demand.

And what about the effect of the penalties on those profits proposed by our good friends on the left? Well... no company pays taxes. They simply pass that increase along to you and I, its that simple.

I realize that this hurts everyone, but right now there is nothing we can do except weather the storm. It is not the fault of any one president, congress, or party. The blame rests on all of our shoulders because for too long we have been dependant on foreign sources of oil instead of drilling for our own in conjunction with the development alternative fuel sources (not ethanol.... we have all seen the effect of that on food prices and supply). It cannot last for ever, eventually the dollar will rebound and, hopefully, we will drill for our own sources of oil.... caribou be damned.

I will now get down off of my soap box.

PLEASE MOVE THIS POST TO THE "OFF TOPIC DISCUSSION BOARD"

Keep on chuckin'

[birdstrike]

A temporary relief in the gas tax is one thing we do not want IMHO. Congress will need to get the money somewhere and will raise taxes to do it. Once the gas tax is re-instated, we get to keep all the tax increases that were meant to off-set it. A short time of savings = a lifetime of higher taxes. No thanks.

[markmac60]

The last time I went fishin (19-20Apr2008), I had to put $88 in my truck and $45 in my boat. I make a good living and have no complaints. I'm better off than most. However, since this is my only real hobby, and my golf scores lately can attest to that, fishin will happen it's just a matter of where. My favorites are C-River, C-Lake and Dale in that order. Being from Louisville, that's a full tank in my truck round trip. If it hits $4 a gallon (which is knocking at the door), that's $120 just for the truck. I see Ohio River and Southern Indiana in my future more consistently than in the past. I'm with 'wishniwasfishn', my 50HP 4-stroke is lookin better all the time. Bottom line, fishin just as much just closer to home. Unfortunately, the options locally are a far, far cry from the favorites listed above.

[jmwldcat]

sorry but you are wrong. a barrel of oil is 42 gals of which 51.4% is auto gas. it cost about 9 dollors from the drill to the end of the refinery. transportation cost is on the rise so that accounts for some of the other cost. oil company profits are listed at 7.3% but this is a hard crude profit not a refined profit which has risen to 324% over the last 30 months. refined profit in other words gas is where all the money is. on avg ashland made in profit about 6.2 billion a qtr and that is still moving.

OK, here we go again. I was going to keep my mouth shut, but because someone interjected politics into the matter I had to speak up. The high gas prices are not a result of some conspiracy cooked up by the oil companies. And, contrary to the opinion of Mr. "Smuckey", it is not some greedy attempt by the Bush administration to "make all the money he can". THE PRESIDENT, NOR THE CONGRESS, HAS ANY CONTROL OVER THE PRICE OF GAS, THEY DO HOWEVER CONTROL THE RATE AT WHICH IT IS TAXED AND REGULATE WHERE IT CAN BE DRILLED FOR DOMESTICALLY. And what is your beloved Democratic controlled congress doing? Not a darned thing except complain about the president. Why, because neither of them can do a thing.... is called a F-R-E-E M-A-R-K-E-T E-C-O-N-O-M-Y. I don't want them to be able to do anything about it, because if the can control them they can control us all.

While this may be hard for some of you to stomach here it is. The reason for the high price of gas is two fold. First and foremost it is the weakness of the dollar. The lower the value of the dollar the less buys. Secondly it IS a function of supply and demand. If we can drill for our own or convince OPEC (fat chance) to produce more crude oil, the price will drop.

The breakdown:
Barrel of Oil = $120.00 (50 gal)
# of gallons of gas per barrel = approx 35-40 (depending on grade)
$120.00/37.5 = $3.20 = + refining costs and transportation + state tax + .18 federal tax

So you can see that the profit (and heaven forbid the oil companies make a profit) is minimal. The reason for the large quarterly profits posted by the oil companies is the extremely high demand.

And what about the effect of the penalties on those profits proposed by our good friends on the left? Well... no company pays taxes. They simply pass that increase along to you and I, its that simple.

I realize that this hurts everyone, but right now there is nothing we can do except weather the storm. It is not the fault of any one president, congress, or party. The blame rests on all of our shoulders because for too long we have been dependant on foreign sources of oil instead of drilling for our own in conjunction with the development alternative fuel sources (not ethanol.... we have all seen the effect of that on food prices and supply). It cannot last for ever, eventually the dollar will rebound and, hopefully, we will drill for our own sources of oil.... caribou be damned.

I will now get down off of my soap box.

PLEASE MOVE THIS POST TO THE "OFF TOPIC DISCUSSION BOARD"

Keep on chuckin'

[HURRICANEBOB]

6.2 billion a qtr and that is still moving.[/QUOTE]


NOTE TO SELF:
a. Go to med school.
b. Become doctor.
c. When an exec from Ashland comes into the emergency ward, charge him 324 percent more for health care, critcal care or not.
d. If he can't pay it, tell him to park his butt on the curb, just like my van is doing.

Greed, is greed. I fully support free enterprize, it's the American way. So whenever and whereever I get to do business with Ashland, I will be sure to exercise the free enterprize sysem, and they will pay until their wallets bleed green. Fair is fair, and turn aout is fair play.