January Gas Prices At All-Time Highs
Forget the weather, forget AAPL, forget American Idol, forget Greece, forget the Middle East, forget inventories, forget USD strength, forget the SPR, and forget the implicit tax cut we 'received' in Q4 from low gas prices... the average gasoline price in the US was the highest ever for January - is it any wonder that retail sales disappointed? So as we all await the tax-cut extension to pass, perhaps we should remember just how big a chunk of our consumer-spending bias is anchored from the starting point of our energy needs and seasonals will do nothing to help this time, like it did in Q4.
Highest ever for January (above)...and it only gets worse (seasonally) from here (below)...
(h/t John Lohman)
(11 votes)
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That's not inflation - just higher prices
nothing can cause a downward economic spiral like high gas prices...
Woah. Good thing the MTA is doing such a great job providing a public transportation alternative!
“The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.”
--Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Is the inelasticity of demand for gasoline -.04 or -.06? I forgot.
Whatever it is it means I am truly fucked.
whew....glad it's just you! lol...
IM BUYING A FUCKING HORSE!
FYI- buying the horse is cheap, hell I have some your can have, keeping one in good health is another thing altogether.
good thing mass transit is chock full of guys like "epic beard man"...should be real fun to ride. Lots of video on worldstarhiphop to peruse as well
Just get rid of the damned car!
Throw away the TV while you're at it.
Car: = $5-8,000 per year down the rathole. That's your labor, Bubba.
Most folks are debt slaves house in suburbia and the damnable car. Then the same folks whine about gas prices. You have to free yourselves.
whew....glad it's just you! lol...
IM BUYING A FUCKING HORSE!
LOL !!! I'm picking up my second one today !
I learned and rode, took care of the horses when I was younger. Nothing like a Breeding farm filled with mares and fillys/foals to make life good.
Some of the most stress free jobs I have ever the pleasure of doing. Those days are gone forever. (But not the women...)
You City bred cubicle drones wont understand.
Best job I ever had was as a groom/stable hand at a stable.
It's ironic that, essentially, I've now been working most of my life to get back to where I already was!
Amen to that brother !
An Arab saying.....
My grandfather rode a horse.
My father drove a car
I fly in a jet
My son will ride a horse
-
http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?time=24
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?s[1][id]=M1
Iranian Mullah's have clearly taken over the Federal Reserve and are trying to destroy the US dollar.
PC
Yes, Iranian Mullahs.
Must. Nuke. Iran.
That'll bring gas prices down, you betcha.
I would add debt servitude to that quote.
Redpill,
I love history and should have gone into it intead of being a fucking bum, but, in the Russian Revolution, it was a very very very small population that were bolsheviks when they overdid the monarchy.
1% actually....
a fact I will never forget. Just like now, 99% of the people think the market will never go down again...ever! 20 year bull market is here and now.....
im the 1%......dont buy that bullshit.....
great quote btw!!!
Seriously. Here in Boston, the MBTA fares are slated to go up in July (great time to do it). They also want to slash services, including buses and even the commuter rail on weekends (which I'm sure will make the suburbianites happy who take the commuter rail in on weekends to see Red Sox games, considering they are the only ones who can afford them).
This despite MBTA ridership breaking records last year. Young people in MA are educated and have jobs, but like the rest of the country, they don't pay much. Our rent is too damn high, due to a 4% vacancy rate, with only NYC and SF having higher rents. All this means young people with plenty of jobs, not ones that barely cover health insurance, nevermind be able to afford these things called: "Homes, Cars, and Children".
And one thing in common with ALL of those places, including the 4th city on this list, Chicago? High state taxes.
Again, irresistable force (inflation) meets immoveable object (stagnating wage and/or job growth)
nothing more diversity can't solve
but you will be able to drive places faster with less traffic and spend quicker!!!
I might be underwater on my house but at least I bought one only 4 miles from the office!
is that office sustainable or transitory?
is that office sustainable or transitory?
Depends on what they do at that office. If it can be done by
A: a computer or network of computers
B: a robot
C: a hoard of Chinese slave labor in a concentration.....err....work campus
...then it is transitory.
Do you have your seed collection ready?
Of course, I'm always ready to spread my seed!
Of course, I'm always ready to spread my seed!
Damn !! Pepsi burns when snorted through the nose ! LOL !!!
Let's see... 450 million chances of a baby...
Put it where it counts otherwise it's a waste.
Yet oil is @ $100dpb as opposed to $150 in 2007. So who's making the $$ of that spread?
Federal, state, and local tax recipients.
