Price Of Gas

[Gregadd]

I see ,so if I am not treated for an illness beause I have no mediccaid I am jsut as bad off as someone who gets treatmwn under medicare. Even if true it sounds more like Medicare needs to be improved not ended. Besides the stated reason was it costs to much.Even though it is paid for by the Federal government.
Sorry Tom I'll move on.

 

[NC Lee]

What do you think comes first?

Debt crisis and global financial meltdown
ISIS takes over and institutes sharia law
Terrorist attack whipes out USA
Ebola whipes out the USA
North Korean nukes whipes out the USA
Climate change whipes out the USA
Ted Cruz becomes president and instiitutes theocracy
Bernie Sanders gets elected and institutes socialism

Ever wonder why half the nation is on prozac or addicted to Oxy's?

Obama has done just dandy. I don't lose any sleep over the debt. The sun will still rise tomorrow.

I don't expect any of these.
I come at these issues with an economics perspective. A growing economy provides the resources to address our problems. Nearly all of Obama's policies have increased the cost of labor and of doing business, which reduces GDP growth and hurts primarily the disadvantaged among us. Seven years of low growth with no change in sight. That is what I lose sleep over.

 

[NC Lee]

I see so i I am not treated for an illness beause I have no mediccaid I am jsut as bad off as someone who gets treatmwn under medicare. Even if true it sounds more like Medicare needs to be improved not ended. Besides the stated reason was it costs to much.Even though it is paid for by the Federal government.
Sorry Tom I'll move on.

You are not any better physically that someone with no insurance, who is now treated routinely and for free at ERs. Medicare is better than Medicaid.
Federal and state monies come from the same source- our pockets. (To your point though, yes much resistance is political rather than fiscal.)

 

[Gregadd]

No one is treated free at an ER. You don't have to pay up fronnt but you face collection. Indeed you face the new policy of stabilize and release.

Uh oh.

 

[edorr]

Article from Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffrey...nt-of-gdp-its-really-much-worse/#4d1040426e0c

When central bankers, macroeconomists, and politicians talk about the national debt, they often express it as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP) which is a measure of the total value of all goods produced in a country each year. The idea is to compare how much a country owes to how much it earns (since GDP can also be thought of as national income). The problem with this idea is that it is wrong. The government does not have access to all the national income, only the share it collects in taxes. Looked at properly, the debt problem is much worse.

Tax collected is proporational to national income in the absence of tax rate changes (in fact, tax receipts go up because nominal income grows faster than real income becuase of inflation, moving people into higher tax brackets). So if debt grows slower than income, it also grows slower than tax receipt. If interest rates on the debt stay the same, and the debt service ratio goes down (i.e. interest payment as percentage of federal budget). In fact, because of low interest rates, the current debt service ratio is very low, and not a problem at all. Now, if interest rates go up, the debt service ratio will go up proportionally.

So bottom line: at present the debt is absolutely no problem, but we are sensitive to future changes in interest rates or future deterioriation of debt GDP ratio. For this to happen we need a Conservative president making good on his promise to enact a tax cut, and jack up military spending, which will drive the deficit (and hence debt accumulation) through the roof. Then there are projected increases in entitlement spending.

I will refrain from more technical (with minor political slant) posts on this thread...

 

[DaveyF]

Let's try and get back OT. One of the things that is interesting in S.Calif is the discrepancy between the various gas prices...or lack thereof. One stand out...which I am not really sure as to why...is Costco. Their prices are typically lower than the usual suspects, and in some instances considerably lower.
Several years ago, a friend of mine, who was in the gas station business, told me something very interesting. At the time, the price of diesel was much lower than regular gas. This had been the situation for decades and with everyone expecting it to continue. ( after all the refining process and therefore cost to produce for diesel is much less than gas). Apparently, the oil companies had just completed a study on the usage of diesel and the comparative history of diesel consumption in the US. They found to their surprise that the usage numbers were appx. the same over the several years that the study was conducted. This lead to a decision to greatly increase the price of diesel to a higher point that gas. The rationale being that the usage was not going to drop-off or increase at all and therefore why not maximize profits to the industry. Today, i think we can still see that the rationale still exists!

