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2004
Gas Prices Report Who's
to Blame? Runaway gas prices
are driving the USA economy downward. Amidst the
"conspiracy theories" and short sighted blame we
thought we'd convey a few interesting facts about
the predicament we are all facing at the
pump. ARE
THE MAJOR OIL PRODUCERS CONJOINING TO SET PRICES AT
THE PUMP? The
truth of the matter is that there are so many
players in the oil business it is impossible for
any one "coalition" to join forces against us.
Presently the largest organized companies are Exxon
(ExxonMobil, an American Based company) Shell
(Royal Dutch/Shell Group, a Dutch and British
company) and Aramaco (Saudi arabia). however, the
oil supply "stream" from soil to refinery to pump
involves literally hundreds of vendors, producers,
rigging companies, engineering & exploration
firms, trucking companies, unions, foreign
conglomerates, small independents in the chain,
etc. It is true that the
major oil companies have generated record billion
dollar profits in early 2004 but they have done
this by doing no different tactics than most large
scale corporations... You can see PRICE GOUGING in
many product lines, in most shopping malls, super
markets, and retail stores. To say that the oil
companies have many a concerted effort to drive up
gas prices is inaccurate. They merely acted like
any industry who knows their customers will pay
more, and more, and more. California
prosecuted several oil companies in California for
antitrust violations in the 1980's, recent
government inquiries have ruled out price-fixing.
Referring to a multiyear probe of the state's oil
industry, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer
said in March 2004 that "no solid, direct evidence
of unlawful conduct" had been found. It would be
impossible for the few "majors" to control every
aspect of finding, refining and delivering gasoline
to your local station. GAS
STATIONS RUN UP PRICES AT THE PUMP:
As oil reserves
fluctuate it's often the case that each and every
independantly owned gas station "skyrockets" their
prices at the pump when bad news about future
supplies hits, then of course they "lag" in
bringing down the prices when prices fall. This
"skimming" is a small part of the oil problem
though and again, you will find this "price
lowering lag" in every grocery store, etc.
Have
you priced milk, cat food, hamburger meat and
toilet paper lately? On average, retail
stations are making the same amount of money they
made a year ago, about 14 cents per gallon. If you
talk to most station owners, they work long hard
days and make a modest income... There have been
some exceptions of course, those people should be
written up in the local paper and
boycotted. OPEC
CONTROLS THE PRICES OF CRUDE OIL:
OPEC (The
organization of oil producing countries). has a
hard enough time keeping their members in check
without concerning themselves with stockpiling
reserves to inflate prices. remember these
countries have been feuding for thousands of years
and don't tend to work together on any
level. THERE"S
TOO MANY COUNTRIES AND TOO MANY CARS:
The majority of
oil consumed in the USA is produced abroad. Unlike
years ago when we were self sufficient. But who's
to blame for the shallow suplies of 2004 and
eminent skyrocketing fuel costs... WE
ARE!!! CALIFORNIA,
THE "CRISIS ZONE": In
fact, our home state, California, consumes MORE
GASOLINE THAN ANY FOREIGN COUNTRY. The state had
been exporting it's domestic production supply of
oil until 2001. Now with the ever increasing
population, traffic congestion, aging vehicles, and
the most damagin "Hummer mentality" where every
Soccer Mom is trading in their undesirable
"eco-friendly car" for SUV's, Minivans, and
Peterbuilt trucks (kidding, we hope!), the state
can't begin to keep up with the damand, this
inversion of gas flow by all accounts seems to be
growing at an alarming rate... Of course all
this doom and gloom just makes all of us here at
ElectricCars.com smile... Yea we knew it was coming
in 1996 when we started our little project here...
Help us spread the word! The
Future is Electric!
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