Most refineries are local, so the oil isn't prices the same as the WTI contract which is located in Cushing, OK. Its $100 there because there is a supply glut in that one spot without suficient pipeline capacity to get it out.
Oil basis to the Gulf or anywhere on the East Coast is more like $120 per barrel.
yes. WTI is increasingly irrelevant. There is really not that much produced of WTI anymore.
The canadian syncrude and other spreads are interesting however
Oil was $60/bbl in January 2007 and $90/bbl in January 2008. Oil never topped $100 in 2007. The $150 you refer to was in June 2008 when gas prices were over $4.00/gal.
FYI tidbit, oil's closing price of the year and decade Dec 31, 2010 was an all time high record. As was its average price for the months of that year.
Its closing price Dec 31, 2011 was also an all time high record. As was its average price for 2011.
And that's WTI. Not the real price of oil, which is Brent.
It's the only way they can still stick it to us, ergo, that's how they are sticking it to us.
That's not the light at the end of the tunnel. That's train coming down the tracks.
or, you're turned 90 degrees and your light is reflecting back off the wall in front of you.
And on the front of the Train it says "The Iran Special".
Item 1: Iran's output and exports have not fallen. China and India are buying what Europe didn't. They are fighting for a price break, and getting it, but they still buy and Iran still puts out its supply.
Item 2: This is not an Iran issue. This is a global issue. China is buying 26 million cars per year, double what the US buys, and US car purchases usually roll a clunker off the back end. Not so in China. These are new car owners. It's purely additive to global oil consumption. There is no corresponding addition to oil production to feed it.
This will not end well.
CrashisOptimistic ,
While that is all true, that is not why the US prices are going up.
Lack of Demand is the cause.
Why in hell would lack of demand cause gas prices to go up?
Oil companies do not profit from high prices and low demand, nor do oil producers. I'd argue that the demand is certainly there, it's just not necessarily coming from the US. Lack of demand is more likely a causal byproduct of high oil prices than vice versa - fewer people working, those who are are increasingly doing so from home or satellite offices, trucking is dropping as is rail service, more substitution being made of other energy sources (which drives their prices up). China has made a large investment in middle class infrastructure as has India, even as oil has likely plateaud if not peaked and started into decline globally, even with oil coming online. Second derivates of supply went negative some time ago (1973), first derivates probably went negative in 2005. Demand curves are always going to be between 5 and 15 years delayed, but I think we're seeing that now. We'll see occasional local maxima, but the long term trend is down for both demand and supply.
You are right! With all the New Speak coming from all directions people no longer can correlate what they hear(on MSM) to what they see with their own eyes, same with everything else, unemployment rate, deficit spending rate, number of deaths of American soldiers in foreign wars rate, birth/death rate etc. etc. nothing today means what it used to mean even 10-15 years ago, and all this is simply to induce a Nation wide Schizophrenia(Cat Meet Light on The Wall) everybody who watches MSM is like this cat trying to catch the light on the wall, welcome to a Brave New World of The US of Oz
Speculators.... Evil once!
who cares, I BTFD in refiners and ride a bike.
And you grow all your own food and make all your own clothes, too, right?
Food yes, clothes, no, we have chinese slave errr I mean work campuses for that.
Nu-uh....It's those damn Iranians. We should bomb them. /snark
That's not inflation - just higher prices
Ditto's, the refineries are cutting way back on the output due to LACK of demand,some are even closing.
Expect $5.00 a gallon in the next 90 days.
--> due to LACK of demand
Yes, but no. The price of the base comodity is not falling despite recent US gas consumption falling 47% over some recent time frame. So where did all that non-consumed oil go? Asia. The take away is that unlike in the past, falling US demand will not result in lower prices when Asia is burning all the oil it can.
Result --> In the US, Falling demand, declining economic activity, rising prices.
I just got back from the grocery store and a gallon of Tropicana was over $7.00 freakin dollars I thought the FEDs said inflation was tamed...BS. They must be referring to that Ipad.
and that is the crappy OJ most likely.. go check what the fresh squeezed prices are in the north east in wegmans.. about $4 for a quart
Repeat after me, there is no inflation, there is no inflation, there is no inflation...
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?s[1][id]=AMBNS
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?s[1][id]=M1NS
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M2NS?cid=29
there is no inflation, there is no inflation, there is no inflation...
What's an "iPad"?
Go ask a girl.
iPad is a machine which produces typing errors.
Ipad user
"I just got back from the grocery store and a gallon of Tropicana was over $7.00 freakin dollars I thought the FEDs said inflation was tamed...BS. They must be referring to that Ipad."