 

[NC Lee]

No one is treated free at an ER. You don't have to pay up fronnt but you face collection. Indeed you face the new policy of stabilize and release.

Uh oh.

The poor are treated for free at non-profit hospital ERs. Medicaid is for the poor, but they must sign up for it. If uninsured the cost is written off as charity care. (I am on the boards of 2 hospitals, past chair of one.)

 

[Steve Williams]

The poor are treated for free at non-profit hospital ERs. Medicaid is for the poor, but they must sign up for it. If uninsured the cost is written off as charity care. (I am on the boards of 2 hospitals, past chair of one.)

Let it go please.

 

[DaveC]

Let's try and get back OT. One of the things that is interesting in S.Calif is the discrepancy between the various gas prices...or lack thereof. One stand out...which I am not really sure as to why...is Costco. Their prices are typically lower than the usual suspects, and in some instances considerably lower.
Several years ago, a friend of mine, who was in the gas station business, told me something very interesting. At the time, the price of diesel was much lower than regular gas. This had been the situation for decades and with everyone expecting it to continue. ( after all the refining process and therefore cost to produce for diesel is much less than gas). Apparently, the oil companies had just completed a study on the usage of diesel and the comparative history of diesel consumption in the US. They found to their surprise that the usage numbers were appx. the same over the several years that the study was conducted. This lead to a decision to greatly increase the price of diesel to a higher point that gas. The rationale being that the usage was not going to drop-off or increase at all and therefore why not maximize profits to the industry. Today, i think we can still see that the rationale still exists!

I'm seeing diesel around the same, maybe $.10 higher than low octane gas. Premium is now $.50-.60 more, with regular at $1.59 that makes premium about 1/3rd more. Seems odd...

I do hope diesel gets more popular, the new Dodge 1/2 ton diesel that gets ~28 mpg sounds awesome. But then the VW, bunch of idiots... I always wondered how they could do it and nobody else could. Now we know they just cheated.

 

[DaveyF]

I'm seeing diesel around the same, maybe $.10 higher than low octane gas. Premium is now $.50-.60 more, with regular at $1.59 that makes premium about 1/3rd more. Seems odd...

I do hope diesel gets more popular, the new Dodge 1/2 ton diesel that gets ~28 mpg sounds awesome. But then the VW, bunch of idiots... I always wondered how they could do it and nobody else could. Now we know they just cheated.

Yes Dave, today the price if diesel is fairly close to the price of gas...however,remember that the cost to the producer is far less than gas. The situation with diesel still continues...simply because IMO it can. Plus, the "revelation" that the oil co's discovered is still a factor today.
Like you, I also hope that diesel becomes more popular ( in Europe it is very popular indeed). Although, I also know that the particulate matter situation is an ongoing issue. Not just a major problem for VW, but all diesel manufacturer's have to address the by products and as the emission stipulations get more restrictive, it becomes more and more difficult to address ( and still make sure that the vehicle has some power). I used to own a MBZ turbo diesel, great car...but slow as a slug and the plume of smoke it gave off on occasions was really something to see ( and smell) LOL.

 

[edorr]

Here is question though. If you're pulling in $30K a year and have a long commute I can see you actually care about the price of gas. Does anyone on this forum really care? To me, gasoline outlay is a rounding error in my monthly budget, and I'm not even a 1%'er and live a fairly modest lifestyle.

 

[NC Lee]

Let it go please.

OK, but the post is both informative and non-political!

 

[Folsom]

Here is question though. If you're pulling in $30K a year and have a long commute I can see you actually care about the price of gas. Does anyone on this forum really care? To me, gasoline outlay is a rounding error in my monthly budget, and I'm not even a 1%'er and live a fairly modest lifestyle.

