Gas prices and Katrina

[dvcgirl]

I was listening to an oil analyst this morning on a local Orlando radio station. He explained what has happened, and what is about to happen to pricing. First of all, the mid-west prices have gone up so much because you all depend on the oil that comes out of the Gulf much more than other areas. You also keep a much lower supply of gasoline than other areas of the country. That's why you all saw such a huge jump overnight while other areas of the country did not.

He also said that here in Orlando we should absolutely expect the price of regular gasoline to reach $3.00 a gallon. He said, it's coming...so we'd better prepare. I can't even imagine how high it will go in the mid-west or California.

Another scary word that he brought up was...."rationing". He said it's already happening on the cash side. Meaning that gas station owners are being told that they can only buy 3 days supply instead of 7. We can only hope that we don't get that on the retail side.

In addition he said that there's concern about off-the-scale record high prices to heat your home this winter. It's not going to be pretty....

Oh well, I guess I'd rather be prepared.

 

[belleandthebeast]

The gas stations in my town jumped .20 in the 8 hours I was @ work. The gas stations on the way to work were still the same this morning. I guess it is better to be prepared.

 

[Befferk]

Up 26 cents overnight here in Central Wisconsin Hmm. And I haven't gotten a single penny of a raise in over 3 years. Things aren't looking good, especially for our vacation to Disney in May. Might not happen.... ever.

Beth

 

[rbork]

Someone's mak'in money! It aint me. It's all a racket! Can't believe more people aren't mad and DEMANDING changes!

 

[lorisnuts]

is any of this talk about the gas prices, rationing and etc. making anyone nervous about their up coming trips? I am supposed to be leaving for orlando in 25 days. I am expecting to pay out huge for our gas budget, especially since we are driving from ohio. but this rationing thing is what is scareing me. i've also heard to expect trucking strikes which will lead to food (and etc.) shortages. how long do you think it would take before things like this start happening?

 

[Free4Life11]

All I know is that this could get ugly. I've heard that Bush is considering opening up some of the oil reserves. I don't know how I feel about that, but only time will tell what is going to happen....my hopes aren't high though...

The trucking strikes are what scare me. I don't have a car so I am not directly affected, but if product prices start going up it is going to hurt hard...I am scraping by as it is.

 

[hemispheredancer]

It's all about price gouging. The government is letting it happen and we can't do a darn thing about it. Yesterday I was taking DD to the doctor and my mom called me to tell me there was damage to a platform in the gulf and that prices were going to go up. I am not kidding you..about an hour later on the way home we saw $2.99 a gallon. That is just awful. The way I look at it as when they filled their big tanks up for $2.53 on Sunday how can it just magically jump up almost .50?? I think it's about greed too. The gas station owners are laughing all the way to the bank and we are the suckers. How come all states don't cap the cost the Hawaii did?

 

[lazarru]

The jumps yesterday was all about the gas stations making moe $. There were a bunch of station in NY that jumped .60-.70 yesterday afternoon that them dropped back down when they realized that nopbody else did it.

 

[mainewmn]

On my way to work Maine prices hovered around $2.50 a gallon on my way home (only 8 hours later) they wore around $2.60 a gallon. That’s crazy! I just locked in our heating oil at $2.49 a gallon and I’m freaking ecstatic about that?! Last year I was complaining because I was locked in at $1.59 a gallon!

 

[can'twait]

Airline tixx may go through the roof too.

Once your ticket is bought, they can't increase the price, right?

 

[mainewmn]

Airline tixx may go through the roof too.

Once your ticket is bought, they can't increase the price, right?

Correct, but they can cancel or consolidate flights to make it more economical to fly.

 

[MyGoofy26]

I was out all day yesterday, I commute 2 days for school, and no changes in gas prices in northern WV and western PA. Now whether they've jumped overnight, I have no idea yet - have to run and pay property taxes later today so I'll see . . . and then refill my tank if they haven't moved.

It's getting ridiculous. And of course we won't push OPEC to increase their production to help us out.

But yeah, this weekend on the news they were saying to expect at least a 25 cent increase by the middle of the week. I'm just so glad that my summer courses are finished and I'm down to 2 days of commuting a week instead of the 5 days a week I was doing this summer. I might cry if I had to do that now!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I was listening to an oil analyst this morning on a local Orlando radio station. He explained what has happened, and what is about to happen to pricing. First of all, the mid-west prices have gone up so much because you all depend on the oil that comes out of the Gulf much more than other areas. You also keep a much lower supply of gasoline than other areas of the country. That's why you all saw such a huge jump overnight while other areas of the country did not.

