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Originally Posted by Space_Coyote
There isn't a monopoly or trust within the oil industry. It's not even oligopolous if we take Russia, Norway, and Canada into account. Price speculation IS a part of the free market; free markets are characterized by two people seeking to maximize gain while minimizing expenditure, it's idea #1.
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That is done through the balance of supply and demand, price speculation is used to lie about the demand and make it appear that the demand is different than what it really is (in this case, higher) in order to adjust the price away from the free market price. Ergo, we are adjusted away from the free market price and so not in a free market.
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There exists a myriad of ways to cut costs to make gasoline more affordable. I cook all of my own food (it's cheaper and better for you), don't have any debt, and drive fuel-efficient vehicles. Cutting consumption is easy, you're just looking for reasons why it can't be done.
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How does cooking your own food and having no debt reduce your need for gasoline?
I do all of those too (for the most part, I still have a student loan, but that's almost gone, be debt free by this summer). There is still a baseline of fuel that you need to use to get to and from work each day, to and from the grocery store. You can only save so much before you hit a wall.
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I went to high school a little over three miles from home and walked there almost everyday until I turned 16 and bought my first car (parents or brother would drive me on rainey or REALLY cold days), it's not hard. If you've got young'uns, get a more fuel efficient car than your $35k SUV, like a $5k used Civic or older Camry. The only people really economically HURT by rising gas prices are people up to their asses in debt, driving useless cars, and purposely acting irresponsibly. Gas is a commodity to be sold, and when consumption goes up, so does price. If you want the price to come down, tell your Congressman to allow for private drilling in ANWAR.
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Actually, the people most hurt are those that make minimum wage, that can't afford that 35k car and are driving in a $500 1988 toyota (because that's all they can afford).
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Nope, the oil industry is not oligopolous. No trust exists within the global market, only within a select few companies with whom the bulk of Americans do business. Don't like it? Buy from somebody else, the little hole in the wall station probably gets its gas from Canada like oh so many others.
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The nearest station to me (that gets it's gas not from US or Britian) is 13 miles from where I live, and not on the way to work.
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They are the producers, and in a free market a combination of producer desire and consumer desire create market price. You're confusing what you WANT oil to cost with what it SHOULD cost, and I'm sorry but the days of getting everything we want for nothing are over. Prices increasing given increased demand for a resource is a NORMAL occurence in the free-market and will be resolved when Americans start discussing what CAN be done instead of sitting around whining about how unfair life can be.
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Yes it is, in a free market, too bad this isn't. Gas consumption drops in fall and winter (with a spike at thanksgiving and christmas), so by the free market, the price should also drop. This year, the prices dropped during summer (when consumption was high), took off in fall (when consuption was low), dropped again in the time between TG and Christmas (when it should have shot up momentarily), than took off again through winter (when it should be at it's lowest of the year). That shows very clearly that the price of gas is not following consumption in the least and is not being dictated by the free market.