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Originally Posted by Space_Coyote
Price speculation is used in all sectors of the economy to SPUR demand in addition to raise prices, it is an element of the free market. It doesn't just measure demand, it also analyzes supply.
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When used properly, not when exploited.
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Right, you need gasoline, you don't need credit cards, a big screen tv, or a fancy car, and A LOT of people making $35k a year have all of those things. Do the math on this:
Gas is $2 a gallon, you have 16 gallons in your sedan's tank = $32
Gas is $3 a gallon, you have 16 gallons in your sedan's tank = $48
Gas is $4 a gallon, you have 16 gallons in your sedan's tank = $64
Assuming you fill up once a week, the monthly price hike from $2 to $4 a gallon is $128. If you can't come up with $128 a month, you're doing something wrong. Higher gas prices irritate me just like the next guy, I like paying low prices, but it's something you need and certainly you can cut $128 from your budget to apply to gas. If you can't afford $128, it's time to get a second job or find a better first one.
The people making minimum wage also have the hourly flexibility to take on a second job, and can take public transit or walk. I lived well below the poverty line in college (I pretty much lived on rice and ramen), I managed to get to work and pay my bills....while going to five classes a semester, what's stopping other people? People must take responsibility for their actions and FIND A WAY TO SURVIVE, it's not hard if you play it smart. Made bad choices? ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES and MOVE ON.
And you choose to live where you live, there are alternatives, you simply didn't choose to exploit them.
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You're makeing a lot of assumptions about the poorer people. Many of the poor have kids, so they can't work 16 hours a day. They are finding a way to survive, by voting, making a difference, and making the oil companies stop gauging prices. They are trying to change the world, or do you feel that is shooting to high and they should just accept the world and change themselves instead?
As for me, I can't live any closer to my work, I don't have the money for the nice side of town and those fancy homes. But I managed to get lucky enough to get a job over there.
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That was true before global demand spiked as a result of Chinese, Indian, and South Korean modernization, now when America slows its consumption, those countries pick up the slack. You can't blame companies for selling their products, it's sort of their job.
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I don't think I even need to be in this debate, you are argueing against yourself. You began with saying that we should stop complaining and if we want the price to go down we need to stop consuming, now you shoot your own argument by saying "when America slows its consumption, those countries pick up the slack."
All the nations have the same consumption pattern. Unless the countries in the southern hemisphere began using a heck of a lot of oil (as their summer is our winter, so their driving season is our off-driving season), then those other countries are not picking up the slack. The price is going up even though demand goes down. That's not free trade, that's price gouging.
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You don't live in an insular economy anymore, you have to consider GLOBAL demand and GLOBAL pricing. Life's tough, but you've got to learn to survive. Americans have become fat and complacent and we've been overtaken in manufacturing and raw material exports. Our workers are overpaid because we've all got this idea in our heads that EVERYBODY should be rich, and that simply isn't possible. You're trying to defend a system that is indefensible using economic analysis that hasn't been in use since that idiot Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize.
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What are you talking about?