He also said that here in Orlando we should absolutely expect the price of regular gasoline to reach $3.00 a gallon. He said, it's coming...so we'd better prepare. I can't even imagine how high it will go in the mid-west or California.

Another scary word that he brought up was...."rationing". He said it's already happening on the cash side. Meaning that gas station owners are being told that they can only buy 3 days supply instead of 7. We can only hope that we don't get that on the retail side.

In addition he said that there's concern about off-the-scale record high prices to heat your home this winter. It's not going to be pretty....

Oh well, I guess I'd rather be prepared.

Thank you for the information, scary as it is. I think it's time to buy DH and I bicycles.

 

[becca011906]

I'm very upset that this is happening, we were all set n a nice easy going vacation driving down and having lots of extra $ for food in the parks, ect. now prices are just going up more and more we are looking from a $179 in gas up to $300... this is awful! We leave in 2 days. we are in the midwest, i havn't drove to town today to see the gas prices but i'm sure they are up from last night... i won't be driving anywhere unless i HAVE to till we leave on friday afternoon.

 

[kelleigh1]

Someone's mak'in money! It aint me. It's all a racket! Can't believe more people aren't mad and DEMANDING changes!

I think everyone is mad about it, but who are we supposed to demand changes from? The individual station owner? The fuel companies? President Bush?

Honestly I don't know who to demand changes from. Can I ask what you're doing to demand these changes? And from whom? Maybe if we can put something more concrete together than "more people need to demand changes", we might actually be able to do something about it. But I don't have those answers.

 

[MyGoofy26]

I think everyone is mad about it, but who are we supposed to demand changes from? The individual station owner? The fuel companies? President Bush?

Honestly I don't know who to demand changes from. Can I ask what you're doing to demand these changes? And from whom? Maybe if we can put something more concrete together than "more people need to demand changes", we might actually be able to do something about it. But I don't have those answers.

Exactly. I really think our hands are tied with this. At least right now. A couple weeks ago on the news one of the reporters was saying that everyone thought that the $2 mark would be the point when consumers started fighting back but they're still spending the money. What are we supposed to do? This country doesn't have the infrastructure for mass transit like they do in Europe. Unless you're in a major city that does have a good public transit system, you HAVE to use your car and let's face it - most of us don't live in those cities that have alternative options. We are completely dependent on our vehicles and are forced to pay what they're charging if we want to get to work.

 

[crabmeal]

Maybe rationing and a trucker strike would be a good thing. Maybe it would force our government to either release reserves, demand opec lower prices or lower gasoiline taxes. Americans especially middle class and lower keep getting clobbered. It's not very fair.

 

[kelleigh1]

I am one of those people who can depend on public transportation...at least to get me to work. But as far as grocery shopping and other things, I need my car. The train in my town only goes into the city. It's not a subway system, but a commuter train. And living a mile from the station, I can walk most days.

But that doesn't make me any less frustrated about these gas prices. I just really don't know what I can do to change it...but I am open to ideas and maybe all of us together can make some impact. I just don't know.

 

[DiznEeyore]

He also said that here in Orlando we should absolutely expect the price of regular gasoline to reach $3.00 a gallon. He said, it's coming...so we'd better prepare. I can't even imagine how high it will go in the mid-west or California.

Another scary word that he brought up was...."rationing". He said it's already happening on the cash side. Meaning that gas station owners are being told that they can only buy 3 days supply instead of 7. We can only hope that we don't get that on the retail side.

In addition he said that there's concern about off-the-scale record high prices to heat your home this winter. It's not going to be pretty....

Oh well, I guess I'd rather be prepared.

So NOW it's okay for us to be worried about gas prices?

Really, I'm sorry; I just can't help it. After days of chiding some of us for discussing how gas prices have been affecting us negatively, you start a thread about rising gas prices? I can't resist the irony.

 

[tide4life]

The discomfort that high gas prices will cause us is nothing compared to what people in New Orleans are going through now. It appears it will be many MONTHS before there is even a job for them to go to. I bet they would thrilled to change places with us. There are some things worse than having to quit eating out or swapping our SUV for something that gets more than 10 mpg. Hug you kids, kiss your spouse and be thankful your all safe.