Unfortunately it appears so with car sales. If you're poor MPG matters. If you have any money at all then buying cars with huge horsepower ratings and bad MPG is totally the norm. I'm the opposite. When I look at new cars I'm severely annoyed all the nice models come with horribly inefficient engines. High horsepower is NOT an advancement in technology, but MPG would be. I've had 1960's rebuilt v8 Chevy engines with high horsepower, big deal, I'd like a fuel efficient luxury AWD car, thanks (dependable too).

 

[amirm]

Let's try and get back OT. One of the things that is interesting in S.Calif is the discrepancy between the various gas prices...or lack thereof. One stand out...which I am not really sure as to why...is Costco. Their prices are typically lower than the usual suspects, and in some instances considerably lower.
Several years ago, a friend of mine, who was in the gas station business, told me something very interesting. At the time, the price of diesel was much lower than regular gas. This had been the situation for decades and with everyone expecting it to continue. ( after all the refining process and therefore cost to produce for diesel is much less than gas). Apparently, the oil companies had just completed a study on the usage of diesel and the comparative history of diesel consumption in the US. They found to their surprise that the usage numbers were appx. the same over the several years that the study was conducted. This lead to a decision to greatly increase the price of diesel to a higher point that gas. The rationale being that the usage was not going to drop-off or increase at all and therefore why not maximize profits to the industry. Today, i think we can still see that the rationale still exists!

I looked into getting a gasoline station for someone in our family. I was surprised to learn that selling gasoline is a loss leader! I think the profit was 25 cent a gallon or so. Unless you had a convenience store and sold and made profit through there, there was no reason to get into it. Costco has an advantage in that they don't accept credit cards so save the fee there and pass it on to customers, hoping they coming to shop.

The two lowest prices here are Costco and a Shell station on Indian reservation. It is also cheaper in another county than ours here by good 20 cents or so.

 

[Folsom]

OK, but the post is both informative and non-political!

I stay quiet most of the time on stuff like this, but honestly, this attitude of just chillin in the high school hallway and turning every topic into some rando conversation is getting to me. This post is unnecessary. I encourage the moderators to delete my post and this one. If not all the health care ones.

 

[Steve Williams]

A comment was made yesterday that the cost of gas is much higher in Northern California than Southern Cal. I agree as I have lived in both places. In fact when I lived in Danville, Chevron's national headquarters was a few miles down the road in San Ramon. Every local Chevron station was corporate owned. In fact I recall Chevron forcing the independent owners out of business many years ago but suffice it to say I was amazed how much higher the price of Chevron was in the area in which i lived. It still goes on there

 

[Gregadd]

My brothers daughter lives in Georgetown SC. When we visit her we always make it a game to see how deep in SC we can go before we need to refuel. The deeper we go the cheaper the gas.

 

[Bruce B]

What I don't understand is why they charge 10cents per gallon more if you are paying by CC/Debit Card. We know that CC companies only charge the vendors about 3% per transaction and it doesn't take THAT much effort to process a CC payment!

 

[edorr]

What I don't understand is why they charge 10cents per gallon more if you are paying by CC/Debit Card. We know that CC companies only charge the vendors about 3% per transaction and it doesn't take THAT much effort to process a CC payment!

From what I understand, most of the 3% goes toward cost of fraud related claims, not processing. But it's a highly profitable business to be sure.

 

[asiufy]

Perhaps someone will know, but I'm always puzzled by the *huge* discrepancies in price between stations.
In La Jolla, there's this one particular station that charges at least $0.50 over other stations, and I'm talking about less than a mile away! I understand being in an out of the way place, with no other stations in sight, and charging more for gas, but not that...
I mean, how does the guy survive? What could he potentially offer, in terms of gasoline, that the other stations, at 50 cents less, can't offer?
Weird...