Comments on: Why Aren’t We Seeing Long Gas Lines

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 22:14:38 +0000

It seems like it’s getting harder and harder to get buy. The increase in the gas prices doesn’t seem to help. I heard about a website last night on the news that is mapping gas prices. It’s the same company that did mapsexoffenders.com. You just put in your street address and it will tell you what the cheapest gas station in your area. Maybe it will make gas stations lower the gas price or help people save a buck or two. The website is http://www.mapgasprices.com.

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:47:17 +0000

Oil was $30.00 a barrel when Clinton left office, now it’s $66.00 a barrel.
I would have rather seen Ketchup prices go up………………

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 00:45:21 +0000

I would like to know why no one in the news has mentioned the most obvious way to win the war without firing a shot. If we don’t need oil, won’t the bad guys have no more money to live on? Sounds like the end of the war to me! Why doesn’t the gov. put billions into alternative energy sources and in, maybe 10 years or so we would be free of this addiction. I realize 10 years is a long time, but we are going to be there a lot longer than 10 years if we keep fighting with them. Any comments?

By: Financial Rounds

Financial Rounds — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 20:22:34 +0000

This Week’s Carnival Of The Capitalists

This week’s COTC is up at The Club For Growth. My picks for the week follow:

By: The Club for Growth Blog

The Club for Growth Blog — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 12:51:41 +0000

Carnival of the Capitalist — July 18, 2005

CARNIVAL OF THE CAPITALISTS – JULY 18, 2005 Welcome to the Carnival! Before we get into it, let me make the usual disclaimers and shameless plugs. First, if you submitted a blog post but don’t see it below, please…

By: markm

markm — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:19:22 +0000

Finally, 1973 saw a large immediate reduction in the total supply of oil. What we are seeing now isn’t so much that, as a failure of the supply to grow to match demand. Also, the shortfall is not in crude oil production, but in refinery capacity. I don’t think anyone has managed to clear all the regulatory hurdles to build a new refinery in the USA since the 70’s.

By: markm

markm — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 12:14:12 +0000

At least during the Carter administration, there was another ill effect of regulation. Many of the OPEC countries were willing to exceed the production quotas assigned by OPEC, if the excess could be kept off the books. Under US regulations as I understood them, if one company managed to arrange an extra supply of oil from overseas they would then have had to divvy it up with the other oil companies. It gave no incentive to go to the extra trouble and expense of arranging off-the-books shipments, and probably of risking prosecution under American corruption laws when bribes had to be paid. Other countries may have had laxer attitudes towards bribery or that allowed oil companies to profit more from finding extra supplies recovered from the oil shock much sooner.

By: markm

markm — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 11:57:30 +0000

That finally explains why I didn't experience too much trouble finding gasoline in 1973 - I was in an area where there was normally a lot of tourism. Being able to afford it was another matter. Without tourists, the local economy was in quite bad shape. Apparently, by government decree our gas stations received more than enough fuel for the locals, whether or not they could afford to buy it.

I do remember the news stories of people in cities driving all over town and waiting in long lines to buy a 1/4 tank. Besides the effect you noted of transferring inventories from oil companies to gas tanks, how much gasoline was being wasted in extra driving to gas stations, and idling while waiting in line?