The lack of inflation only applies to those things which are meaningless for survival or even a more civilized form of life above and beyond hunter-gatherer.
orange juice manifests itself in stores without any energy inputs, right?
Inflation is one component. Unfortunately, it has masked an underlying cause and allowed people to pretend it doesn't exist. Supply has peaked. however, demand hasn't. There are still 2B chindians who want a car or 3.
They close off imports due to a agricultural chemical getting into some of that Juice.
As far as the NE OJ, everyone is dependent on the "Juice Train" which is itself the hottest on the entire Railroad system except MAINS and Potus. Nothing stops the Juice train.
Scandinavia recently had 500 US dollar a pound butter because they are cooking Christmas dinner last year and nobody complained.
"That's not inflation - just higher prices"
Let's say for a moment you are correct (and I do not think you are) but high gas prices (which are simply a reflection of high petrolium prices) are a feed stock for inflation. Just as oil is a feed stock for gasoline (and a whole lot of other things) if the price of oil increases as a feed stock, then obviously gas goes up as well.
As well as fertilizer and diesel and axel grease and oil and petro-ag-chemicals, which then leads to higher prices for food. You pay more to go to work, and come home to a climatized house. Most of your clothing will go up in price, even if they are made out hemp....(just how do you think hemp is grown, harvested, shipped, processed, loomed into clothing and then shipped to stores or to your house)?
Therefore, you are wrong about higher gas prices not being inflation.
I change my own oil, as well as my childrens cars. motor oil, has gone up about 30% in the last few years. the filters , have gone up much less.
Royal Purple, bought in the 5 gallon pail is $8 bucks a quart shipped. Cannot beat that!
http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Purple-05530-API-Licensed-Performance/dp/B000BO052S/ref=sr_1_5?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1329248531&sr=1-5
pods
Unless you're racing modified stock or better that's a waste. ;)
Great to know that friction is only found in racing engines!
Friction is found in any engine. However, it doesn't get aleviated by genetcially engineered. polymerised unicorn piss which I hear is what makes Royal Purple special. ;)
Well from the friction tests I have seen, RP (as well as the other high $$ oils amsoil, redline etc) provide a much higher resistance to breakdown.
Call it engine insurance.
Not saying buy it, just saying that oil, especially higher performance oils, are not that expensive compared to what they protect.
And it is not PUP (polymerized unicorn piss) that makes these oils so special, it is ZDDP.
To each his own I guess.
pods
LOL !!! PUP. I think I'll trademark that...split the licensing proceeds with ya, 50/50.
The gas in my car is now worth more than what I paid for it!
#Winning!
Gas tank arbitrage bitchez
nervous laughter as I think about the size of my motor!!! There is a book on my shelf by Calamos called "Convertible Arbitrage" and it just popped out in my periphal vision as I read gas tank arbitrage bitchez...funny shit.
Not if the gas thieves find you first. You say you have a locking cap? I hear they'll drill a hole in your tank as punishment.
Viva Riva bitchez
It's not drilling, it's called shanking.
A screw driver is sufficient.
Driving to the gas station for a fill-up is de facto speculation at this point.
Or worth your life as they lie in wait to kill you for eitehr your money or gas (Or both.)
http://www.hulu.com/watch/37195/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-gas-for-sale
What you mean no zero interest until 2014 like uncle bernie promised? Whats that, theres actual inflation going on? Nooo can't be, wheres the BLS to tell us otherwwise?
Coincidentally BULLISHNESS is at an all time high too!
This is a big reason why 'Merika's war days might be over. Gotta play spy games along with everyone else now...
Are you kidding? We are just getting started. Hell we are barely into the first inning of WWWIII. We have plenty of wars ahead of us.
'Are you kidding?'
Either Israhole goes it alone or you get dragged in out of desperation. Obama's recent noise? Rhetoric as is everything with that poor shlub. Book talkin'. It would be suicidal...
It would be suicidal...
Unless of course there is some "outrage" to justify action.
Are there any tankers/warships in the Gulf nearing the end of their service life? Maybe one of them will be "attacked"?
Too obvious.
What's the extra "W" for? Is that a subtle "blame Bush" innuendo? :)
Sure that'll work :) Actually I'll blame it on a fat finger :)
Is this history repeating, or just rhyming??
Does it matter if the result is the same?
Makes you want to go out and buy a car, doesn't it?
Yeah, but just to live in
Like the dodge 2500 deisel pickup that in the real world only does 9-10 mpg YES PLEASE. ( who buys this shit)
Typically the folks who feed the world, but that is another issue altogether.
Or my neighbor who pulls a fifth wheel trailer in the summer and 4 snowmobiles in the winter. He's a house painter.