gas prices, gas prices, and more gas prices.

Interesting comparison of economic freedom and gas prices. Gas prices on the vertical axis, higher prices at the top. Economic freedom on the horizontal axis, more freedom to the left.



They cited their sources, gas prices from Gasoline prices around the world, 06-Jun-2022 | GlobalPetrolPrices.com and economic freedom from Country Rankings: World & Global Economy Rankings on Economic Freedom

 

I believe that the USPS owns about 250,000 vehicles.

 

Leftist countries often highly subsidize fuel costs. Chart paints a false picture without adjusting for those subsidies

 

Gas price amnesia…

Trump $2.50
Biden $5.00

difference = 2.50
Average miles per year = 15,000
Average gas mileage = 20 mpg
15,000 / 20mpg = 750 gallons consumed

total cost impact = 2.50 X 750 gallons

$1,875 X 2 cars = $3,750

average cost to go to Disney for family of 4 = $5,700

If you are boycotting and “don’t say gay”… well, don’t go to Disney and you saved 1,950 + your Covid relief check. You are winning.

Really, people are rolling over on $3,750? Live within your means and stop spending bubba money on dumb things.

 

The republicans are saying gas prices are high because Biden cut production domestically, but the opposite is true.

 

20mpg is crappy, but alot of these Trucks/SUV still get even worse mpg even in the year 2022, AND statistically alot of folks probably already living beyond their means making payments on a $50k+ truck with nothing in the bank. So $4k or $5k extra could actually put them in the red.

Obviously if a person is in that scenario you can tell they should have logically bought a used Toyota Camry that gets 35mpg instead of the $50k truck that gets 15mpg, and that would be 100% true, but the unfortunate reality is our economy pretty much relies on irrational consumerism and people pouring money into dumb things (and Disney is pretty much also an example of that).

 

If everyone started living within their means, our economy would collapse.

 

Let’s not go too far!

 

The Democratic Party stopped being for the little guy a long, long time ago. But the little guy is about to remind them why that’s a bad long-term strategy.

 

What is your definition of the “little guy”?

 

A person you specifically don’t know or wouldn’t understand.

 

somebody finally pulled their head out of their... and realized it isn't the price of oil driving the price of gas...duh

Bottlenecks at oil refineries have sent US gas prices soaring to top $5 a gallon — and the crisis is unlikely to end soon (msn.com)

Analysts say gas prices are much higher than they ordinarily would be, when compared with the price of crude. That's because of what Goldman Sachs has called "unprecedented" bottlenecks at oil refineries, where crude oil is converted into usable products like gas.

At the heart of the crisis is the fallout from the pandemic. As COVID rocked the world economy, energy consumption plunged, and many refineries shuttered operations. Analysts at Wood Mackenzie, an energy consultancy, estimate that 3 million barrels a day of refinery capacity shut down in 2020 and 2021.

 

Remember when Republicans used to pretend to believe in limited government? Now they want the government to just take over industries left and right whenever it is convenient.

 

Current US refinery is already running at 94.2%, up 1.6% over the previous month. Not sure how much higher we can get, as refineries require regular checks and maintenance that take them offline periodically. In other words, we'll never bet at 100% for any significant period of time, if ever.

We could build new refineries, but they take time. And money. It's a gamble too that current profit margins will hold, and by the time a new refinery gets online, market conditions will certainly be different.

In other words, if Biden invoked the DPA for more oil refineries, it would be futile. There's no more we can realistically, and safely squeeze from current refinery production. And new ones, if there are new refineries, won't be online any time soon.

 

It gets worse than that. Expect natural gas and electricity prices to go up as well. We have supply issues and refinement issues. Don't forget President Biden's commitment to providing an additional 15 Billion cubic tons of LNG to Europe.
Natural gas explained

The United States now produces nearly all of the natural gas that it uses
U.S. dry natural gas production in 2020 was about 33.5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), an average of about 91.5 billion cubic feet per day and the second-highest annual amount recorded. Most of the production increases since 2005 are the result of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques, notably in shale, sandstone, carbonate, and other tight geologic formations. Natural gas is produced from onshore and offshore natural gas and oil wells and from coal beds. In 2020, U.S. dry natural gas production was about 10% greater than U.S. total natural gas consumption.

U.S. dry natural gas production in 2020 was 0.4 Tcf lower than in 2019 because of a decline in drilling activity related to low natural gas and oil prices, which was largely the result of a drop in demand resulting from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as increased recovery of natural gas plant liquids from marketed natural gas.​

June 13th, 2022. Why Inflation Continues to Rise Even Higher.

First up, Record inflation reported late last week, worst in 40 years. I’m going to explain how DC politics around natural gas and diesel are driving a big part of it.​

 

Not my industry. But it's likely like the unemployment number, where 96% equals full employment. 94.2% is probably very close to true capacity for oil refineries because there's a percentage of refineries that need to be offline for inspection and maintenance, and companies spread these out over the calendar to minimize the loss of production. Running 24/7 without the regular inspection and maintenance is penny wise and pound foolish, because when something breaks, and things break, the result would be taking the refinery offline for a longer time, meaning a bigger loss of supply.